EYES Planning Portfolio

As part of the Creative Enterprise Project module, I was required to produce a document that would detail your vision, research and planning for your project. This is my planning portfolio document which is a synthesis of a the Planning Portfolio document I produced before Christmas and the updated one I completed just before the final submission in May. In addition to the Appendix Materials, this document is an expression of the administrative elements of the project.

The previous three drafts of the planning portfolio can be viewed in this Google Drive folder.

EYES Vlog Update 19: A Re-Introduction

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

Welcome and Good Luck

Everything you need to know.

My Creative Enterprise Project - a Web Series Concept Proposal.

Rise: A Reflection on Being Enterprising

What follows is essentially my final reflection or plea, if you like. I have put a great deal of work into this project and its holds a great deal of content. I will now allow it to speak for itself.

My attitude this year can best be summed up in the following image.

'Deshi Basara' means Rise.

I would also like to take this opportunity to direct your attention to a resource that has had a huge impact on the project and changed the way in which I think about storytelling as a whole and my attitude towards making a living from that venture.

Synopsis:

The writer's guide was developed through the Australia Council's Story of the Future project to explore the craft and business of writing in the digital era. It includes case studies from Australia's rising generation of poets, novelists, screenwriters, games writers and producers who are embracing new media and contains audio and video content from seminars and workshops, as well as extensive references to resouces in Australia and beyond.

The Writer's Guide

The Writer's Guide has been my bible while undertaking this module and formulating EYES.

Another resource that as had some impact on the project and my thinking in storytelling in general is Getting Started in Transmedia Storytelling. While the guide's strong emphasis on transmedia is not something that I have completely incorporated into my project (it was a strong component in the initial planning stages), you will see that it has still had an impact on my vision for the EYES web series. 

While my approach can be considered slightly messy, it is highly intricate and progressive.

By understanding the fundamental influences these guides have had on my thinking, you should be able to understand my intentions for the EYES project and my personal approach to the business aspects of the Creative Enterprise Project module.



 
My iPad ran out of memory while recording this, hence why it suddenly cuts off. However, I feel that it says enough and acts as a good introduction to what I have done artistically with EYES...



 
...as well as my intentions for doing so, from an enterprising point of view.




Collected in the notebook below are the online resources I've looked at in an effort to improve my professional image in relation to the module.


This seven month experience has been utterly exhausting, but undoubtedly rewarding!
 

My enrollment in the CEP module has been out of a desire for self-improvement.

I believe I have risen a great deal in the last seven months.

The End User: Target Audience Considerations

As I've noticed that the Creative Enterprise Project module has a strong emphasis on target audience, I felt that it would be good for me to present what I feel is the target audience for EYES and the research/reasoning that helped me deduce this.

As I said in the vlog, I term my target audience as being in the 'mostly young adult' demographic (mid teen - pushing through the 30s). 

To understand the type of content I am trying to create for that target audience, see Rough Cut 2 - Reflective Commentary.

Below are the research and resources I spoke about in the vlog. These were invaluable in helping understand what a target audience is, how to identity one and how to create content designed for a target audience. 

ReelSEO - The online marketing guide. This is quite literally a toolbox for young creatives like myself.

IPF Marketing Guide: How to Build an Audience for Your Web Series - a step-by-step guide for doing just that. However, the time window of the module would not allow me to follow the guide through and through, but the guide has made for good referencing in times of need. 

Here are links to the two television shows I mention in the vlog: Twin Peaks and Being Human.

EYES Feedback: Claire Rowbotham ('Lianne')

FEEDBACK

Claire Rowbotham- Actress

When approached to be a part of this project as an actress, I was thrilled as Pete seemed really keen to have me and this enthusiasm was what made me sure that I wanted to commit to the film. EYES for me was an extra-curricular project during my own very busy third year, and if it wasn’t for his passion and drive for the film I probably would have chosen to not do the film and concentrate on my own studies. So a note for Pete would be to keep this attitude up because it really is the difference between people wanting to be a part of a project in their own time and not.

Saying that, the script was also a huge reason I wanted to be a part of the film. The script intrigued me hugely and I wanted to find out more; both about the storyline and the characters. This is great as obviously if you have the audience hooked and wanting to know more then you are onto a winner. The script went through quite a few drafts throughout rehearsals, but this for me was a good thing rather than a bad thing; Pete was brilliant at watching us in rehearsals and then adapting the script so that both his actors felt happier and so that his script communicated more clearly what he wanted it to. It didn’t mess the process up for myself as an actor because changes made were always beneficial to my character and he didn’t have us learn lines for the shoot until he was sure that he was happy with the script. The only thing I would say he could change about the rehearsal process would be to have a slightly clearer structure for rehearsals. I believe this was Pete’s first time directing and I feel that he could achieve more for himself and actors, as a director, if he knew of more exercises that would could participate in to help make our performances stronger. Pete however, had a naturally lovely way of telling us what he liked us doing in rehearsals and this was encouraging.

As Pete was so full of ideas, which ultimately is a good thing as it led to bigger and better things, it could be a little bit confusing knowing what he wanted. But I believe this was a part of the development process rather than a hindrance. It was also very interesting to see how his ideas developed and blossomed. I must point out that in the end, once he realised what it was he needed portraying, he was very clear in what he needed for us. To make the process quicker in future I would just say maybe he should have the idea slightly more developed in his head before getting other people involved with it.

Throughout the whole experience, Pete kept everyone very well informed via the facebook group page and he was always very communicative. He was always easy to get hold of which was brilliant for when I needed questions and queries answered. Through the facebook page I also got a great insight into the huge amount of research he was doing; I could tell he was looking at lots of different elements of the film and because I saw him doing all of this, I felt more like a part of the production team rather than just an actress. I am not sure if this was his intention? But I feel like this was a good thing. Maybe on larger projects he would need to define the boundaries between production team and cast more, but I felt that for this intimate production it worked and I learnt a lot more than I would have done if I was just sent a call sheet and the lines I needed to learn.  The only downside to the facebook page is that as there were so many posts, sometimes I would lose track of the posts that I actually NEEDED to know about. So maybe a more direct approach to certain individuals about what was need to make things clearer if it only concerned them? 

Pre-production seemed to be organised well as when we turned up for the actual shoot, there were no problems with locations or anything and we could just get on and film. Everyone knew what they were doing and I didn’t feel as if he ever forgot to do anything important that slowed down the shoot. I would say next time however, that he get a slightly larger production crew so that he could concentrate on solely directing.  During actual filming,-on set directions were clear and he knew what he wanted which was great.

During the whole process, Pete was very accommodating to my own needs with regards to what suited me and my studies and this was a necessary trait which he needed to have for me to be a happy member of his team. So big well done for that. 

Pete’s general approach to everything was very passionate and he was clearly determined to create the best film he could which was contagious, but I would say he needed to be careful of his manner at times. Sometimes I was unsure if he was angry/stressed or just concentrated and determined. Overall I think he could have made it slightly more obvious if he was feeling positive about what was happening, but he never spoke to be rudely and so I enjoyed being around him. I was just unclear with how he felt at times, if he was joking or not, which made me unsure of how to react. Pete was great to work with though and it would be a pleasure to work on another film with him again some time soon.

From the entire project I have gained a lot for myself; I have had a lovely on set experience, I have learnt a huge deal about how different people work, I learnt a lot about the script development process and I have obtained fantastic random information from the research facebook page. Being a part of EYES was a great experience and Pete deserves to do well in the future.

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 2 - Reflective Commentary

I am the Tortoise

One of the greatest stories ever told - I am the tortoise! 

Survey Monkey: EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 2 Questionnaire

Using Survey Monkey, I created an online questionnaire for the second rough cut of the Pilot episode. I didn't do this for the first rough cut as it was missing the first scene, a scene that is curicial in order to understanding the whole thing. Therefore, I waited until I had a thorough representation of what the final product would look like, as now represented in the second rough cut, before I started testing its effectiveness with its target audience. While I'm not able to complete a final cut for the submission, the results of this questionnaire will enable me to identify any problems in the edit and to implement refinements for the when I do complete a final cut, for my proffesional portfolio. 

Below are the 10 mostly multiple choice questions that make up the questionnaire.

Questions 1 & 2

Questions 3 & 4

Questions 5 & 6

 

Questions 7 & 8

Question 9

Question 10

EYES - A Panic and a Breakthrough

Here I'll discuss the progress of my web series EYES.

I already discussed a great deal about my the orignal idea for the EYES short film, then about whether I should do it as a mockumentary or fiction short film and then how I considered developing the EYES proto-idea into a web series.

Well, now I have decided to develop the EYES idea into a web series - this is 99.9% what I want to do! However, the nature of a web series is it tells an ongoing story and I have been having some toruble developing the EYES idea beyond its intial proto-idea state. By this, I mean it was not presenting broad enough ideas to satify an ongoing narrative.

Suffice to say that when everyone had to present their ideas to the the module group in this week's seminar, I was in a state of panic. A state of panic that was helped by Mimi telling us that he if we wanted to change our projects then now was the time. 

I presented my idea, pretty much the same as I had presented it the week before. I also added in that I was looking to get Creative Writing students on board to write some of the episodes.

In hindsight, I'm glad I kept to my guns because that night my brain kicked itself into gear.

Love a breakthrough.

Not only do I now have a story for a season, but for two more seasons besides and a vision of the whole universe that these stories opperate in. 

I see you

Watch this space, things are going to start getting very strange.

Failure is my Friend

In the seminar we had today, Mimi told us we were all going to fail. However, we should not fear this, but embrace it. It is fortune that I know my project will largely be a failure as I only really care about producing a piece of filmmaking However, I will endeavour to fail as gracefully and intelligently as I possibly can. 

This is one of those cases where it is okay to fail, as long as I demonstrate how what I have learnt from that failure.

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!