Irma's Proposal Draft: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 16:51, 23 November 2017

WHAT

I want to make a short film, around 20-30 minutes, with interlocking storylines of three main characters and one protagonist of a documentary which one of the main characters is working on. My film will use various visual languages, it would be a mix of a documentary style combined with a "classic Hollywood" cinema look and social media film-look to address the state of a character. (see visual examples at description of characters) One of the themes of the movie will be the rhetorics of storytelling. All the characters in the film struggle with choices within the representation of themselves or the world around them. The manner that a story is told is very relevant to judge the trustworthiness of the information, how the audience judge if the message or person is reliable. The language that society uses to share information has an important position in the rhetorical playfield. With the rise of video, the manipulation skills which were often used in commercials and propaganda are in reach for every common person in the western society. But could you be part of the game if you're not aware of the effect of the language on the audience?

DESCRIPTION AND STORYLINE OF THE FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS

SCRIPT (this will be in development during the making)

Hackpact/Try-outs

There is a strong connection between my thesis and this graduation film. My characters are all based on a theory I'm researching in my thesis. For example, the storyline of the documentary-filmmaker Emma, is based on the journalistic opinions of Noam Chomsky and the personality of Ed is based on Edward Bernays.

HOW

Working step by step, navigating between theory and practice. I will develop the scripts and characters more, organize and research within my theme. The starting-point at this moment is filming the most concrete storyline, the characters Margarita and Ed. (see script) In the meantime, I will get in contact and research the character which I want to base the documentary scenes on. I'm aware of the risk of depending on the non-actor living in Portugal, who is the protagonist of the documentary filmmaker, nevertheless, the story is about her struggle to make a trustworthy film. If for some reason the collaboration would fail, it would be a matter of finding a different subject for her documentary, her struggle story will stay the same.

My goal is that all these stories can be read in different layers as I think it is important that the film is still interesting for an audience that is not familiar with the theory I'm researching.

WHY

I want to use the medium of film to express my personal point of view on the world, to use the storyline of different characters that represent theories I've been reading.

In my artistic practice, I like to play with the language of communication and how this influence the interpretation of the audience. My work method, in a nutshell, is to analyze a recipe of a familiar visual communication language, then use these rhetorics to plays with the expectation of the public, often I try to create a tipping point in the project to express my comments or to create awareness on the theme I'm working with.

Rhetoric in communication is used on a day to day bases and does affect us if we like it or not. These often well-known tricks are done in commercial marketing, but the seeds seem to have been spread through politics and mass media communication. Could you say that in every form of information, there is a profit to be made? This brings the receiver in a difficult position, they have to judge the intentions of the sender before they can accept the information as the truth.

WHEN

November

Make (test) shots/casting shots of actors
test shots film location and cinematography
Work on Ed/Margarita script
If the narrative is in a developed state, then I'll start filming already

Before Dec 2017

Filming dream scene (transparent body) with Margarita
develop the script
Organise first location and actress
research the real-life character, sovereign citizen, have a pre-interview.

January 2018

Filming scenes of Ed

Beginning of February

First draft of the movie scenes with Ed & Margarita (have a smaller version ready for our EYE project)

February - March - April

Filming documentary scene's of Sakshin (sovereign citizen)
Filming youtube-channel footage of Emma (documentary filmmaker)

Before 7th of May 2018

Have all Film all footage

Before end of MAY 2018

First draft Film

JUNE 2018

test screening on peers
color and sound effects

Who can help you and how?

Next to peers, tutors I'm also trying to get some knowledge on creative writing during an extra course at crea/Uva

The actors:
- Margarita, found actress, will start with first recordings in December
- Ed, need to get in contact with the actor when the script and timetable are clear.
- Emma, haven't found the actress yet, but she is the last one on the list to film.
- Sakshin, need to get in contact him when the script and timetable are clear.
- Extra's for the company scenes at Ed's office, I will ask friends and peers.

Some locations

Maybe extra technical help on some shooting days, for this I have enough filmers in my network.

Relation to a larger context

In combination with my thesis, I would like to research the cause and effect of storytelling, the rhetoric's behind the manipulation of believability of the truth. Next to the theories of Noam Chomsky and Edward Bernays, I'm analyzing creative storytellers who play with rhetorics in their work. There are different colleagues playing with the subject of manipulation.

I'm looking at :

Charlie Kaufman
The YES MEN
Floris Kaayk

Relation to previous practice

I'm trying to stay in my previous themes of interest. Which I consider is manipulation of truth, the longing for advice from a bigger individual or spirit and creating a language that is suitable for the target audience.

I see a lot of overlap in my previous research in the theories of Rhetorical manipulation, propaganda, ideology, the big other, trepanation (making a hole in the skull of a living person to create a higher consciousness) which seems in the line of the Tachyon Energy Theory, longing for a bigger power to advice you. This was also a theme within the projects of last year called Fortunewood. Hereby a company has the role of the bigger other and offers advice to individuals. I can also imagine there is a connection with the philosophy of Noam Chomsky and a person choosing to be a sovereign citizen. Both theories lean against conspiracy theories, I find it fascinating to analyze where a story crosses the line of conspiracy and the role of the rhetorical language to transfer information.

References

Research on Emma (documentary maker)

Books:

Chomsky, N and Herman, E. (1988) Manufacturing Consent. The Political Economy of the Mass Media
Herman, S (2000) The Propaganda Model: a retrospective
Chomsky, N (2015) Het einde van de Americaanse droom, Amsterdam, ....
Dáncona, M (2017) Post-truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back, United Kingdom, Ebury Press

Documentary film:

Wintonick, P and Achbar, M (1994) Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky And The Media
Chomsky, N (2015) Requiem for the American Dream

Research on Ed (App developer)

Books:

Bernays, E (1928) Propaganda, New York, Horace liveright
Tye, L (2002) The Father of Spin, Canada, Mckinsey & Company Inc

Documentary film:

Curtis, A (2002 ) The Century of the Self, United Kingdom, BBC Four

Research on Saksin (Sovereign citizen)

"The Big Other doesn't exist" - Slavoj Zizek
Mockumentaries such as Incident at Loch Ness by Werner Herzog

Research on Margarita (Social media influential)

Rachel Dolezal - a white woman pretending to be black.
Zjesus Zila - art project of a student from the HKU who pretended online to be on Holiday while she was staying in holland.

http://playithub.net/watch/55JtgitCP8Y/girl-convinced-family-that-she-was-traveling-the-world-from-her-bedroom.html

Merel Brugman https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/boze-merel-populaire-scriptie-over-schijnreis-is-jatwerk~a919e799/
Jacques Lacan - mirror stage
Documentary: PBS Frontline 2014 Generation Like
Essay on representing a persona - Het weerzinwekkende lot van de oude filosoof Socrates by Connie Palmen
De Zonde van de vrouw - Connie Palmen She analyzes 4 women on self-destruction

Research on Storytelling

Wired for Storytelling - Lisa Cron
Plotting and Writing suspense fiction - Patrica Highsmith
Me and You and Memento and Fargo - J. J. Murphy
Anatomy of a Premise Line - Jeff Lyons

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-a small piece that addresses your proposal: http://irma-paperwork.com/docu_mm.html
+<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color:#f9d322;color:RED; border style: dots; font-family: Helvetica;"> [http://irma-paperwork.com/project PROJECT SITE]</span></p>
+<div style='font-family:Courier,Sans;font-size:14px;'>
+</div>
-==What do you want to make?==
+==WHAT==
+I want to make a short film, around 20-30 minutes, with interlocking storylines of three main characters and one protagonist of a documentary which one of the main characters is working on. My film will use various visual languages, it would be a mix of a documentary style combined with a "classic Hollywood" cinema look and social media film-look to address the state of a character. (see visual examples at description of characters) One of the themes of the movie will be the rhetorics of storytelling. All the characters in the film struggle with choices within the representation of themselves or the world around them. The manner that a story is told is very relevant to judge the trustworthiness of the information, how the audience judge if the message or person is reliable. The language that society uses to share information has an important position in the rhetorical playfield. With the rise of video, the manipulation skills which were often used in commercials and propaganda are in reach for every common person in the western society. But could you be part of the game if you're not aware of the effect of the language on the audience?
-I want to make a short film, let's say 20 minutes, with interlocking storylines and multiple characters. a good example in this genre would be the Film [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwXDHSrNFbQ Magnolia]. The film would use multiple visual languages but start as a documentary and then slowly turns into a fiction film.
+<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color:#f9d322;color:RED; border style: dots; font-family: Helvetica;"> [http://irma-paperwork.com/characters.html DESCRIPTION AND STORYLINE OF THE FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS]</span></p>
+<div style='font-family:Courier,Sans;font-size:14px;'>
+</div>
-The movie could start with the youtbube channel (something like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpiOTE86bEE this] ) of a young female documentary maker '''character one''' , about 30 years old, she tells her followers about this man she is researching '''character two''' lives his life as a sovereign citizen and sees himself as The Tachyon Energy Facilitator. This man is actually a real person, and a want to start to make a real documentary about his political and spiritual points of view. I like to play with the realistic approach of a documentary. I'm fascinated with his lifestyle, political view and if he is successful as a Facilitator of energy. This subject is also connected to my research in my thesis.
+<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color:#f9d322;color:blue; border style: dots; font-family: Helvetica;"> [http://irma-paperwork.com/script.html SCRIPT] (this will be in development during the making)</span></p>
+<div style='font-family:Courier,Sans;font-size:14px;'>
+</div>
-''Sovereign citizen:'' I'm still researching but at this moment I understand that a self-described sovereign citizens take the position that they are answerable only to their particular interpretation of the common law and are not subject to any government statutes or proceedings.
+<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color:#f9d322;color:RED; border style: dots; font-family: Helvetica;"> [http://irma-paperwork.com/try-outs.html Hackpact/Try-outs]</span></p>
+<div style='font-family:Courier,Sans;font-size:14px;'>
+</div>
-''The Tachyon Energy:'' alternative healthcare where there is a belief that all matter is made of energy and is part of an Energetic Continuum, a term used to describe the flow of energies as they move down from the source. This stepping down process creates the third-dimensional world in which we live. A Facilitator would help you restore these energies.
+There is a strong connection between my thesis and this graduation film. My characters are all based on a theory I'm researching in my thesis. For example, the storyline of the documentary-filmmaker Emma, is based on the journalistic opinions of Noam Chomsky and the personality of Ed is based on Edward Bernays.
-The '''third character''' is not yet directly connected to the first two. I imagine a female perfectionist living in a "perfect" terraced house which is far too big for herself. She is nesting but doesn't have anyone to share her nest with.  She is a neurotic perfectionist, she wants to live an interesting life, she wants to travel and share her life experiences, although she is too afraid to do so. She hires a photographer to take pictures of herself in a greenscreen studio. In her save apartment she edit's her holiday pictures to post online.
+==HOW==
+Working step by step, navigating between theory and practice. I will develop the scripts and characters more, organize and research within my theme. The starting-point at this moment is filming the most concrete storyline, the characters Margarita and Ed. (see script) In the meantime, I will get in contact and research the character which I want to base the documentary scenes on. I'm aware of the risk of depending on the non-actor living in Portugal, who is the protagonist of the documentary filmmaker, nevertheless, the story is about her struggle to make a trustworthy film. If for some reason the collaboration would fail, it would be a matter of finding a different subject for her documentary, her struggle story will stay the same.
-'''The fourth Character''' is the spying neighbor of the perfectionist, I can imagine him having multiple roles, being for example also the photographer and maybe a mechanic. I want to create an uncanny agreement between the two, an unspoken roleplay of a stalker and the victim who likes the attention.
-The script is developing while I'm researching theories of plot writing techniques, analyzing films, books, and artists such as Omar Fast.
+My goal is that all these stories can be read in different layers as I think it is important that the film is still interesting for an audience that is not familiar with the theory I'm researching.
-Interesting examples of Mocumentaries :
+==WHY==
+I want to use the medium of film to express my personal point of view on the world, to use the storyline of different characters that represent theories I've been reading.
-{{#widget:YouTube|id=FjPFmIX-o_c}}
+In my artistic practice, I like to play with the language of communication and how this influence the interpretation of the audience. My work method, in a nutshell, is to analyze a recipe of a familiar visual communication language, then use these rhetorics to plays with the expectation of the public, often I try to create a tipping point in the project to express my comments or to create awareness on the theme I'm working with.
-{{#widget:YouTube|id=XPaDD9dXkhU}}
-<span style="color:#fc8f79">
+Rhetoric in communication is used on a day to day bases and does affect us if we like it or not. These often well-known tricks are done in commercial marketing, but the seeds seem to have been spread through politics and mass media communication. Could you say that in every form of information, there is a profit to be made? This brings the receiver in a difficult position, they have to judge the intentions of the sender before they can accept the information as the truth.
-you answered what the project will be. try to also answer what will it do? what (done)/ how / why?
-</span>
-==How do you plan to make it?==
+==WHEN==
-I want to develop the scripts and characters more, organize and research my characters. The man who is a sovereign citizen is this in real life, I know him, but have to ask if he would be interested to work with me. If so, I would try to meet/interview him.
+November
+* Make (test) shots/casting shots of actors
-The most practical storyline, the perfectionist woman, I would like to start filming soon.
+* test shots film location and cinematography
+* Work on Ed/Margarita script
+* If the narrative is in a developed state, then I'll start filming already
-==What is your timetable?==
 Before Dec 2017
+* Filming dream scene (transparent body) with Margarita
 * develop the script
 * Organise first location and actress
-* Start filming the scenes of the woman
 * research the real-life character, sovereign citizen, have a pre-interview.
-Before March 2018
-* Film all footage
+January 2018
-Before April 2018
+* Filming scenes of Ed
-* First draft Film
+Beginning of February
+* First draft of the movie scenes with Ed & Margarita (have a smaller version ready for our EYE project)
-May 2018
+February - March - April
+* Filming documentary scene's of Sakshin (sovereign citizen)
+* Filming youtube-channel footage of Emma (documentary filmmaker)
-* experiment in editing the story for a 4 screen installation
+Before 7th of May 2018
-* experiment in editing the story for a linear movie
+* Have all Film all footage
-==Why do you want to make it?==
+Before end of MAY 2018
+* First draft Film
+*
-I want to use the language of film to express my personal point of view on the world. I want to use characters to represent theories I've been reading. The visual film language is very approachable for a big audience. The stories can be read in different layers, which makes it a rich medium to express multiple senses.
+JUNE 2018
+* test screening on peers
+* color and sound effects
 ==Who can help you and how?==
-My first focus points would help with, locations, actors and developing my script.
+* Next to peers, tutors I'm also trying to get some knowledge on creative writing during an extra course at crea/Uva
-* Next to peers, tutors I'm also trying to get some knowledge on creative writing during an extra course at crea/Uva
+* The actors:
+** Margarita, found actress, will start with first recordings in December
+** Ed, need to get in contact with the actor when the script and timetable are clear.
+** Emma, haven't found the actress yet, but she is the last one on the list to film.
+** Sakshin, need to get in contact him when the script and timetable are clear.
+** Extra's for the company scenes at Ed's office, I will ask friends and peers.
+* Some locations
-* First one to ask is my friend, I've used her before as an actress and want to ask her for the role of the third character. (meeting her next week)
+* Maybe extra technical help on some shooting days, for this I have enough filmers in my network.
-* The home for this character is based on my other friend's house, hopefully, this could be arranged at a short-term.
-* Get in contact and research the man who is a lives his life as a sovereign citizen. He has a lot of things online but at some point, I would be good to interview him about his political and spiritual point of view.
+== Relation to a larger context ==
+In combination with my thesis, I would like to research the cause and effect of storytelling, the rhetoric's behind the manipulation of believability of the truth. Next to the theories of Noam Chomsky and Edward Bernays, I'm analyzing creative storytellers who play with rhetorics in their work. There are different colleagues playing with the subject of manipulation.
-* At some point, I need to find the girl who plays the documentary maker, the "real" documentary part I would film myself, but the turning point of the movie, where the filmmaker becomes a fictional character that needs to be played by an actress.
+I'm looking at :
+* Charlie Kaufman
+* The YES MEN
+* Floris Kaayk
 == Relation to previous practice ==
+I'm trying to stay in my previous themes of interest. Which I consider is manipulation of truth, the longing for advice from a bigger individual or spirit and creating a language that is suitable for the target audience.
+I see a lot of overlap in my previous research in the theories of Rhetorical manipulation, propaganda, ideology, the big other, trepanation (making a hole in the skull of a living person to create a higher consciousness) which seems in the line of the Tachyon Energy Theory, longing for a bigger power to advice you. This was also a theme within the projects of last year called Fortunewood. Hereby a company has the role of the bigger other and offers advice to individuals. I can also imagine there is a connection with the philosophy of Noam Chomsky and a person choosing to be a sovereign citizen. Both theories lean against conspiracy theories, I find it fascinating to analyze where a story crosses the line of conspiracy and the role of the rhetorical language to transfer information.
+== References ==
+'''Research on Emma (documentary maker)'''
+Books:
+* Chomsky, N and Herman, E. (1988) Manufacturing Consent. The Political Economy of the Mass Media
+* Herman, S (2000) The Propaganda Model: a retrospective
+* Chomsky, N (2015) Het einde van de Americaanse droom, Amsterdam, ....
+* Dáncona, M (2017) Post-truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back, United Kingdom, Ebury Press
+Documentary film:
+* Wintonick, P and  Achbar, M (1994) Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky And The Media
+* Chomsky, N (2015) Requiem for the American Dream
+'''Research on Ed (App developer)'''
-How does your research connect to previous projects you have done?
+Books:
-Here you can use the descriptions you made during the Methods seminar or make new descriptions. Your Text on Method will also be useful in completing this section.
+* Bernays, E (1928) Propaganda, New York, Horace liveright
+* Tye, L (2002) The Father of Spin, Canada, Mckinsey & Company Inc
-I see a lot of overlap in my previous research in the second character, sovereign citizen. In the theories of Ideology, the big other, trepanation (making a hole in the skull of a living person to create a higher consciousness) which seems in the line of the Tachyon Energy Theory, longing for a bigger power. I can also imagine there is a connection with the philosophy of Noam Chomsky and a person choosing to be a sovereign citizen. Both theories lean against conspiracy theories.
+Documentary film:
+* Curtis, A (2002 ) The Century of the Self, United Kingdom, BBC Four
-== Relation to a larger context ==
+'''Research on Saksin (Sovereign citizen)'''
+* "The Big Other doesn't exist" - Slavoj Zizek
+* Mockumentaries such as Incident at Loch Ness by Werner Herzog
+'''Research on Margarita (Social media influential)'''
+* Rachel Dolezal - a white woman pretending to be black.
+* Zjesus Zila - art project of a student from the HKU who pretended online to be on Holiday while she was staying in holland.
+http://playithub.net/watch/55JtgitCP8Y/girl-convinced-family-that-she-was-traveling-the-world-from-her-bedroom.html
+* Merel Brugman https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/boze-merel-populaire-scriptie-over-schijnreis-is-jatwerk~a919e799/
+* Jacques Lacan - mirror stage
+* Documentary: PBS Frontline 2014 Generation Like
+* Essay on representing a persona - Het weerzinwekkende lot van de oude filosoof Socrates by Connie Palmen
+* De Zonde van de vrouw - Connie Palmen She analyzes 4 women on self-destruction
-In combination with my thesis, I would like to research the cause and effect of storytelling, the rhetoric's behind the manipulation of believability of the truth. (still working on this part)
+'''Research on Storytelling'''
+* Wired for Storytelling -  Lisa Cron
+* Plotting and Writing suspense fiction - Patrica Highsmith
+* Me and You and Memento and Fargo - J. J. Murphy
+* Anatomy of a Premise Line -  Jeff Lyons