Thesis Proposal Change

After experiencing the worst start-of-a-semester in my college career, I decided its time to cut my losses and pursue a project a little less ambitious for Thesis. Rather than creating an interactive dual channel video instillation, I will be working on completing a documentary tracing the roots of my opinions and discovering the influences that shaped my personality. This will be a project I can not only use to have others learn about me, but a project I can use to learn more about myself.

I will treat this documentary the way I would an autobiography, by collecting my own thoughts on a broad range of topics, then use that array to categorize the people close to me based on things we agree on. I will be able to interview the people I choose on those topics, asking them questions about their own feelings towards the topic i choose. After collecting all of the soundbites needed, I will take the clips into post production with the intention of cutting the clips to formulate my own opinions to match the original array.

This process of making the film will work the same way it works in society. Those around you will express their opinions on certain topics, and your mind will extract and organize those thoughts to create an original opinion to call it's own. Through editing, I will select the opinions I agree with most and match the clips to form my own opinion that agrees with the original array of thoughts recorded at the start of the project.

The end result will be understood as a sub conscious map of my own opinions and will serve as a tool for introducing the audience to those who i consider to be close to me.

Thesis progress

I've decided that documentary style film making, ive got a pretty good handle on. So I'm pretty sure i want to take this opportunity to create something special.

Actually, I am not decided. But i am trying to figure out if i want to make something that will mean something special for other people, or something special for me.

I've spent a bit of time learning flash over my college years, and I think im ready to try something a bit crazy. I have this idea

of making a non-linear film where the user helps make important decisions for the character, which would ultimately change the plot. However, I want to play with the idea of destiny, so I need to figure out how to keep the plot dynamic but the ending static...

So ive got a nice little chart ready to start writing the script for my project.

It is no where near solid and everything is being debated in my head.

So this little diagram shows you what I had in mind about how decisions would take you to different scenes, but does not advance you in time. You can just as easily return to a scene close to the start, making it non-linear. The circles are locations where a decision would have to be made for the character, and the arrows are scenes that would take the character to that location.

I havent spent too much time thinking about the plot, so all of these arrows and scenes are probably going to change, but it just a start to help get myself organized and aware of some of the restrictions time and technology might give me.

I plan on getting A LOT of people involved, I want to get a crew to help me in production, and also cast for actors who are looking to add to their reel.

In terms of presentation, I was thinking of using a giant smart board with a projection so that any member of the audience can walk up to the film and make a choice for the character.

I am thinking I might just port it to different computers and make it more personal, but I still haven't worked those things out yet.

Feedback welcome!