"Jamais Vu"

The following project is my junior narrative (COMM 347) project. Unlike other sections for this class, my professor thought it was best if each student had their own individual solo project. As seen with “Stolen Life,” most film projects promoted group work; however, the professor in this particular section thought there was more experience to be had if the student was able to do each role in a film project by him or herself.

“Jamais Vu” is an original film that I wrote for this project. Using the following design process, I will go over how the film came to be:

1. Analyze: The project description was to come up with a short film that follows the basic structure of a narrative. There had to be a plot (a three-act story with a beginning, middle, and end) as well as a message/theme that the student (as a filmmaker) was trying to send to the consumer (audience). The challenge in the pre-production analysis was coming up with a core theme or idea that would only need ten minutes to convey.

I have always had an interest in the idea of perception and had been researching different brain phenomena. I stumbled upon research done at a college on brain fatigue – a professor took his students and told them to write a single word out on a piece of paper as many times as they could in a minute. After a minute, the professor asked the students to look down at their paper and observe the word again. What did it look like? The results were interesting – some students, as they were writing the word repeatedly, suddenly forgot how to write out the word. They knew the definition and meaning of the word, but the form was lost to them. Others were able to complete the study, but the word they wrote no longer looked like a word – it seemed just a bunch of squiggles, line, and abnormal shapes. What happened to the students?

The idea of fatigue is that if you repeatedly put stress on something, it wears down – the same thing happens with the brain. Writing that word over and over again made the brain forget the form (temporarily, of course). This brain phenomenon is called ‘jamais vu’ – it is the opposite of déjà vu. Where déjà vu is the feeling of being in an unfamiliar situation and having it feel familiar (that moment where you say, “I feel I have done this before,” when you know you haven’t), jamais vu is the feeling of being in a familiar situation and having it become unfamiliar (writing a word, which you know, and slowly it becomes alien to you).

I decided to write a story where a scientist named Julius conducts experiments on brain fatigue. Julius believes that by repeating the form of letters to a subject, he could make a person temporarily forget how to read and write. Julius meets Geoffrey, a journalism major who is skeptical of the experiment but decides to go forth with it to prove Julius wrong. The experiment is successful and Geoffrey’s world is turned upside down when he can no longer read or understand anything. The effect of this induced jamais vu lasts longer than he expects and he begins to have a break down; however, Geoffrey comes to the realization that if he forgets worrying about when the jamais vu would wear off, he would be able to adapt to his new perception and move on. He tricks Julius in doing the experiment himself, and Julius cannot accept his new perception of the world. Julius has a nervous breakdown, and it is hinted at the end of the film that Geoffrey starts to understand words again (the jamais vu has worn off).

2. Brainstorm: The next step was to find out how tell this story in ten minutes. What sort of narrative techniques can be used to tell a lot of story in a short amount of time? Will the story be linear? Whose point of view should I tell this story? There were a lot of questions I asked myself. I thought the most interesting technique would start ‘in medias res’ (in the middle of the story). The story starts as a flashback (voice-over narrative) by Geoffrey who, at the beginning of the film, already underwent the experiment and had Julius undergo the experiment (however, the audience does not know this yet). Through flashback and voiceover narration, I was able to have Geoffrey verbally explain some of the dull parts of the story (rather than visually show it). This allowed more time for Geoffrey’s reaction to the experiment and how he copes with his new reality, which is what I wanted to focus more of the story on. As the flashback narrative was going on, I would intermediately flash back to the ‘present’ time of Geoffrey playing a game of Scrabble with Julius (again, the audience did not realize Geoffrey was with Julius). Finally, the flashback catches up with the ‘present’ time and the reveal of the story is that Julius has lost his mind. Geoffrey is not playing Scrabble in the traditional way – he is instead making shapes (in the case of the movie, a smiley face) because they is now how he temporarily gets around. However, in the lips of the smiley face are the words ‘Jamais Vu,’ and as Geoffrey explains how he no longer cares about fixing the jamais vu, I hint that he realizes he is slowly regaining his ability to read again. I felt this method of telling the story not only provided me the means of telling it in a ten minute frame, but the nonlinear way helped me break away from the traditional narrative form and play around with how to reveal major plot points.

3. Develop: The next phase of this design process was to physically go out and film the movie. There were multiple locations and days of shooting; with a production notebook I created that organized all my shots, I was able to shoot efficiently (although it still is a time consuming process). Mise-en-scene describes the design aspect of everything in the shot (minus the actors) – that means the background props, lighting, costumes, etc. As the director, I had to pay close attention of the mise-en-scene for each shot. A good example is the first meeting of Julius and Geoffrey. As they talk in a dormitory study hall, seen in Figure 18, I was very particular with their costumes.

Figure 18: Julius and Geoffrey’s First Encounter

Upon first glance, you may not realize why. Then I get to the shot of their handshake, shown in Figure 19. My hope in analyzing this shot is that you realize the color scheme – Julius, who is pinned as the antagonist of the film, has a black sleeve and Geoffrey, the main protagonist and hero of the film, has a white sleeve. These color distinctions subconsciously help you place who is good and who is bad in this film.

Figure 19: Julius and Geoffrey’s Handshake

These decisions were important to continue the themes and motifs I intended to tell throughout the entire story.

After everything was filmed, the next stop was to edit. Even though I had a very specific way to arrange the shots, there were still a lot of artistic decisions than an editor could make to change the whole scene. An example of this come from the first scene (which would be ‘present’ time, as the flashbacks begin and Geoffrey narrates his journey). Notice Geoffrey’s face and surroundings in Figure 20 – they look more brown/yellow than what you would think.

Figure 20: Geoffrey’s First Appearance

Are they really that color? No – I did some color correction to make it that way. So, why then, you may ask, did I make it that color? Let me back up to the first shot – the shot of Geoffrey’s Scrabble rack, as seen in Figure 21.

Figure 21: First Shot of Jamais Vu

If you notice, that first shot seems more natural – well, that’s because it is. In this scene, Geoffrey and Julius are involved in a game of Scrabble. Their world is currently Scrabble – the audience does not realize it (and even Julius’ character does not realize it since he, at this point, has had his breakdown). Therefore, I decided to change the hue of all the colors in the scene to a color similar of the Scrabble pieces and board. It helps visually separate the flashbacks (which are not as color corrected as this scene is) with the present time, since I experiment with nonlinear narrating. These are the kinds of decisions that people do not realize an editor makes – and it all goes back to the analyze step of the design process. What am I trying to say? What kinds of motifs and themes do I want to keep consistent? And in the brainstorming step, I recognize certain methods that will accomplish that. Now that I have this design, how do I keep it going?

4. Test: The test phase is showing my film to my professor and classmates – what do they like about it? What do they dislike? Luckily for me, many thought my film’s strong point was my storytelling and plot. The concept is unique and helps attract audiences. Now that they are interested in the film, how do I tell this story to keep it that way?

5. Improve: Once I get feedback, I act on it and continue to edit. Maybe the color correction wasn’t a good choice, and now I need to figure out how to change it. Maybe some of the shot/reverse shots with the characters talking seemed too distracting… or even, maybe there was something fuzzy with the sound and it is necessary for me to rerecord my actors and fix the audio. Whatever the case may be, these last two steps always go hand in hand with film editing.

Conclusion

“Jamais Vu” was a long process and required a lot of work. The production notebook, storyboard, filming, and editing all had to take place within a month – and that was on top of the Jar Opener design project (discussed in a different tab). However, my professor’s reasoning for doing a solo film project now makes perfect sense to me – I am more experienced in how each aspect of filmmaking works. Sure, in the real working world, many people only work on one or two aspects of the film, but to have all the responsibility means you need to act like a project manager. You need to design how each shot will take place, map out the production schedule, figure out how to illustrate themes in your film, and package it in a way that will get audiences (the consumer) to react positively to it.

I am proud to say I think I did a successful project, as this was entered into the 2012 Penn State Blue & White Film Festival (and it was played alongside my senior film, “Stolen Life”). Taking a look back at Figure 21, some people miss some of the small ‘Easter Eggs’ I lay behind. Those letters, when organized correctly, actually spell out, ‘Jamais Vu.’ And, more importantly, is the final shot of the film, shown below in Figure 22.

Figure 22: Final Image of “Jamais Vu”

As stated before, I hint that once Geoffrey stopped worrying about his induced jamais vu and accepted his perception, he begins to regain his ability to read again because the phrase, ‘Jamais Vu,’ is spelled in the mouth of the smiley face. I began the film with ‘Jamais Vu’ scrambled – the audience was confused with the nonlinear storytelling, the character Geoffrey was confused, and there didn’t seem to be order in what was going on. Now, at the end of the film, the story is complete – Geoffrey accepts his perception of reality and hints at his ability to read again – and with all that solved, the phrase ‘Jamais Vu’ is unscrambled.

Starts in confusion, ends in order – this theme can be applied to projects or various problems. You start something and it seems confusing and out of order – then, through a process, you put all the pieces together as long as you accept the resources you have and use it to your advantage. This is the theme I wanted to portray because it is a fundamental message that can be applied to anyone and anything.

Many people won’t see that, but as a filmmaker, it was all part of my design.

If you would like to view Jamais Vu, use the password "portfolio" (all lower case and without the quotations) to unlock the video.