Presentation on the FMP proposal and pitch
The Proposal
FMP Proposal – Matt
Howard
Review
When I began
the course my aim was to work in radio, utilising my existing skills. However,
by Christmas I felt that this had been achieved and was no longer a challenge,
coupled with the possibility of progressing on to the media production degree I
felt that I had to step out of my comfort zone and look at other mediums in
order to develop new skills needed for progression. I took part in studio
sessions with professional artists and engaged with a student led film production
I soon found that I had other skills such as directing music shoots, vision
mixing and post production editing. I have decided to utilise these new skills
within my final project in an effort to develop them and to challenge myself.
Ideas and concept
As a
practising UK. Pagan, I am aware of the negativity and prejudice that over the
centuries (and still today) have surrounded the many followers
of the various pathways that make up paganism. But with more and more people
coming out of the "broom closet" in the UK, I decided to put together
a documentary showing Paganism in it's true light as opposed to the popular
misconceptions. I aim to film interviews, gatherings and festivals attended by
practising Pagans to paint a true picture of what goes on within the Pagan
community. By doing this I will be covering relatively new ground, although a
small number of television and internet programmes have highlighted certain
aspects of paganism these are mainly focused on the witchcraft element and are
predominantly written by outsiders. My aim is to focus on what paganism means
to the people who practice it.
Contextual research
Apart from a
few home-made American films and one, four part documentary
there is very little material out there
covering this subject and as far as I am aware paganism has never been filmed
from the inside before therefore not only do I have direct access to the people
and events I also believe that the community will be much more open about their
beliefs and practices. My primary research comes from the fact that I am a
practising pagan within the very community that I am filming.
Techniques and presentation
As far as the
shooting style goes, I intend for it in the main to be very organic utilising
two cameras and shooting the events as they happen much in a similar way to a
group I worked with on a previous project. Stories of the world (The Burnley
cotton mills) by social inclusion media company, REELmcr. http://www.reelmcr.co.uk/. I believe that by doing this, the
finished film will appear more natural and also more authentic. Of course the
interviews will have to be more structured, some being studio based while where
possible some will be done on location.
Evaluation and progression
The main
process of evaluation will be the reviewing of footage and deciding what
footage tells the story and gets the message across, by doing this I can then
decide whether another interviewee needs to be sourced etc. Unfortunately with
the project being time sensitive I am limited to what festivals and gatherings
can be filmed as they too are time sensitive. All reviews will be presented on
my blog.
