Initial Idea

Personal views as a filmmaker

As a filmmaker myself I feel it's important to add a personal touch to the films that I make, and more importantly for this module 'experimental film' considering this is my favourite type of filmmaking. This is because it allows me to explore different themes and concepts and apply them in an abstract way as opposed to a simple timeline of obvious events like that of a drama film. As a lover of art, I feel that experimental film allows me to add an artistic visual aspect to a film, and present the narrative or themes through visual symbolism to an audience to interpret themselves, much like that of physical art like paintings. From the point of view of an audience member I feel it is fulfilling to work out something for myself from a film than have it simply given to me, and so I feel this is the angle I want to take. The only problem with this is, not all audiences feel this way or like this kind of film, and so i still need to find a way to make my film captivating and gripping for a larger number of people. 

Experimental Film Idea

For my actual idea, which I created with Jack Stockdale, I decided I wanted something very visual that would look beautiful to the audience, with a strong concept that people can relate to. We came up with the idea of oppression in society - the way people are controlled, manipulated and shaped by society's norms, where it would be an individual struggle to break the norms and dare to be different. One major thing we considered was using a large contrast between light and dark to demonstrate this, as well as the use of marionette strings attached to the characters as a metaphor for this restraint. 


The Crew

Alexandra Haley - Producer / Director
Jack Stockdale - Cinematographer / Director
Jack Riley - Sound Recordist / Sound Design
Liam Benson - 1st AD