Introduction
After much research about the three psychoanalysis film theories by Lacan, Mulvey and Freud, I was given a brief to create my own psychoanalysis film that explores one or more of the theories. I chose to focus on Lacan and his theory of 'lack' because I felt that I understood the idea behind it more than the others. I aimed to show this theory through various techniques, camera movements and angles, shot types and through editing.
My film is a short documentary that follows the obsession of a young man, Jordan, who is obsessed with the 1971 Volkswagen Beetle that he has been restoring since he was 14 years old.
Planning
Before making my psychoanalytical film, I conducted some research on three different psychoanalysis film theories from Freud, Lacan and Mulvey. This enabled me to understand the meanings behind films in more depth and the theories that some filmmakers use when creating a film. I viewed several texts including Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog, Married To The Eiffel Tower by Agnieszka Piotrowska, Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky and Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock. These films gave me an insight into how producers and filmmakers get across their psychoanalytical messages through different ways and means like camera angles, lighting etc.
What Went Well
I portrayed Lacan's theory effectively throughout the film, particularly through the mies-en-scene. All of the shots that you see are filmed in Jordan's car, in his garage or in his bedroom - emphasising the fact that he lives in 'small world' that revolves entirely around his beetle. This is very similar to the way that Herzog constructs Grizzly Man, as he likely has footage of Timothy Treadwell in other locations than in the park with the bears, such as in his home or at school, however he deliberately chose to use footage that really puts emphasis on his obsession with the bears and with nature and being outside.
In the interview sequences Jordan talks about how he works at a company that sells VW parts, he spends most of his time preparing for car shows, his brother and dad have bought beetles as well and about how he takes pride in cleaning and making adjustments to his car. All of this really echoes the fact that he lives and breathes for this car - but nothing he does to it is enough to fill the lack that he feels and therefore he continues to make adjustments and changes to it and it becomes an endless cycle.
I used various technical elements to portray Lacan's theory also, including using a shallow depth of field, experimenting with shot types, camera angles and camera movements.
I experimented a bit with sound, ensuring that the audio transitions between the non-diegetic music and the interview audio was smooth (adjusting the volume of the music whilst Jordan is speaking). I think that the narrative audio recording was particularly good as I recorded it in the studio, meaning that it was of the highest sound quality.
I also used a variety of different shot types and camera movements (pans, static shots, low angles, tilts etc) which made the film look more interesting and aesthetically pleasing. My use of hand-held camera movement made for a more authentic looking documentary, as many of the documentaries that I watched incorporated some hand held camera movement and my interview set up went quite well, as I made use of additional LED lights, tripods and audio equipment like microphones to attempt to get the most high quality footage that I could.
Improvements
Looking back on my final psychoanalysis film, I can see that there are definite improvements to be made. The main thing I noticed is the audio - some of the audio was recorded using the Zoom H1 microphone which sounds crisp and clear, however, I didn't manage to record all of the audio I wanted to with the external microphone so some of it was recorded in-camera, which sounds quite fuzzy and echoey. If I were to re-shoot, I would definitely ensure that I record all audio with the Zoom H1 mic, or even a boom mic, just so that I know it is of the highest quality. Another improvement I would make is in regards to the lighting - in the future I plan to film at the same time of day in each shoot as some of the footage that I took later on in the day is quite underexposed.
I also intend to consider more carefully how to use the LED lights when setting up and interview, as I am not satisfied with the outcome of the interview lighting. As I filmed these interview clips on two different days, the lighting looks different in each clip and in some, the fact that I have used additional lighting is too obvious and it is a little over exposed and bright.
Effective Judgements
I made countless decisions throughout the filming process, as many unexpected problems occurred. For example, before filming, I didn't think to film at the same time of day on each individual shoot as the lighting would be different at different times of day. To combat this problem I made the decision to film in the morning, rather than in the late afternoon or evening on each shoot because this is when the natural ambient lighting was best.
Another problem I faced was that I found it very difficult to match up the audio I recorded on the microphone to the footage I filmed on the camera, so unfortunately I had to use a lot of footage that had the audio recorded in-camera which meant that the audio wasn't the best quality however it saved a lot of time that I could spend putting the overall video together. I did however use the better quality audio over the top of other footage of the car, rather than over the interview footage, almost like a voice over which was very effective.
Health and Safety
Throughout the filming process, I carried out various steps to ensure the safety of myself and the individuals who appeared in my film. These steps included: ensuring that there were no wires or cables laying around for people to trip over and injure themselves or damage the equipment, making sure that the microphones, cameras and lights were screwed onto the tripods correctly so that they did not fall off and ensuring that when the equipment was not in use it was put away safely and correctly and out of the way of anyone who could trip over it or damage it.
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