This past assignment has been a big learning experience for me, in terms of the nature of online content as well as learning how to choose one topic and really explore it in depth, the ideas that it presents, and the possibilities of portraying these ideas with aspects of creating online content. My group: Matt, Gigi and myself, created a multi linear film in Korsakow exploring the idea of boredom, what it looks like, situations that show boredom in different ways and how it as a state of mind reflects on us as humans. We used elements of both fiction and non-fiction to express these ideas and situations and I feel as though we as a group were able to better express our ideas using this structure.

The multi-linear aspect of this project follows the format of a Korsakow project in that each edit or short sketch are connected to each other via key words and themes explored in the videos, but it contains some aspects of linear storytelling in the way we chose to weave in between them. Each non-fiction clip accessible from the home screen is then followed by a fictional short, with the intent to explain more to the audience

These shorts embody the qualities of online content, as they are variable in that each couple of clips can be watched in any order and that they only have one life each, prompting the user to create their own story while unable to repeat clips. They also possess qualities of modularity, as each couple of videos are separate and follow their own ideas, while still paying homage to an overarching topic. I believe that my group and I were able to explore and experience the concept of making variable and modular online content, but while still retaining some linearity, possibly not to the fullest extent that we could have.

While producing this project, I have learnt how to adapt ideas into projects that can make full use of the interchangeable and interactive nature of online content. At the start of this project, as I was more used to traditional forms of cinema, I wasn’t quite sure how to express these ideas and create multiple varying shorts to create a larger image of an theme that I wanted to explore. This showed in my earlier discussion blog posts as my ideas that I wanted to present to the group, as well as the ideas I took away from our meetings to develop were constantly changing, However, the group’s ideas towards the types of content that we wanted to make slowly changed over these weeks and now while I can’t say we made a perfect project, it is one I can be proud of.

Incorporating some feedback from our presentation, we have the ability to take this project in new directions. We can explore boredom among people in today’s society, where we constantly look at our phones as a source of engagement and entertainment to escape the feeling of being bored, and experiment with ideas of shortened attention and constantly shifting focus through formats of  fictional content inspired by non-fiction experiences, documentaries, interviews and many more. It is exciting to build on the ideas that we have already made a start on, and our projects can only get bigger and better from here.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vW4pdidWbC-CJP61pQEPl8dS0huCl80v

Following our group’s consultation session in class, we set out to film and edit the different fragments that we decided on for our final Korsakow film. Filming was pretty straight forward, as most of our fragments were similar an not too demanding on locations or scripts. In particular, the fictional videos were fairly simple, as we decided to make them into a old school instructional video format, similar to this. However, it was difficult to organise times when all of our group members were free to film the shorts and edit them as well. We decided to allocate different tasks to each other that went with each of our specialties and what we were confident with doing. I was tasked with filming, and a bit of editing, Matt acted and edited the majority of the shorts and Gigi uploaded all the finished shorts to Korsakow. Everyone was able to go home and film various segments in their own time as well, to make our filming days run more smoothly.

Another aspect that we hadn’t considered until mid way through was the idea that we could film an introduction, or an opening clip to give the other shorts some context, or even just to get the ‘ball rolling’. We thought maybe if we added an introductory bit of footage, or even a slide of credits, it could serve to warm up our audience to the ideas that we are about to present and hint at the format that our project would be set in. However, we decided instead to just implement a still image; a dictionary definition of boredom, as well as a small list of musical/footage credits where necessary.

While filming, we took note of various aspects of boredom that we noticed around us, to prepare and continue to develop our ideas for our presentation.

This week during class time, our group decided to gather our ideas and put them towards a final project that we could start working on and filming/editing for. We had two main ideas, however we were unsure about which path we should take, in terms of what themes we should explore, how in depth we should go, how linear or fragmented we should make the project and what we wanted our audience to take away from the project.

Our first idea was that we show a series of clips or sketches, half of which were fiction and half were non-fiction, about different areas and ideas behind boredom and exploring that in everyday life. For this, we intended to make the sketches into fictional short stories in which a scenario would play out describing an aspect of boredom, followed by a non-fictional clip explaining what the idea was that we were trying to portray.

Our second idea that we wanted to do was similar to the first in that we’d be exploring both fictional and non-fictional aspects of different types of boredom, but we decided to do so by using a more multi linear form. The idea was that the viewer would be presented with a situation (e.g. a student studying) and offer links to different ways in which the student could either alleviate or worsen their boredom, followed by a non-fictional explanation, in a sort of choose-your-ending type format.

Taking both of these ideas to a group consultation meeting, we presented them both to a universally positive response. We got feedback from our instructor and our peers on what aspects of the ideas they liked, such as the idea of a multilinear approach, as well as the fictional vs non-fictional alternatives. Taking this feedback, we settled for a mixture of these ideas; a multilinear series of keyword-related fragments, with non-fictional takes, followed by a fictional explanation of the particular aspect of boredom we explored, with elements of comedy. This new direction gave us the confidence to begin shooting and developing our project.

During our week 7 class, my group and I continued to discuss our concept of boredom and how we could explore it in 12 different fragments. This was a struggle for us, as we could only brainstorm about ten or so ideas about different situations in where boredom is seen; situations that we’ve taken from our own experiences that we can remember. We decided to settle on six of our favourite ideas and explore and expand more on those six, creating two different pieces of content for each, as fiction and non-fiction. The concepts that we chose were: boredom of work, lack of stimulation, lack of interest, routine, stagnant waiting and indecisiveness.

We decided that in relation to modularity and variability, each of the different clips relating to the areas of boredom that we’re exploring wouldn’t be following a linear narrative style of layout: that each clip would have a meaning exclusive to itself and that the clips would be linked only in thematic choices alone.  Furthermore, each clip would only be viewed once, in order for each clip to be seen at least once; branching out from one starting point until all areas are covered once.

For constraints, we lightly decided to mainly focus on the duration of shots or clips, although we have yet to solidify these ideas and commit. We also debated filming the projects on a phone rather than a camera, seeing merits with each facet. At this point, we remain undecided.

Part of the class was pitching our ideas, constraints and mediums to other groups around the class. For most of the groups that we pitched our project to, most were supportive and liked the theme and the ideas that we came up with, but suggested we figure out the finer details of each, as they were a bit lacking. Another issue that was brought up multiple times was the idea of interactivity, and how could we make the project more interactive. This is something that we will continue to consider for next week.

This week our group discussions were based around the ‘Are You Happy‘ project, and our challenge was to collect fragments of media that responds to a certain question or idea that we set for ourselves, following certain constraints that we also set for ourselves.This proved more difficult than we thought, as the prompt was very open ended, leaving a lot of details about the project for us to decide.

During a brainstorming session, my group and I were starting to lean towards vox pops/interviews, documentaries, time lapses, photography, or other types of video material that can be filmed in our own time with a camera. However, one idea that was mentioned during our brainstorming session that really stood out to me: the idea of a non-linear narrative being told in 12 different segments.

The 12 segments of the project being a compulsory constraint of the submission of the project, such a fragmented film would be perfect for the assignment. I also find this kind of filmmaking to be very interesting, as I have never undertaken such a project before, and am intrigued as to how I would go about shooting a film like this.

Some Hollywood films that I plan on watching for inspiration on this style of filmmaking are Memento by Christopher Nolan and Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino. Memento is filmed in a unique way, with the audience only finding out about the revelations of the story along with the character, even though he has already lived the story, but can’t remember. Thus, the story is told non-sequentially; almost backwards, so the character can retrace their steps in order to solve the mystery.  Pulp Fiction has a similarly unique timeline, as the film in its entirety is told through a series of long vignettes that supposedly have no correlation, but all the short stories link up in the end, finishing up in a tight storytelling experience. Films like these I can watch for similar ideas of telling a story in multiple parts that may or may not be told in the ‘correct’ order of events, but still makes relative sense to an audience until all the fragments are linked together and fully explained in the climax of the narrative.