Visuals
Next on the planning agenda are the visuals. Where is filming going to take place, what are the locations that are going to provide the backdrop to the film and provide most of the visual material. Separate to actual locations, visuals may also include possible archival material to be sourced in libraries, which may be either moving picture and still footage or a combination of both. Animation may also be employed to illustrate ideas or situations that require illustration not possible through other practical means. In the case of the David Bohm film, animation may be employed to illustrate some of his science experiments relating, for example, to the behaviour of plasmas in metals, his hidden variables theory and his ideas on the implicate and explicate orders. Separate to this however, a key location list will be drawn up, and if time and budget allow, these locations will become subject to a location scout where the locations will be visited in advance of filming. Detailed notes will be made by the director and/or cameraman and visual sequences planned in detail.
In the case of the Bohm documentary there will be many varied international locations which will involve travel to such places as Bohms hometown of Wilkes Barre in Pennsylvania; Berkeley California USA where he met and collaborated with Oppenheimer; Princeton New Jersey USA where Bohm met Einstein; Brazil where Bohm spent time in exile; Israel where Bohm met his wife Sarah; Bristol University England, where Bohm took up a position and University of London where Bohm sought out “a new order to physics”. Also Brockwood Park School, London
where Bohm met with and came under the influence of Krishnamurti. Pari, Italy where Bohms long time friend and colleague David Peat now lives. These locations and others will provide visual material and also provide a backdrop to interviews for many of the people who knew Bohm personally and associates who worked closely with Bohm.
So as we move forward to production, getting this combination of relevant locations, visuals material and interviews just right and in the correct balance is central to the planning and production of the documentary.
More next week…. Paul