Easier if i present my personal critical evaluation in a word document

http://www.sendspace.com/file/uh3m7f

or

http://christonabikefilms.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/personal-critical-evaluation.doc

http://www.sendspace.com/file/7d3q4z

First cut complete. So far everyone i’ve shown like it alot.

I am treating the shoot as if it was a drama. With dramatic reconstructions mixed with interview footage to create a narrative not seen in necessarily associated with mainstream documentary film.

Some people have questioned why we are shooting in this style and my reason is simple. Of all the documentaries i have seen in these past few weeks of documentary production lectures, its the ones that push the genre. The films that are full of shaky camera work, grainy interview footage and poor shot composition just don’t appeal to me. Some would argue that its not about picture quality, its about the message. But i say why can’t we have both.

Pitching the film to the class further helped me justify our choice of subject. When the whole class claimed to have OCD i knew that we had to make this film. I am not a doctor, i cannot say who has and hasn’t got it. But the truth of the matter is that most of them do not have OCD. They have habits. Habits that they can easily choose not to ignore when they want. OCD sufferers do not have this option. Thats why this film must be made. Because every time someone claims to have OCD without any real understanding of what it is it’s insulting to the real sufferers and those people should think long and hard about what they say.

Would they claim to have some alzheimers just cos they are a little forgetful? Or ADD because they prefer to watch youtube than do homework? No.

Now is the chance for a genuine sufferer to have his say. And we will be addressing exactly these points as well as demonstrating some of the symptoms of the condition.

http://christonabikefilms.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/location.doc

Contracts

http://christonabikefilms.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/contracts.doc

Callsheet Template

http://christonabikefilms.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/callsheet.doc

LINK TO SYNOPSIS

http://christonabikefilms.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/week-3-blog-assignment/

Ken and Jonathan liked my 1 minute piece, they said it had a strong style and was visually very good. Technically the film was strong.

It’s main weakness is lack of interesting subject. It is at the end of the day just a short film about me and my morning routine. Our actual film is going to be on a member of our group named Matt Farmer. He has OCD and therefore his day is different to mine in the details. It’s these details we will be focusing on and with our list of his OCD symptoms it should make for an interesting documentary that doesn’t force people to have our opinion, we simply ask that they don’t remain ignorant.

Our subject is a man with OCD, they will demonstrate some common occurences in their every day life where OCD makes them do things other people wouldn’t feel the need to. EG. Pressing the button at trafficlights 5 times. Brushing teeth for exactly one minute etc.

2. Craft: What is your visual approach to the subject what will the film actually look and sound like.

See the test film to see the visual style of the film, still desiding whether it will be in color or not but that will most likely be decided in post.
3. Context: How does it relate to the brief (Victims of Capitalism or Outsiders).

It relates to the brief by showing someone who seems different than the majority. Highlighting some of the ways OCD affects day to day life for them.

Synopsis

A day in the life of an OCD sufferer. In this film we see how OCD has affected the subjects lifestyle and personality. Highlighting the differences and ignoring the “normal” stuff, we will really show the key points and habits of the man.

Sometimes we will exagerate the affects a small amount, i find in short films (especially drama) the best way to establish a subject or character is through stereotype. Obviously we will not be insulting with it. This will be artistically and tastefully done.

The film will be intercut with interviews with the subject describing some moments where OCD has seriously affected his life in a big way.

Finally we will ask how he thinks his life would be without OCD and whether he feels betrayed by his own mind.

To me the colors always seem to merge into each other.

For the most part its alot of desaturated shades. It keeps a regular style and a sense of disorientation.

The film starts with alot more warm toned colors than as the film progresses and gets progressively colder.

The camera movement is revolutionary for its time. I was told by a tutor at college that the steadycam was invented for this movie and the corridor sequences.

The lighting mood changes throughout from harsh contrasting lights to softer blending lights.

The smooth lighting with equally smooth camera work makes the whole film feel almost like a depressing dream sequence. 

Conrad L Hall – American Beauty.

American Beauty is a much more glossy film. It is filled with saturated color and looks great. It reminds me of the old technicolor movies with highly saturated colors such as The Wizard of Oz.

It’s camera movement switches from smooth, grand and colorful to desaturated and shaky for the handheld camcorder scenes.

It’s use of colors like red and green really make the movie have an almost animated quality to it.

What if the visual style was switched?

The tone of the two movies are totally different even though you could argue that they have similar subject matter. Not so much with the killing and screaming but both lead male characters slowly descend into a kind of madness as the film progresses.

The two film’s visual styles could not be switched as they would not work. The cinematographers in both cases have specifically designed the way they shot the movies to conform with a specific style and genre. The mis en scene in both works is strong.

Neither film would make the same sort of impact as they do now. Although i must say out of the two i think “The Shining” would still work. American Beauty would not.

How and what will i use in the “Real Lives” assignment.

We are still working out how we will do our documentary but i can immedately say that i will use “The Shining”  to inspire some of the documentary where we follow our subject around his house as he full fills his morning routine but i must also say that i will hold off on copying the styles of either of the films. I prefer to find my own style. Although i am not a documentary filmmaker and i instead focus on thrillers and drama. I Intend to inject my own style on this documentary by really pushing the genre where i can.

I will try to get some really nice color in the outside stuff though.

My groups treatment for “The OCD” is written by Matt Farmer

http://mattjfarmer.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/treatment-the-ocd/

I am Directing.

UPDATE: Josh Lewis also wrote a treatment

http://joshlewisdocumentaryproduction.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/synopsistreatment-the-ocd/