Independent Study

Question:

In "The Pianist," (Roman Polanski) and "The Downfall," (Oliver Hirschbiegel), how do both movies illustrate a negative optic of WWII?

Rationale:

Analysing a binary cultured set of movies, one from a German perspective, and the other one from a Polish one (co-producted by Poland, France, Germany and the UK), my intention is to conform a study of the kind of optic placed on war and propaganda. My goal is to prove how both sides of the conflict, more than half a century after the conflict, portray a negative impression of war and its experiences. To to this, I'm going to focus on the dramatic impact of these movies, ranging from character presentation, narrative, and filmic approaches (lighting, sound, shot types).

Production Journal

Location Scouting:
Locations are firmly decided:

First part is filmed at Abril CC, second will be at Ortiz de Ocampo and Libertador, a friend's house, in a party mood, to convey a diametrically opposite setting.

Filming: shooting began its process, as we could film the pool scene, in which our actor, Tomas, threw himself into the water. We shot three takes, from different angles and using two cameras (GoPro and Sony HD), trying to keep setting conditions equal.
A complication was the extreme cold conditions in which we did the shooting (it was a tough time). I personally had to remain inside te pool to fill with the GoPro from underwater.

I think it was an effective start. Although the amount of rough footage we achieved was not too long, it was from a crucial scene which was set from the start.

For that first section of the film, shooting will be ended this weekend.

STRUCTURE:
We decided the film should be divided into at least two sections, which would be separed by character and setting differentiation. This relates directly to the theme. Two parallel stories are portrayed, and linked by several fimic and conceptual elements.
(An inclusion of a third, short section is still optional)