Welcome to the first blog entry for my 3rd year project.
My initial idea has somewhat changed in the last few weeks for a variety of reasons. Here is the text of my original proposal-
My video project idea revolves around a protagonist and his growing obsession with a TV show with the result that he talks to the characters on the screen. Eventually the dynamic differences between our ‘real’ protagonist’s downbeat environment and the highly produced TV show start to blur, and he becomes a walking talking part of the show itself, beyond just being an actor but actually existing in the world of the show. This reality is just as un-involving as his original in the end, so he once again sits down in that world to watch TV and escape.
The idea is that our relationship with screen media is a form of escape, a way to lose yourself and ignore reality. Once this voyeuristic aspect is lost and that world has actually become his he loses all interest because it’s the medium and not the object that he is addicted to. I hope to create two distinct filming styles that slowly merge together, one dark, miserable and near documentary in style and one filled with soft focus, bright well-lit environments and TV style editing and camerawork. It will be interesting to examine all the little ways in which these worlds can be both differentiated and merged.
Since then my focus has been on my capability regarding recreating a well-lit TV studio environment. Whilst it may be possible on a small scale I am not confident I could achieve it to the standard I feel would be needed to fill out roughly half this film. I began looking at alternative options and at the moment my favourite is using re-contextualized existing TV footage as the counter-point, reducing the character's story to that of a spectator. The following is my readjusted project proposal-
My project idea explores the constant presence of screen media and how television cultures reinforce their own dominance over behaviour. To begin our initial character is watching TV, a genuine TV show like the Simpsons. He is watching them as they watch TV. Then we see what they are watching, perhaps the Wire. The characters in The Wire are using a screen for surveillance, but thanks to re contextualizing the footage we see them watching something else and so on, creating layers upon layers where the chief action is just watching. I aim to work other mediums like cinema, video games, even phone screens into the concept as well. I also plan to shoot my own linking segments in the style of different genres in order to explore yet more. The plan is to link all the way back around to the beginning, where we see someone watching the start of this clip via youtube. I plan to explore the ways these different characters can interact with what they're watching and by choosing the show therefore change the meaning of their reactions.
The main purpose of this idea is to demonstrate screen the dominance of screen culture by layering it together, creating a repeating motif where the viewer is always looking for the next screen in the sequence. In this way we see how these cultures reinforce their own importance through repetition and demonstration of behaviour.
I've already started exploring potential clip ideas and structure for this piece. My main aim at the moment is to find examples from as many genres as possible, cartoons, sitcoms, sci-fi, drama, film, documentary, News, video games, game shows etc. Hopefully it creates a channel-surfing feel for the viewer that uses all the areas of screen media to create an overall impression of the message of the piece. I might even have the second to last segment be a fake documentary about someone observing university media work. I've compiled a list of 15 potential clips I could use, my initial aim now is to begin ripping the parts I need and attempting to edit them together into a structured video.
