Development Proposal

CONSOLIDATION PROJECT

                         Development Proposal

This is a transcript from different notes scraps of paper and recordings I made during the last 2 months or so.

The initial concept of Consolidation I set out to create was to illustrate violence as a conundrum for society to deal with.  To be able to accomplish this in the U.S was a challenging experience not to miss,This was my other reason for wanting to go to New York, other than to support my film being screened at Tribeca.

Envisaging the actual three films proved to be very easy in parts and proved to be a bit more difficult during the latter stages, then astonishingly right at the end the best possible result …(or should I say the one that captivated me immediately) …was the answer to which film soundtrack to use to guide the viewer.

I’ll start with explaining how I put the cast of volunteers together in New York.  Rapidly during my time there a huge friendship grew between all the filmmakers and actors/actresses and some of the curators. I made good contacts and people seemed to be carried up by my enthusiasm and ideas and were eager to participate within my filming schedule.

I researched for different locations online but  kind of felt my way around the five boroughs as if I was on a lightning man-about-town mission.

I took the Canon7d up to the 42^nd storey of the apartment complex I was staying  for the first few days. The panoramic view hit me and I realised I was really smack centre in the middle of  the centre of the universe ( Well that’s what it appeared to be right at that moment…looking one side to the Statue of Liberty and then across to New Jersey and then to the Empire state building and the final side of the building gave me the whole street laid out in front of me all the way to City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge in the distance………I knew that this was going to be one giant opportunity to fulfil a few filmmaking dreams.

During the many director hang-outs and sponsored after-parties at Tribeca Film Festival I was lucky to embark on a network frenzy and liaised with many festival curators from all over the States and the rest of the world, who wanted to screen my film. With this amount of attention I was on a professional high of being recognised as a filmmaker. This had a huge effect on a burgeoning self-esteem  and led me down the road of increased confidence with my filming ambition.

I managed to brief a lot of actors with a quick scenario of the storyline about a serial killer on the loose. They followed my lead when I choreographed some of the ‘killings’ and I allowed a lot of room for them to improvise their interpretation of the scene.

In my mind I wanted the collage of images that would run alongside the killing narrative to interweave a frenetic pace of the city and what violence really lies under the surface at any given moment. The unique urban landscape lent me a perfect landscape to let the characters form and take shape. It also enable some beautiful shots of events, characters and interviews, some spur of the moment.

Editing the whole project is something I wouldn’t like anyone to go through.

A nightmare of piecing together what I initially wanted and further editing to leave myself three rough films. The soundscaping involved using my music and adapting and writing some new pieces to suit the footage ..and working vice-versa

I intended and still have completed three separate films …that stand on their own merit. But the viewing pleasure is meant for all three to be viewed with one of the audio tracks only playing.

This worked well and led me to rework some of the editing to accommodate the viewer to watch a particular screen at a given time…but the best option I chose was to have all three audio pieces playing at the same time…This really hits home on creating such a frenetic set of happenings and rapid flitting of the eyes directed at a lifestyle so different to anywhere in the world.

I really enjoyed the experience and there are so many variations to still be made to this piece of work.The projections on the three screens I made specifically for this project will be used another time. There are a few reasons for this...being the studio-theatre is booked by the fashion department and the smaller rooms are also booked....also to set up for this type of installation takes so much time that the previous one I presented for this project, didn't allow me to witness and experience my cohorts' projects and I definitely need to be there for them this time around.

There maybe a chance to show the films as projections to the tutors during the week and the three films need to be assessed seperately and together with the varying soundtracks to understand the total amount of film storytelling involved in the whole process.