Edith Cooper

 

Perhaps inspired by my love of Shakespeare, I find the 5 act structure (particularly as described by John Yorke) to be far more helpful than the three act structure. In this format, the third act contains the turning point, after which nothing will ever be the same. Mercutio is killed in Romeo and Juliet, Claudius isn't killed in Hamlet. However, in a short film it is perhaps easier to combine acts 1&2 and acts 4&5 purely due to time constraints. Yorke also argues that act 1 and 5 often work as mirrors to each other. In act 3 of Skylark, Anya hears news on the radio that changes the dynamic among the group. As Todorov would put it, it 'disrupts the equilibrium'. However, unlike Todorov's theory, there is no following attempt to repair the damage, and instead the characters move forward with a new, disrupted equilibrium. Much like Yorke, acts 4&5 can be seen to mirror acts 1&2. Acts 1&2:          1. Anya is alone, waiting. Silence.  ...

I knew from the beginning that music would be very important in this film - my main character Anya is a violinist - but the music choice came to define the script, even helping to name it. I wanted to keep the SFX to a minimum in this film, but I knew that throughout, Anya had to be playing a song on her violin, and that this would be the same music that played on the radio at the end of the film. I spent a long time listening to classical violin music, and there was one song that jumped out at me.  'The Lark Ascending' by Ralph Vaughan Williams . 'The Lark Ascending' was written in 1914, in response to George Meredith's 1881 poem of the same name. Much of Williams' work is in response to his experience in the war. He worked as an ambulance driver in France, but what really comes alive in both this piece and many of his others is a love of the English pastoral. Williams was a collector of folk music, and it is partly through this that he becomes intrinsically c...

This was my initial 5 act structure The next step was to question this world. What makes it a dystopia? But also, who are these other characters? Why don't they seem to see the problems of the world they live in? Or perhaps they do, but they chose not to. I also began to question the radio. What sort of news stories might be able to come through? Are there any?  

On the 13th of January 2025, Keir Starmer gave a speech in which he proposed a change to the copyright laws regarding AI usage. This speech, along with a lifetime love of dystopia is what sparked my ideas for my film. On the 5th of February 2025, I asked ChatGPT the question 'Can the use of AI in art ever be ethical?'. This was part of it's response: ' Artist Displacement : There is concern about the potential for AI to replace human artists, particularly in industries like design, illustration, and even fine art. If AI can produce high-quality art at a faster rate and lower cost, it might devalue human-created works and put artists out of work.' I asked it to follow up - 'Tell me more about artist displacement.' Here is how it concluded: 'The fear of artist displacement comes from the growing accessibility and capabilities of AI tools that can automate artistic production. However, it’s important to recognize that AI, when used ethically and thoughtful...