Revolution FMP- Primary Research and interviews

To begin the research for my FMP i have decided to start by gaining as much primary research as possible as this is often the hardest to get. I have conducted about 7 interviews with fellow classmates to understand other people's ideas on revolution and see if this could help inspire me to think of topics to base the narrative. I learned that others mainly would want to revolt against the lack of equality that still exists in society as they feel this is the stem of many of societies problems. However most people were unsure how they can bring this around, its impossible to force change when it comes to how people think and feel, especially on topics of race, as peolpe can know all the facts and still feel a deep lying hatred.
People also discussed the ideas of  ending world poverty by increasing peopels awareness of the need for even the smallest donations and simply working harder to shift the excesses of 1st world countries to the 3rd world.
My questions then moved to the ideas of a personal revolution; how, if you could, would you revolutionise your own life? what major changes would you make to yourself or your surroundings.
Most explained that they would want to work harder and procrastinate less, they have goals that they fell will bring them lifelong happiness in thier careers but these could only be achieved if they worked harder, however, they couldn't explain why they couldnt motivate themselves, it seemed to me as if people living in a routine they are comfortable in can not just up and suddenly change, much like a revolution, great change needs a Catalyst.

Proposal

Screenplay project week 2

In the second week of the project we began sending the screenplay around class and received other to give feedback too. I feel like this helped get my week off to a better start than I had had in the first as reading other people's work gave me a more positive outlook and inspiration to do my own piece, as I now began to realise what I should be doing with my time.

I went back on my sketchbook to look for further inspiration and found a few bullet points of a film idea I had in September that had been overlooked for a different idea, from here I developed it further and began working on my own original screenplay. From this I learned yet again that my sketchbook is an invaluable source of inspiration and ideas, especially when struggling with the crisis of writers block.

As we started getting into the week it came around that we would have to begin filming. Due to the fact we were filming In a tiny student Kitchen it was decided that I should stay as my presence would only complicate things in the space. This was good for me as it gave me the time I need to focus on my own screenplay which I felt very happy with and was key to getting me out of the creative slump I had been in. Though I have not been able to film it, those who read it gave me extremely positive feedback, as it convays the moral values and subtexy that we were asked to create At the start of the project.

Screenplay task week 1

This project took much of the focus away from our final outcome and looked mainly at the narrative and story that drove it, this is because as film students, we may often prioritise nice visuals and and good editing while sacrificing the actual ark of our story, and this leaves our films without any moral value or true artistic depth. This meant brainstorming and creating a full, printed screenplay.
I struggled at the beggining of the task as I decided that I wanted to write my screenplay alone and then form a group after this to shoot it, as I feel this is a much more efficient way of working. However I then found myself with a lack of ideas and decided move to a group, this was also because, by the time my screenplay would be finished, people would be too involved in their own projects to be willing to volunteer their time to work on mine. I now felt like there was no right decision as I struggled to contribute any creative ideas to this group, and felt that I was simply sitting in as they discussed the idea they eventually chose, if was scenarios like this which were why I had chosen to work alone in the first place.

Personal freedom week 2

Upon returning for the second week I met with class mate and regular collaborator Nali Raouf who invited me to work with him on his project, centring around self exceptance and body image. I felt this was a good project for me to join as I related on a personal level with my own weight loss and gain. I saw people's ideas of the "Perfect Body" as a marketing scheme to sell gym memberships, equipment and protein supplements, and it was freeing to realise this and live how you are comfortable, rather than how the world tells you to.

Filming this presented new challenges as we were working with an outside actor, who had to be given his likes on the day and did not understand basic film making laws about continuity and framing. There fore we needed a lot more on set patiences to brief him and make sure he fully understood mine and Nali's direction and his own lines. Overall I believe we did this well and got a strong performance from him.

We did not do a crit for this film, however feedback from our fellow class mates were general but positive.

Personal freedom week 1

We started this week with a film about a man's personal freedom in which he attempted to walk from lands end to Inverness naked. This helped to open our minds to the possiblities of how far we could go with the project and how we could explore it. Films do not have to be personal, but can simply explore the ideas of other people's personal experiences and this can be the basis of our narrative. 

I also tried thinking outside the box by looking into BDSM, which rejects personal freedom in order to put there will in the hands of someone else. I Looked at socialist revolutionaries and the likes of Sophie Scholl who stood up against the Nazis and called for an end to WWII, which eventually led to her execution. 

 

Despite these extremely inspiring sources I could not find an appropriate narrative to make a film for, these stories were fascinating but I lacked the time to do a historical period piece as well as the setting. I learned from this that though I tend to flourish in most circumstances, working alone is not always the best option, as I am prone to writers block, and when working for two weekend deadlines this can not happen.

Opening titles week 2

The second week running very smoothly for me due to the planning I have done in the first. I started by shooting primal fear, I was lucky that I had knowledge of a local church nearby my old college that was willing to allow film students on the premises. It's very large, old fashionedChurch of expenses graveyard and this set the right feel for the psychological drama that I was trying to create.
 Moonrise Kingdom went just as smoothly, however it may have helped to scout my location first before heading over there. It was shot in the park but I found arriving that I wasn't sure which area of the park would be best to film the piece, this led to a lot of re-shoots on the day which wasted a lot of time, however we finished well within the deadline.

I enjoyed the post production of this piece because it gave me an opportunity to experiment in the editing suites and soundtracking. I watched many tutorials that gave me the skills to turn a normal sounding choir soundtrack into something much more sinister and creepy by distorting it, raising or lowering the pitch, and I believe this was very effective in the final piece.  I also got to experiment with colour grading which I use to decrease the tone of the colour and desaturate like to give it a far less friendly feel and create further  discomfort and tension for the viewer.

The crit went well, people initially felt the responses I wanted them to feel and were able to correctly guess the genre of the films. However they did feel that the sound was too loud where I had edited it and that I should remember to reduce the amplification when doing it again.

Opening titles project-week 1

Beginning the opening titles project was a struggle as, before starting, I had never truly considered the art of the title sequence and how it corresponds meaning, symbolism and genre to the viewer. This gave me the feeling that i was going in  blind on this topic compared to when i had done more conventional work on short films. To get over this problem research was very key, looking at the works of Saul Bass helped a lot when trying to understand the ideas of symbolism and semiotics in the sequences. At first I struggled becasue I saw this as an exact science, I was over thinking how to tell a visual story, believing that I had to lay out the entire narrative of my film in one small sequence.  However, I realised that opening sequences only have to give a feel for the film that we are making, and  by studying genre and learning what techniques I can use to create this feel the work became a lot easier.  Further proof to achieve good work on this course simply requires the correct amount of research in the right areas.

I decided to pick two films that were polarise in terms of genre one being a romantic comedy name to Moonrise Kingdom and the other being a tenant psychological drama queen primal fear.  I chose is by narrowing down many different ideas before listing everything I would need and the availability of locations this house we realise that these two films of been the best to make it in time set.  I learned from this that to produce my best work I have to do often work alone when when at the beginning of an idea in order to have a clear vision of what I want to film and then Plan in tensely in order to be fully prepared for the coming shoot.

TV script week 2

Now working with a much better and achievable script we had new ups and downs to overcome.
Planning was overall extremely positive. We were able to get our hands on and work with lights, sound equipment and rigs that we had not used before and this would be key in the future to have experience and a chance to experiment with these. We also got all of the first choice actors for the roles that we wanted and they were looking to work hard and be dedicated to the piece. The setting of the script was in a house with just three actors and so this was much more achievable for us as film students.

Despite the positive nature of the planning when we got to shoot there was clear lack of single leadership, it appeared everyone in our group, actors and editors included, wanted to direct the piece, and this led to a butting of heads amongst group members, which constantly stalled filming as we stopped to debate how each shot should be lit and angled. Because of this, it took a long time for our group to find its flow and we finished much later into the evening than we had previously hoped. From these mistakes, we learned that these ideas about our vision for the film should be discussed at the storyboarding stage with the director and editor so that time is not wasted on the set.

More problems arose in post production due to this, in the days before shooting we were set on a dramatic feel for our finished outcome, but when on set, decided to go with a more comedic interpretation. However, this new direction was not discussed with our editor, who attempted to cut our comedic shots in a more dramatic way, the result being a mis-hit for both genres. again, these mistakes simply came down to a lack of communication that could have easily been avoided.

TV Script project- week 1

Working on a project with a pre-written professional script was a challenge from beginning to end for many reasons.

Upon first reading and forming groups, an issue was found as we realised that we had very little control over the production of the final project like we would for something we have written ourselves, the first script we reviewed was set in a doctors office and featured roughly 7 characters of varying ages from young to old. These are both issues as it means we will have work as production designers to find a space and transform it into something that looks like a doctors office, this would be fine however none of us had experience in this area and due to commitments to deadlines and classes, we could not spend long periods of time creating a set.

After much debate, we realised that bringing this script to life was not fathomable in the time frame and therefore would have to take another script from the ones made available to us and start from scratch despite already being several days deep into the project. What we learned from this is that we would have to be far more decisive when looking at scripts as to what we are capable of, and to also consider our options with other pathways if the first is not achievable.

Advertisement crit

Overall the crib for a campaign was positive,  our view is found that the phone we were serving had made improvements to phones on the current market that related to the brick concept we were given at the start of the brief they like the sleek looking advert that we are parodied from apples IPhone campaigns, and were very impressed by how photographers work with the posters that had sleek graphics and included hashtags they are often seen in modern advertising for social media. However we were critics for a sound which wasn't quite loud enough. In the future we now know it's a listen through through several channels rather than just earphones as always master of sound in Adobe audition after we are finished.

The advertisement task

The advertising task presented new challenges for me as it was unlike any project I had under taken before. Creating campaigns and commercials are different from my usual short dramas, everything has to be positive and centralised around a product and a company, rather than a character and narrative. To help with this issue we started the week by researching many different advertising campaigns in order to analyse how they are so influential. Two that really inspired my group were campaigns by Hieneken and  Old Spice Deoderant. The Heineken ad seemed straight forward, a character becomes the life of the party while drinking the beer, though this plays heavily on the Late ideas of advertising, by having him drink the beer as he does his thing, it gives the viewer idea that theirs lives and popularity can be changed simply by buying the product, and that's something our adverts should aim to do.

Old Spice was interesting because it breaks all the rules in terms of the subtleties of advertising, acted Terry Crews screams at the viewer about the strength and over all supremacy of the deodorant  in a way that hasn't been seen before in advertising, and this aggression and in your face attitude is extremely memorable as it stand out. It's also extremely funny as it uses surreal techniques, such as journeying insides Crews armpit to show how good it now smells. Breaking the rules like this is something I will look to do on the project.

We were then put into groups to come up with our own product and campaign to sell it, given vague words to use as inspiration, ours being Brick. From this we came up with brick products that exist and decided that Brick phones would be the best selling point, as phones are arguably the biggest selling product right now but, at the same time, as we found through group discussions, could be improved by going back to being more like a brick, due to their strength, durability and security.
We researched more and found that IPhone ads were very successful at putting across the sleek and  improved features of the new phones.  We decided it would be interesting to parody this by running similar adverts for showing old-fashioned phone we had secured from a relative.  We also supported this with a new type of advert being seen a lot recently featuring interviews with potential customers who review the device, this has it latent affect on the viewer who sees the customers and relates to them as themselves  rather than a hired actor who is being paid to say good things.  However the interviewers were actors and were fed lines that we felt would appeal to customers in today's market.