UoL FimSoc Entry: BAT POWER!

And now, a bit of much-needed context... As a long-time member and current social secretary of the University of Lincoln Filmmaking Society (aka UoL FilmSoc), I’ve always felt obliged to be the one responsible for keeping up morale within the group. Part of this is naturally an extension of my normal role, but it also hinges on an point of insecurity on my part: as a former Film Studies student and current Drama student, I’m well versed in the language of film, but have very little hands-on experience - I’ve never written anything that’s been turned into finished film, I’ve never directed other actors, I can barely operate a camera. But for the longest time I’ve wanted to make something, anything, and be able to say “this is me. I shot that, I directed it”. Previous attempts at this have been mostly abortive and frustrating, turning to shit before my eyes, often leading to me hearing those dread words: “maybe you should stick to what you’re good at” - by which it’s usually meant “acting in other people’s stuff”. Nothing wrong with saying that, and undoubtedly meant with the best of intentions, but still a comment that often makes me feel more depressed than optimistic. Why settle? Why spend your life make other people’s dreams? So anyway… A few weeks back, we decided that the next contest the FilmSoc would run was going to be based loosely around the framework of the web-series Hey Ash Watcha Playin’ (aka HAWP) - teams would be randomly assigned a film or TV franchise and based on that selection, they’d go off and make a funny short that parodies, examines or in some way comments on the topic in some way, however roundabout - you know, like HAWP does. Long story short, we didn’t get tons of entries - people are very busy with pre-Christmas deadlines this time of year, so we kept it pretty baggy to accommodate people’s schedules - but as a council we found ourselves in somewhat of a conundrum. Our fearless Presidente Tom had a concept that was going to involve me, dressed as Batman, in a bathtub. Fine. We just needed a script, and the time to get it shot. I’d procured a mask and parts of the costume from a friend who makes fan films . The Sunday before the competition deadline rolled around. Tom still didn’t have a script - he’d tried but he simply couldn’t crack the damn thing, and was stressing about the script for his third year film. Our trusty treasurer and secretary Wade -normally the most organised one out of the lot of us - was similarly indisposed for a multitude of reasons. Tom suggested that if VP Olly and myself still wanted to do something, we should. Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t claim to be a man completely free of vanity, but there is nothing that appeals to my ego more than swooping in at the last possible second like a Big Damn Hero and dropping the mic. I told the guys I had an idea and to follow my lead. At the time, I was going through a particularly strong Donald Glover kick - his acting, stand-up and music all gave me great enjoyment. I don’t know where the idea of doing a Batman themed rap video to Glover’s “That Power” came from - the only thing I can say with certainty is that there was a lyric that refers to Christian Bale that may have sparked the notion in my mind, but having not looked much deeper than that initially, I can’t really claim it as anything more than weird synchronicity. The video was shot pretty much entirely in my living room that same Sunday afternoon/evening, along with some pick-up shots the following day. A chronic insomniac, I edited it through the night, went to class for seven hours next day, tweaked the video in Premiere at the library and sent it off to the guys, whose reactions to the initial edit, unscripted and spontaneous, are included in the video. By the time I handed off the editing process to Olly I was too exhausted to move. The epilogue was something that took me a while to come up with - I had wanted to include more footage of myself wearing the Batman costume pieces but the mask was so confining and my movement in it so ham-fisted and clunky that most of it went unused. Still, I wanted to shoot something to tag on the end of the video, something that fit the song - particularly the long spoken word outro that concludes both the song and the theme of the album its from: the persistence of innocence and optimism in the face of a cynical world. This lead me to draw visual/stylistic comparisons between current/recent Batman media sanctioned by DC and Warner Brothers - the comics, the films, the video games - and the abundance of unofficial but no less worthy material produced online by artists like Yale Stewart (JL8) and Dean Trippe (Something Terrible) - people who have grown up as fans, been inspired to become artists and now are able to create art for a living. Yale and Dean’s work are distinct from each other, but they both have a basis that is fundamentally optimistic in the face of evil. I’m not going to bitch about Batman being a reactionary presence or that he’s the source of Gotham’s woes or whatever - I’ve always loved Batman stuff, on any conceptual level. But face it; I can’t be the only one who finds most Batman stuff boring as fuck these days. I’m not saying the old days were perfect either - there was good and bad then too. Batman has always been a tragic figure, but to what extent he’s considered “gritty” and “realistic” is at the mercy of whoever is writing, drawing and editing his comics, or producing his cartoons and TV shows and movies. Sometimes an appropriate level of grittiness is a good thing; sometimes a lighter touch is what’s needed. The problem is that you can only have so much diversity in a brand that’s in its 75th year but still obsessively focuses on the achievements of a rich male W.A.S.P. in a gimp outfit beating up criminals. The final image, of me standing looking at a fridge magnet of the Batman logo is an appropriate bookend to my own relationship with the Dark Knight, as one of the first clear memories of Batman on film that I have is my aunt and uncle having a fridge magnet depicting Jack Nicholson’s version of the Joker on it. I’d say it’s an odd coincidence… but I don’t believe in coincidence. I’d like to thank Tom and Olly from UoL FilmSoc for letting me run with this and helping to put it together; Jake Allsop for providing the Batman mask and gauntlets (even if they weren’t featured anywhere near as much as I would’ve liked); my housemates Andrew and Chelsea for being patient with me while I annexed the living room; my fiancée TheJojo for providing the emotional support necessary not to crack up under pressure, as well as for her artistic streak and great sense of style that allowed me to pull a bunch of stuff out of my wardrobe and make it work as a costume; my best friend Tarnveer for sticking by me even when I’m a stupid selfish dick; my mom for encouraging me to read anything and everything as a kid (including comics); my sister for being cool enough to understand me and vice versa; and my stepdad for the relatively thankless job of being there when I really needed him to be. I couldn’t have gotten this far without any of you. - Adam P.S. If you’ve gotten this far, you’re alright in my book. For the record, despite what this video may suggest, I don’t mind either the Arkham games or Grant Morrison’s run on Batman that much - they were literally the most recent Batman media of any kind I had immediately to hand.