Reevaluating The Original Project Proposal

The original proposal was based on a script I started writing in 2020, which followed two people trying to get home from separate parties and their journey home following a green light. I had originally meant for there to be psychedelic visuals but did not have a fully clear concept of which ones, the techniques used, and their significance. Before putting forward the new outline for the film, I'll go over my original proposal and discuss which elements I'd like to keep and which ones I'll be removing or changing to better fit both my vision and the experimental elements of this course. 

1. Format 

["Experimental, a film that explores the progression of the relationship between two people in one night and the hazy temporariness of it. They meet outside of a bar with no way to get home and walk through Glasgow following a light that they hope will lead them there. It will go from traditional filming and editing to a slow progression into perspective being warped as their journey goes on, with characters and objects growing and shifting, lighting becoming supernatural and, if possible, the use of animation to completely detach them from reality. In the end they engulfed by the light they are following."]

While my format will be very much the same as originally proposed,  but the themes within it will be made more clear. They meet outside and as they walk home reality starts crumbling around them. As their connection gets stronger, their reality becomes weaker. This will start with small hints at the start of the film, such as plants moving strangely or strange lights flashing briefly across the screen. Eventually the places they end up with start to become more surreal, either through animation or the use of full practical sets built with skewed perspectives. The end shot will still be the couple kissing while flooded by green. I am considering for now using a mixture of computer animation and stop motion- I will be making more blog posts and studies experimenting with these different techniques. I am also considering how much of a coherent narrative structure is necessary, once the film moves into the more dreamscape and disjointed locations and editing, I might consider relying almost entirely on visual symbolism rather than dialogue. 

2. Concept and Aims

["My project aims mainly to see what the limits are of experimental filmmaking using mostly techniques that are accurate to techniques used by experimental filmmakers in the 60s and 70s, while it may be set in the present (tbc), I want it to feel of another time. This is the first step in the subversion of expectations, using techniques that are outdated in a new context will go backwards in time and inform why these things were tried previously. As the experimentation with this gets more advanced it will open up more possibilities for different kinds of scenes I haven’t considered possible yet."]

I feel like during my proposal I had a quite broad idea of what the concept was meant to be. While I am still very interested in attempting to recreate techniques used in the 60s (and possibly 70s), I will be focussing mainly on the psychedelic movement and their aesthetic, as well as the techniques used not only to represent tripping (which I find quite limiting as a theme), but how these visuals were used to expand upon the themes already being set out. I'd like to experiment with both practical effects and digital using premier pro. The ability to create these effects digitally or even enhance them beyond what was possible at the time will be an area which I'm looking forwards to researching and experimenting with. 

3. Methodology 

["The going off point for this inspiration is the work of Charlie Kaufman in the way that he starts his films with a sense of normalcy then immerses the audience in a world so far off from reality. This transition and the techniques used is something I hope to explore. I’d also like to draw from the 60s psychedelic movement and look into the ways that films and music videos involving that were filmed, perhaps using period accurate film and exploring the editing styles, but I’m most interested in how the lighting was achieved, such as in the films Wonderwall (1968), and the psychedelic scenes in The Love Witch (2016)."] 

Rather than having Kauffman be my main aesthetic inspiration, I'd like the themes of his films to be more of what I draw from. His human connection and emotional themes stay clear even while his films become progressively more disjointed. I will take my aesthetic inspiration from films of the 60s (will make a blog post with a list of these and more in depth analysis later). I did originally plan to shoot this short entirely on film. The feasibility of this is something I will have to examine further, and might have to limit some experimentation and maybe only once scene using this. The main two issues with that is the cost of film and the availably of a film camera either from the uni or online. This would also require a lot more filming experience and understanding of aperture, shutter speed and fps than what I have as somebody who has been almost exclusively involved in postproduction. 

4. Creative Method 

["I plan to start by researching into 60s pop culture and the filmmaking techniques that were used during this time period, mostly looking at experimental films from the period as I’m not familiar with many of them. I hope to do many test shots and reels with these techniques to find the overall look and feel of the film, and then develop the story around this, as it has the potential to be fitted to the various techniques instead of the other way around. Approaching it from a technical sense first will be something I’ve never done before, and using this method will hopefully bring a different product to anything I’ve been a part of before, as I’ve approached things only from the perspective of writing and editing."]

My creative method will remain much the same as originally planned, the guidance this course is offering and the different equipment we have will allow me to produce several iterations of the same idea and explore how they will fit into my own themes, solidifying the themes and visions through experimentation rather than trying to stick to one set aesthetic and technique. I'm also considering trying editing softwares other than Premier Pro as part of my experimentation to see if there are other softwares that offer a thinking format behind the creation that may push me to rethink editing as a whole.