Irma's Proposal Draft

a small piece that addresses your proposal: http://irma-paperwork.com/docu_mm.html

What do you want to make?

I want to make a short film, let's say 20 minutes, with interlocking storylines and multiple characters. A good example in this genre of storytelling would be the Film Magnolia. The film would use multiple visual languages but start as a documentary and then slowly turns into a fiction film.

The movie could start with the youtbube channel (something like 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.

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.

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.

This man is a real person, I know him, and a want to start to make a non-fictional documentary about his political and spiritual points of view. I think it could be interesting to play with the realistic approach of a documentary. I'm fascinated with his lifestyle, political view. I wonder if he is successful as a Facilitator of energy, does this also come with a philosophy on life. (I didn't ask him to participate in my film because I'm still researching if it would be interesting enough to focus on for my graduation project.)

So... The documentary maker get in contact with this character and wants to follow and interview him for her documentary. The film switches back and forward from her youtube channel -where she talks directly to her followers- to the classic documentary that the girl is making. At some point I want the documentary to slowly switch from a documentary to a fictional film. Slowly the colors and movements would change in a more unrealistic film language, I imagine multiple camera angles instead of the journalistic shots of the girl. Now the filmmaker is becoming a character in the movie. I'm developing the script and don't where this would lead me, but I can imagine there should/could be a conflict between the two characters, a suspense.

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, wants to live an interesting life, wants to travel and share her life experiences with people, 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 and pretend her life.

The fourth Character is the neighbor of the perfectionist, a family man. He spies on her and seems a bit like a pervert but actually cares deeply for her. He want's her to be happy but simultaneously rather keep her to himself. I can imagine him having multiple roles, being for example also the photographer and maybe a mechanic that comes around the house. 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.

Interesting examples of Mocumentaries :

How do you plan to make it?

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.

The most practical storyline, the perfectionist woman, I would like to develope and start filming soon.

What is your timetable?

Before Dec 2017

• 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

Before April 2018

• First draft Film

May 2018

• experiment in editing the story for a 4 screen installation
• experiment in editing the story for a linear movie

Why do you want to make it?

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.

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

• 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)
• 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.

• 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.

Relation to previous practice

I'm trying to stay in my previous themes of interest. Wich 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 specifically the second character, whois the 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. This is 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 where a story crosses the line of conspiracy.

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.

I'm researching different storytellers, the ones I see as role models are:

• Charlie Kaufman
• Patricia Highsmith
• George Orwell