Wednesday 18 September 2013

EYES Pilot - Episode One: SEARCH ME



Cousins make the worst combinations and this is especially true of Boris and his long-lost cousin Lianne. Lianne has tracked Boris down looking for answers about their family which has long since vanished. Claiming to be someone else, Boris wants nothing to do with his cousin. However, as their streams become entwined, a reflexive connection is formed and a whole other world comes to the surface. EYES is a mystery wrapped in an enigma contained within a Rubik cube...


Presented below is a reflective commentary for the Pilot in which I commentate on the Pilot episode (Part 1) and then go into a bit more depth about various attributes of the Pilot and their place in the overall project (Part 2).  



Embedded below is the shooting script for the Pilot. Earlier drafts of the script can be seen here and reading them will reveal how the Pilot's story and overall concept evolved during the scriptwriting phase. There is a significant shift between the 3rd and 4th drafts!




The playlist below provides a record of the evolution the EYES Pilot experienced during its five month editing process. These videos are testament to my wish to keep developing the Pilot's narrative and the overall EYES concept during the editing process, watching the videos will reveal how the Pilot evolved from the script. 



For more on the development of the Pilot, see the Vlogs and the final reflection.

Tuesday 17 September 2013

EYES Series Bible

This is a document that provides an overview for the EYES web series concept proposal. It details the story-world rules, story lines, characters, the target audience, the format, thematic focus and artistic/film formulaic style.

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 Pilot - Evolution of the Script

This is a script that evolved a great deal through its seven iterations and as a result of rehearsing it with the performers. Of all the scripts I have written, this is the one that has received the most input, re-thinking and revising. I feel that it is a very thorough script as a result and served as a strong foundation on which to build and develop the Pilot episode further.

Embedded below is the 7th draft/shooting script. 



The other drafts and variations of the Pilot script can be viewed in this Google Drive folder

Busybody and P.S. are two earlier scripts that I wrote that have had clear influences on the EYES Pilot script.

EYES Pilot - Evolution of the Edit

Presented below is a record of the evolution the EYES Pilot experienced during its five month editing process. These videos are testament to my wish to keep developing the Pilot's narrative and the overall EYES concept during the editing process, watching the videos will reveal how the Pilot evolved from the script. You can either view each edit as a playlist or as an individual videos.


EYES Pilot - Reflective Commentary

Here I have produced a reflective commentary for Pilot as means for me to more directly discuss my intentions for my approach with the Pilot and the EYES Project as a whole. These reflective commentaries actually serve as a sneaky short cut into understanding the project as a whole.


The first reflective commentary is just a traditional commentary track running playing over the Pilot.




The second reflective commentary is more of a video essay in which I spend a bit more time discussing various attributes of the Pilot and their place in the overall project. 




EYES Pilot - The Final Cut

Ladies and Gentlemen, the final cut!

Ways of Being: The Spectator and the Spectacle

A seven month research project that operated alongside the orchestration of EYES and which culminated in my undergraduate theoretical dissertation: Ways of Being: The Spectator and the Spectacle.

The paper was praised for its originality, progressive thinking and received the highest mark that has ever been awarded to a Film and Screen Studies dissertation at Bath Spa University; as well as being awarded the Media Futures Research Award!

As my guiding tutor and primary marker, Dr Suman Ghosh, commented: "The mark of 85 is an exceptional mark, rarely awarded, and only to work of exceptional quality. I am pleased to say that both examiners agreed that this was the case with your work."Additionally, the Head of the Film and Media Department, Dr Terence Rodgers, commented that: "This is certainly one of the best FL dissertations I have read for many a year".



The paper is a consideration of the epistemological, ontological and metaphysical downfalls of film theory’s understandings of the spectator and the spectacle; with particular emphasis directed towards the neurobiological implications of the spectator’s body.

The thesis argues that these shortcomings are representative of wider ranging issues of complacency engulfing the film industry and film exhibition as a whole. Furthermore, the fundamental disruptions of the digital upgrade of cinema, and the expanding means through which film content can be experienced, are explored in relation to the pressing need for film theory to reassess itself.

Drawing on a plethora of empirical and non-empirical research, the dissertation is a highly progressive expression of how film experience has always been about transcendence and, as a result of its digital re-birth and diversifications, it is now becoming even more so. 

Other materials pertaining to the project can be viewed in this Google Drive folder.

On top of EYES and my other final year projects, getting Ways of Being up to the standard I wanted was a tall and exhausting order!
 
As a result of my enthusiasm for the project, I unearthed so much data that the first draft I wrote warranted a request for a larger word count submission. As such, the primary content I eventually submitted totalled just fewer than 15,000 words, with the Appendix and other supplementary material bringing the overall word count to 30,000 words! Furthermore, I still had additional ideas and data that would have allowed me to write more!

This research project had a huge influence on EYES and vice versa; in fact, I refer to EYES as being the practical expression of what I explored in Ways of Being. I believe the high marks both projects were awarded are testament to their mutually beneficial relationship to one another.

As of June 2013, the research started in this project is ongoing and I am building a website to host it: www.ways2interface.com. I have been very fortunate to stumble into an area that is not receiving much research interest and I am very keen to build up a network of interested parties to change this. Therefore, please contact me if this is an area of interest.

Friday 13 September 2013

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 14

This was very nearly the final cut. However, I still need to increase the overall audio level and fix the door slam at the end of the Jazz Cafe sequence, as it goes on for too long at the moment.

Thursday 12 September 2013

The Complete Vlogs

These vlogs chronicle the year-long evolution and process of creating the EYES project. You can either view the vlogs as a playlist or as separate videos. 

Wednesday 4 September 2013

EYES Pilot - Submission Cut

As EYES served as my final year practical dissertation I was required to submit it even if it was not finished. However, the fact that it was awarded the highest mark of the module as an unfinished project is testament to the potential it showed! Here I have presented the submission cut post of the Pilot as it existed when I submitted it back in May 2013.

As this is a rough cut, the current state of the picture and sound are indicative in terms of layout and style, they are by no means representative of the final presentation quality. 

Below I have embedded rough cut 2, the most up to date edit of the Pilot and rough cut 1 that features some of the intended sound design for the final cut. The final video is my reflective commentary on the Rough Cut 2 of the Pilot and the overall EYES web series concept, this video provides many explanations. 





Tuesday 3 September 2013

EYES Pilot - Rough Cut 13

As I was rushed today, I decided to make this the pre-final cut rendition, so that I could go away, make a note of anything that I was not happy with and implement some final changes tomorrow. I am so glad that I did as I have noticed a few minor things that I would like to address tomorrow before I export the final cut.

This rough cut now includes the sound design and, as such, plays very differently - it is superb! I am extremely happy with Daniel's work, he has perfectly managed to exemplify the feeling I wanted the sound design to embody.