Experimental - post 10 - Research/influence - Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Tarkovsky is a brilliant cinematographer who comes to mind with the parameters or motifs within our project.  “Tarkovsky for me is the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream.” Ingmar Bergman. This is a beautiful statement that truly reflects Tarkovsky’s work and something that I can only hope to develop and hold substance within our project; Life as a reflection, life as a dream. He creates stunning visuals, utilising recurrent themes of reflections, movements in water, billowing fires and candle lights. Viewing his work you believe the probability that it is very revealing of his personal self, displaying his thoughts and emotions on screen, particularly palatable in 'The Mirror' (1975) which is bordering on an autobiographical depiction of his life on screen. I think there is a case for arguing Tarkovsky's work as experimental in form, referring to the reading material provided by the university which states 'the film maker may want to express personal experiences or view points', an expression of an artists self is clearly visible, and the way in which he captures and develops a scene through a single take offers real alternative to mainstream cinema, it is a definite 'art film'. There are recurrent themes of the metaphysical and supernatural sides of life, rendering his work within the category of art film, beguiled with ambiguity and stepping away from convention and restraint. He moreover uses extremely long smooth takes that develops slowly through the location whilst the characters narratives progress. As previously stated I want to develop a reflection of character, whilst also capturing reflections in water, questioning the realms of what is reality? Whilst scoping for locations as previously posted, I also saw the movement of grass under a small stream, which reminded me of the opening to ‘Solaris’ (1972) where the grass waves in slow motion, which I thought would work well in creating this life as a dream idea.     

This is the most well know images from Tarkovsky's work from the film 'Stalker' (1979), which captures the beauty of reflections in water, which I want to capture whilst maybe in a differing style.

'The Mirror' (1975)