To give ourselves a starting point, we contacted our lecturer, Dan, and asked him to give us some sort of theme or idea to base our films around. One reason we did this was to help get us started, but we also thought it would be interesting to see how differently we would interpret the idea and see how different our end products would be. Dan gave us the word "exploitation" to base our films around.
We decided not to tell each other anything about our ideas so that we wouldn't be influenced by each other, insuring our films were products entirely sourced by own creative thinking.
When I started thinking about what exploitation meant to me (with the more obvious issues aside), I started to think about how big corporations exploit us as customers, to make money.
One of the first things that came to my head was banks, as they're all about money. Also, companies of big brands, whether it's clothes or food.
I knew this was the sort of area I wanted to explore, but how I was going to do it was the next hurdle which took a long time to get past.
I found that trying to think up ideas by myself was incredibly difficult. With no crew to bounce ideas off of and to develop ideas with, I had to spend a lot of time pondering how to approach the project in a feasible way. I wanted to do an experimental film, as it's something I had never done before and wanted to explore that type of film-making.
The first idea I had was to take a series of shoots which would be shot in a way so you couldn't quite tell what they were. I wanted to shoot them so they appeared to be things that were harmless/positive/nice, but then it was slowly revealed that the things that looked so friendly were actually quite dark. I wanted to relate this back to the corporation idea, but I wasn't sure how.
I kept thinking about it and turned my attention to the media and how these companies and corporations sell their products to us.
I started looking at adverts, making note of different ways and techniques they use when selling their product.
After starting on this path, one video that came to mind was the music video for Evanescence's song 'Everybody's fool'.
I liked the idea that the advertisement at the start is a sort of parody, expressing the dark nature behind the products - that the represent "Lies". Whether the lies that are being referenced are produced by the customers (as in the video, where she lies about having made the pizza herself) or the lies are the adverts themselves and are being told by the companies who make them, are down to interpretation.
I liked this idea - a flip side to adverts. Usually we are shown all the positive aspects of a product, and the negatives are hidden away from us.
I decided I wanted to try something similar.
The Banker
One idea I had, which in the end, I didn't end up getting to do due to unavailable equipment and lack of time, was to do my own version of a bank advert.
The idea was to have a man of stereotypical banker appearance, talk directly into the camera about his bank and how much they care about the customer as an individual, as most - (Yeah right!)
In the background behind the banker there was going to be a large group of people, all looking directly into the camera also, smiling, representing the "satisfied customers". As the shot changes after the first part of monologue, the background starts to become fuzzy, and as we near the end of the banker's monologue, the back ground image has disappeared to reveal the banker standing in front of a green screen - the happy customers were just a visual trick - fabricated to fool the viewers into believing that they could become one of those happy customers, too, if they were to join.
The Mouthwash
The mouthwash ad was inspired by the recent Listerine advert that's on TV at the moment.
When I started thinking about what exploitation meant to me (with the more obvious issues aside), I started to think about how big corporations exploit us as customers, to make money.
One of the first things that came to my head was banks, as they're all about money. Also, companies of big brands, whether it's clothes or food.
I knew this was the sort of area I wanted to explore, but how I was going to do it was the next hurdle which took a long time to get past.
I found that trying to think up ideas by myself was incredibly difficult. With no crew to bounce ideas off of and to develop ideas with, I had to spend a lot of time pondering how to approach the project in a feasible way. I wanted to do an experimental film, as it's something I had never done before and wanted to explore that type of film-making.
The first idea I had was to take a series of shoots which would be shot in a way so you couldn't quite tell what they were. I wanted to shoot them so they appeared to be things that were harmless/positive/nice, but then it was slowly revealed that the things that looked so friendly were actually quite dark. I wanted to relate this back to the corporation idea, but I wasn't sure how.
I kept thinking about it and turned my attention to the media and how these companies and corporations sell their products to us.
I started looking at adverts, making note of different ways and techniques they use when selling their product.
After starting on this path, one video that came to mind was the music video for Evanescence's song 'Everybody's fool'.
Evanescence - Everybody's Fool
I liked the idea that the advertisement at the start is a sort of parody, expressing the dark nature behind the products - that the represent "Lies". Whether the lies that are being referenced are produced by the customers (as in the video, where she lies about having made the pizza herself) or the lies are the adverts themselves and are being told by the companies who make them, are down to interpretation.
I liked this idea - a flip side to adverts. Usually we are shown all the positive aspects of a product, and the negatives are hidden away from us.
I decided I wanted to try something similar.
The Banker
One idea I had, which in the end, I didn't end up getting to do due to unavailable equipment and lack of time, was to do my own version of a bank advert.
The idea was to have a man of stereotypical banker appearance, talk directly into the camera about his bank and how much they care about the customer as an individual, as most - (Yeah right!)
In the background behind the banker there was going to be a large group of people, all looking directly into the camera also, smiling, representing the "satisfied customers". As the shot changes after the first part of monologue, the background starts to become fuzzy, and as we near the end of the banker's monologue, the back ground image has disappeared to reveal the banker standing in front of a green screen - the happy customers were just a visual trick - fabricated to fool the viewers into believing that they could become one of those happy customers, too, if they were to join.
The Mouthwash
The mouthwash ad was inspired by the recent Listerine advert that's on TV at the moment.
Listerine TV advert 2013.
To me, it seemed as though they were using subtle scare tactics by suggesting that bleeding gums (something that isn't too uncommon among people every now and then, and can be caused by a number of things, some as simple as having too hard a toothbrush!) could be a sign of something quite serious, making you feel as though you need to buy their product to fix it. I felt the way the reflection states "That could be gum disease, you know" quite intimidating, as though she's not advising you, but telling you in a pessimistic, worry-inducing-because-she-likes-to-watch-others-suffer-to-make-herself-feel-better-about-herself kind of way - (sorry, that's the only way I could describe it!)
I decided I wanted to take this to the extreme, and go very overboard with the idea that by not using Listerine, you could develop gum disease stating that by not using it you could develop "Gum disease, Scurvy and even death".
The Cereal
I had recently been watching several documentaries about food and healthy eating, and I was actually quite shocked at how much bad stuff is in the food we consume everyday. Obviously, we know what's healthy and what's not, but we tend to judge it by what has nutritional benefits and what doesn't. People know that a pepperoni pizza is unhealthy because of the amount of grease, cheese, the processed meat and lack of any vegetable (or anything that came from the ground, for that matter.) People don't look any further than what they can see, but most of the food we consume each day, is filled with chemicals and what-not.
I wanted to to an advert that showed how companies try to represent their food as clean, enjoyable products, highlighting the benefits, but hiding all the bad shit. I wanted to do this in a way where it showed them using media and technology to their advantage, so I decided to do two shots - the first showing a Lucy Charms cereal box all beaten, covered in dirt, with a bowl of dirt beside it (to represent it's value as a food source). The second shot was the same positioning of the box and bowl, but in a white, clean and pristine environment. The transition between the two shots happening after you here the word "striking!" called out, resulting in the image blowing out as if studio lights had been turned on and turning into the new, clean image. I thought it'd be an effective way of representing how companies can use media and technologies to make the product they're selling seem like something it's not and how they can choose to represent it in a certain light, so to speak.
The Puppets
The puppet idea was based predominantly on the Wonga adverts, which consist of puppets made to look like old people - Usually the two women briefly talking about the company, always finishing off with a complaint about the mute male puppet, that seems to just "YOLO" everything, living in his own little world of silence.
I made a puppet for the production, which took several sessions of sitting sewing, pricking millions of holes in my fingers.
I didn't have the time of patience to make another puppet, so I decided to make the male puppet out of a wooden spoon, as the male character on the Wonga adverts never speaks.
I wanted the puppets and set to look really low budget and crap (which I think I achieved) so I made the set by drawing it and sticking it to a wall in my house. The first time round I made it too small, meaning I had to redo it all slightly bigger. Really, it was still a bit too small, but I didn't think it really mattered too much because it wasn't meant to look great.
I wish I had had the time and creativity to have made more parts to this film, but thinking up ideas takes me a lot more time than any other part of the production. It is something that I really struggle with but hope to overcome in the future.
I'm not particularly happy with or proud of this film. It's not really what I had imagined initially, though it does get across the point I was trying to make. I still like the idea of the film, but I think it could have been executed in a much more effective way.
I still think this project has been beneficial in getting me to actually creatively think up concepts surrounding an idea, and think about how to convey a message to an audience, both subtly and not so subtly.
Resources
https://www.wonga.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4NK6QBAyD4
http://www.listerine.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_mongering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhC1pI76Rqo
I decided I wanted to take this to the extreme, and go very overboard with the idea that by not using Listerine, you could develop gum disease stating that by not using it you could develop "Gum disease, Scurvy and even death".
The Cereal
I had recently been watching several documentaries about food and healthy eating, and I was actually quite shocked at how much bad stuff is in the food we consume everyday. Obviously, we know what's healthy and what's not, but we tend to judge it by what has nutritional benefits and what doesn't. People know that a pepperoni pizza is unhealthy because of the amount of grease, cheese, the processed meat and lack of any vegetable (or anything that came from the ground, for that matter.) People don't look any further than what they can see, but most of the food we consume each day, is filled with chemicals and what-not.
I wanted to to an advert that showed how companies try to represent their food as clean, enjoyable products, highlighting the benefits, but hiding all the bad shit. I wanted to do this in a way where it showed them using media and technology to their advantage, so I decided to do two shots - the first showing a Lucy Charms cereal box all beaten, covered in dirt, with a bowl of dirt beside it (to represent it's value as a food source). The second shot was the same positioning of the box and bowl, but in a white, clean and pristine environment. The transition between the two shots happening after you here the word "striking!" called out, resulting in the image blowing out as if studio lights had been turned on and turning into the new, clean image. I thought it'd be an effective way of representing how companies can use media and technologies to make the product they're selling seem like something it's not and how they can choose to represent it in a certain light, so to speak.
The Puppets
The puppet idea was based predominantly on the Wonga adverts, which consist of puppets made to look like old people - Usually the two women briefly talking about the company, always finishing off with a complaint about the mute male puppet, that seems to just "YOLO" everything, living in his own little world of silence.
Wonga TV advert
I did find it strange that in these recent small loan company adverts, they don't use real people. They use puppets in the Wonga advert and CGI aliens in the Pounds To Pocket adverts.
I made a puppet for the production, which took several sessions of sitting sewing, pricking millions of holes in my fingers.
I didn't have the time of patience to make another puppet, so I decided to make the male puppet out of a wooden spoon, as the male character on the Wonga adverts never speaks.
I wanted the puppets and set to look really low budget and crap (which I think I achieved) so I made the set by drawing it and sticking it to a wall in my house. The first time round I made it too small, meaning I had to redo it all slightly bigger. Really, it was still a bit too small, but I didn't think it really mattered too much because it wasn't meant to look great.
I wish I had had the time and creativity to have made more parts to this film, but thinking up ideas takes me a lot more time than any other part of the production. It is something that I really struggle with but hope to overcome in the future.
I'm not particularly happy with or proud of this film. It's not really what I had imagined initially, though it does get across the point I was trying to make. I still like the idea of the film, but I think it could have been executed in a much more effective way.
I still think this project has been beneficial in getting me to actually creatively think up concepts surrounding an idea, and think about how to convey a message to an audience, both subtly and not so subtly.
Resources
https://www.wonga.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4NK6QBAyD4
http://www.listerine.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_mongering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhC1pI76Rqo
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