FMP - Secondary Research / Change Of Ideas

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May 17, 2017
5 min read

Hello.

Since having the focus group, I decided to change my idea because talking to two young filmmakers made me realize that the idea is too complex for the amount of time I have to produce and edit. The focus group with the filmmakers I interviewed made me come to a realization that I haven't seen much media on the fact that people rely on pharmaceutical drugs (over the counter medication) to fight infections, influenza, to treat pain and so forth. I've decided to make a short informal documentary on the subject. I will also create a study on documentaries in lieu of my former experimental film study so I can get a feel for the genre and know what form I want to use.

Secondary Research

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American Addict is a part of three-part documentary that talks about the overprescription of drugs and how prescribed medications can affect your body negatively. The documentary deconstructs societies dependency and addiction to pharmaceutical drugs and the industry who latch onto other's illnesses and provide a quick fix drug in order to make money. The documentary leaves you questioning 'legal' drugs and why they are so easily obtainable. Since I'm from England, my take on drugs could have a different perspective and also the views of the people I interview could differ. My documentary won't be feature length, nor formal, but this film is helpful to me as I can use it to construct questions and look at the interviewees and their diversity and try to get a mixture in my film.

American Addict shows doctors/psychologists, parents and pharmaceutical engineers sharing similar opinions on the pharmaceutical industry - they are collectively against the population being prescribed medicines habitually as they can lead to not only recreational abuse, but also further health problems in the future (as the neurological and organ systems start to rely on the artificial substances entering your body). This specific structure of adults being targeted for interview inspired me to make young people the centre of my film as there were only professionals and older generations speaking on this topic when i looked for research in other places. Providing a resource to the public in which they can hear opinions that aren’t regularly heard in the media or in reality defines the meaning of documenting. The purpose? To inform.

The short vox pops and interviews in the film keep the audience captivated due to the fact that the content is somewhat fast-paced visually and audibly. They use quick cuts, and have a wide variety of new faces talking about new subjects to entice the viewer. They also include cut-scenes of societal scenery (pedestrians, buildings) which often include text titles with facts and statistics. These factors are all very important to keep viewers interested visually. The voiceovers in American Addict have inspired me to make a spoken word poem about drugs for the opening scene in my documentary. This will keep the viewers entertained while also informing them about the dangers of drug use.

I liked the idea of keeping my viewers entertained, but wasn’t so keen on using formal facts and figures, so I still took from the concept, but instead curated the idea that my documentary will be abstract, as abstraction keeps viewers intrigued and interested by the topic at hand.

I decided to take inspiration from one of the most influential artists in the abstract movement, Jackson Pollock.

Jackson Pollock was known mostly for his expressionist drip painting technique, which became wildly popular in the art world.

His paintings, in my own words, tell personal stories through colour and venturesome acrylics. He can evoke a story from a painting (though his art looks miscellaneous and scattered) for example, the work seen here is untitled but still summons the feeling of fountainous youth and a childlike mind. His drawing techniques were pure in this painting, and so correlates to the hidden meaning behind his work.

Whilst examining his art, my brain was stimulated by the idea of using SFX to describe my personal opinion on the interviewees convictions (for example, footsteps could represent running away from the topic being discussed or even sinister coughing to represent my disagreement with the subject.)

In order to find meaning in abstract films, you need to decompose the structures in the natural world and make them unrecognizable. (for example, I mentioned footsteps earlier. Running away from a situation requires shoes and footsteps to run but taking away the image derives the original meaning.)

One resource that helped me grasp the idea of experimental film (and what the evocative factors are when curating them) is a film on Youtube entitled “La Douleur Exquise” by Belkiss.

The short film is about heartbreak and loss but the storyline isn’t specified as there is no dialogue or clear titles. The storyline is depicted through image, sound and props, for instance, the tale of heartbreak is shown by a hand stabbing into the heart, piercing the aorta. This literal imagery tells the audience that the protagonist is deeply heartbroken.

One of my interviewees (Aaliyah) showed me this article which aided me in researching more about the pharmaceutical industry as it talks about placebo effects and why they are so detrimental to the popularity of prescription drugs (instant gratification in society creates an illusion neurologically, thus deceiving your pain receptors into thinking the medication has worked.) Being well informed about the subject of my documentary is essential and has even led to Aaliyah talking to the camera about placebo effects in the documentary itself.

One piece of media I was partially inspired by was a psychological drama entitled 'Requiem For A Dream' by Darren Aronofsky.

The drama depicts a young woman who is prescribed a high dosage of weight-loss amphetamines as she'd previously failed her strict diet plan and she eventually ends up falling into a state of mania. The drugs change the way her brain works and she ends up being addicted to drugs and being diagnosed as psychotic. This film shows the way that prescription drugs can become addictive and could potentially give you more debilitating illnesses.

This is a video showing all of the close up shots in Requiem Of A Dream and the foley sound effects that are representative of something meaningful happening. I really found the imagery in this film useful as it showed me how little editing effects or shots can evoke emotion without having to paint a picture without explicitly using direct vocabulary.

As part of my research, I decided to make a powerpoint on documentaries in order to figure out the specifics of documentaries as I'm not very well versed in educational films.

From researching sub-types of documentaries, the genre i'll be using in my film will be Expository as my opinions are very biased and strong.

wikipedia has noted on the subject of Experimental Film:

While experimental covers a wide range of practice, an experimental film is often characterized by the absence of linear narrative, the use of various abstracting techniques—out-of-focus, painting or scratching on film, rapid editing—the use of asynchronous (non-diegetic) sound or even the absence of any sound track. The goal is often to place the viewer in a more active and more thoughtful relationship to the film.

While this is a documentary and I don't have a clear narrative (but more of a intention to educate and spread my opinion on the subject) I will blur the lines between documentary and experimental film by adding effects like echo frames and distortion of audio in certain dialogues to hint a hidden or missed meaning behind the words being spoken,

For example, if a certain set of dialogue is evocative to the filmmaker (MYSELF) I will change or distort the audio (just like a sad scenario in a movie may have dimmed or dull lighting to contrast with the meaning.)

Documentaries aren't really supposed to distort reality, so this is what i'm challenging, but with the intention to educate others.