FMP Week 1

My Proposal + Initial Research 
My intention for the FMP is to produce a series that explores the feeling of community and shared experiences. When I originally had written my proposal I was interested in producing a series of micro shorts that portrayed one event from several perspectives. I was inspired by a short film idea I had earlier in the year about trying to get a seat on the Jubilee line to North Greenwich only for the whole carriage to become empty at Canary Wharf which is the penultimate station. This was originally supposed a short comedy film with no dialogue and a simple set up and pay off but after Tom spoke to us about trying to avoid making something that is clichéd and without depth, As a result I thought perhaps trying to make my story more interesting my making it a series.  The original story featured the following characters

• A film student carrying lot's of heavy film equipment therefore needing a seat
• A pregnant woman who is entitled to a a priority or disabled sear 
• A rude corporate/investment banker  type who happily pushes people out of his way to take a seat and disembark and Canary Wharf

I thought it could be interesting to explore the back stories of these characters instead and try and subvert the expectations or stereotypes that one would make at face value about these characters (e.g the pregnant woman wasn't actually pregnant but instead had a prosthetic pregnancy belly for a job related reason or that the banker was actually in need of a seat because he was injured from an altercation and not because he is a snob). I was keen to tell one story that could be pieced together from more than one perspective like jigsaw. Ultimately I was fascinated by shared experiences: the fact that we could spend so much time places like public transport,restaurants or cinemas and share the exact same experience with so many people that are strangers without any idea or context on what they are going through or how their version/perspective of the shared experience may differ.

Consequently when writing my proposoal I decided I wanted to make a web series that allowed me to explore 'communal' experiences during the following eight weeks and how they can bring people together in unlikely ways. A key inspiration for this was the BBC Three Web Series 'Five by Five' starring Idris Elba, which unravelled an incident of antisocial behaviour across five different five minute episodes from the five different perspectives.  I then began looking at other shows that presented this point of view structure such as 'Dear White People' and Skins.

I then found an interesting video essay by screen prism about the 'point of view' storytelling structure. It explains how using episodes to develop one single narrative arc is effective because it allows nuance to be developed within the characters. In my own project I am keen to subvert stereotypes and perceptions and this video essay talks about how each episode (that takes place from the perspective of a different character whilst tracing the incidents that led up to a 'black face' party being held on a university campus) begins by showing what the stereotypical view of the character would be before deconstruction that persona and how the episodic format it necessary to do so. These were resources I started looking at when writing my proposal before starting the FMP

Independent Research Week (1)
This week we had been encouraged to go away and 'live' our research. Straight away within the first week my original idea had changed.My friend is an architecture student and was visiting London during the independent research week and asked us if she could take us to the John Soane museum in Holborn. I hadn't heard his name previously but I was definitely familiar with his work. The London Freemason's lodge is one of my favourite buildings and co-incedently it had been designed by Soane. The outcomes of this visit helped me understand fully the value of contextual research and how Tom said it should 'inform' and widen our perspectives, thus causing us to generate more interesting ideas. Perhaps something about being with old school friends had opened me up to a different mindset causing me to be more receptive to new ideas. The two things that fascinated me most about the soane museum were 1. the collection of paintings by William Hogarth and the gift shop.

Hogarth
Upon first viewing of Hogarth's paintings (keeping in mind neither os us were familiar with him) we most loved the comical themes and how he used series to tell a narrative story.( Later having researched him I learned that he was one of the first painters to use series in this way and is regarded as the father of the comic strip). As we were looking at the paintings we kept finding resemblances amongst the paintings to situations we've been in ourselves and were most amused at how chaotic the images progressively got throughout the series. We started remembering nights out of our own that had gone wrong. This inspired to consider changing the premise of my FMP, perhaps instead of taking place on a train it could take place at a party. Really I was inspired by friendship and decided to go home and look into maybe more situational comedy type series. Despite these being clichéd and very common I decided it could be worth considering this especially with a more serial structure within the episodes simply because in spite of these paintings being completed in the 1700'S we still found this scenarios presented relatable and amusing. As a result I decided themes surrounding friendship are probably very universal and people enjoy watching stories about them because they are relatable and what makes them enjoyable is the writer's individual perspective.

The Gift Shop
The gift shop at the Soane museum was a very surreal experience. During pathway I had been looking into different types of humour since I am interested in comedy myself and one of the types of humour that is most interesting to me is incongruous and surreal humour. In shows like Atlanta there are elements of surrealism, such as episode that talks about a black man that identifies as 'transracial'. This episode is particularly funny because it picks up on very niche observations often made by people from minority communities. I realised after going to this gift shop that sometimes an audience relates to something that seems like it is very specific to their own life, almost as if the content was tailor made for them. In the gift shop we found a whole section dedicated to Hogarth's paintings, which was my favourite section of the museum and I found glasses cloth with my favourite painting for the museum on it. We then found a yoyo with a crayon drawing of our favourite greek cast from the museum. I wear glasses and am a fan of yoyo's whilst these things were quite odd to find in such a home of such a distinguished  architect I found that they brought me a lot of joy because it felt like they had specifically been made for me. This level of relatable humour is something I am keen to emulate in my own final major project.

Plan of action for Week 2 
Before next week's crit I want to start exploring my new found interest in friendship as a potential theme. I am going to start printing out photos of our old nights out and trying to spot interesting patterns and use it as a springboard for my new ideas. I am also going to revisit some of my favourite films that depict friendship. Including, the History Boys, and two Bollywood films: Wake up Sid and Zindagi na milengi Dobaara.