Thursday , November 17th 2016 I attended one of the most interesting and unique film screenings from director/ filmmaker Tin Dirdamal. The event was kick off by Marty Lucas and to my shock someone who look like a Hunter student wearing regular cargo pants with a white t -shirt and his hair tied up in french style bun got up and introduce himself as Tin Dirdamal. I was like dam he looks like teenager. I was expecting some old guy with a business suit . Tin was telling everybody a backstory about his film Death In Arizona. Tin explain he was planning to stay and film his movie for one year in Bolivia, but end up staying for seven years. Tin fell in love with a woman and they move in together in an apartment in Bolivia. Unfortunately, Tin's girlfriend wanted a more serious commitment "marriage". Tin said he was at cross road in his life ; he wanted fun but, not a serious commitment. Months had gone by and Tin change his mine and wanted married his girlfriend However, it was too late. Tin's girlfriend had left and move on since, he waited too long to give an answer.
Heartbroken and sad, Tin fell in a deep depression. Tin explain to everyone to deal with his depression, one day he decided to put a video camera on a tripod near a window and just film what was happening outside of his apartment through that window in Bolivia. The video clip, Tin showed was the ending of his film Death In Arizona where scenes from Bolivia was shot. Fade in it was daytime, we see a naked boy taking a bath inside a blue barrel. Jump cut to a truck where a couple guys are bring in a couch inside a building then jump cut inside the building where there is no roof and it was a junk yard. Inside the junk yard you see a lot of debris, dirt and broken stones. You see a broken bath tub and sink , and white sheets and clothing being hung on a clothes line. Jump cut to a little girl trying to fix her green bicycle inside the junk yard. Jump cut to a woman in an empty apartment only having a brown studio light stand looking out a window. Jump cuts again seeing chickens and then cats walking around the junk yard , hearing a voice over narration in Spanish being interpret of a guy speaking about how he remembers seeing people and animals before the meteorite hit now see nothing but a junk yard full of broken stuff like a blue baby carriage and broken toys. Jump cut to dirt road then a shot of the junk yard in wide angle and finally bird eye view shot of the building then fade out to black. Tin explain the story was about a meteorite that hit the earth in the future and destroyed everything and a man was the sole survivor on earth looking out a window .
The second screening started out with a slide show of drawings or blueprints of a house being made out of wood in somewhere in southern Mexico. Tin then showed everybody two metal copper wires at a 90 degree angle pointing North as a way to detect radiation. Tin then showed some video clips of how these two copper wires are used in a forest to find radiation. Tin explain he had thirty sketches of his house and how he wants it to look like when its finish being built. Tin explain he wanted a more accurate way of measuring and decided not to use the regular measurement system we know by measuring in feet or feet units ( 12 inches equal a foot) contractors and builders use this measurement system in modern day society. Tin wanted a nature type of measurement system, he introduce us to a old measurement system called " Cubit " its Latin origin it measures your middle finger to your elbow. He use his wife's middle finger to her elbow. Tin went on to explain how an Italian monk research how bunny rabbits reproduce and multiply like 1 offspring then produces 2 offspring then 2 offspring produces 4 offspring etc.... so Tin would pick three numbers out of that bunny rabbit reproduction use those three numbers and the cubit measurement system to measure and build his house in southern Mexico. Tin went on to show us video clips started out as a split screen then went single screen on how his house was being built and the construction workers had no choice but, to use Tin's concept of his measurement system. Little kids were helping building the house, you see a construction worker following the concept and drawings of the house. You see couple guys lifting up the wood tree trunks and being placed to form the frame of the house. Tree leaves and hay being tied together in bunches on the roof of the house. A little baby dropping a rock on blue print and some kid taking a break on a hammock. Jump cut to more construction of the house. Each shot being filmed was a graphic match of the blue prints by Tin. No nature sounds at all only sound you hear is the sound effect of a water welling machine at times in some shots. Tin then went on to explain some mathematics formula he uses to edit the duration of his video clips/ shots. The mathematics formula X over Y = R or R= (1.608) Confuse ? Me too for example let say X =16 divide by R (1.608) then Y has to be 10 so according to Tin if a video is 37.34 second in duration using the mathematic formula with in the video X clip = 23 seconds and Y clip = 14.34 seconds equaling the total of 37.34 seconds as Tin explained he use this formula to edit all his video clips.
The third and final screening Tin Dirdamal show was a movie he is currently filming about a homeless man using the five elements to stay alive for 500 years. The five elements are water, air , fire and earth , the fifth element is the unknown element. The main protagonist or homeless man was once rich and very wealth but, choose to live like homeless person and gave up all his wealth. The video starts out with a fade in then a wide angle shot inside the homeless man's abandon home made out of mud and stone. The house inside is very open space, as the camera pans over you see a lot junk like broken glass plastic bottles broken and dirty dishes and a dirty air filter from a car. The outside is mostly cover by vines and leaves. The same scenes are play over again, but this time we see the homeless man inside the house. The house look like its in the middle of a jungle. Marty Lucas chime in and said homeless guy house is very Feng Shui or in harmony. All the shots were film with natural daylight no lights were used. Tin used a lot medium shots on the inside of the house. We see the homeless man in close up shot then sitting down in medium shot . The homeless man had no shirt on, just had a navy blue ripped short pants. We get more outside shots of the house close up shots of the vines and leaves then back inside the house. It jump cuts to a close up of homeless man hand pulling on a wire. We get a close up of a old record player then a close up of the record player being pulled. In medium shot, we see the homeless man keep pulling on record player with a wire over and over again. The final scene, we see the homeless man wearing a dusk mask pulls it up to his forehead and have a cigarette in his hand. Homeless man blows and take a smoke then blows on a wooden stick and it fades out to black end of the scene. Tin Dirdamal was unhappy with his work and taught he filmed complete shit as he told everybody in the room. Tin said he going back for a couple of months and re-shoot everything from scratch and the actor he used is a real life homeless man in the film. Tin's goal or vision for the film is suppose to be a documentary about the five elements again the fifth being the unknown that this homeless man use to stay alive for 500 years even though this film is fiction, Tin wants to give the illusion that its real and this is a documentary. Marty Lucas made a comment about Tin's vision being how lead was turn into gold by alchemist. After the screenings, everybody was invited to a party with drinks and snacks and also have a meet and greet individual with filmmaker / director Tin Dirdamal to ask him anything you want. This was an awesome screening and I learn a lot from Tin's experiences as a filmmaker. I would recommend to check out Tin's other films and work. I am happy this was a learning experience for myself and others .
It's good you attended and your reflections are interesting, However your response is very long, please keep your written work limited to the word count assigned, that's 250 words. Some good thoughts here!
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