Kristen Buckley

The idea of a shipwreck resonates with our terror of oblivion, of the failure of vessels of containment in the encounter with the seas of life and the frenzy of winds and waves.

If the ship with sails unfurled proudly skimming the sea evokes hope, deliverance, salvation, bounty, the heroic and adventuresome spirit of humankind, then shipwreck is their overthrow; a symbol of inundation, misfortune, the anger of the gods, terrifying descent into the churning waters of chaos or the unfathomable abyss of death.

Shipwreck represents collisions with fate, unseen dangers, blinding fogs.

“Ship” has long been an analogy for a whole that depends on the cooperation of the parts and is governed by a “captain’.

Classical philosophy depicted the human body as a ship in which the reasoning soul was the helmsman.

As the feminine figureheads on ships attest, ship catches the projection of containing and protective womb. Shipwreck is felt, and feared, as maternal defeat or betrayal, as womb becomes tomb, as coffin that carries the shipwrecked soul down and down…

Explication of Presence: The process of making something clear.  It’s not just about emotion – it also includes texture, experience, quality and the feel of things.

Awareness of Perception: Doesn’t so much lead one to the next as it folds one inside the other, like the process of thinking.  (This is not about metaphor)

Art is about the aesthetic perception of the viewer. The way the sun strikes a building at a particular time of day can be art. It’s about entering into the space vs trying to impose the space to fit our narrative will.

The Old Values of the world – the humanistic values that we hold so dear – don’t speak to presence and perception.

Metaphor is limiting in terms of experience because it doesn’t fully get to the meaning of things.

The irony for most artists is that aesthetic is rooted in experience so work needs to exist in order to be experienced.

Change is the most basic dynamic of our universe and our spaces need to do more to create acceptance of this. Everything in life is continuing, ongoing and unfurling. This is not a world view shaped by existential angst but by phenomenological wonder. It’s about becoming not being. Living your curiosity. Tapping into potential. Setting in motion your own meaning.

1 – What is the character literally doing: What is the doable action?

2 – What is the essential action behind the literal action aka the OBJECTIVE?

3 – What is the nature of the relationship between the characters?

4 – Forget what the character is feeling and focus on what she is trying to accomplish.  

The scene then becomes about the degree to which she succeeds or fails and the reaction of the other person while she’s trying to fulfill her action. And the beats that make up that scene are the tools with which the character tries to fulfill her objective.

Do not confuse the objective of the character with the result.

Do not show the idiosyncrasies of a character (their wacky habits/their odd knowledge) show the STRUGGLE of the character.

The Bothersome Man (2006) Norway – bright lighting and dull color palette converge to represent a world of emptiness.

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

Dreams (Kurosawa 1990) – A memorable anthology of human failure to realize the importance of our connection to nature.

The City of Lost Children (Jenet 1995) – Bad guy kidnaps children to steal their dreams

Waking Life (Linklater 2001)

The Woman in the Window (Fritz Lang 1944)

Spellbound (Hitchcock 45)

Paprika (Satoshi Kon 2006) – Dream world and reality begin to intertwine

Mullholland Drive (Lynch)

The Good Night (2007)