Re-thinking my Initial Ideas a second time
I decided to first of all analyse why I was having concerns about the D&D idea. Some thoughts I came up with are
1) I am keen on exploring how D&D can teach you skills that are useful in real life, such as negotiating, problem solving, teamwork, mental maths, creativity, geographical and political knowledge. However, I was struggling to develop the idea further than this. Which meant it felt a bit 2 dimensional and limited, not expansive enough.
2) I did think about including how D&D used to only be face to face but now there are apps which allow you to play with people all over the world, and link that in with getting on with people all over the world, however this is not limited to D&D so it felt like a bit of a stretch.
3) I realised that because I am so into D&D there is a danger that I could get too engrossed in small details that are not relevant overall to the project, or go down routes that I am fascinated by but which are not cohesive in regards to this project, and it could end up being rather disjointed. On the other hand, it could be a good challenge and opportunity for me to keep my objectivity and not get distracted, but even so I realised it was part of my concerns.
This analysis made me realise the overriding problem. It was that I couldn't see in my mind the final product. Throughout the course this year, I have been able to envisage what I wanted my final product to look like. On reflection, this reminded me of when I was planning my Toast advert. I had a similar experience in that initially I wasn't as clear in my mind of the final product and my test filming showed me that the idea that I started with wasn't working. I had the courage then to ditch my initial idea (of filming toast looking delicious) and start again even though it meant losing time. In that case I changed to a spy based narrative advert, which, as soon as I started planning it, just felt so much more right, I made up the time lost because it flowed so much more easily, and it ended up being a success, and I was very pleased with it.
So, analysing my thought processes made me realise that I needed to have the courage of my convictions and try again to come up with a better idea.
I decided that to overcome this problem I needed to come up with some ideas from scratch again, since I still felt that the D&D idea was the best out of the ones I had just thought of. I decided to try the method from the extract document from Tom again. I re-read it carefully to see if there was anything that I had missed. And there was. I don’t know how I missed it since it appears twice. There was an instruction to write a list of subjects that fascinate you "without regard to photography" and to make the list "without any regard for photography". I realised that I had been limiting myself to subjects that I thought I could make a film out of and ignoring less obvious subjects. That was a lesson to me that I need to improve and read things carefully.
I realised that I needed to follow the process again, being really open at the start and putting down anything that fascinates me and not pre-judging it as to whether I could make a film from it but just seeing where the process took me. I detail in my "Initial Ideas" how this went, and I'm really pleased with the idea that I concluded would be the best one.
I decided that I would like to make an informative and entertaining video about "Camera Movement in Film and TV".
I feel that this is perfect because it links back very nicely to my very first initial project idea of the chase scene using camera movement. When I started this course, I got interested in camera movement and I borrowed a Steadicam and then slider track to experiment with. In my last film I used the track even more and had started noticing directors using movement to get certain audience reactions even when sometimes you don't notice the movement. I want to explore this and to research and see the kind of effect they have. I also want to explore the different ways that you can achieve the desired movement options that there are in film and to include some of their history.
I haven’t decided the exact format yet, I'm thinking I would like it to be like an informational YouTube type video, entertaining, a bit like videos by YouTubers Mark Rober or The Slo Mo Guys, so probably a bit of humour in there, but I will allow my research to inform my decision about that.
I'd also like to see what camera movements I can recreate myself, especially with limited resources and in lockdown, while recording myself doing so. I'm thinking that could add to the slightly humourous aspect, and also a unique twist to my video, a USP.
Realising that, although I am passionate about D&D, it wasn't working for me in this case, was hard, because I would love to spend 2 months immersed in D&D. But I am extremely happy with my idea of looking at Camera Movement. It really fits with why I wanted to originally do the chase scene, which was because of my fascination with Camera Movement. Planning the format will also utilise what I learnt whilst doing my podcast, on how to combine information on a screen to impart that information in an interesting and entertaining way, whilst allowing me to expand this even further by including footage of me talking to camera and also trying out Camera Movements myself. In my podcast I did a voiceover rather than talking on screen or filming myself trying things.
It will also be very useful research for next year at college and for my 2nd Year FMP, by which time we will hopefully not be in lockdown so I can use everything that I am extending my learning by in this project to benefit my 2nd Year FMP. And since cinematography appears to be a good direction for my career, it will be useful for that too. I would eventually and ultimately like to become a director so understanding why directors do certain things is useful too.
Feasibility Research
I did some quick feasibility research to see if my ideas about camera movement are feasible. I looked at videos about camera movement equipment and at videos about camera movement. The existing videos about camera movement that I found seemed to be aimed at people wanting to make films using camera movement. I felt that comparing these to what I want to produce is a bit like comparing science videos to the Slo Mo Guys – they both contain elements of science but the Slo Mo Guys is about informing and entertaining rather than educating. And you don’t have to be into science to watch the Slo Mo Guys. In the same way, I felt that I would like people to be able to watch my video even if they don't actually want to go and film anything. This feasibility research enabled me to find a USP for my project, i.e. aiming it not just at a target audience of people interested in making films, but also at people who enjoy watching informative but also entertaining videos. I feel that seeing me trying out ways to film camera movement, some ideas working and some not working will have an element of humour and be entertaining. This made me feel that this idea is really coming together.
When I looked up "equipment used in camera movement" videos there seemed to be loads and loads. I realised that this is because most manufacturers make videos now showing how to use their equipment, and also many of the videos about camera movement include discussions about equipment. Also, many users of equipment make videos with their opinions of equipment. I concluded that it shouldn’t be a problem finding clips of equipment for me to explain and describe. However, the problem for me could be that there are so many to look through that I may get bogged down trying to choose. This will be an interesting learning exercise for me, given my perfectionism, in that sometimes there isn't the time for absolute perfection, but you need to be able to figure out how close to perfect it is OK for something to be whilst not necessarily being absolutely perfect. It is a fine line in that it is time (which equates to money in the real-world film industry) versus the absolute perfection that everyone would like for their film. Everyone, me included, should work towards that perfection, but know what any effective "specification" is as to which areas matter the most so that you know when it is the right time to say that it is good enough and balances the time and money available.
Feedback
I'm feeling very happy with my new project idea, but I wanted to get feedback from my tutor Tom on my new idea so on Friday I asked him for his views. He was very helpful which is great. He said "you've got a lot of potential with that as an idea" which is how I feel too, I'm pleased with this comment. I feel there is a lot that I can do with this idea and all my thoughts work well together in a cohesive way. He also commented that "the only thing I can’t pre-visualise myself is what to expect as an end point" which I can understand because I think that is partly because there is so much that I could do with this idea, there are so many different directions that I could take it in. So, this feedback shows me that once my Proposal is handed in, I need to start researching and investigating to be able to start building up more decisions about the format and content and to be able to give Tom a better idea of what my final film will be. I don’t think he is too worried that it won't work though because he also said, "but we've had these conversations in the past you and I, and I've said that to you before and you've come through with it in the end so I'm not going to worry over the fact that I'm not quite visualising it at the moment, I'm sure it'll come clear over the next couple of weeks." So, I'm feeling happy that this is the right idea. I will ask another of my tutors, Nargess, for feedback too next week.
Overall Reflection and Evaluation
Although doing another major re-think has reduced the time I have available to complete my Proposal before the deadline, I believe it was definitely the right thing to do because now I can go ahead with my Proposal with passion, rather than doubts, not just for the subject matter but also being able to envisage the finished project in my head, and with so many ideas for what to put in my film, and even more developing as I do more research. It is very exciting. The Proposal is coming together in my head much better, so hopefully although I may have lost some time in my double re-think I will gain it back in being able to complete my Proposal quicker. I realise I do need to improve on reading instructions more clearly since I didn't originally pick up on the "without any regard to Photography (or filming in my case)" comment. But once I did pick that up, I believe I made the right decision.
My Key Learnings: I learnt the importance of remembering that it is OK to change your idea, even more than once. I will remember this throughout this project (and afterwards) and trust myself if I feel concerns about any project area. This is because it is better to re-think rather just continue because otherwise the passion will be reduced and that will show through in the whole project and final product.
Comments