jparkermajorproject2018

[jparkermajorproject2018]

My final film. Best viewed in a headset but can be navigated online.

[jparkermajorproject2018]

Final Proposal

I started off wanting to make a documentary with other people and a fancy camera. I half did this. I did make a documentary but entirely solo and with a VR camera rather than something more traditional. I looked at my dissertation topic which was masculinity. The final film didn’t focus on it but the story of the riots could possibly be linked to it. I wanted to focus on story which I think I did do. The film I made was a VR film about the story of Brixton. This did not come to me immediately. In fact originally I was committed to making a VR film about migration linked to films shot by my grandad. The footage was great but I found it difficult to link it to a comprehensive story that I could use in a piece. After many different experiments and research into how others were using 360 filming I eventually landed on a method of projecting images into a scene in Virtual Reality. This was a great proof of concept but unfortunately the content still wasn’t there. I went to exhibitions at the British Library and the Black Cultural Archive to try and find some more content. This got me closer but I still wasn’t there. At this point I had worked out that I wanted to make a film about migration. A couple of weeks after making this decision and filming Brixton Market in VR the Windrush Scandal was reported in the news. I was worried about making a film in Brixton after this as it is such a fresh event that people are still feeling very emotional about. However, after taking stock of what I was making and what I wanted to create I decided to use the recent events to make what I hope is a very current piece of work. Using a brand new technology to tell an ongoing story. I began researching Brixton and it seemed to be broken into a beginning middle and end for me. The arrival of the migrants from the Caribbean and West Indies, the build-up and then riots in the eighties and the events from the past few weeks. I got stuck into footage from all these moments and cut them together to tell the story. I remixed the sound edited and cropped the footage to be projected. I tried to use After Effects and titles to tell the story better, however this didn’t work very well. My CGI skills aren’t great and most of it looked very cheap. The headset itself posed a few problems but nothing I couldn’t solve. I didn’t expect this film at all but I am happy with it. I was nervous about bringing politics into my work in such a big way but I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed making this film and the course in general and think that it has made me a better artist filmmaker and more rounded person. Thank you.

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First Proposal

Apologies this wasn’t posted earlier. 

Final Major Project Proposal

For the Final Major project, I want to in some way utilise the different skills I’ve learnt in the previous projects using documentary methods to tell a true story about some current topics and other themes that I’ve been interested in throughout the course. I’ve been looking into story structure more by watching films and making notes linked to the book ‘Story’ by Robert McKee. I want to try and use these methods of plot structure in a documentary film. In order to make a documentary that isn’t just a mishmash of interviews clumsily spliced together, I’m going to attempt to find a subject matter that is focused with its own story while representing the bigger issues and topics I want to investigate. When trying to come up with how to do this and while I was reading through previous projects I realised that I can directly link this to the first two projects we were given, identity and place. The combination of these two themes are what I’m initially thinking my documentary could use at its core, though this is subject to change as I develop the ideas. I want the making of this film to be fairly ambitious, stepping slightly outside my comfort zone. I want to try and work with other people which I haven’t done for a while and I want to use a higher quality camera and make a film with a much higher production value in general really using the facilities available before I graduate. I’ve been interested recently in the different cultures and societies in London that have grown over the years due to immigration and gentrification. This is a personal topic for me as I grew up in London but I also think it could be an interesting piece of social commentary with Brexit and changing attitudes towards immigration being so prominent in the media today. Another topic I’ve been investigating is masculinity, specifically in post-colonial western society. I used the use of violence and drug use in the films Trainspotting and Fight Club to investigate this in my dissertation but the overall topic still interests me. This is another potential topic for my film. I’m still not sure which theme to address, there may be a way to tackle both at the same time but that may be too much to ask in the timeframe. I propose to research both themes and what subjects are available to me and then try and make a realistic decision about which one to make a piece about within my capabilities. This is a very broad proposal but I don’t want to go in too deep to early as there are a lot of external factors that could affect the making of this documentary or moving image piece. To conclude, I want to make a piece with takes what I have made before even further and try to make a film which has more clarity than my previous work and with a higher production value.

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This is an After Effects test I tried attempting to represent the riots in the eighties. However, it didn’t look good in the headset so I projected some more footage in instead. 

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These Screenshots show some of my processes. I opted not to have the dates in my film as they looked a bit cheap in the headset. 

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This is the penultimate draft of my Final Project. This is very close to the final film but without titles and a much shorter present day Brixton is represented. I played around with after effects to warp some of the shots so they wouldn't be cropped when projected. However, I only used this method on two clips in the end. I also tried to make the sky red to represent fire but this was quite cheesy and didn't really work. I also cut the starting clip out completely as I didn’t think it really added to the story as a whole. 

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This final film documents the recent Windrush scandal. I was hesitant to include this but realised that it is a crucial moment in the history of Brixton and British migration in general. The film focuses on the effect its had on the Windrush generation and the resignation of Amber Rudd over the scandal. 

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This footage focuses on the Brixton Riots in 1981 and the aftermath in the years afterwards. There were other riots in later years but I decided to avoid them as they were less impactful to the area and the government at the time. 

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This second film documents the story of Brixton and the people who live there in the 60s and 70s. It includes an interview with Darcus Howe a civil rights activist very prominent in the seventies discussing the issues with racism and unemployment in London at the time. 

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I cut together a number of films to put into my film. These are all made out of found footage and audio which I cut, mixed and reordered to make a comprehensive story for the viewer to watch in VR. This film will make the start of my piece documenting the migration to the UK in the nineteen fifties. 

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The Story of Brixton

The story I want to tell is the story of Brixton. I definitely want the piece to be under twenty minutes and with a strong story arch for people to follow. The reason for this is I think VR is quite a difficult medium to watch a film in as it is brand new and can be quite disorientating to people who haven’t used it before. The story will be the anchor for the viewer. If I succeed the found footage and images I will piece together and other techniques I’ve learnt along the way will guide the spectator through the experience with minimal confusion. 

I plan to split the story into four acts. These will depict the crucial moments in Brixton’ s history from the early twentieth century until now. The moments are the opening of the town hall and arrival of the Windrush generation. The settling of those migrants and the discomfort they felt during the seventies due to racist slurring by the public and a lack of support into the community by the government. The riots that followed in the eighties as a result of that mistreatment and the government response to that which was minimal, leading to a dive in the Brixton economy. Finally, the recent ‘Windrush Scandal’ which I was hesitant to include but Mikhail made the very good point that if I made this film ten years later than now I would definitely include it as it is an important moment in the history of migration to the UK, especially in the Brixton community. 

I will piece together four films out of finding footage from different sources (Independent documentary, the BBC, Channell 4, ITV and British Pathe) to project. I will also collect some images of newspapers and write some words to guide the viewer through the story. I would also like to represent the riots by using After Effects to give the impression that they are happening around the viewer, really utilising the VR workspace. 

Hopefully, after all this work I will have a good coherent film which fairly depicts the history of Brixton as a place and the communities that have made it such an important location to understand the importance of multiculturalism in culture in this country. 

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This is a short version of the film I want to make. The final film will be longer, focusing on more moments in the history of Brixton and will involve more VR editing techniques to guide the viewer from projection to projection and move them from place to place around Windrush Square and Brixton Market. This footage starts with my own shots of the market superimposed into the VR space and then moves on to newsreels made at the beginning of the migration to London.

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The Last Crit

I wasn’t able to take full advantage of the final Crit as the footage of the market I shot for my piece couldn’t be uploaded in time as I had to return to Brighton straight after shooting. However, it did help me by pointing out that I needed to narrow down my research and mould a story focused on something specific e.g. a place. 

The place I have shot in VR is Brixton which aids my research as it is a prime example of successful migration to the UK. Even though it hasn’t always been a smooth ride with the feelings towards immigrants at the time being one of suspicion and patronisation. Later on, Brixton saw riots, high levels of crime and institutionalised racism from the establishment which still hasn’t entirely disappeared with the recent Windrush scandal being a prime example of this. Despite these injustices, the Afro Carribean culture has managed to survive more than most other cultural areas around London, though it is at risk now with the recent ‘regeniration/gentrification’ causing a rise in house prices etc. 

The story of Brixton from the fifties up until now has been well documented in newsreels, films etc. I want to use the projection methods and other skills I have learnt in VR to create an immersive experience that tells the story of this place as I think it is incredibly relevant to similar events happening today. The story begins during the time my grandad was in India. Though I plan not to use his footage as I think it will confuse matters (depicting a different country) I think the story I’m going to tell has the same themes, themes of colonialism, multiculturalism, migration, identity and place. I hope that telling the story of the mass migration to Brixton and the years that followed in VR will inform the audience of how the place they are ‘standing in’ was built and evolved from a fairly grey place in inner London to one of the most colourful and vibrant areas the city has to offer thanks to the people who made it their own.  

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This is one of my shots of the market early in the morning which I want to use to make up the majority of my piece. 

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These are a collection of notes I took during the exhibition, unfortunately photography was banned but I managed to sneak in a couple of the information cards that I’ve included as well. 

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I went to this James Cook Exhibition at the British Library in an attempt to work out some more structure for my piece. Although very interesting I didn’t find anything that seemed to link everything I have been working on together. There were, however, some interesting stories to with Cook’s interactions with different tribes, some peaceful, some more violent. The part of the exhibition which particularly struck me was a quote from Cook commenting on his landing in Tanna. 

‘We enter their Ports without their daring to make opposition, we attempt to land in a peaceable manner, if this succeeds its well, if not we land nevertheless and maintain the footing we this got by the Superiority of our fire arms, in what other light can they than at first look upon us abut as invaders of their Country.’

This quote to me resonates as it gives a clear indication of the colonial mindset. Take over at any cost even though the initial intention is peaceful, that does not rule out violence in the future.

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Next step

After looking at Shimon Attie and the work I have already done I went back to London and shot the same Market but before anyone had arrived just before it had opened up. I wanted to give a sense of emptiness to create a more dramatic scene to project into. The problem I’m hitting is that I can't seem to find a good structure for what the projections will be and what story I’m trying to tell.