storytelling

  • Navel of the World

    At the approx. geographical center of my long-time barefoot-training parkour, presenting a flm-installation displaying the tumultuous life and times of Beach-Inn restaurant owner Peter de Bie. The film was shot in his beach restaurant in 2007 on Kodak Vision 3 filmstock (5219 and 7219); both the film and the restaurant came a long way before they finally united for this celebration with a live interview. It took place in the construction --  rebuilt from scratch, using heavy 18th century wood from Amsterdam -- by carpenter Peer and his team.

    Project website: usedstorystore.com

    Article Haarlems Dagblad/IJmuider Courant: haarlemsdagblad.nl

  • SAR_act_1.3

    Above: FP-SAR-4-30K-BL-training. SAR: resilience.

  • SAR_act_2.1.1

    Above: SAR FP 30K BL. SAR [act 2.1.1] : comfort-zone.

  • SAR_act_2.1.3

    Above: FP 30K SAR BL training. SAR [ act 2.1.3 ]: licensed beginner.

  • SAR_act_2.2.2

    Above: FP SAR 28K BLT. SAR [ act 2.2.2 ] : protagonist.

    "All I need to make a comedy, is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl."

    Charles Chaplin, as quoted in documentary 'Charlie: the life and art of Charles Chaplin' by Richard Schickel (2003)

    Learn about protagonisthttp://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/martin-scorsese-in-conversation-guilt-trips-of-the-great-director-9000873.html

  • SAR_epilogue

    Above: PGIA SAR BL 30K. Sar [ epilogue ] : toolbox.

    As shown in the previous contributions, individual SAR-trainings are united into a patchwork, or paradigm, that very much resembles the way dramatic screenplays and movies are constructed. Many of the films that I have seen (and liked), seem to be built from 14 equal parts, which are structred and united into four main portions (acts); preceded and topped off by (respectively) an introduction (prologue) and the conclusion (epilogue).

    P - act 1- act 2.1 - act 2.2 - act 3 - E

    ____________  x _____________

    1) In the prologue (1/14) the main problem is introduced: there is conflict on every level.

    In his recent blog 'The secret to optimal performance', Coach Mark Divine delivers a great insight in the moment where the protagonist is propelled into action: "While flying into Baghdad International on a C-130 I was about as nervous as I have ever been. It’s not every day that you fly into a hot combat zone with a weapon you haven’t had time to prepare with. That really got my sweat pumps flowing. My stress levels were rising fast, and I wasn’t sure what to do. So I got out of my seat and began to do whatever pose came to my mind, focusing deeply on my breathing to calm myself down. [ … ] That moment was the first official Warrior Yoga training session."

    2) Act 1 (2/14 - 4/14) focuses on the emotion, establishing the main context, time and lighting.

    3) Act 2.1 (5 - 7) is about darkness, comfort-zone, obstacle, imprisonment, being locked up, visually it is about lenses.

    4) Act 2.2 (8 - 10) is about character, the will, his feelings, also about key-light and camera-angle.

    5) Act 3 (11 -13) is about fill lighting, about being part of the environment, about chemistry, about the look and feel, the unity of the elements  (light and shadow).

    6) The epilogue (14/14) shows the resolved situation, the conclusion, the return to restored equilibrium.

    X resembles the midpoint of the story. Which is a major turning point. Look at the great films: it usually resembles both a sacrifice and a birth that will lead up to a sound battle plan, needed to resolve the problems at hand. Take note of the midpoint of 'Seven Samurai' by director Akira Kurosawa for example. In that scene the village-elder is consulted at his home in the watermill. The Samurai squad leader reveals the strategy, while he carries a baby-child (new-life) on his lap, advising the villagers to abandon -- sacrifice -- the houses outside the village ring and focus all strength on protecting the area within the compound.

    In SAR training the use of the storytelling-paradigm can not be separated from the application of PGIA [ Photo Generated Injury Analysis ]. The images shot right-after-finishing-training, visualise what can only be fully seen and understood trough the use of PGIA. Looking with an extra set of eyes; seeing what is visible from an external-perspective only. The stuff we are unable to see, experience, digest and strengthen our immune system with, ourselves -- however obvious to others! The proverbial log: "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?" What Mark Divine refers to as BOO, Background of Obviousness: belief systems and undercurrents in our subconscious that are so obvious that we don't notice them.

    As is with motion-picture storytelling, images are used to tell the story and to make the audience aware ("The silent pictures were the purest form of cinema" - Alfred Hitchcock). The audience might see the monster approaching behind the protagonist, the main character himself may not be aware of its approach then and there and be conscious of its danger. He will though, some time later, when he finds himself in the middle of the problem, face to face with accute-danger, he is forced to get into action! As the Reverend Joshua Duncan Sloane-character says in the Sam Peckinpah movie 'The Ballad of Cable Hogue' (1970): "I see tragedy has already struck this cactus Eden".  

    In real life the monsters approaching us can be as small as an insect (see 'prologue', upper-left-side-frame), or a vainly, too tightly knit trousers-band around the left-leg, pinching the bloodstream, some time later leading to Shin Splints: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/61-midsumer-saturday-morning-run-wind-sun-water-32kms  (and using SAR to heal that).

    Previous 13 trainings on row:

    Prologue: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/109-sar-1-storytelling-1-14-prologue

    Act 1.1: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/110-sar-2-storytelling-2-14-part1-3

    Act 1.2: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/111-sar-3-storytelling-act-1-2

    Act 1.3: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/112-sar-storytelling-4-act-1-3 

    Act 2.1.1: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/113-sar-storytelling-5-act-2-1-1

    Act 2.1.2: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/114-sar-act-2-1-2

    Act 2.1.3: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/115-sar-act-2-1-3

    Act 2.2.1: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/116-sar-act-2-2-1

    Act 2.2.2: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/117-sar-act-2-2-2

    Act 2.2.3: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/118-sar-act-2-2-3

    Act 3.1: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/119-sar-act-3-1

    Act 3.2: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/120-sar-act-3-2

    Act 3.3: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/122-sar-act-3-3-storytelling

    See also (quoting director Akira Kurosawa): http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/97-sar-7-along-the-way

    About PGIA: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/122-sar-act-3-3-storytelling

    More about 'Seven Samurai' (1954): http://www.criterion.com/films/165-seven-samurai

    'The secret to optimal performance': http://sealfit.com/sealfit-blog/sealfit-blog-the-secret-to-optimal-performance/?utm_source=SEALFIT&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=blog

  • SAR_prologue

    Above: FP SAR 30K-BL-training. Sar training: Peal it off, adjust the parts and reassemble.

  • SAR_sarsential™_toolbox_x

     

    Above: SAR¹ 30KMS BLMT² midpoint [ x ] training. Sarsential x: the Kambei-Point of View [ midpoint in the narrative; redirecting negativism towards reasonability and decisiveness, from an empathic POV ].

    "The waterwheel makes its regular noise throughout the scene, emphasising the pauses." -- Akira Kurosawa in 'Seven Samurai' shooting script.

    Midpoint: the Samurai squad-leader Kambei-character -- performed by actor Takashi Shimura in 'Seven Samurai' (1954) -- moment. The moment where the character shuts-down negativety ("I know how you feel, but you have to. We can't defend these outlying farms."), previsualize's victory (battleplan) and starts building it! Eye's off the self now, eye's on the team-effort!

    In the midpoint scene in the film, the Samurai-squad-members share their strategy for dealing with the bandits and protect the village and the inhabitants. The villagers respond reluctant, negative, scared, hysteric. It seems negativism is hysteria in the making! At midpoint x, it is removed and replaced by a positive attitude, radiating decisiveness. 

    From the original shooting-script, page 137:

    Close-up ofGISAKU in the wind mill with a women behind him looking worried. They both look towards something off-screen. The woman puts a hand on the old man's shoulder with a cry of distress.
    Medium close-up ofMOSUKE withGOROBEI just in shot beside him.
    He looks atGOROBEI fearfully. Other farmers are gathered behind him, open-mouthed with amazement.

    MOSUKE: You mean I have to leave my place?
    (Close-up ofGISAKU, with his son and his son's wife, just behind him, frowning worriedly. The son stands up but his wife pulls him down, looking away nervously.
    Medium shot ofGISAKU sitting in the middle of the room withKAMBEI , his son and his wife behind him andGOROBEI andMANZO beside him.KAMBEI is holding a small child in his arms. Tilt up with him as he stands up, still holding the child. He paces backwards and forewords in the foreground, back to camera. The waterwheel makes its regular noise throughout the scene, emphasising the pauses.)

    KAMBEI: I know how you feel, but you have to. We can't defend these outlying farms.
    (KAMBEI continues to pace about. Suddenly the wife bursts into tears.)

    From: Seven Samurai and Other Screenplays by Akira Kurosawa, collection first published in 1992 by Faber and Faber Limited, London.

    More on "x": http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/123-sar-epilogue

    More on Akira Kurosawa: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/97-sar-7-along-the-way

    ¹ Strategic Alert Running

    ² Best Level Mixed Terrain