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AN AFFAIR OF THE SHARK 

I AM HERE / YOU ARE THERE

FINAL FILM

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AN AFFAIR OF THE SHARK

I AM HERE /YOU ARE THERE

Stills from the film

The film is approx. one minute long  These stills have subtitles added, it is what we imagined the sharks were saying to each other. Furthermore, we were inspired by silent films, and wanted to emulate the style of adding dialogue as written text.

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I am here/ you are there 

An affair of the shark

Getting into character

Our housemate Mark played the bad-boy to my housewife. Daniela was head of photography and we directed together. I couldn't see much through my shark outfit, so had to mostly dedicate myself to acting.

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An affair of the shark 

I am here/you are there

Making outfits

For the costumes we de-stuffed two IKEA sharks, which we could wear on our heads. I played the female shark and wore a pinny, a wig and some dark pink lipstick, in order to create the appearance of a traditional housewife. The male shark wore a leather jacket and smoked a cigar, so as to give off the appearance that he was somewhat dangerous.

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AN AFFAIR OF THE SHARK

I AM HERE /YOU ARE THERE 

Creating a story

With little time to prepare, we decided to remove the element of dialogue. Despite there being no script, the film was highly physical and emotive. The surrealism came from the fact that our characters were sharks. Despite the fact that the narrative was based on something humans do, we liked the idea of taking it totally out of reality, which is why the characters are sharks.

The premise of the film is that a door-to-door tea towel salesman visits a housewife, he is so seductive and his tea towels are so soft that the housewife invites him into her home. While her husband is away at work, she feeds him some homemade chocolate cake, in a burst of passion. When the female shark’s husband arrives home early from work, the moment of forbidden love abruptly ends.

We chose to use a jazz track in the background, to add an eerie sense of mystery. We used John Coltrane's Naima, a ballad which Coltrane composed for his wife in 1959. Since we were recreating traditional gender roles, such as the housewife, a track from the 1950s when a woman's place was the home, seemed fitting.

The film was shot on a DSLR. Since we'd chosen to complete this in a single day, we didn't have time to source anything else. However, the film is so raw that the intensity of the passion felt between the sharks still manages to shine through.

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I am here/ you are there 

An affair of the shark - Inspo

BFI archive footage

Daniela and I enjoyed the simple film structure of the public information films, which are archived with the BFI. They had a good narrative formula with which we could play with and make more surreal. This 1961 film, warning housewives of door-to-door salesman served as a starting point for us to create a narrative.

LOVELY STILLS

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I am here/ you are there

An Affair of the Shark

An affair of the shark is a short, surreal film about a love affair between a housewife and a door-to-door tea towel salesmen, who both happen to be sharks. This was a joint project with Daniela Phillips, we challenged ourselved to make it in a single day.

We were inspired to make something antithetical to the brief of I am here / we are here, and therefore chose to make a film with a surreal feel, with intent to displace the viewer from a comfortable reality.

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FMP Image Index

As I sourced all of the images, I had to put in a disclaimer stating that none of the original images were my own. 

The disclaimer reads 

All of the images in Red Blisters have been curated from online sources. Many of them are screenshots from films on YouTube. Where possible I’ve credited the original photographer and included a link for where the image/video can be sourced.

This is the image index

Image Index Deck - FMP Rosa Wayne

Pages 49 and 50 of deck

Cover

Small girls dance by a photo of Lenin, (digital photograph) photographer: Dilip Mehta, date unknown, featured in: A day in the life of the Soviet Union, 1987, image accessible via: https://imgur.com/gallery/EOil3

Page 5

The Sun of Russian Freedom is Smeared with Blood, (postcard) 1905, anon. accessible at https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/greetings-from-the-barricades-four-corners-books- publication-261018

The World’s Stage Page 6 The October Revolution Parade, Moscow, (screenshot from YouTube footage), Date of event:1978, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: HD Soviet October Revolution Parade, 1978 Part I, username of YouTube account: RedSamurai84, uploaded: 18/05/2016, accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7NaRIOqmSg&t=2353s

Page 7

Opening Ceremony for Munich Olympic Games, 1972, (screenshot from YouTube footage), date of event: 1972, photographer of original footage unknown YouTube clip called: Munich 1972 - Lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, username of YouTube account: MercuryuJudo, uploaded: 27/07/2012, accessible at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq4ax_GYLXY

Page 8

Olga Korbut winning gold (digital photograph), date of event: 1972, photographer: unknown, accessed via:

https://www.stern.de/sport/sportwelt/darum-verkauft-olga-korbut-ihre-olympia- medaillen-7349436.html

Page 11

Olga Korbut performing a Korbut Flip, (screenshots from YouTube footage), date of event: 1972, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: Banned Skills: The Forbidden Club, username of YouTube account: sporteverywhere, uploaded: 06/10/2018, accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktc5n_LNQcg&t=8s

Page 12

Olga Korbut and Renald Knysh, (digital photograph), date of event: 15/04/1975, photographer: unknown, webpage title: #MeToo In Belarus: Ex-Teammates Bolster Korbut’s Sexual-Assault Charges Against Coach, published on: Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Liberty, accessed via:

https://www.rferl.org/a/metoo-in-belarus-ex-teammates-bolster-korbut-s-sexual- assault-charges-against-coach/29230312.html

Page 14

Member of Black September, (digital photograph), date of event: 06/09/1972, photographer unknown, webpage title: The Munich massacre: A survivor’s story, accessed via:

https://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/27/sport/olympics-2012-munich-shaul-ladany- survivor/index.html,

Page 17

Olga Korbut Crying at the Olympics (screenshot from YouTube footage), date of event: 1972, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: Faster, Higher, Stronger | BBC Gymnastics Documentary Part 2, username of YouTube account: Cccceri, uploaded:11/07/2012, accessible at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz54uctiYlc

Page 18 and 19

Richard Nixon and The USSR female gymnastic team, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 1973, image accessible via:

https://nara.getarchive.net/media/president-richard-nixon-standing-in-the-oval-office- with-members-of-the-russian-70f6e8

Control Page 20 Nadia Comaneci on beam, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 1976, image accessible via: https://www.olympic.org/nadia-comaneci

Page 21

Nadia Comaneci and Bela Karolyi, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 1976, image accessible via:https://www.pastfactory.com/culture/historic-july-events/13/

Page 22

Nadia Comaneci’s perfect 10, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 1976, image accessible via:

https://www.hooch.net/nadia-comanecis-path-to-success-was-full-of-heartbreak-and- struggle/?view-all&safari=1

Page 23

Nadia Comaneci and Nicolae Ceausescu, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 1976, image accessible via:

https://www.hooch.net/nadia-comanecis-path-to-success-was-full-of-heartbreak-and- struggle/?view-all&safari=1

Page 24

Nadia Comaneci, Bela Karolyi and Marta Karolyi, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown,dateofevent: unknown,imageaccessiblevia:http://www.cosr.ro/sportiv/nadia-comaneci/galerie-foto

Page 26

Food queues in Romania for cooking oil, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 1986, image accessible via:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_austerity_policy_in_Romania#/media/File:Bucur_Obor_( 1986).jpg

Page 27 (top) Nicolae Ceausescu, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: unknown, image accessible via:https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2019/1224/1102976-romania-ceausescu-1989/

Page 27 (bottom) Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: unknown, image accessible via:https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-purity-of-the-propaganda- 20100803-115ee.html

Page 29

Chickens for supper in Communist Romania (digital photograph) photographer: Andrei Pandele, date of event: 1989, image accessible via:

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/vdyexm/everyday-life-in-communist-romania- 0000001-v18n9

Page 30

Nadia Comaneci, Nellie Kim and Elena Mukhina in Prague (digital photograph) photographer: Unknown, date of event: 1977, image accessible via:https://elenamukhina.com/informazioni/

Page 31

Scoreboard, 1977 European gymnastic championships finals, (screenshots from YouTube footage), date of event: 1977, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: 1977 European Women’s Gymnastics Championships - Event Finals, username of YouTube account: Gymgold07, uploaded: 07/09/2016, accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BKnqIea1ko&t=3682s

Page 32

Romanian revolutionaries, (digital photograph) photographer: Patrick Herzog, date of event: 1989, image accessible via:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/thirty-years-brutal-christmas-day-downfall- ceausescu-romanias/

Page 33

Nadia Comaneci’s arrival in JFK, (screenshots from YouTube footage), date of event: 1989, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: The Mystery and Magic of Nadia (1990), username of YouTube account: Gymgold07, uploaded: unknown, accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAGG03ZK5IQ&t=1201s

Page 34 + 35 Execution of Elena and Nicolae Ceausescu (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 25/12/1989, image accessible via:https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/ceausescu-romania- bucharest-communism-politics-history-a9234806.html

Fragility Page 37 (all) Elena Mukhina in training, (screenshots from YouTube footage), date of event: unknown, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: Elena Mukhina training compilation, username of YouTube account: Classic Gymnastics, uploaded: unknown, accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDrRr52kLQ8

Page 38 + 39 Elena Mukhina competing at the European Championship finals, (screenshots from YouTube footage), date of event: 1977, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: 1977 European Women’s Gymnastics Championships - Event Finals, username of YouTube account: Gymgold07, uploaded: 07/09/2016, accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BKnqIea1ko&t=3682s

Page 40

Elena Mukhina in Strasburg (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 1978, image accessible via: https://elenamukhina.com/informazioni/

Page 43

Elena Mukhina and Mikhail Klimenko, (screenshots from YouTube footage), event date: unknown, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: Elena Mukhina - Triumph of a spirit! username of YouTube account: Oksana Stein, uploaded: 03/10/2017, accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hwKNaWp-YU&t=767s

Page 44

Brezhnev reclining in the Crimea (digital photograph) photographer: unknown, date of event: 1982, image accessible via:https://www.rferl.org/a/photos-from-the-1980s-in-russia/28373160.html

Page 47

Elena Mukhina after her accident, (screenshots from YouTube footage), event date: unknown, photographer of original footage unknown, YouTube clip called: Elena Mukhina - Triumph of a spirit, username of YouTube account: Oksana Stein, uploaded: 03/10/2017, accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hwKNaWp-YU&t=767s

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FMP Pages 46 and 47

A harrowing photo of Elena, as a quadriplegic. I wanted something shocking, that was a complete contrast to the gymnast we saw in the previous pages. Although in the previous pages she looked thin and fragile, here she looks like a different person. I wanted to show the effect that her accident had on her. 

I’ve added a caption that reads 

In 2006 Elena died from complications to her injury. Her childhood was given to the Soviet gymnastic machine, and it also robbed her of her adulthood. The image to the right is Elena as a quadriplegic.

I’ve included a quote from Mukhina that reads 

A human life is worth little compared to the prestige of the nation.We have been taught to believe that since childhood. 

I like that she references childhood. I think it brings the whole narrative full circle to the little girls innocently dancing next to a photo pf Lenin on the front cover. This quote and the photo of Elena are a stark look at the darker side of Eastern Bloc gymnastics.

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FMP Pages 44 and 45

I chose to show a photo of Leonid Brezhnev, the leaser of the USSR at the time of Elena’s accident. His health was also suffering and in 1980 he was close to dying. I wanted to draw comparisons between the fragility of Elena and the fragility of Brezhnev. I explain it better in the text, where I also include some information about political events of the time. 

Text

Leonid Brezhnev was the leader of the USSR from 1964 until his death in 1980. He ousted Nikita Khrushchev from office, who was liberal and more Western in his approach to communism. Brezhnev ruled with the aim of returning the Soviet Union to its Stalin era glory days. His time in office became known as the Era of Stagnation; ties with the West were weakened, the economy sank into decline and Brezhnev imposed stricter control and punishment for anti-Soviet media. In 1980, the average age of his Politburo was 70, and his politics were a reflection of his ageing gerontocracy.

On December 24th 1979 the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, which had become a politically tumultuous battleground. The Soviets held a stake in Afghan leadership and wanted to quash the threat of American influence in the country. Nine years of conflict followed, and in 1980 the USA boycotted the Moscow Olympics in response to the invasion.

The invasion of Afghanistan could be seen as an international demonstration of Soviet prowess. However, Brezhnev was getting increasingly weak. His poor health lead the media to speculate about his capabilities as leader and ponder whether he was in fact, dead or alive. He died on November 10th 1982.

Brezhnev’s invasion of Afghanistan was intended to demonstrate Soviet strength. Similarly, Mukhina’s injury was the result of an attempt to display her gymnastic prowess and represent the wonder of the Soviet gymnastic training programme. However, behind the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Brezhnev was close to death, and Mukhina was pushed beyond her capability and her injury meant she was in a permanent state of vulnerability. These two displays of proxy strength actually exposed the true fragility which was rooted in the Soviet Union.

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FMP Pages 42 and 43

Text about Elena's injury and a photo of Elena and her coach, Klimenko. 

I chose to present this as if it was a timeline. The specific dates and events leading up to her accident are so vital in understanding the tragedy of her story. For example, it’s vital to know that she was forced to train in a cast, and that her broken leg meant she was weak and therefore was less capable of performing the Thomas Salto. Additionally, it’s so important to know that Elena’s accident happened just two weeks before the Olympics, in her home nation and city of Moscow. It is such a graphic and snowball effect of consequences that a timeline felt most appropriate. 

This is the text

1979, Fort Worth

Elena breaks her leg in a competition.

The bones in Mukhina's legs have separated. She has an operation and is put in a cast. Klimenko visits the following day and orders that she return to practice, he says she can still train, even in a cast. She has gained weight and lost strength since the injury.

3.07.1980, Minsk

Elena under-rotates while practising the Thomas Salto. She lands on her chin and her spine snaps, instantly rendering her a quadriplegic.

The injury occured two weeks before the Olympic Games. The Soviets attempted to conceal the extent of her injuries from the public to avoid criticism of their brutal and industrial training program.

Klimenko pressured Elena to perform a move beyond what was physically possible. Her body was pushed too hard and literally broke apart. It's a reminder of how fragile the gymnasts were, despite routines that showcased their strength

Below is a link to one of the only interviews Elena gave surrounding the events of her accident. It’s where I got lots of my info

http://www.oocities.org/graf_de_la_fer/mukhina-int.html

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FMP Pages 40 and 41

Information about the Thomas Salto and context about why Elena was pushed to attempt it. 

Text reads

The Thomas Salto

Klimenko pushed Elena to include a Thomas Salto in her floor routine for the upcoming 1980 Olympics. The move, designed for male gymnasts, was named after the American, Kurt Thomas, who first performed it.

The Thomas Salto consists of:

A one and a half backwards somersault in a tuck / pike position, with one and a half twists.

It’s highly dangerous to execute as a woman because it’s harder to gain enough height to carry out each element. There is risk of under rotating and landing on one’s chin, or over rotating and landing on the back ofone’s neck.

The higher the stakes, the higher the glory - and the Soviets were hungry to overtake Romania as gymnastic champions. If Elena could execute a Thomas Salto, a male gymnastic move, she’d advance beyond women’s artistic gymnastics and the USSR would surely reap the rewards.

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FMP Pages 38 and 39

Information about Elena and pictures of her competing. I like using photos which explore her physicality. I think that, as readers see these images they’ll be more aware of her body. This means, when they learn about her tragic accident, the information will be more powerful. Furthermore, in a chapter discussing fragility, I think it’s important to depict her in moments when she appears vulnerable. Although Mukhina was a world class athlete, her story is a sad reminder of the fragility of the little gymnasts. 

Text reads 

Elena Mukhina’s career as a Soviet gymnast is marred with tragedy. An orphan at five years old, Mukhina joined the Central Red Army sports club. After initial interest in figure skating, her promise in the realm of gymnastics emerged when she was 15. Her coach, Mikhail Kilmenko was ruthless and unforgiving. He was trained as a coach to male gymnasts and he pushed an adolescent Elena as if her body were an invincible machine.

Romania’s Comaneci continued to top the gymnastic leader boards, and the Soviets were keen to regain top position, especially with the 1980 Moscow Olympics looming. Mukhina’s gymnastic potential was encouraged and pushed by Kilmenko in the hope that she would displace Comaneci and put the USSR in gold medal position once again.

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FMP Pages 36 and 37

These screenshots from Elena as she trains are quite haunting and very beautiful. They feel voyeuristic, in the sense that she isn’t performing (she’s just training), and she also doesn’t interact with the camera. I liked them as a collective to explore her body. Since her story came to such a tragic end, when her body snapped in two as shedder rotated on a Thomas Salto, I felt it was important to pay attention to her physicality. 

There is a quote from the International Gymnastic Federation which reads 

‘Medical reports have given a warning and pointed out the dangers of abusive training without the necessary control.Nobody should be so irresponsible as to think only of producing ‘competitive animals’, hastily trained, frequently damaged.’

It was from a document released in 1972, and is a dark pre cursor to Elena’s story.

Quote found here https://api.research-repository.uwa.edu.au/portalfiles/portal/15600842/

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FMP Page 34-35

To me this image is so striking. The caption reads Ceausescu and his wife are subject to a show trial by Romanian Revolutionaries. They’re found guilty of economic sabotage and genocide. Both are executed by firing squad on Christmas Day, 1989. The execution is filmed and broadcast on Romanian television. 

I felt it needed a full page spread. Furthermore, it shows the huge power shift between who controlled who in Romania during the time Nadia Comaneci was there. She was so intertwined with the politics of the day and therefore an image like this is very relevant to her narrative as a gymnast who represented Ceausescu’s Romania.

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FMP page 32 and 33

Growing political turmoil in Romania. 

Nadia wasn’t allowed to leave the country her status as a national asset meant she was heavily watched by police, incase she may defect. I liked the bolder font to signify an alarming state of political affairs. The photos of the Romanians holding bloody images of Ceausescu juxtaposed against Nadia’s defection images are striking and are excellent documents of the political turmoil.

Text on left page 

In 1981, Bela Karolyi and his wife Marta defected to America, leaving Nadia, along with their daughter, in politically tumultuous Romania.

Meanwhile, Comaneci lived under intense police surveillance. Her gymnastic success made her a national asset and she wasn't permitted to leave the country for fear that she would also defect.

Text on right page 

On the 25th of November 1989 Nadia paid a border runner, Constantin Panait, to help her and her brother escape Romania. They travelled through the night to the city of Timosoara

and eventually to Hungary. On the morning of December 1st, they arrived in America.

Two weeks later, an uprising in Timosoara developed into the bloody Romanian Revolution.

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FMP Pages 30 and 31

Information about how increasing political tensions resulted in mounting pressure on the gymnasts to win. 

Text reads

Political tensions grew between nations of the Eastern Bloc, and between the governements themselves and their citizens. As Ceausescu increased his level of control, his people began to resist and rebel. In the late 1980s the satellite states of the Soviet Union were hit by a wave of revolutions that resulted in the dissolution of the USSR.

A symptom of this growing tension was the rising pressure placed on the young gymnasts to bring national glory to one’s country. Their bodies were pushed to perform extraordinary and dangerous sequences. By the late 1970s the three front runners of women’s artistic gymnastics were Nadia Comaneci of Romania and Elena Mukhina and Nellie Kim, both of the USSR.