SEARCH ME: A Final Reflection on EYES

"The you of today is a survivor, a very close survivor, of the you of yesterday. It is a survivor, though a slightly more distant survivor, of the you of last week, and a much more distant survivor of the you of last year. In a single body is not one person one self or person, but a succession of selves, a river of selves, each one a survivor of the one that went before. To the extent we can talk of the self, we are talking of something that has the character of a river, a process, not a thing."

- The River of Selves from The Philosopher at the End of the Universe.

"Memories - you're talking about memories."

- Rick Deckard, Blade Runner

Anxiety and Boredom: June 2012 – September 2012

This project started life in the spring of 2012 as a short film and was something that I did a great of deal of preparation for during my summer break. The short film idea that I toyed with throughout the summer was called A&B (which stands for ‘Anxiety and Boredom’) and it was hugely influenced by the experimental art house film Radio On. 

However, while A&B was a very strong visual idea that would have intensely explored the themes of anxiety and boredom, it lacked a clear narrative to express those themes. I certainly was all for creating a very strong visual presentation in acknowledgement of all the films that had nurtured me and which I had come to fully appreciate through my academic ventures in Film Studies, but as my degree was also concerned with creative writing, I felt that it was only fair that I honour both sides of my degree by delivering a final product that was visually very strong and complimented by an equally strong narrative. As such, I abandoned A&B and started again.

Look familiar?

Coinciding with the initiation of my final year in September 2012 I hit on a new idea – an idea that concerned itself with a character called Boris who liked to collect photographs of peoples’ eyes and this became the EYES short film idea. This Idea I certainly appreciated much more so than the A&B idea as it provided a better starting point from which to develop a narrative. I even toyed with the potential of doing it as a mockumentary! Very early on I could see that the basic premise of the idea was building on my Busybody script; a script that I had submitted for my short filmmaking module in the previous year and which also concerned itself with the process of looking as it had been a script about voyeurism. The starting idea for Busybody was of a landlord who installs hidden cameras into all of his properties; from that basic premise I was able to develop a narrative that dealt with two characters who liked to engage in voyeurism. Clearly I had a subconscious agenda to look at the gaze, as this same theme came up in my other two final year projects Ways of Being and Fencing. 

However, as I now had a clear starting idea that offered both visual and narrative potential, I was confident that I could produce a strong short film out of it – a calling card for myself.

And then I listened to my doubts.



Storytelling and Experimentation: October 2012 – November 2012

The redeeming feature of the Creative Enterprise Project module is that it provides each student with a blank canvass on which they can paint whatever project they like; it is also a module designed to get the students out into the industry they want to work in, so that when they graduate they can get employment in that industry. To this end, I wondered if there was something better I could do than a short film. The reason why I wanted to do a short film is because I felt that the short films I had helped produce in Planning and Making a Film, my filmmaking module from the previous year, were only marginally representative of my potential and, now that I had access to the necessary resources, I saw the Creative Enterprise Project module as a chance to rectify previous errors and produce a short film that absolutely expressed my potential, opposed to being a botch-up. However, at the end of it all, I was really just making a short film for myself, because it had always been something I had wanted to do to a high level. The industry initiative was secondary. Therefore, I felt that I owed it to myself to do something that would be highly beneficial to my career aspirations and would directly assist me in securing a job once I had graduated. 

It was always about looking for a new approach.

To this end, I sought advice from the person who had tutored me in Planning and Making a Film: Mike Johnston. Mike was the person who suggested that I could do a web series project that would entail the construction of a series bible document and a pilot episode. He suggested this as a better option because it would more fully exploited the full range of skills that I had nurtured over the course of my degree. Furthermore, the ability to tell an ongoing story, opposed to the self-contained narrative of a short film is much more appealing to the industry. Today in the industry, there is much more emphasis on television and movie franchises and stories that are told in multiple parts.

The marvel cinematic universe is a key example of this shift towards mulit-part stories.

Mike made a compelling case for undertaking a web series project and he even suggested that I take it down the transmedia route, but I was hesitant to do this as it would have created more work. However, I was pretty sold on the web series idea because it would still allow me to conduct filmmaking in the form of the Pilot; as well as allowing me to express my creative writing and contemporary industry awareness. It was also a challenge as I knew virtually nothing about the relatively new web series medium, but challenges generate a great deal of creativity. 

I seem to be obsessed with looking.

The next step was taking the story idea for the EYES short film and moulding it into something that could be an ongoing story. Fortunately, as the EYES short film idea had only recently been formed it was still a proto-idea and, therefore, was very ripe to be shaped into any form or medium. During the process of creating the web series story idea it became obvious that what I needed was an overarching concept that would carry the web series identity and allow each episode to develop its own stories based around that common concept. Another problem arose that I was running out of time and by this point I was already going into November and I knew that if I was going to pull this project off I would need to get the pre-production phase largely done before Christmas! Therefore, I took to recycling previous Ideas that I had used in past projects. P.S. was the first short film script that I had written for submission in the Planning and Making a Film module, but had decided against submitting it as it was very complicated – it was complicated because it dealt with telepathy.

Imagine a world where all human consciousness was connected together like wifi.

I had written P.S. about telepathy because telepathy is something that has always interested me and I have always wondered what the world would be like if it actually existed. Therefore, as it was an abandoned script I felt that it made sense to give that concept a second chance and I realised that the complicated nature of something like telepathy meant that there were innumerable stories that could be told about it – therefore, it would serve as an exceedingly good overarching concept for an ongoing story. Also, the idea of putting thinking and looking together immediately seemed like a very natural idea. Telepathy is also a very unconventional subject that does not get covered much and I saw it as offering the potential for experimentation in the way that a story could be told around it. I was sold.

EYES Vlog Update 25 - Retrospective

EYES Vlog Update 19: A Re-Introduction

Clarification on what the EYES web series project is and its ongoing status.

People and Pitches

Here I discuss dealing with other people, elevator pitches and three project proposals. 

The focus of today’s seminar was 'dealing with people' and how, whether we like it or not, we would have to deal with them at some point during our CE projects. It’s was all pretty obvious and I have no problem working with other people (as long as their not lazy). However, the profiling we did of ourselves (I was green) was very useful in allowing us to see how different mentalities can actually complement each other! We also touched upon CVs and, while there were some good pointers on layout, it was mostly stuff I’ve already covered.

The main point I was hoping/dreading we would touch upon was creating loglines (elevator pitches) for our projects. I’m fully aware that I am useless at explaining anything constructive to a stranger, if I have not prepared it in advance. Certainly, this exercise was designed to allow us to compile a succinct synopsis of our projects, which we could then present to other people.

Using twenty words, we had to write out what our project was and make it sound as exciting as possible. Using project proposal 1 (My blog that investigates the work of industry established filmmakers) I found it increasingly hard to put down its purpose in twenty, exciting words (which may be an indication to drop the project). Therefore, I tried my hand with project proposal 3 (Transmedia web series) and this is what I came up with:

“Through planning out an overall web series and producing the pilot episode, my project is an exploration of transmedia storytelling.”

I don’t think it sounds terribly exciting, but it is only twenty words! Although, when I presented it to the class, the response I got was very positive. They said it did sound exciting, but I think that is mainly because they didn’t know what ‘transmedia’ meant (I didn’t). I was quite struck by just how positive people were towards proposal 3. In addition to this, when I discussed all three of my proposals with the table I was sat at there responses were much more positive towards proposal 3, opposed to proposals 1 and 2 (Making a short film to investigate what is required of a director, packaged together as a means of application for postgraduate study).

Out of the three, I would be lying if I said 3 wasn’t the most promising proposal and, following on from the positive reactions I’ve had to it, I’m thinking this could very well be the project I end up doing. I don’t want to entirely rule out the other two, because there may still be life in them. However, In terms of pushing myself academically towards a career and delivering a project that meets the criteria of the module I couldn’t go wrong with proposal 3.

For next week I have to create a ‘background context report’ and I’m going to have to do it for all three proposals (I’ve shot myself in the foot here). However, by establishing what the contexts my projects can work in I’ll be closer to deciding which one I want to do. I also suspect proposal 3 will operate in the most contexts and, therefore, be the best project to pursue. I won’t give up on the other two quite yet, though (Although, subconsciously, I think I already have).

Transmedia and Web Series

Here I discuss the storytelling possibilities of Transmedia and my meeting with Mike Johnston 12/10/2012.

I wanted to discuss my Creative Enterprise Project proposals with Mike Johnston because, being the tutor who assessed me for Planning and Making a Film, I knew he would provide some good advice. Boy, did he! I sat there talking with him for an hour (he did most of the talking).

I started off telling him what I had said to Mimi, in regards, to what I wanted to do after Uni – that I just want to tell stories through filmmaking and that I want to make a short film for my CE project. I also told him about my concern over being marked for making a short film again and how this could clash with Planning and Making a Film, but he said not to worry too much.

The key point he made - he has no doubt that I am capable of making an engaging short film (which was immensely reassuring to me). However, if I wanted to tell stories there are other ways in which I could do it and in areas that would allow me to branch out and explore the industry, which is what the CEP module criteria encourages.

He introduced me to a phrase I had never heard before: Transmedia Storytelling, which, if you want an example, is what the modern series of Doctor Who is doing. Doctor Who is transmedia storytelling because it tells its stories not just through the television episodes, but through novels, webisodes, comics, etc. You also have vast amounts of content detailing the behind the scenes information, toys, merchandise, conventions, fan fiction, podcasts, blogs, websites and the Doctor Who Experience. Transmedia storytelling is your basic exploitation of a franchise by its overseers and by its fans to tell stories across multiple platforms. I mean, I’m doing it now! If I do make a short film it would link to what I’m writing now, because I’m writing the story of how it came about, right now. Blimey, that makes my head hurt!

The reason why Mike flagged it up to me is because this is still a new, emerging area that is crying out for people to produce content. If I could somehow plug my CE project into this area it would bring in the marks and act as a good springboard for employment.

However, he voiced the same anxiety I have strolling around the back of my head – is making a short film going to push my skills enough to get a good mark for the module, get me the employment I want after Uni or act as a good application for postgraduate study?

Making a short film would be an incredibly inward way of approaching the module because, on it’s own, it doesn’t really allow me to explore outside the module in to the wider arena of the Creative Media Industry. Mike, quite rightly, said that no one has made a career out of just making short films. They’ll make one or two short films as their stylistic calling cards and then go on to other things, such as feature filmmaking, documentary making or television production, etc. These are not bad outcomes but the way in which stories are told is changing and the short film format on it’s own is becoming old fashioned. The way stories are told will change even more once television and the internet are the same thing (it’s going to happen), let’s not even move onto what’s going to happen to cinema (hopefully, IMAX will still be around once the multiplexes have vanished).

Mike argued, by doing a CE project that is concerned with transmedia storytelling, such as producing a pilot webisode for a short web series and promoting it on line, I would be demonstrating real forward-thinking and would be employing all the skills he has already seen me demonstrate. Mike has also supplied me with some links and resources, which I’m going to have a look at.

At the moment Eyes is still only a proto-idea, it is not a full-fledge plot for either a fiction short film or a mockumentary short film. Therefore, there is no reason why it can’t be developed for another format; even if it is across multiple formats.

The fact of the matter is, I’m betting everything I have on this final year and going all in! This year will probably break me but it also needs to make me and the CEP is my opportunity to really demonstrate what I can do. The question is do I do something that may not push me far enough, such as making a short film?

Mike even said it’s possible for me to use the Uni’s resources after (if) I graduate. I have already considered using the May/June period to make a short film, so that is also possibility. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make a short film, but actually the options I have available to me are vast and varied. All I know is I have to make something for this module – it’s inside me and it’s crying out to be made!

However, I am not saying that I have abandoned the short film; I may even be able to combine aspects of the transmedia option with it. As I said to Mike: “I need ideas to make new ideas”. Therefore, I’m going to keep developing the story of Eyes and keep acquiring new suggestions for other roads I could take my CE project down. The initial proposal isn’t due until just before Christmas and even then it can be altered. For the time being, I’m just going to keep feeding my brain new ideas and options and see what wonderful new combinations it can make from them.

Fiction vs. Mockumentary

Here I discuss my dilemma on whether to do a fiction film or a mockumentary short film.

I think the only way I’m going to decide which road to take is to go down both roads and then pick the one which provides the more interesting views.

I was part of a similar problem last year when my housemate asked me to write a short film script for his final year CMP project. In the end, he decided not to make a short film. However, from the process of working from his original idea – something based around video gaming – and trying to produce a script he liked, I wrote one short fiction script, Xbox Junkie, and one short mockumentary treatment, The Gaming Complex. Two different stories and approaches but both based around video gaming. I’m glad that I ended up trying the two different approaches back then because it demonstrates the advantages of doing it now with Eyes. I think I’ll also have another look at the gaming stories to see if there are any ideas that can be recycled.

Certainly, I think my subconscious has already started to pinch ideas from the gaming scripts! The theme of obsession, that was present in The Gaming Complex, is migrating into Eyes. I’m also suspecting that Boris uses his eye obsession as a means of procrastination; in Xbox Junkie video gaming was the main character’s means of procrastination.

From the thought I've already given to the two different approaches, I can see that the two roads go in two different directions.

If I go with the mockumentary - the direction will be backwards. The film would start with Boris and his eye obsession. Then the film would move backwards and explore the story of where Boris’ eye obsession comes from.

Whereas, if I go with the fiction film - the direction will be forwards. The film would start with Boris and his eye obsession. Then, through a conflict arising from his eye obsession which creates a complication, the story would go forward into a wider playing field, where the eye obsession would be only one element.

So in a sense the fiction film is sort of the sequel to the mockumentary. I realise, with the mocumentary you could tell a much wider story (like the fiction film counterpart), but my thinking is a short mocumentary needs to be like a short documentary - the focus has to be simple. If the focus is simple it enables the film to much more thoroughly and satisfactorily explore the essence of its focus in the limited running time it has.

In my mind, these are the ways I would want to do the two approaches. Therefore, it makes sense for me to start with the mockumentary: find out who Boris is and where his eye obsession comes from. Then move onto the fiction film and see how his eye obsession can put him at odds with other forces in the world.

Although, now that I've written this reflection, I’m about 70% certain I’m going to do a fiction film. I know a mockumentary still has a lot of potential and artistically a mockumentary would make for a nice middle ground between Matt’s fiction film and Tish’s documentary (which I hope to end up working on). However, in the end, I would probably be more satisfied with a fiction film. Therefore, In order to satisfy myself that the mockumentary is a no-goer, I will develop a treatment for it. That way it removes the “what if” from my mind.

In terms of developing the fiction counterpart, I believe it makes more sense for me to first figure out who Boris is and where the hell is eye obsession comes from, which I can do by creating a treatment for the mockumentary. Once I know him and his obsession I’ll know what types of people and situations Boris is likely to come in to conflict with. This is the information I need to make the fiction script have a really compelling story. If there’s no conflict – there’s no story!

CEP: The Module Criteria

Here I discuss marking criteria and my meeting with Mimi 09/10/2012.

One of the problems I have which is hampering the script’s development - I don’t quite know how to make a short film project work within the module’s criteria.

When I met with Mini on Tuesday, she suggested an alternative idea which would fulfill my wish to do a project concerned with filmmaking. As I don’t know what area of filmmaking I want to specialise in (I want to do all of them) she suggested my project could be an investigation to determine which area would suit me best. For this she suggested that I could shadow already established industry professionals in the areas of cinematography, editing, lighting, etc and then write up my experiences and my conclusions on a blog. While this is a tantalising idea and one which would build up my industry contacts – it’s not the idea I want to do. But I’m wondering if there isn’t some way I can combine aspects of it with my desire to make a short film. 

Me: doing the clapperboard on the set of One Door Opened.

Another potential idea comes from my desire to shadow Matt with a video camera so that I can document the making of Remember This. Matt has agreed to this but I don’t really have any definite plans to make a documentary from the footage, it's just something I've always wanted to try. I figured it would also make for an interesting experiment; as well as some good practice for documentary making. It’s also a back-up project if things go tits-up with my short film. However, even this idea I am now questioning whether I should do. Now that I have agreed to be Matt’s producer, I’m wondering how feasible is it for me to be both involved in the process of making the film and outside observing it? 

Tailing Matt while he films for SpaLife TV.

Another factor that has to be considered is to be very careful with how my project is marked. I've already been marked on my contribution to a short film in Planning and Making a Film so I have to be careful not to be marked on the same areas in CEP. Likewise, I’ll be making a documentary in Short Form Documentary Making so I can’t really be marked for making a documentary for CEP.

If I’m serious about doing a short film, my thinking is to concentrate on my role as the Director, as that is a role I didn’t do or get marked on in Planning and Making a Film. I could present my project as a means to focus on and develop my skills as a director by making a short film. 

Me: on the set of One Door Opened.

Then using the reflections I would have written on the process of directing (perhaps even doing some investigations of other directors) together with the short film that would have been produced I could package them together as a means of application for postgraduate study. Therefore, this directing/short film/postgraduate “super-package” could be my Creative Enterprise Project! 

I just hope I don’t actually have to apply for postgraduate study! Not that I’m adverse to it, I just don’t have the money. But I’m meeting with Mike J tomorrow so I’ll listen to what he has to say to my ideas.

Me: after I hit a brick wall in my Uni work.

I’m beginning to see that CEP is like wrapping presents. I hate wrapping presents and I don’t want to have to wrap my short film up in all the unneeded stress the module criteria demands! I just hope it gets me a good mark (without killing me). Matt, quite rightly, says I need to stop worrying. If I’m worrying my brain isn’t creating!

Eyes - The New Short Film Idea

Here I discuss my new short film idea.

Rather symbolically, I came up with my new idea, Eyes, on the same day as our first Creative Enterprise Project seminar. It is not a full-fledged plot yet, but rather just a starting idea that presents multiple possibilities of stories to be told around it. It’s an idea that very much builds on the themes of looking, watching and invasion of privacy that I explored in Busybody. 

The Characters spy on another character as we spy on them. From the first adaptation of Busybody.

The idea is of a character who likes to collect eyes and, when I say collect eyes, I don’t mean he physically pries them out of people’s heads. Rather, this character likes to go up to people and ask them if he can take a photo of their more interesting eye – he collects photos of people’s eyes.

The character is called Boris; he's a male photographer this time, because I had a female photographer in ‘Busybody’. He’s also named after Boris Karloff not Boris Johnson (although, he’s equally as legendary).

Boris Karloff, The Mummy (1932).

Boris Johnson, no explanation required.

I’m very keen to stick to this starting point idea! Like the hidden camera idea that I started from with Busybody, this idea is presenting just as many story possibilities that interest me. It deals with something I know: taking photographs on a persistent basis, as I’ve been doing with my 366 Project; it’s about looking, and I’ve always been more of a watcher than a talker. Also I think in general people don’t look enough; they rely too much on listening to all the crap that pours from the mouths of others. Rarely do people say what they’re actually thinking or feeling, but the eyes can always discern the truth – you just have to look! Obviously, it’s a very visual idea I can see it working very well in a story that is told with a visual medium – my mouth is watering with all the possibilities. 

A high definition image of a Human eye.

A key conflict that is stopping me from nailing down a plot is the fact that I don’t know whether the film should be a solid fiction film or a mocukumentary. Both avenues are presenting equal amounts of tantalising possibilities! It might be worth developing an idea for both avenues and then pick the one that is better?

I may not have a plot but I’m getting a feel for the tone of the story. The idea of someone who likes to collect eyes can come across as a very sinister idea but my instinct is telling me that Boris (like Geoff) is not a sinister person. I think Boris is a very admirable person who somehow encounters a complication due to his eye obsession. My subconscious is mercilessly recycling Busybody here! Maybe I should just make Boris an overtly evil character?

David Lynch on how narrow adult imagination is.

Matt has even suggested that it could be a love story where Boris meets someone who has an obsession with lips. Certainly, it makes sense that Boris would be attracted to someone who had their own obsession. It also presents potential for conflict through resentment. However, I have to be careful with the love story angle. It’s not that I’m adverse to it being a love story but there are countless examples where the ‘strange’ love story has already been done to death. 

Human lips.

I will keep working on it, though. I’ve made myself a deal - If I haven’t got a full-fledged plot within the next couple of weeks I will drop the project!