BRIEFLY outline your project -

A story following my training and my race in the marathon in a documentary style format. The idea itself seems to lack a great interest, but depending on the way it is filmed it could still work.

Talk about your inspiration (and maybe show short video clips/photographers’ work/websites etc.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRqN6Bl7bFk&feature=related

I have looked at the film Zidane for inspiration as my idea had the possibility of being slightly boring. After having watched the film i can understand how i could use this film as a sort of guide for my own, but i believe that it maybe a long shot. The camera work and the sound in this film is what makes the film and due to shear quality of the cameras used in Zidane, i doubt my ability to replicate the same sort of shots.

talk about what makes your project different/exciting/engaging/creative

The marathon documentary has been done before by many, which is why i am looking at adapting the Zidane style into my own documentary. I am still in the process of working out how i am going to do this.

Describe where you are logistically (i.e. your almost-final budget, your week-by-week plan etc.)

At present i am still maintaing the ‘brain like a sponge’ process, just trying to soak up as much information as possible. I am yet to 100% confirm the way in which i am going to go about this project. But i believe it to be very important not to rush into an idea and then see it fall on its arse.

How you are going to move the project forward

I need to research more sporting documentaries and soak up as many ideas as possible, before i finalise my ideas. Once i am 100% happy with my idea then i can get the ball rolling.

Anything else you think relevant?

Can anyone recommend any documentaries to me that you think i would benefit in watching.

The 5 Obstructions

‘The 5 Obstructions’ A remake of the 1967 film The Perfect Human with a number of restrictions.

• no edit greater than 12 frames
• no set
• shot in cuba
• answer the questions posed in the original film

After watching the film i felt in a similar manner to when i watched experimental films at college; confused but strangely encouraged to be as creative as possible in the way i view my future work.  I strongly believe after watching ‘The 5 obstructions’ that, restricting the way in which you work can end up giving you stronger pieces as your working to a fixed niche. This is evidential if you compare the two versions of the film, ‘The Perfect Human’ and ‘The Five Obstructions’. The latter had my attention throughout where as the former had me wondering when it was going to end, although i do feel audio had a major part to play in this.

Presentation

Chris Cook

310 MC

Spectacle

Power

Memory

Research

I went to see an exhibition at

Tate Britain,after hearing about

it on the news, its called work no

850 by controversial artist martin

creed. I decided to go and view

this art piece as I believed the

spectacle of it would be something

special, due to the laws against

running in an art gallery. I picked

up quite a good understanding

from my trip to the tate, but I

was not entirely convinced, that

I understood the true meaning.

I also decided to go and view

university of Westminster mixed media

degree shows,to gain an idea

of what they were producing

as their final piece. I also

was intrigued by art installations

and wanted to find out what

sort of ideas in relation to the

module I could pick up on. I

found that the power of art

installations differed in the way

the audience take in the work.

Something I may look into

using in my final piece.

Idea – Spectacle

After visiting Tate Britain I felt inspired

to really work on spectacle, and

upon visiting the website found out

that I could become one of the runners. I

thought if I was going to understand

‘spectacle’ that I would become the spectacle.

Idea – Memory

I Looked at the work of Maya Deren, as she has done a lot of work based around memory. In her Experimental film Meshes of the Afternoon, everything going on is repeated over and over, sort of groundhog day esq, but with screwed up differences. I found this film very interesting in the way it plays with the minds of the audience. I will look at using this idea as one of my own. Taking a look at a life in a repetitive bubble, in an experimental way. So much so it makes the audience feel uncomfortable watching it.

Idea – Power

I struggled to find an idea about power as there was no      real area I could think of that I could really work on, and then on the day I came back to university, one of the biggest controversies in football to date happened. Watford v reading, where the ball crossed the line for a corner and was given as a goal. So from that I decided to base my idea, around the latest ‘Respect Referee’ campaign. http://soccerlens.com/will-your-club-respect-referees-this-season/9194/

I will look into how much power a referee does or does not  have, from premier league to pub football, and work out    whether or not referees’ deserve respect, due to their current ability of getting everything wrong.

My First Podcast

http://chriscook.podomatic.com/

A podcast about Watford Football Club in the premiership 2006/2007 season