“Love Your Body”
“I don’t make movies to make money. I make money to make movies.” - Walt Disney
25/July/2016
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 1
Will 50% of Us Be Unemployed? by Imogen Aitkin
If you are a student at Met you may have noticed something interesting. Or not so interesting, depending on what you were expecting when you came here. This interesting/uninteresting observation is that there is a roughly equal number of female and male students at this school. If you are wondering why that would catch my attention, the simple answer is because this does not reflect the film industry as a whole. In fact, with less than 15% of British films being directed by women, I think it is fair to say that Met's population really, really does not reflect the wider film industry. But here's the thing; Met is not the exception. Research has shown that there are roughly the same number of women and men studying film across the UK, but for some reason it would appear that it is more difficult for women to make a career in the industry once they leave film school. If you need some statistics to illustrate that last point, here they are; only 12.5% of British directors who have made two films are female, and this decreases to only 4% for directors who have made four or more films. So, if there are just as many women currently attending and graduating film schools as there are men, then why do so few women achieve success within the industry? Personally, I can think of only two possible explanations that could account for such a massive disparity; 1) Women are just not as good at making films as men 2) Men are more likely to be employed and/or receive funding than women. My money's on the latter, and I think that it is important to ask the question: Why is this the case? One of the obvious reasons would be that the people doing the hiring/funding are often men. Without even realising it, people tend to exhibit an unconscious bias towards their own gender, race, religion, people who support the same football team, etc. … (continues on page 2…)
UPCOMING EVENTS at THE MET FILM SCHOOL NETWORKING NIGHT at THE GRINDHOUSE 29th OF JULY 5PM
CINE CLUB SCREENING of ‘THE PARTY’ at ROOM A01 27th of JULY 5:30PM
MFSB BLACK MAGIC BALL 29th of OCTOBER
“Healthy Body healthy life”
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m- possible’!” - Audrey Hepburn
25/July/2016
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 2
(…Continued from page 1 )
One of the obvious reasons would be that the people doing the hiring/funding are often men. Without even realising it, people tend to exhibit an unconscious bias towards their own gender, race, religion, people who support the same football team, etc. This makes sense; being 5 foot 1” I tend to gravitate towards other short people so as not to feel like I am constantly surrounded by trees. However, an affinity with a person does not necessarily make hiring them over somebody else the right decision. That is why talking about and acknowledging gender disparity within the industry is so important. Hopefully just recognising that there is an issue will go some way towards making employers think more deeply about who they are hiring and why. Another possible (and heavily debated) explanation is that the way female filmmakers present themselves could be holding them back. Studies have suggested that women are less likely to take control of a situation, or present themselves in a confident manner, than their male counterparts. While this absolutely does not apply to all women, when looking at female filmmakers as a whole there are indications that they are less likely to self promote or assume leadership positions without first being asked. That this is due to wider societal influences goes without saying, but in order to improve the current situation it is something that should be acknowledged. Regardless of the reasons, it is important to recognise that this disparity exists, and that it will likely affect either you or 50% of your fellow students. I am perfectly happy to face rejection, but when I do I just want to have the simple luxury of knowing that it is not because of my gender, but simply because my idea sucked.
“Be PROUD of your Body”
“You’ve always had the power, my dear. You've had it all along” - Glinda (The Wizard of Oz)
25/July/2016
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 3
Review of ‘The Diary of a Teenage Girl’ by Bailey Holden Marielle Heller’s ‘The Diary of a Teenage Girl’ is a movie written in sex. It goes through the developmental stages of adolescence in a way that is more honest than most are comfortable to admit. Bel Powley as Minnie, the eponymous teenage girl, is excellent. She captures that bright eyed stupidity of having sex for the first time. It’s such an emotional hurdle your mind can’t help but linger emotionally. However, the movie never mocks her and doesn’t suggest that her decisions to have sex, even with the much older man which this story revolves around, are not hers to make. Virginity isn’t this veil of innocence waiting to be broken. Minnie wants to have sex because it’s fun, there doesn’t need to be a better reason. And yet the movie walks this fine fine line. It allows sex without thought to have consequences, without making the sex itself the problem. It’s not the sex that’s wrong instead it’s the manner and situations with which it is done. It’s brave for a movie to focus on female sexuality at all, none the less in such an unflinching way as this. It feels real to life in a way that most independent movies really don’t. It understands the fantasy of sex and romance which comes through in Minnie’s own drawings. However, it isn’t so grounded in her, so in love with her that it doesn’t take a step back and let us understand her wholly and embrace her flaws. This a feminist movie in the most meaningful way possible.
“Support your Body”
“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” - The Dead Poets Society
25/July/2016
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 4
Review of ‘Captain America Civil War’ by Bailey Holden
‘Captain America Civil War’ is in many ways Marvel’s worst entry to date. A sign of how this whole mega-structure that is the MCU will eventually collapse in on itself. The characters are a point of such narrative fragility that it’s hard to recognise the numerous superheroes in this movie as nothing but signifiers of cultural icons. There is no meat or drive to any character here. Tony Stark, whose character is as one-dimensional as ever, is awkwardly crowbarred into wanting a mass superhero registration act. His climbing conflict with Captain America is driven only by a misunderstanding, manufactured by a villain, who is so underdeveloped and unseen, that I was constantly confusing him with other characters. Black Panther is perhaps the worst character in this movie. He is a new addition in a movie with 12 or so heroes which leaves little or no room for his character development. His motivation is also absolutely absurd. In order to avenge his father, who is killed trying to get through this superhero registration act, he becomes the exact kind of vigilante his father fought against. Spider-Man, the other new hero isn’t much better. He is only there for fan-service and adds nothing to a movie already totally lacking in content. The plot is ultimately just a vague skeleton which is used to fit action set pieces onto. Never before has the filmmaking been so weak in a Marvel movie. The editing lacks any kind of spacial awareness and in the action scenes the continuity just wanders off. All of this for images that are uglier, dirtier and more digital than ever before. There is something deeply uncomfortable to me about the ultimate consumerism of this movie. It only exists to please fanboys with flashy icons without any kind of care or substance behind it to make it anything more than a two hour long commercial for the next two hour long commercial.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! We need volunteers who are interested in event planning and P.R . You’ll get to have a hell of a great time! This is a good opportunity for those looking for experience in event management. MFSB would be happy to offer future references for volunteers who help on the day. If you’re interested just drop an email to Sara and Teri at mfstudentbody@yahoo.com
“Love Your Body” “Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the whole world.“ - Jean Luke-Godard
25/July/2016
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 5
Ideotography How to capture and use ideology by Oliver Peary If we are to be meaningful filmmakers, we must look to ideology. Ideology is not exclusive to political idealists; we all embody doctrines that shape our daily lives. Through understanding not just how a person thinks but the framework in which they think it, we can create better characters and make them confront their entire perception of reality. From this, we embed a deeper conflict and stakes to make their story arc more engaging and meaningful to an audience. Slavoj Zizek, a Slovenian philosopher, explores how ideology can manifest itself in films in Sophie Fiennes’ ‘The Pervert's Guide to Cinema’ and ‘The Pervert's Guide to Ideology’. Zizek also recently gave a talk at the Southbank Centre, and provided further insight into discovering our ideological illusions by pointing to the phrase ‘I know but…’. What is effectively said with this is that ‘I accept something to be true and yet I still choose to ignore it’. In a sense, you deny reality in order to retain your own commitment to ideology. There is a scene in Terry Gilliam’s ‘Brazil’, where the main character, Sam Lowry, sits in a restaurant and a bomb goes off. Yet, in spite of this sudden terrorist attack, the diners carry on eating and exchanging niceties as they were doing before. Against their inescapable witnessing of the horrific event, they choose to carry on with their lives. Beyond the obvious real life parallels of this, Zizek refers to the revelations from Wikileaks as another real world example. He says: “It’s not so much that people didn’t know about [secret US government dealings], but… you are being informed about it in such a way that basically you are able to ignore it”. He makes a similar point about sexual relationships: “ A husband may know that his wife is cheating on him… [but] when you get the photo of your wife doing things [with another person] it’s quite a different thing”…
(…continued on page 6)
“Love Your Body”
“I dream for a living.” - Steven Spielberg
25/July/2016
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 6
(…continued from page 5) This should be considered when creating a character. Imagine what you can say about a person, not from what they believe but, from what they are willingly ignorant to. This not only reveals a deep tragic weakness for them but could build on the wider world that you are creating. What brings someone to want ignore these things? And then, see how your story can challenge them. How will they react when they confront their own suppressed truth? Dreamwork’s ‘Flushed Away’ shows how ideology can be implemented in this way. Here we have an animated children’s adventure comedy whose main character is an upper class rat. We all have this fantasy that when we throw rubbish away or flush the toilet, our waste becomes invisible to us. It no longer exists as far as we are concerned. It is the rat, Roddy, who gets violently forced to deal with the truth. He gets flushed down a toilet and hauled through the labyrinth of pipes that lay berried beneath the ground, to then discover a society of fellow rats that opens him up to a sense of companionship that he has been missing all his life. The tragedy of his character is that he was alone and isolated from the world, but now he must adapt in the face of this conflict. Everything must change about him. He can no longer survive as who he was before. He wanted to be a movie star with his fellow plastic doll friends but now he must dream new dreams. Luis Bunuel's ‘The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’ uses dreams as a pseudo reality. The six middle-class people the film revolves around regularly find themselves dreaming about what they are terrified of happening. One dream sees them at a dinner party only for it to unfold that they are on stage in front of an audience.They are so enshrouded by their own secrecy and hidden antics that even their dreams are trying to force them to be free. They are so tightly entrenched in their world, that any hint of them being exposed puts them on edge and afraid of being revealed to the world.
“Love Your Body”
25/July/2016
“A writer needs a pen, an artist needs a brush, but a filmmaker needs an army.” - Orsen Welles
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 7
A Night of Music & Networking by Jessica O’Sullivan We would like to extend our thanks to all of those who participated and helped with our Networking Night in the Grindhouse on Friday the 17th of June. Special thanks go to the performers who really were spectacular on the night. The night was kicked off by the Masters (MAF) duo of Sara Alves and Ale Capo, with Sara on vocals accompanied by Ale on the acoustic guitar. They set the bar high for the night. Sara, who is a natural performer and a very talented singer, treated the crowd to covers of songs including Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’, Stevie Wonder’s ‘Superstition’ and the Lumineers ‘Hey Ho’. The second act was first-time performer Foong Yan Qui who both sang and played the guitar to a cover of Keane’s ‘Everybody’s changing’. The talented singer-songwriter followed this opening number with several of his own originals to a delighted crowd. Next up were the BAF16 duo of Gigi Moya and Seb Luke-Virgo. With Gigi on vocals on Seb on the guitar they performed a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Britney Spear’s ‘Toxic’. One of the final performances of the night was a spontaneous number from Sarah Saifi and Seb Luke-Virgo who performed a cover of Taylor Swift’s ‘White Horse’. Sara Alves closed the night out by getting the audience involved to create a beat by snapping their fingers as she gave a memorable performance of ‘Fever’. Between performances, Carlotta Beck Peccoz took the mic to announce the new Met Film Cineclub, which has since had its first successful screening (more on page 8). A large crowd of thirty to forty students (including a few of the recent acting graduates) attended, which generated a fun and friendly atmosphere. We do believe that even some networking occurred. :) If you are interested in performing at the next Networking Night, which will be held in the Grindhouse on the 29th of July, please contact Lea Aubigne on lea.aubigne@icloud.com.
“Body and Soul”
“Come with me where dreams are born and time is never planned.” - Peter Pan
25/July/2016
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
We are thrilled to introduce the MET FILM SCHOOL CINECLUB! The Cine Club aims to bring students from different courses together, by helping them create personal and professional connections for our journey at MET Film School and our future in the industry. Every month, there will be a cycle of two movie nights dedicated to a selected theme. Each screening will be introduced by a tutor, an industry guest or a student, and followed by a discussion. Everyone is invited to give opinions, rise questions and share thoughts. It’s gonna be amazing! After each screening, students will have snacks and drinks at really convenient prices, thanks to our lovely Grindhouse Café. JULY: We are starting the Cine Club experience with the cycle CINELOVERS, our Manifesto: two classical and must-see films about the love for cinema. We thank all the students who came to our first screening of Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988), by Giuseppe Tornatore. We are so glad to have had such nice audience and the special introduction by Lisa Neeley.
Page 8
On the 27th of July the Cine Club will introduce you the exciting and funny film The Party (1968), by Blake Edwards, with Peter Sellers. AUGUST: The August cycle will be dedicated to a great Iranian director, Abbas Kiarostami, whose death has deeply saddened all of us. All Iranian MET students are invited to make a team and choose two of his films This will be a perfect way to explore the captivating Iranian cinema. SEPTEMBER: Students will choose the theme of the month from three alternatives, each one represented by two films. You may vote either on paper forms at the end of the screening, or online at the “Met Film School CINECLUB” Facebook page.
“Rock Your Body”
25/July/2016
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” -Dumbledore
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 9
As part of their Finance, Commissioning and Production Management module, MAF06 students were asked to stage a media-related event. Producing students Mara Manzolini, Victoria Fistes, John Janssens, Tomek Wilk & Japneet Kaur came up with the idea of organising a portrait photography contest open to all Met Film School students. Contestants were given two weeks to send in their most remarkable portrait photographs to the producing students. The top 10 portraits were then pre-selected by avid photographer Michael McHugh. Two winners would then be selected at the awards ceremony: an audience winner along with a jury winner. The top 10 portraits were each exhibited during the awards ceremony which took place on Wednesday 22 June at the Met Film School. To match the theme of the event, the students also set up a professional photography studio where contestants and guests were welcomed in to take black & white portrait shots. The students’ artistic social event had an impressive turnout of guests who enjoyed both the portrait showcase as well as the fun photo booth set up for their entertainment. After viewing the best photographs displayed at the event, the two winners were: Elena Nassati’s retro-like yet modern portrait of a young woman at a diner was announced as the audience’s favourite and Sonum Sumaria’s soulful portrait of an elderly ethnic women and young baby won the jury’s prize. As a prize both winners’ portraits were framed and displayed at the Met Film School’s café. Sonum Sumaria, the jury’s selection, was also awarded a membership with benefits from Caulmet Photographic. MAF06 would like to thank the Met Film School for giving them the opportunity to put to a test their marketing skills, and moreover, Steve Pinhay and the school’s marketing department, for contributing to their efforts to make the awards ceremony an enjoyable social event. by Victoria Fistes (MAF06 Producing)
Portrait by Elena Nassati
Portrait by Sonum Sumaria
“Love Your Body”
25/July/2016
“When life gets you down, do you wanna know what you’ve gotta do? Just keep swimming” - Dory
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 10
Get to know your Body! The initiative to establish a Student Body for the Met Film School began in February of this year and was fuelled by the common feeling that one of the best resources which this school has to offer, the chance to meet and work with fellow future film makers, was surprisingly limited. The other driving force behind the formation of the MFSB was the desire to organise more fun social events for students at the school. Universities and other tertiary level educational institutions benefit from very active Student Unions who are constantly organising social events, but while Met Film students could technically partake in the Student Union events at UWL, there is a tendency not to. This lack of regularly organised social occasions for Met students felt like a missed opportunity, and in response to that the MFSB has started holding small networking events, which we aim to expand in the future in addition to organising larger affairs. The MFSB consists of five dedicated board members who meet once a week to plan and work on future projects. As the MFSB grows in experience it also intends to create ‘sub-groups’ to focus on the monthly publication of this newsletter, organising events and competitions at the school, organising talks from former students and other industry specialists and screenings of end of term projects. If you are interested in contributing to the newsletter or getting involved in organising events please get in contact at mfstudentbody@yahoo.com.
“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can tackle.” -Stanley Kubrick
“Every Body Matters”
25/July/2016
Issue No. 1 (FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST)
Page 11
Heeere’s Jonny! What a pleasure it is to be writing a blog in Met Film School’s first ever Student Body newsletter! I am thrilled with the birth of the Student Body this year, and take huge joy every time I see a post or poster revealing the next event or initiative. You make the Met community more complete and everything you do further consolidates the Student Body’s standing for the benefit of the next generations of Met students as well as your own. Coincidentally I was also asked to write a piece about sequels at the same time as you asked me to write this blog, and it got me thinking about what is the same and what is different about every Met student cohort. Right now, Met students in London and Berlin are preparing to shoot their BA or MA graduation films, and there’s also a multitude of films and shooting exercises being shot daily. There is a Met GO graduate shooting a film about a Comic Relief project in Ghana, there’s a team working on a film about the American Embassy for the American Embassy, and there are graduates running projects I don’t even know about. Our more recent cohorts focus increasingly in filmmaking and content creation across multiple kinds of screens, reflecting the careers are graduates take – but screen size and format doesn’t change the storytelling, and that burning need to tell stories is and will forever remain the heart and soul of Met and its students. It takes courage and passion to put your stories out there, and tenacity and determination to make these films. That’s the continuity from one cohort of Met students to its sequel, the next. But a sequel, by definition, has both continuity and new creativity. Creativity is driven by conflicts, tension, and juxtapositions. That’s why communities that face existential threats generate great story-telling traditions. Storytellers love uncertainty, stories come out of chaos and make sense of it. They become society’s therapists. Maybe that’s the very essence of culture. There’s a very obvious tension staring into the face of current Met cohorts, an event which has jumped right out at us and likely needs a bit of that therapy. To whatever degree you are happy or sad about the outcome of the Brexit referendum, there is one thing that is incontrovertibly true – which is that Britain has wandered into unchartered waters. We have either exposed or created deep fragmentations in society; there are political, economic and social repercussions throughout Europe and the world; and for many of us there are simply more uncertainties to grapple with than there were a few weeks ago. Rather than dwell on this, we’d like to do something proactive and do what Met Film does best, make great content. So we’ve decided to set ourselves, our alumni, students and prospective students a challenge. We want you to create content, which could be a video, or could be something else, which start from this place. It could be a message of hope or it could be satire - it could even be both. We will launch a competition around this officially next week, but I wanted to give you a heads up to get you thinking. All power to you, storytellers.
Jonny Persey | Chief Executive
The editorial team for this publication were: Teri Quappe, Sarah Saifi, Jessica O’Sullivan and Rasmus Nordin.