Session 2 AT

FIRST DRAFT

I am making a short film for the EYE, it will displayed on single screen. It's a short film with the subject matter of zero day hacking or zero day hackers and the moral dilemmas that come with hacking.

It's still quite vague at the moment, but I know that the landscape that the film will be set in is going to be a cliff space. And that's inspired by cliffs that my parents live nearby in England called Seven Sisters. The cliff space in literature is a place where certain things happen. Romantic situations between partners who cannot be seen, a place where decisions are made and a place for danger.

The crux of the film is this moral dilemma, this dilemma being when a hacker comes across a new bit of information or a hole in a system, this information can be sold either back to the company from which they found the hole, or it can be sold to someone else. With this information great harm can be caused, for example if you can cause a tram to derail if you have access to the tramline’s software. There's an underground market called the Zero Day market where this trading information happens.

There is central character in this piece, which will be this hacker, someone who is infatuated with their chosen technology, faced with the moral dilemma of what to do with the Zero Day.

I’m using 3d modeling software, alongside footage filmed with a camera.

An interest I have making this piece is the effect our use of technology has on our understanding of how the world is built and works. These are more philosophical questions I'm interested in.

I think that that looking into this world is vital, because there's a lot of damage that can be done. There's a lot of power in this information. And I think that it needs to be under microscope. I also think more generally questioning our relationship with technology and specifically the effect it has on the way that we understand (look through it it?) the world is made or built. As well as how we communicate with one another. I think that we need to look up. But I am also very fascinated with technology, whilst also being repelled by it and wanting to And so I kind of also just want to go out on the cliffs and film as well. And but also study this area of hacking looks like fascinates me. There's so many characters in this world that are just so fascinating. The element of secrecy and danger excites me too.

This work relates to other works I’ve done in the fact that it's a moving image, and I'm using 3d modeling, but more than that, this subject area of the philosophy of technology and looking at the direct effect it has on our lived experience have been subjects that I return to time and time again.

How is it different to other things like

This work is different to my previous works as it is larger in scope, and I am trying to make a very cinematic work. I’ll be focusing then on the cinematic language i.e. how will I use dialogue in the cinema, and how is this different to the prose I’ve written in the past.

It’s different in that I want this piece to be more cinematic and work in cinema space, and the previous work that I've made generally have worked best in galleries. Further, the scope of the project is larger than the products have done before. I’m trying to make a very cinematic piece for a cinematic space, my previous pieces were like, they were like collages, like text and image.

A signifiant choice I’ve made recently is deciding to combine 3d modeling with “real footage from real life”. I’m also going to use an actor or a found voice (AI?). I had a really interesting tutorial with Laura and she spoke to me a lot about, using dialogue in cinema and text in cinema, and how it is different to literature.

SECOND DRAFT

I am currently working on a short fiction film centered on the subject of zero-days. A zero day is “a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected”(Perlroth, 2021). There is central character in this piece, which will be this hacker, someone who is infatuated with their chosen technology, faced with the moral dilemma of what to do with the Zero Day.

The crux of the film is this moral dilemma, this dilemma being when a hacker comes across a new bit of information or a hole in a system, this information can be sold either back to the company from which they found the hole, or it can be sold to someone else. With this information great harm can be caused, for example if you can cause a tram to derail if you have access to the tramline’s software. There's an underground market called the Zero Day market where this trading information happens.

Though my ideas are still very loose, the idea is that this character will be meandering around a cliff landscape deliberating over this moral dilemma. I’m inspired by cliffs that my parents live nearby called Seven Sisters in England. Why cliffs? The cliff space in literature is a place where certain things happen. Romantic situations between partners who cannot be seen, a place where decisions are made and a place for danger. This character, infatuated with their chosen technology, is having to decide what to do with information that could be potentially very dangerous.

This film will displayed on a single screen, and I’ll be using digital 3D modelling combined with filmed footage and sound.

I am interested in the how our use of technology effects are lived experience, as well as our understanding of how the world we live in works. Technology is built of 0s and 1s, does our constant interaction with it mean that we perhaps subconsciously look at our experiences the same way. That consciousness can be broken down to it’s core elements - are we losing something here? Is this true, or actually leading us away from the truth of our reality?

I do believe looking into the zero day market and spreading knowledge about it is is vital, as there's a lot of damage that can be done, and a lot of power in this information. I believe this needs to be put under microscope.

Lastly, I have dual fascination and repulsion of technology. What fascinates me is the innovation, new knowledge and the unknown. There is a dangerous and secretive element to this subject matter and if I am honest this deeply appeals to me. However, for the more philosophical ideas mentioned above, I am concerned about it and the surge of innovation - what it will do to our minds, spirits and our environments.

This work relates to other works I’ve done in the fact that it's a moving image, and I'm using 3d modeling, but more than that, this subject area of the philosophy of technology and looking at the direct effect it has on our lived experience have been subjects that I return to time and time again.

This work is different to my previous works as it is larger in scope, and I am trying to make a very cinematic work. I’ll be focusing then on the cinematic language i.e. how will I use dialogue in the cinema, and how is this different to the prose I’ve written in the past.

A signifiant choice I’ve made recently is deciding to combine 3d modeling with “real footage from real life”. Further, I’ll be using an actor or a found voice (AI?) Probably, or if it is me then I will have to focus deeply on performance. This choice arose from a really interesting tutorial with Laura and she spoke to me a lot about, using dialogue in cinema and text in cinema, and how it is different to literature.

THIRD DRAFT

workin' on it