#mitchforsyth

[mitchforsyth]

Man and Hair 2

Haven’t posted on here in a good big time. I’ve started using insta a lot more for pumping out the work; find me at moss.foss. I’ll use this big boink for the big news.

Here is Man and Hair 2, my new short. The sequel to an essay I wrote for Ephemeral Mag Issue1, available now here. 

proud of this one- never give up on ur dreams

[mitchforsyththinks]

MITCHFORSYTH 1401754 - BA3a PROJECT SUMMARY - JANUARY 2017

The development of my project this since August has been engulfing and obsessive. On few occasions before over this course have I found myself able to so willingly submit myself to something and see where the creation process, the researching, and the writing takes me. It hasn’t been without it’s struggles, but so far this term has felt like highly efficient machine.

Following on from my work last year, my summer was spent carrying out an in-depth study of 70’s science fiction filmmaking. Over the course of the two months away, I began to figure out a kind of aesthetic timeline of development following through the most popular films of the period, all beginning with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. My relationship with that film is one similar to many; I was first shown it at age 9 by my wizard-like Language teacher of the time, but was not fully able to comprehend what I was watching on screen. That is not to say that I wasn’t left completely fascinated by the picture, and have been ever since. If ever there was an area of study suitable for a research report, it was this film.

Outside of my research work over this period, I struggled with practically making. Whether I had experienced something of a burn out in the final term of Year 2 or I just wasn’t finding an engaging enough subject to work with, my work and practice of illustration came to something of a standstill. It was at the (purposefully) misinterpreted advice of a tutor that this came to slump came to an end. The task was to write a space opera, in the most literal terms. My research for the report had given me enough awareness and knowledge of the tropes, visuals, and feels of science fiction; so using that I began to construct a lost spaceman story in the form of an elaborate synth-pop science fiction musical.

By the end of the summer and coming into the beginning of the term, I was already a few songs deep into the story. It followed the main lost spaceman character through a kind of Christmas Carol-esque series of reflections on his past- brought on by an encounter with an extraterrestrial being. This was enough grounds to start building up the world that this narrative inhabited. The project adopted the name Space X1 : Confessions. The world-building aspect of the project immediately took the whole of me. Through study of the productions of the science fiction films I was researching for my Report, I began to build a solid understanding of the level and areas of detail needed in producing a film- the set building and design, the worldly context of visuals, the incorporation of sound and vision on screen. The project was beginning to completely engulf my entire creative output, working in 3D, illustration, storyboarding, costume design, set building, and script and songwriting. Whilst this process could have become overwhelming or overly tangented, I was sure to make definite what I was doing in each section of production, and more importantly the reasons I was doing them. For the first time, I think I was able to manage the overly-addictive nature I have when it comes to making.

I think this came from the criticism of my second year projects, and my own analysis of how those projects were developed. It was apparent in that year that I would become far too obsessed and absorbed my one particular detail or aspect of a project, and soon I’d begin to disregard the forced time frame and the other areas of the project in order to complete this one little bit. This time around, I have been more conscious of my time-management and the necessity of keeping and sticking to a game plan. If anything, the relationship I have built up with Space X1 is the thing preventing me from loosing my head; in the sense that, I have put so much time into it that I feel it deserves to be finished properly, within budget and time. To counter my historic lack of regard for self-imposed time pressures, I have been moving and adjusting the achievable goals week to week.

This could be viewed as a negative- am I diminishing the quality of the eventual project by constantly setting my limits back? I think it’s more, simply, another aspect of the editing process of the project. At the very beginning of September, I set myself a really ambitious goal- to make a short science fiction film based on the musical that I had written over the summer. This was always going to be an idea that was aiming higher than what was within my reach, but I nevertheless chose to begin it. The plan was long term; I had decided to spend the months approaching the New Year building on the narrative, then come January, production of sets and costumes and effects would begin. If I keep to my timetable, those elements of the production will be finished by mid-February, with my aim to film for the whole of March, and post throughout April. This schedule, so far, has been kept to. As of yet, I am unsure of the limitations and boundaries I will come up against, and for that reason the achievable goals shift week to week.

One thing that I have come to realise over these past months, is that I find academic writing a lot more difficult and a lot less engaging than I had previously thought. When it came to the writing of my research report, I had a really hard time collating my points and my mind and my questions. It wasn’t until the final month of the writing that the pieces fell into place, but even then I was not really fulfilled by my writing. I am not sure that critical writing is my best voice.

That is not to say, however, that I didn’t find the process of putting together the report useful. The research that I was doing for the report became an integral part of Space X1’s development and more generally, my practice as a whole. The task of academic writing invited me to think critically about subject areas I have always enjoyed and engaged with, but not to the fullest extent. It has changed my approach to research building; maybe as I put into practice that approach more often, academic and critical writing will start to become a much more efficient and fluid process.

[mitchforsyththinks]

Put together mood reel for SPACE X1 : CONFESSIONS, focusing on imagery, lighting, and colour.

Footage sourced from public domain, own footage, Elite, Field of Dreams. Soundtrack is PIECESPIECES by mitchforsyth.

[mitchforsyththinks]

Misinterpreted instruction to ‘write a space opera’ becomes obsession.

The first rough cut of the opening number in the musical Space X1 : Confessions by mitchforsyth- 1. DRIFTING. 

The tale of Lt. Henry’s space disaster told through saw waves and phasers. The project is developing into something of a much larger scale than I could’ve imagined at the start. The writing and recording of the rest of the soundtrack is 8 songs deep so far, in the bathroom of my flat. 

Outcome thoughts so far- a set of films with each following one piece of music from Space X1.