This is a draft for my Live Client Project. The title is 'not alone'.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
A side project that I worked on throughout the summer is '' 3 feet under'', a short film dealing with three childhood friends that reunite after a long time. The main theme revolves around a big adventure that guides the characters through loss, gain, joy and pain.
Right now I'm in the process of editing the film, and this is the original storyboard and some production stills.
Right now I'm in the process of editing the film, and this is the original storyboard and some production stills.
Starting my final year in uni Iam thrilled that I got the chance to create a short Tv spot for the Anti-File Sharing Campaign. I found the subject really exciting and current. This is my proposal for this project.
Introduction
This simulation brief project entails the creation of a 20 second advertisement for broadcast on television, as part of a public information campaign by the Copyright Protection Society. The Copyright Protection Society (from now on the client) has commissioned a short audiovisual product, aimed at informing the general public about the illegal practice of file sharing. The purpose of the aforementioned advertisement is to explain what file sharing is, when and why it is illegal, and also the consequences of being involved with this illegal activity.
Overview of the proposal
My proposal for this project is to create a fast-paced audiovisual product, containing both a relevant storyline and visual information in the form of slogans/catchphrases, intending to capture the audience’s attention, pass on the fundamental ideas about file sharing, and impose on the illegality of the act in any form.
The reason that I have decided to present both a short story and intermittent wording explanation, is to emphasize as much as possible on the notion of harmful impact that file sharing as an activity has. Because it is, in essence a criminal act, file sharing affects aspects of everyday life that the public little suspects of, such as the economy and job opportunities around the UK. Thus, I will also attempt to modify the public perception of file sharing as a faceless virtual (and therefore not actually “real”) activity. Indeed file sharing has a face and very real consequences to entire industries that ultimately touch everyone.
General concept of the advertisement
The general concept of the advertisement that I am proposing is has two main dimensions. The first facet is the portrayed storyline, and the second is the “information intervals”, which are essentially bits and pieces of vital information on file sharing, in appropriate wording, all throughout the storyline.
The plot is rather simple in its conception. A young person in its mid-twenties is walking down the street, listening to music on an mp3 player. We watch as a pickpocket approaches him/her, and removes a 20 pound note from his/her pocket. He/she notices the theft, but as he starts to protest, the pickpocket starts to shred the note into small vertical and symmetrical pieces, which he/she subsequently throws up into the air.
The justification for this concept lies primarily in the notion of file sharing itself. A file such as a movie, a musical track, a book or even a document, is shredded into smaller files and then distributed freely to and fro an unlimited amount of users across the World Wide Web. However, none of the intellectual property rights of the criminal activity in essence. The fragmentation and ultimately disintegration of the 20 pound note in the advertisement wishes to portray just that: when you illegally fragment and distribute a file, you essentially take away and destroy someone else’s money, employment, and economic well being. The young man that is being pick pocketed in the advertisement could be a young multimedia student, who will not be able to get a job in the industry due to economic losses coming from file sharing and piracy; it could be the worker in a television or film studio that will lose his job because of the financial cutbacks; the list of people that are affected by file sharing one way or another is exponential, and that is why I have chosen this allegory.
Multimedia designs and project schedule
I have already created a draft storyboard for my proposed advertisement, which I have attached in a digital form to this proposal. I am also in touch with a music composer, to who I have commissioned an original piece of music, appropriate for the theme of the project.
As far as the project schedule is concerned, the time frame for the completion of the project will span from 1st to the 25th of November 2009. The first week (1-16TH November) will be dedicated to pre-production of the project. More specifically, it will include the research for the appropriate filming location, securing the actors, and creating the final script for the advertisement. Since I intend to use my personal audiovisual equipment, I will not need to borrow any such equipment from the University. Also, as part of the pre-production, all the necessary pre-production forms (emergency contacts etc.) will be completed and submitted on time.
Week 2 of the production (9-5th November), will be devoted to filming, which will require two to three days of filming, depending on the weather conditions, the availability of the actors and any other unforeseeable circumstances that might delay the production.
Finally, Week 3 (16-22nd November), will be committed to the post-production of the project, including the editing, mixing, and voice-over of the product. Time is also allotted in case a re-filming is required. The finalized product will then be submitted, along with the production file containing all the necessary supporting documents.
Introduction
This simulation brief project entails the creation of a 20 second advertisement for broadcast on television, as part of a public information campaign by the Copyright Protection Society. The Copyright Protection Society (from now on the client) has commissioned a short audiovisual product, aimed at informing the general public about the illegal practice of file sharing. The purpose of the aforementioned advertisement is to explain what file sharing is, when and why it is illegal, and also the consequences of being involved with this illegal activity.
Overview of the proposal
My proposal for this project is to create a fast-paced audiovisual product, containing both a relevant storyline and visual information in the form of slogans/catchphrases, intending to capture the audience’s attention, pass on the fundamental ideas about file sharing, and impose on the illegality of the act in any form.
The reason that I have decided to present both a short story and intermittent wording explanation, is to emphasize as much as possible on the notion of harmful impact that file sharing as an activity has. Because it is, in essence a criminal act, file sharing affects aspects of everyday life that the public little suspects of, such as the economy and job opportunities around the UK. Thus, I will also attempt to modify the public perception of file sharing as a faceless virtual (and therefore not actually “real”) activity. Indeed file sharing has a face and very real consequences to entire industries that ultimately touch everyone.
General concept of the advertisement
The general concept of the advertisement that I am proposing is has two main dimensions. The first facet is the portrayed storyline, and the second is the “information intervals”, which are essentially bits and pieces of vital information on file sharing, in appropriate wording, all throughout the storyline.
The plot is rather simple in its conception. A young person in its mid-twenties is walking down the street, listening to music on an mp3 player. We watch as a pickpocket approaches him/her, and removes a 20 pound note from his/her pocket. He/she notices the theft, but as he starts to protest, the pickpocket starts to shred the note into small vertical and symmetrical pieces, which he/she subsequently throws up into the air.
The justification for this concept lies primarily in the notion of file sharing itself. A file such as a movie, a musical track, a book or even a document, is shredded into smaller files and then distributed freely to and fro an unlimited amount of users across the World Wide Web. However, none of the intellectual property rights of the criminal activity in essence. The fragmentation and ultimately disintegration of the 20 pound note in the advertisement wishes to portray just that: when you illegally fragment and distribute a file, you essentially take away and destroy someone else’s money, employment, and economic well being. The young man that is being pick pocketed in the advertisement could be a young multimedia student, who will not be able to get a job in the industry due to economic losses coming from file sharing and piracy; it could be the worker in a television or film studio that will lose his job because of the financial cutbacks; the list of people that are affected by file sharing one way or another is exponential, and that is why I have chosen this allegory.
Multimedia designs and project schedule
I have already created a draft storyboard for my proposed advertisement, which I have attached in a digital form to this proposal. I am also in touch with a music composer, to who I have commissioned an original piece of music, appropriate for the theme of the project.
As far as the project schedule is concerned, the time frame for the completion of the project will span from 1st to the 25th of November 2009. The first week (1-16TH November) will be dedicated to pre-production of the project. More specifically, it will include the research for the appropriate filming location, securing the actors, and creating the final script for the advertisement. Since I intend to use my personal audiovisual equipment, I will not need to borrow any such equipment from the University. Also, as part of the pre-production, all the necessary pre-production forms (emergency contacts etc.) will be completed and submitted on time.
Week 2 of the production (9-5th November), will be devoted to filming, which will require two to three days of filming, depending on the weather conditions, the availability of the actors and any other unforeseeable circumstances that might delay the production.
Finally, Week 3 (16-22nd November), will be committed to the post-production of the project, including the editing, mixing, and voice-over of the product. Time is also allotted in case a re-filming is required. The finalized product will then be submitted, along with the production file containing all the necessary supporting documents.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
Corridor
Proposal 16/1/2009
Corridor is a 6 minute film following the life of a young couple, that transitions from the ultimate feeling of love, to the ultimate feeling of hatred. The film is a journey through their surreal and fictional world and through reality. The war of emotions unraveling in their conscience contrasts their complete immobility in their real everyday life.
The film is set in Cyprus, in the city of Nicosia, where the two main characters Valentinos and Melpo live. The locations of the filming will be my house and a basement. The filming will begin at 5/1/2009 and will be completed at 7/1/2009. Also, the initial stage of the production includes several workshops, concerning communication, self confidence and improvisation, which will take place before the filming.
The main concept was derived from a poem, written in 1903 by one of the most prominent and lyrical poets of Greece, Constantine P. Cavafy. The title of the poem is “Windows”. The poem is about the despair of the individual, when he/she faces something new and unfamiliar, the fear of rejection and of the unknown, combined with the notion that windows represent the light, and also the unattainable freedom for the poet.
Based on this concept, the film presents us with a young, professionally successful couple. However, behind the seemingly perfect exterior, an ever-lasting war is waging, with no apparent conclusion. The characters are socially adept, pleasant, and pretending to be a happy couple. That dramatically changes when they are alone together, where they transform into immobile, alienated strangers. The overwhelming emotions are grievance, rage and mourning, for all that is forever lost.
The film sequences are divided into two different parts: the realistic and the fictional part, the latter having a more accurate depiction of their life and true characters.
The film begins inside a lavishly decorated house, where the two characters are sitting on a sofa. At first, a long shot will provide us with the identification of the surroundings, followed by a closer shot, focusing on the couple. Right after, close-up shots of both of the characters, are used to identify their figures into space. Almost immediately, the camera reproduces the initial long shot, and the first scene is completed with a fade to white. White in the film is the color that represents not only the parallel reality that the characters experience, but also the agonizing and never satisfied need for light, and freedom. There will be no music or any sounds in the background, so as to portray the lack of communication and the unwillingness for any kind of interaction.
The second scene is titled “The Space”. We witness the characters inside a four wall room, walls painted white, in the absence of windows and natural light. The initial shots acquaint us with the interior of the room, and then portray the need of the characters to escape this “white prison cell”. Almost like the infamous “white cells”, a well known and internationally prohibited form of torture, we follow the characters on their slow path to insanity, as they try to find the window, the light. The scene is backgrounded with natural sounds, and orchestral music.
The third scene comprises of the original first scenery. The deafening lack of sound, in contrast with the previous agonizing scene, reveals the level of withdrawal, that the characters experience concerning each other in their real lives. This scene from now on will be intermittent throughout the remaining film, at different angles, like a yank back to reality.
The fourth scene is entitled “The Past”. The characters are in an exterior location, in front on a open air fire, and we watch them as they burn their letters to each other, their photographs, literally burning their shared past. Using the technique of “voice over”, we will hear excerpts from the letters they wrote to each other. There will be close-ups on the letters, and circular shots. Here, a close-up of an ultrasound photograph that is burnt, will reveal the loss of a child from their lives, that being the key point of the destruction of their relationship.
The fifth scene is called “The bodies”. The scene is shot in a black background, and the two characters will face each other, in their fictional reality. The overflowing anger, rage, hatred and partially love, will be the cause of another yet of their paranoid fights. Several close- up shots of the struggle are used to convey the intensity and paranoia of the encounter of the couple. The camera simply follows their battle, without intervening in the progress of the scene. Natural sounds of the fight enhance the tragic demise of their love.
The sixth scene is titled “The Soul”. This scene is the ultimate confrontation, the peak of the film, the first and only dialogue between the couple. The script of this dialogue was developed during the improvisation workshops, delivering not only the heightened level of communication between the actors, but also the catharsis between the characters, as they finally dare to speak to each other. The camera is focused on the characters throughout the scene, and profile shots are used to center on each of them and highlight their dialogue. This scene represents the deconstruction of the two main characters. Their terrible secret is finally revealed, the nemesis of their relationship is now in the open, and through a rationale of the irrational the couple fades into oblivion.
The final scene comprises of the intermittent original shot of the first scene, and as it fades to black, we read the source of inspiration for the film, the poem “Windows” by Constantine P. Cavafy.
“The windows
In these darkened rooms, where I spend
oppresive days, I pace to and fro
to find the windows. -- When a window
opens, it will be a consolation. --
But the windows cannot be found, or I cannot
find them. And maybe it is best that I do not find them.
Maybe the light will be a new tyranny.
Who knows what new things it will reveal.
Constantine P. Cavafy (1903)”
I find this story unique, and at the same time universal. Relationships between people in the modern, fast-track, globalised world, have become increasingly strenuous, and demanding. It is not uncommon to watch people staying together out of mere social necessity, even if their love and feelings for each other are long lost. Fear of the unknown and fear of the new has been always one of our greatest inhibitions. This story, in my opinion will appeal to everyone and anyone who has ever loved and seen his/her love betrayed, illusions of eternity cruelly shattered. After all, our entire lives are spent in search of light, and freedom.
Proposal 16/1/2009
Corridor is a 6 minute film following the life of a young couple, that transitions from the ultimate feeling of love, to the ultimate feeling of hatred. The film is a journey through their surreal and fictional world and through reality. The war of emotions unraveling in their conscience contrasts their complete immobility in their real everyday life.
The film is set in Cyprus, in the city of Nicosia, where the two main characters Valentinos and Melpo live. The locations of the filming will be my house and a basement. The filming will begin at 5/1/2009 and will be completed at 7/1/2009. Also, the initial stage of the production includes several workshops, concerning communication, self confidence and improvisation, which will take place before the filming.
The main concept was derived from a poem, written in 1903 by one of the most prominent and lyrical poets of Greece, Constantine P. Cavafy. The title of the poem is “Windows”. The poem is about the despair of the individual, when he/she faces something new and unfamiliar, the fear of rejection and of the unknown, combined with the notion that windows represent the light, and also the unattainable freedom for the poet.
Based on this concept, the film presents us with a young, professionally successful couple. However, behind the seemingly perfect exterior, an ever-lasting war is waging, with no apparent conclusion. The characters are socially adept, pleasant, and pretending to be a happy couple. That dramatically changes when they are alone together, where they transform into immobile, alienated strangers. The overwhelming emotions are grievance, rage and mourning, for all that is forever lost.
The film sequences are divided into two different parts: the realistic and the fictional part, the latter having a more accurate depiction of their life and true characters.
The film begins inside a lavishly decorated house, where the two characters are sitting on a sofa. At first, a long shot will provide us with the identification of the surroundings, followed by a closer shot, focusing on the couple. Right after, close-up shots of both of the characters, are used to identify their figures into space. Almost immediately, the camera reproduces the initial long shot, and the first scene is completed with a fade to white. White in the film is the color that represents not only the parallel reality that the characters experience, but also the agonizing and never satisfied need for light, and freedom. There will be no music or any sounds in the background, so as to portray the lack of communication and the unwillingness for any kind of interaction.
The second scene is titled “The Space”. We witness the characters inside a four wall room, walls painted white, in the absence of windows and natural light. The initial shots acquaint us with the interior of the room, and then portray the need of the characters to escape this “white prison cell”. Almost like the infamous “white cells”, a well known and internationally prohibited form of torture, we follow the characters on their slow path to insanity, as they try to find the window, the light. The scene is backgrounded with natural sounds, and orchestral music.
The third scene comprises of the original first scenery. The deafening lack of sound, in contrast with the previous agonizing scene, reveals the level of withdrawal, that the characters experience concerning each other in their real lives. This scene from now on will be intermittent throughout the remaining film, at different angles, like a yank back to reality.
The fourth scene is entitled “The Past”. The characters are in an exterior location, in front on a open air fire, and we watch them as they burn their letters to each other, their photographs, literally burning their shared past. Using the technique of “voice over”, we will hear excerpts from the letters they wrote to each other. There will be close-ups on the letters, and circular shots. Here, a close-up of an ultrasound photograph that is burnt, will reveal the loss of a child from their lives, that being the key point of the destruction of their relationship.
The fifth scene is called “The bodies”. The scene is shot in a black background, and the two characters will face each other, in their fictional reality. The overflowing anger, rage, hatred and partially love, will be the cause of another yet of their paranoid fights. Several close- up shots of the struggle are used to convey the intensity and paranoia of the encounter of the couple. The camera simply follows their battle, without intervening in the progress of the scene. Natural sounds of the fight enhance the tragic demise of their love.
The sixth scene is titled “The Soul”. This scene is the ultimate confrontation, the peak of the film, the first and only dialogue between the couple. The script of this dialogue was developed during the improvisation workshops, delivering not only the heightened level of communication between the actors, but also the catharsis between the characters, as they finally dare to speak to each other. The camera is focused on the characters throughout the scene, and profile shots are used to center on each of them and highlight their dialogue. This scene represents the deconstruction of the two main characters. Their terrible secret is finally revealed, the nemesis of their relationship is now in the open, and through a rationale of the irrational the couple fades into oblivion.
The final scene comprises of the intermittent original shot of the first scene, and as it fades to black, we read the source of inspiration for the film, the poem “Windows” by Constantine P. Cavafy.
“The windows
In these darkened rooms, where I spend
oppresive days, I pace to and fro
to find the windows. -- When a window
opens, it will be a consolation. --
But the windows cannot be found, or I cannot
find them. And maybe it is best that I do not find them.
Maybe the light will be a new tyranny.
Who knows what new things it will reveal.
Constantine P. Cavafy (1903)”
I find this story unique, and at the same time universal. Relationships between people in the modern, fast-track, globalised world, have become increasingly strenuous, and demanding. It is not uncommon to watch people staying together out of mere social necessity, even if their love and feelings for each other are long lost. Fear of the unknown and fear of the new has been always one of our greatest inhibitions. This story, in my opinion will appeal to everyone and anyone who has ever loved and seen his/her love betrayed, illusions of eternity cruelly shattered. After all, our entire lives are spent in search of light, and freedom.
Corridor
Character study
29/12/2008
The two main characters in this film are the archetypical male and female, in a long-term relationship. Externally, they are perfectly settled in their lives, and financially independent. However, in their personal everyday contact, beyond their exterior, they are governed by the complete lack of interaction between them, an almost sickening immobility.
As far as their emotional portrayal is concerned, we find ourselves immersed in their fictional world, in their conscience. In there, the terrible war that is waging can only be concluded with absolute destruction. The characters were in love in the past, convinced that a child would complete their happiness. However, That was the key point that begun reversing their relationship from the ultimate love to the ultimate hatred, the loss of their unborn child. As the French psychiatrist and philosopher Lacan Jacques observed in his theory of redeployment, it only takes one earth-shattering event to completely reverse the individual’s emotions and views of the Other. This film walks us through the slow and steady path of the final deconstruction of the characters, showing us their emotional instability, resembling to insanity, and the unavoidable end.
Valentinos Kokkinos, the male character appears as a low key individual, deeply hurt, obsessive, self absorbed. He has obvious issues with intimacy, never being able to articulate his problems or needs to his companion. In essence, he is always absent.
Melpo Colombou, the female character. She appears superior to her companion, dominant, intense and dynamic. Her femininity subdues her peers, and presents communicational skills and extrovert character. She is a business woman, successful in her profession.
Their only common point left is self punishment. The absence of interaction, even the most common small talk is unbearable to them, has led Valentinos to obesity, and Melpo to the verge of anorexia.
Summarizing the above, the psyche of the two characters is imminently tragic. These are two people that have been torturing themselves for too long, slowly falling into depression and denial, that only finds a way out through their conscience, their fictional little world. The agony and the pain that their once unconditional love has become, can be witnessed even in their slightest movement, and that is their punishment.
Character study
29/12/2008
The two main characters in this film are the archetypical male and female, in a long-term relationship. Externally, they are perfectly settled in their lives, and financially independent. However, in their personal everyday contact, beyond their exterior, they are governed by the complete lack of interaction between them, an almost sickening immobility.
As far as their emotional portrayal is concerned, we find ourselves immersed in their fictional world, in their conscience. In there, the terrible war that is waging can only be concluded with absolute destruction. The characters were in love in the past, convinced that a child would complete their happiness. However, That was the key point that begun reversing their relationship from the ultimate love to the ultimate hatred, the loss of their unborn child. As the French psychiatrist and philosopher Lacan Jacques observed in his theory of redeployment, it only takes one earth-shattering event to completely reverse the individual’s emotions and views of the Other. This film walks us through the slow and steady path of the final deconstruction of the characters, showing us their emotional instability, resembling to insanity, and the unavoidable end.
Valentinos Kokkinos, the male character appears as a low key individual, deeply hurt, obsessive, self absorbed. He has obvious issues with intimacy, never being able to articulate his problems or needs to his companion. In essence, he is always absent.
Melpo Colombou, the female character. She appears superior to her companion, dominant, intense and dynamic. Her femininity subdues her peers, and presents communicational skills and extrovert character. She is a business woman, successful in her profession.
Their only common point left is self punishment. The absence of interaction, even the most common small talk is unbearable to them, has led Valentinos to obesity, and Melpo to the verge of anorexia.
Summarizing the above, the psyche of the two characters is imminently tragic. These are two people that have been torturing themselves for too long, slowly falling into depression and denial, that only finds a way out through their conscience, their fictional little world. The agony and the pain that their once unconditional love has become, can be witnessed even in their slightest movement, and that is their punishment.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
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