Writer/Director
+44 7484 136116
PROBLEM SOLVING
CONTACT LIST
Tom Dersley
- writer
- 07484 136116
Josephine Farrant
- producer
- 07443 872561
Eloise Quick
- director
- 07460 697397
Eloisa Lloyd
- producer
- 07368 387598
INITIAL IDEAS
At the beginning of this project, we were shown a long list of different media product types which we could choose between when deciding on what we were going to create. I chose three of these (short film, documentary, advert) and made a mind map compiling the ideas I had for each. I chose these because they seemed to be the most likely formats that we would choose.
The first idea I thought of was to almost combine each of these products and create a type of mockumentary or perhaps a pseudo-documentary as I thought this format would perfectly suit the theme of ‘My Culture.’ I also liked the idea of collecting both fictional and non-fictional content as it would allow us to choose which footage to include depending on its quality, something that wouldn’t be possible if we were to make a dedicated documentary.
I intended for the focus of the previous idea to be a small, seemingly insufficient element of culture present in a small local area. Something that when compared with a much larger area like a town or city becomes almost entirely overlooked. Another idea I had was to film at a small convenience shop and dramatise the difficulties they have with meeting the demands of locals in the area. Such as, when a certain newspaper or number of milk cartons isn’t delivered on time.
Another idea I had was, although rather morbid, one that I thought could be quite good if done correctly. The idea was to create an advert that, at first, seems to be the typical car advertisement - showing off a car's capability and expressing how great it feels to drive, especially very fast, and then have it suddenly switch to instead being an advertisement that demonstrates the awful consequences of speeding and then crashing as a result. Although this may prevent some from speeding in the future, it was clearly a little too morbid an idea to aim toward people as young as 13.
The idea that we chose to go with arose during class when Josie explained her idea of demonstrating both the similarities and differences between two people as a result of their different cultural backgrounds/upbringings. Her idea was to have two people meet at a bus stop and have them argue about their differences and the assumptions that they have about the other until they are suddenly made aware of a similarity they have (related to culture) Effectively showing how culture can bring two completely different people together. I immediately knew that this idea would require an extensive amount of dialogue and, therefore, two actors that could actually act well. But it was all we had at the time so we all agreed upon it.
THE BUS STOP TREATMENT
THE BUS STOP PITCH
(PowerPoint Presentation)
6O Second Pitch & Script
PITCH REVIEW
During class, we were given the opportunity to pitch our idea we had to Ray. Although we had hastily produced a PowerPoint presentation to use, we still felt extremely unprepared as a result of a lack of face-to-face communication between our group because of limited opportunities. This meant that we hadn't properly organised who was going to say which part and what we were going to use as hand-outs.
Overall, the pitch went dreadfully. Part of the reason for this was because we weren't certain whether we were expected to actually deliver the pitch or simply engage in a short conversation about the project as the setup (because of COVID) was rather strange.
Because of our ignorance, we completely failed to deliver a convincing pitch for our idea. It took a long time before we even decided who was going to speak. However, we were still able to discuss our idea and develop more thanks to the input given by Ray.
CHANGING OUR IDEA
The mistake we made when deciding upon this idea, which I tried to explain to the group, was that we went from a rough idea for a short film, straight into deciding who was going to act in it and where we were going to film it, instead of actually trying to develop an idea that could work. All we had was: two men meet at a bus stop, they have a mutual disdain for each other but soon realise that they have something in common. And I was told to go off and write the script. I made numerous attempts at writing the script but every time I failed. It was impossible and even the thought of re-reading what I had already written was frustrating and I tried giving up a number of times. I constantly asked the group for help and we held numerous online meetings to try and think of ways to improve the idea but it was impossible. We were stuck in a continuous loop of trying to think of ideas and this lasted for weeks until we got to a point where there was no point in trying to continue with the idea.
And so with weeks wasted and only a small amount of time before we were expected to begin filming we all agreed to change our plans for the project and switch to making a documentary. Despite the obvious disadvantage this gave us, I believe it actually helped the group as it kicked us into gear as we knew how soon we would be expected to begin filming and the new idea reinvigorated our interest in the project.
OUR NEW IDEA
The idea for our new project was to create a documentary that looks at and discusses how people with cultural differences, are often treated differently and unfairly. We thought this was a suitable idea as anything that was too complex may have become extremely difficult to complete with the obvious restrictions enforced as a result of the pandemic. The title that was chosen was 'Judgement' which didn't surprise me. The decision of picking a one-word title that has the most obvious relation to the project in an attempt to make it sound dramatic was entirely expected.
The other members of the group were able to find suitable interview subjects fairly easily by asking those in their friend groups. This was good as their relationships with the subjects would eliminate the possibility of unreliability and ensured that there would be no struggle when arranging dates for filming.
JUDGEMENT TREATMENT
SCRIPT FOR JUDGEMENT PITCH
Because of our decision to change the idea we had for this project, we decided to write a script ready in case we were required to give another pitch.
JUDGEMENT PITCH
(PowerPoint Presentation)
TARGET AUDIENCE
The audience that our product will be aimed toward is those between the ages of 13-19. As the members of our group are between the ages, we will be able to use ourselves as the audience as we know what we find interesting and enjoyable to watch. In our documentary, the people that we plan to interview will also be between these ages. This means that our product will be very relatable to the audience as the participants will be of their ages and will likely have shared similar experiences.
Because the viewers may have had similar experiences to our subjects, we must make sure not to be offensive or refer to certain things insensitively. Although this may difficult in present times, we will make sure we know how to refer to certain thing.
PRE-PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
CONTINGENCY PLAN
INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
Because of the lockdown that was introduced, we were forced to abandon our project and continue lessons online from home. In order to continue to produce the evidence needed to complete the module, we were given 14 days to complete a new task from home.
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INITIAL IDEAS
When I first learned about the task at hand, I was worried as I knew that I would struggle thinking of an idea. Especially because I would be doing it completely alone and my life or 'culture' isn't exactly film worthy. As I live in a small village, I knew instantly that the subject of my project would have to be about living in the village. This meant that I ruled out the possibility of making a dedicated short film as finding content entertaining enough by myself would be extremely difficult.
My first idea was to make almost a tourist attraction video encouraging people to come to the village I live in, but instead, make it satirical and bring attention to all the negative things about living in the village. I liked this idea because I thought my monotonous, deadpan voice would be suited to narrating something like that. However, it would have been risky as it would have needed to be perfect to work in the way I wanted it to and I wasn't certain that I could achieve this working alone.
These are some scrambled notes that somewhat reflect the brisk process of creating the idea.
Once I had dismissed this idea, I began considering ideas that were more suitable to the time limit given and the obvious lack of resources and help that I would have. I decided that whatever I did make, it would have to be fairly simplistic and minimal. This was when I decided to make a documentary that was closer to a commentary about where I live. Knowing that I would be making this alone, I knew that I would almost have to let the project shape itself and that it would have to be, to a certain degree, rather personal.
My plan was to record myself speaking about what it's like to live where I live, and then use this audio as a way of shaping what visuals to include in the project. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to speak about, but I refused to plan or script what I was going to say as I desperately wanted it to sound genuine and to avoid it sounding false or mechanical. The reason I wanted to avoid this was that I wanted the film to be a genuine personal reflection of what it is like where I live and not an overly-expository comparison between country life and city life with statistics and animations popping up on the screen. My aim was for the narration to almost seem as though it had been taken in snippets from an interview or past recording.