LAUREN RUSSELL PORTFOLIO
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"PHANTASMAGORIA" SHORT FILM
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2023
"PHANTASMAGORIA"
SUMMARY
My brother's favourite word: "Phantasmagoria". A conversation that sparked my interest within the scientific research on sleeping patterns and the imagery our brains project during our subconscious states. Seeing with our eyes closed shut; images reflecting fears, internal thoughts, desires, replaying memories and even cases of dejà vu - how exactly do these fleeting images cross our reality when awake and how do these momentary montages reflect our character?
Phantasmagoria is argued being the repression from consciousness and yet inscribed in the ideological process, catalysed by hysteria and the neurotic process.
My short film (made with mixed media frames) attempts to translate these phantasmagoric, dream-like sequences that we experience during such states, the colourful rapidity juxtaposed with the otherwise mundane and dull lens we are so used to in our fully conscious hours, highlights the otherworldliness of dreams and how little we know about such activity. Auditory, visual and tangible hallucinations are other sectors of phantasmagoria and can form without the need of REM sleep. My depiction of phantasmagoria is relevant to my own individual experience and overlaps with my passion of horror in filmmaking - always showcasing the grotesque and disturbing aspects in everything that I can.
Narrative: Oscar, a tired student, inspects himself in the mirror. Exhausted, he feels himself drifting into sleep as he stumbles into his room to collapse onto his bed, as he does so, he's suddenly transported to a rapid succession of images, bleeding into one another and overwhelming him back to reality. Shocked and out of breath, he readjusts to his surroundings and wonders where exactly he went.
LOCATION SCOUTING
BEHIND THE SCENES
SKETCHBOOK RESEARCH
ARTIST RESEARCH AND RESPONSES
With strong themes of memory fragmentation and identity, during my location scouting for my final piece and planning for the shoot day, I decided to use the pictures taken to replicate one of my artist references to demonstrate my knowledge of their technique.
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"PHANTASMAGORIA" PHOSPHENE FILM
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2023
"PHOSPHENE IMAGERY"
SUMMARY
Phosphenes refer to the visual perceptions of light, patterns, or flashes that occur in the absence of external light stimulation. These subjective visual sensations can manifest as dots, lines, or geometric shapes and are typically observed when the eyes are closed or in low-light conditions. Phosphenes can be induced by various stimuli such as mechanical pressure on the eyeballs, electrical stimulation, or even spontaneous neural activity within the visual system. They are essentially the result of the brain's interpretation of sensory input when visual stimuli are limited or absent.
I wanted to replicate this by using my already scanned film rolls from my development outcomes and edit them – playing around with colour, layering and composition. I created a plethora of outcomes and chose the ones that worked best in sequence. Different opacity and layers of different sections of the film rolls presented different qualities and enabled me to experiment and showcase my perspective of dream-like imagery.
Though the film rolls themselves were physically manipulated through bleach, etching, colouring etc, I edited the raw scans on procreate using my iPad. After asking for feedback from my peers in regards to these edited frames, the abstract nature of them brought different interpretations – dizziness, dreaming, fairylike, drunkenness, subconscious, rubbing eyes, and psychedelics are just some of the words that people described when looking at my images.
BEHIND THE SCENES
This is a short experimentation that I did in response to Stan Brakhage’s work; exposing a unused roll of film, unravelling it out and then manipulating the film by using bleach (mostly sprayed), etching and scratching with a scalpel, painting with washing up liquid and burning with a lighter. I then developed and scanned this film, later transferring it to my iPad and ordered the pictures in a sequence that worked best. After doing so, I collated these images together through the editing software ,premiere rush, and experimented with overlays to distort the pace of the video as opposed to changing the duration of each image individually. The audio used is my headphones microphone between my bed duvet; rustling it.
FINAL LAYOUT FOR EXHIBITION
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"THE FOLLOWER" SHORT FILM
BFI FILM ACADEMY 2023
FOLKESTONE CINEMA SCREENING
My short film premiered at the Silver Screen Cinema in Folkestone and is set to screen at the BFI Young Programmers Festival 2024 in Sheffield (February 16th). I had the opportunity to present and further discuss my screenplay during the audience Q&A and noted down feedback to evidence for my silver Arts Award.
BEHIND THE SCENES
•Produced ideas with authentic research to support my process of pitch to production.
•Adapted script through prioritised critical feedback.
•Designed promotional graphic posters for short film with flexibility; integrating feedback and sending updated versions efficiently to meet deadlines.
•Produced and ran a shooting schedule effectively, communicating with director and producer.
•Liaised with the crew, sending actors to costume/makeup for filming in between set-ups.
•Ensured safety at all times, assessing spaces and technicalities, authorising set dresses and moving of props with directors.
•Successfully collaborated with Producers, Directors and actors redrafting the script to suit scenes.
Though my allocated jobs were screenwriter and first AD, as first AD, when people in their departments were elsewhere and things were falling behind, I had to stick to schedule and help where I could. In pre-production, I communicated with all department heads what was needed and what tasks needed to be done, myself and the producer took over the Art department when the art director was late to call-time. I provided many of the props, in preparation, I hand–made props and part of the set.
As the screenwriter, I intentionally set the film during the winter months and Christmas as I knew we were scheduled to film at that time for the BFI programme, so when myself and the rest of the crew saw some Christmas decorations already displayed by the staff at Screen Studios, it made our jobs much easier. This also affected the costuming of the cast and integrated well into plot and cinematography of the film (hand-held camera and post production colour grading being cold).
I did 8 script drafts for “The Follower”, not including the quick changes made on our shoot day. This taught me to prioritise my time management and to allow myself to cut content deemed unnecessary; meeting deadlines and integrating feedback from my peers and tutors. I had never written a screenplay before this, I had only written scripts for theatre shows, the format of each slightly different and with different purposes.
EDITING FILM POSTER AND PREMIERE CONTENT
"THE FOLLOWER"
SUMMARY
I wrote this short film in December 2022 as part of the BFI Film Academy course for young aspiring film-makers in Kent.
This course was held at Screen South Studios in Folkestone and is available for people aged 16-19. 20 young people from Kent with a passion for filmmaking are given a chance to meet with high end film industry professionals, such as directors, writers and producers, and link in with organisations like BAFTA for other great opportunities in Documentary, Animation, Visual Effects and BAFTA mentoring. Those who successfully complete the course become BFI Film Academy alumni and receive future signposting and opportunities. In the past, Screen South has received support from The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust and Maidstone Studios to run the Kent BFI Film Academy.
When first writing this script, I decided to kickstart my initial ideas by focusing on a specific object or mundane aspect of the story and focus and build around that – much like a MacGuffin which is used to trigger the plot (in my case, I imagined the shots of the shoes and what characteristics that gave to the supporting artists, although, in reality, they were not the sole focus of the film). I knew that I wanted to write suspense and knew that good writing would come from what I know – so I decided to base this short film on the Nordic folklore of the näcken/ näkki/ nøkk. A male water spirit who played enchanted songs on the violin, luring women and children to drown in lakes or streams. This is the main inspiration for my antagonist.
I wrote this screenplay, I cast the majority of the characters, advertised this film – creating graphical posters for both the screening and film itself. I acted as the first AD and created the schedules and prep for the shoot, managing all parties involved and directed actors to different departments. I researched and mapped out the set, costume and makeup design, I dressed locations during shooting. I hand- made props and moved equipment on sight. I managed cast and crew and made sure that safety standards were met. All of this was shot within one day, so effective time management was my upmost priority.
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"BRUSHING TEETH" SHORT FILM
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2023
"BRUSHING TEETH"
SUMMARY
For the first week of my Lens Based Media course at UCA, I was tasked with the week -long project “Tell me the story”. The brief was to create a narrative using 36 black and white still images with the possibility of an additional 30 seconds of moving image. Straight away, I started to sketch up a storyboard and knew I wanted to experiment with shutter speed as our introductory lens based class was spent experimenting with camera settings. I knew I would most likely be filming by myself with the deadline given and so the location was narrowed down to my house – I wanted to film in a controlled environment without worry of weather or daylight hours. Though arguably cliché, I set it in my bathroom, I knew it was big enough for my hired-out tripod and it could be easily edited to give a grimy, horror-esque aesthetic. I have fillings in my teeth so I wanted that to be the starting frame as I knew gaps and imperfections would be highlighted in the black and white contrast. I wrote down all the possible set ups after story boarding to minimise the amount of time it would take to shoot – my hardest set up was the above wide shot in the hallway, I had to use both a stool and the tripod at its highest limit bearing in mind that I’m 5’2 myself, this was a hard task, but when executed, it mirrored the cctv feel that I had envisioned when scaling this project logistically. I kept to the limitations of the task and manage to create suspense through visual codes, framing choices and audio. The audio was filmed by myself – rustling my bed sheets, screaming into my pillow and layering/distorting my voice over in edit.
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"MEMENTO" SHORT FILM
"MEMENTO" SHORT FILM
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2023
"MEMENTO"
SUMMARY
The project ‘Memento – Traces of identity’ was a much vaguer brief compared to ones given before, allowing us to choose what type of outcome(s) we wanted to explore. I decided that I wanted to try and use one of the old monitors in the closet of our classroom, I wanted to attempt to use a media player so that if I wanted to use these screens for future projects then I would know how. I also wanted to edit a video to load onto the screen for nostalgic effect. The video above is a series of videos, some more random than others – displaying a continual loop montage of memories, trapped inside a boxy and dated monitor, ready to be watched over and over by viewers with the yearn of nostalgia. This allowed me to experiment with different editing styles and effects, liking cutting frame rates and blurring camera footage to give an hazy memory affect.
Transferring my video onto the monitor made the video more connected to the idea of nostalgia, placing the viewer in a voyeuristic position, looking back at memories not of their own.
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"CAMERA ROLL COMPILATIONS"
TIKTOK SOCIAL MEDIA
"CAMERA ROLL COMPILATIONS"
SUMMARY
When not attending to a brief or an assigned project, I create short snippet-like compilation edits of videos and images I’ve taken that stay in my camera roll. I upload these edits to Tiktok and in the shorts section of my Youtube channel.
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"35MM FILM CAMERA EXPERIMENTATION"
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
"35MM FILM CAMERA EXPERIMATIONS "
SUMMARY
During my time at UCA, I experimented a lot with 35mm Film cameras, and learned how to assess the environment for ISO, shutter speed and exposure. Above is a selection of some of the pictures taken on campus during my break.
Through this exercise, I was able to develop and scan film for the first time and figure out resolution settings.
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"ANTI-HERO" PROJECT
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
Graphic Design – Wednesday Addams ‘Anti-Hero’ UCA project, model: Bibby Wild | 2022
Graphic Design – Wednesday Addams ‘Anti-Hero’ UCA project, model: Bibby Wild
Hand model: Bajram Turner – Rucci | 2022
Graphic Design – Wednesday Addams ‘Anti-Hero’ UCA project, model: Bibby Wild | 2022
BEHIND THE SCENES
"ANTI-HERO" PROJECT
SUMMARY
Despite being ill and absent for the handout of this project brief, it was one of my favourites given to me by UCA. In the span of three days, I was able to photograph and edit a friend of mine and turn her into Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family. The Netflix show was very much at its peak popularity at the time and felt like a fitting choice.
Bibby was shooting for another student’s project when I asked if she could stay for another twenty minutes so i could take her picture using props already in the studio. I knew that I could edit her skin to be paler and her features to be darker to mirror the Tim Burton adaptation. I quickly searched some reference images on my iPad from the hit show to get some poses for Bibby to do, I liked her eyeline and smile and thought her features suited the sadistic character. I wrapped her in a trench coat and put her hair into pigtails and made do with what I had. I then got Bajram (the student shooting Bibby before) to tense his hand where I then edited it onto Bibby (Wednesday) as the ‘Thing’.
Props like the umbrella and rig clamps allowed me to fill the negative space and make the images more dynamic with poses – this also introduced the opportunity to edit using procreate.
I used references of lightning images to replicate electricity going through the massive ‘crocodile clips’ which referenced the scene of Wednesday electrocuting her brother Pugsley in the electric chair from the 1991 film, The Addams Family. Both the umbrella and the Thing images are references from the marketing pictures of the Netflix adaptation starring Jenna Ortega.
With both of the subjects, dramatic lighting and editing, the outcomes came out well.
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"LIGHTING AND HEADSHOTS" EXPERIMATION
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
Headshots for classmates UCA | models: Travis Jones and Eleanor Ribbon
REMBRANDT LIGHTING WORKSHOP
"LIGHTING AND HEADSHOTS" EXPERIMENTATION
SUMMARY
Rembrandt lighting is a photographic lighting technique named after the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn, who often used similar lighting in his paintings. It involves illuminating the subject from a specific angle to create a distinctive triangular highlight on one side of the face, while the opposite side of the face is partially shadowed. The defining characteristic of Rembrandt lighting is the triangle of light formed under the eye on the shadow side of the face. This lighting setup adds depth and dimension to the subject's features, creating a classic and dramatic effect often associated with Rembrandt's paintings.
During the course of my time at UCA, I was requested to take headshots for some other students to use for their respective portfolio for acting/modelling, this was the first time I used my camera in a professional studio and the first time I shot portraiture for ‘clients’.
This also gave me the opportunity to play around with lighting techniques – experimenting with temperature, saturation, and composition of light. This also supported my understanding of exposure, iso and shutter speed.
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"PROPAGANDA" PROJECT
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
"PROPAGANDA" PROJECT
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
"PROPAGANDA" PROJECT
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
Propaganda refers to information, ideas, or rumours spread deliberately to influence opinions, beliefs, attitudes, or actions, often in a biased or misleading manner. It can be disseminated through various mediums such as speeches, posters, advertisements, or social media platforms with the aim of promoting a particular agenda, viewpoint, or ideology.
My task was to create an outcome involving the themes of propaganda, so I decided to reflect the stark contrast from different perspectives in the same place – Hong Kong.
My family lived in Hong Kong in 1984, when the British and Chinese governments signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration which stated that the sovereignty of Hong Kong should be transferred to the PRC on 1 July 1997. My mother and her partner were part of the British Army and sectioned there, my sister was then born there in March 1989 – just two months before the Tiananmen Square massacre.
In my project I wanted to juxtapose these two realities that happened at the same time, one of western blissful ignorance and the other as living political horror. Not only did I juxtapose this contrast with colour, but the overlapping acetate shows the overlapping timeline of events and how, though close in location, these events are starkly different. This project, to me, symbolises how we perceive events from the past through different lenses, either through media, personal memory or propaganda.
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UCA MINI PROJECT OUTCOMES
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
UCA MINI PROJECT OUTCOMES
UNIVERSITY FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS 2022
UCA MINI PROJECT OUTCOMES
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
Above is a selection of introductory projects from all art classes offered at UCA:
3D studies, Visual Communications, Fine Art, Fashion and Lens Based Media. As a foundation year student, we are taken through this carousel of subjects before specialising in what we like best and are best suited to. Though I enjoyed many of the exercises during this trial period, Lens Based Media was always my first choice as it closely related to Film.
3D studies taught us about form and folds in our environments – creating perspective by placing smaller objects in front of our sculptures and destroying them after.
Fashion taught us visual meaning and history through clothes, makeup, style, pose and colour. It allowed us to create using all different kinds of materials.
Visual Communications highlighted the importance of graphical media and what role it plays in politics, how it targets specific audiences and how products are diversified to appeal to a variety of brands.
Fine Art was highly philosophical, constantly being questioned on why we as artists would execute the creative decisions we did and how drawing is a depiction of our perception as people.
Lens Based ,to me, is the most compelling out of them all and has allowed me to express my thoughts in a way that still imagery, sculpture or clothing couldn’t do.
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FILM POSTER AND COMIC ADAPTATIONS
ART GRAPHICS A LEVEL 2021
FILM POSTER AND COMIC ADAPTATIONS
ART GRAPHICS A LEVEL 2021
Freddie Krueger dream state | Using my brother as the subject, I digitally drew molten flesh on top of his shown bare skin to emulate Freddie Krueger and his appearance in the Nightmare on Elm Street film series.
Process of lino prints – drawing onto rubber, carving out negative space, rolling printing ink and pressing onto various paper/card. One is chosen and scanned and then dropped onto a Procreate canvas to be edited and made into film posters.
INK EXPERIMENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Ghoulish skull made using inked sticks and graphite on paper, 29.7cm x 42cm, 2021 and Unfinished piece made using graphite and black Indian ink, 29.7cm x 42cm | 2021
FILM POSTER AND COMIC ADAPTIONS
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
For my A-level final piece, I wanted to create something that people could physically hold and interact with, I wanted to do Psycho’s iconic shower scene in the comic style because of it’s stylistic camera shot angles, it’s exciting and visually stimulating to watch on screen, so I challenged it on paper and it read the same as it did in the film – disturbingly engaging. I also wanted the emphasis to be on the cinematography and artistic imagery so choosing this scene from this film, as opposed to my other focused films, (A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Shining) where dialogue in prevalent for a lot of their iconic scenes.
This was my first time creating art digitally, I taught myself how to use procreate as there were limited sources to learn adobe software at my sixth form at the time, I had recently bought an iPad for my birthday and Christmas and knew that I wanted to test its capabilities and potential as quickly as I could. I enjoyed combining both digital and traditional work and to be able to create and physical art piece that people could read and interact with.
