|
| You are visitor: |
| Last updated: 16 June 2003 |
| The Verisimilitude of All Literary Endeavours Part 1 Filmed in its entirety over the course of Wednesday 3rd January 2001, The Verisimilitude of All Literary Endeavours was an important event both in terms of what it would mean for CherryPie Productions, and how it would affect Stephen's future relationship with DLIADT. Made to fulfill the 'personal vision' component of the course, the film had no budget and no crew, and was shot using the same VHS-C camcorder that had recorded both Admonition and the Cartel video. Having an even stronger literary basis than Oedipus: A Context, Admonition or The Gates of Paradise, The Verisimilitude was essentially a metaphorical form of protest, disguised as a piece of self-mockery. Having no real plot and no original dialogue, the film was heavily criticised by some of the staff of DLIADT (which was precisely the reaction Stephen had hoped for), and the editing of the film it was ultimately one of the most important factors in Stephen's decision to leave the land of Hades that called itself a college. Far more important than this however was the fact that the film reunited Stephen and Martin in a creative context for the first time since the filming of Admonition, and although, aesthetically and narratively, The Verisimilitude is not nearly as accomplished as their previous collaboration, in terms of symbolism, they may have actually exceeded their earlier effort. Idea Genesis: Like The Gates of Paradise, the origins of The Verisimilitude can be found in the requirements of the first year film and video course in the pit of hell known as DLIADT. As part of the course, over the Christmas holidays, every member of the class had to write, produce and direct their own film, which was then to be edited upon return to the college and assessed at the end of February. Entitled the Personal Vision Project, there were basically no restrictions whatsoever on the film, which could be as long or as short as was necessary, could be shot on any format, with as large or as small a crew as needed, and could be about anything at all. The only additional requirements were that it was fully shot by January 8, was fully edited by February 20, and that a diary of the making of the film was turned in by May 8 (the end of year assessment date). This was all laid out in early November, which left plenty of time for development of an idea, the diary being the key to this process as everything that each student thought about their respective project was supposed to go into this diary, including rejected ideas. As such, Stephen essentially came up with 2 possible ideas in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Neither of these ideas were ever really developed beyond a preliminary theory however, with the first idea (a story of a pyromaniac) never even getting a title, and the second, which Stephen entitled Personal Apocalypse, beingrejected after a few days as far too complex to shoot on his own. It was at this stage, with no real idea where he was heading, that Stephen hit upon the idea for The Verisimilitude, and it was all thanks to Sheryl Crow. In the weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays, Stephen had become increaingly disillusioned with DLIADT. He found the staff to be incompetent, the students to be ignorant, arrogant and childish, the course to be stiffling, and the overall atmosphere to be unpleasant. As time wore on, he had been thinking more and more about his time in St. Pat's, Drumcondra and how much he missed studying literature. He had recently hit on the notion that perhaps Pat's had spoiled him for other colleges, and that he would never truly come to except the far more garrulous environment of DLIADT, complete with its utter rejection (and lack of understanding) of all things literary. Thus it was that in late December Stephen was listening to the Sheryl Crow album The Globe Sessions when he heard some lyrics that struck a particularly resonant cord with his current thought processes. One of the songs on that album, 'Crash and Burn', features the lyrics 'Somebody said you got to get away,/To want to go back home again', and it was upon hearing these words in his particular frame of mind that Stephen began to imagine The Verismilitiude. Stephen knew that Pat's would always be more of a home to him than DLIADT could ever hope to be, and more specifically, he realised that, as much as he loved film, literature was where his heart and soul were. By going from Pat's to DLIADT, Stephen had essentially rejected literature for film, but he had made a mistake in doing so, and he now realised this mistake, coming to the conclusion that his education would be better served if he returned to the world of literature. Stephen had realised that his purpose and being where located in literature, not film. Ironically however, he now needed to make a film to express this realisation. on to the verisimilitude of all literary endeavours page 2 back to home back to products links page |