final major project proposal

Rationale

Since I've started the Level 3 Media course, I've made improvements on things that I'd learnt before in AS Film (Scriptwriting, Essay Writing and Planning), but I've also developed and gained brand new skills in the fields of editing, lighting, sound and filming techniques. In terms of lighting, I'd never used artificial lighting in a project before this course, but the college has a television studio. Being privileged enough to have such a facility in college has given me multiple opportunities to practice setting up lighting for my own work and helping others with their projects in order to gain experience. I’ve also had multiple interactions with my lecturer in which she talked to the class about Three Point Lighting (in which the backlight, the key light and the fill light are all impartial to the objects appearance on film) and other technical terms, for example, Diaphragm, Iris, and Aperture (which all of controls the quantity of light being emitted into the film.) Before I knew anything about lighting, I assumed that a box light was all you needed to adjust lighting but i’ve learned there are certain positions and techniques you can use to make things on screen appear differently to how the naked eye sees them (for example, a face could be on screen but with the order in which the lights are positioned, the face could be perceived as an inanimate object due to the shadowing or highlighting being executed by illuminating the subject)

I'd equally never edited audio for a film and I didn't know any of the technicalities about sound that is added during editing. Through this course, I was also introduced to Foley sound and figured out independently how to sync audio to films or music videos. Before Level 3, I had no previous experience with using Adobe Audition so it was inherently important that I was taught myself to use it in order to improve my editing skills and expand my .) It was similar to an audio software I had used before (Audacity) but it was very complex in comparison. I studied film theory before, but I hadn't been introduced to any kind of Adobe software or any media editor before I started this course. Being taught to use Premiere Pro, Animate and After Effects will help me out of college as I had no idea how to colour correct or edit before experimenting with these programs.

Project concept

This project is a chance to present all of the skills i've learnt over the past few months. To research for my project, I am going to study "Rabbits" by David Lynch and "La Jetee" by Chris Marker. My film is Experimental, so by looking at other experimental films i'll be able to pick up the forms and conventions and apply them to my own work. I plan to also make a case study on experimental film to fully interpret and understand the style and techniques of the genre. I want to study what kind of SFX are used as sound is very prominent in this genre (abstract and miscellaneous sounds to help amplify a strange atmosphere.) I will create a trailer for my film as I need to attract an audience to my film and also this will help establish my target audience. I will use photoshop to create a poster to further establish my film into the public realm. I will write my script, although my film hasn't got much dialogue in it. I want to include subtitles to make the atmosphere very obscure. I anticipate producing a five minute film about the seven deadly sins. If my ideas change, I will not erase my previous logs, but simply update my blog with my newly found progressions in order to show my faults so I can learn from them.

UPDATE: 28/05/17

I am now doing a documentary on pharmaceutical drugs instead of my previous idea. The reason being is that my experimental focus group inspired me to document the government funded drug industry as everybody that i've spoken to in my personal and college life think it's an interesting subject that isn't addressed in the media or talked about amongst young adults. I also realized that my film idea was rather ambitious and unrealistic for the time limit that i'd been given. I've decided to curate my last idea but as a personal project rather than a college project.

The documentary I am making will be called magic bullet and the aim of the piece is to inform the public about the dangers of taking prescription drugs. In the documentary, I talk with a small selection of people I have asked to be in my film (due to their connection with the subject being addressed ) and ask them about their views and experiences with prescription drugs in order to educate the masses who take them or are thinking about taking them.

To aid my filmmaking process, I will do a small scale research powerpoint on documentaries in order for me to explore the different conceptual ideas in each sub-genre which will help me conclude which style I will use as I am not very well versed in the properties of educational films . I will then explore the forms and conventions in both the films "Requiem For A Dream" and "American Addict" as they both correlate with my project and show what prescribed drugs can do to you in the long and short terms. American Addict informs the viewer about pharmaceutical in a formal manner whilst Requiem for a dream is a movie with a blurred moral (which is to stay away from addictive substances.) I want my documentary to inform the viewer whilst having an abstract approach in order entertain and explain concepts with imagery to keep the viewers interested.

To curate this documentary, I will need a video camera, a script (for voiceovers, not the documented process as it will be unscripted apart from any questions being asked to the interviewees.) I will not need false lighting as it is a rough documentary which can be toggled during the editing process nor will I need help filming as my camera is handheld.

Evaluation

I will be evaluating my work in the form of a blog post dairy that will state what week and day I have completed my progress on. I wanted to make the whole post instead of separate updates as it will be easier to read and track.

Project proposal