Research Strategy Presentation

100105: 5 minute presentation on My Research Strategy

The outcome for my directed research is:

To use the emerging technology and platforms to develop my career as a professional drama director, and profit from the application of this knowledge

I will use 7 types of practice-based research:

1. To improve my skills as a director I will do primary research to get feedback on a short film I made in 2009 called The Gift
1. My plan is to write a questionnaire and show the film to a number of groups at Ravensbourne
2. I may also put the film online and ask for feedback. Trigger Street and Shooting People, and use facebook to review it amongst my friends
3. I will use this feedback to help me clarify what worked and what didn’t work, so that I can learn from this and make a better film next time

2. I will test the idea that emerging technology allows us to distribute our own work using a documentary I’ve nearly completed (Ben Hill’s Short Confessions)
1. I’m going to make 30 x 1 min virals with the aim of releasing one a week and building large following so that I can go to programme buyers with proven interest eg 1,000,000 hits, and thereby achieve a good price for selling the finished film for TV distribution
2. I will listen to The Long Tale for guidance on using the internet for niche sales
3. I will explore different financial models for online distribution and sales
4. I will examine other filmmakers, musicians and entrepreneurs who have sold their own material online, to guide me in pursuit of this objective

3. In Spring 2010 I will make a short drama film. In the run-up to making it I will:
1. Source short scripts from screenwriters via their agents
2. Source short scripts from Trigger Street
3. Read books on screenwriting, storytelling, directing, plus biographies of directors (see below for book lists).
4. I’ve identified 26 books I intend to read this year. As I read each one I will annotate the book and write a report on the salient points I wish to use later in my dissertation
5. Watch The Master Course in High-End Blocking and Staging, a 7 hour DVD guide to camera work by Hollywood Camerawork

4. I have made lists of the Oscar and BAFTA-winning short films over the last 10 years. I will:
1. Watch them with a view to appreciating the films which have the gained the highest industry accolades
2. I will also track the careers of the winning directors to understand the extent to which this approach is a viable entry point into the feature film industry

5. I have made a list of my top ten favourite feature films, which I will watch
1. To identify the kinds of themes which interest me most
2. To observe the ways the directors have crafted these films
3. 
   
6. List top 10 film funding opportunities per year and pursue them systematically
7. List top 10 most important film festivals into which I'll submit my films, The Gift and Short Confessions

Book list:

Books on screenwriting

1. The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Chris Vogler

2. Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect by Claudia H Johnson

3. The Anatomy of Story: 22 steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby

4. Power Screenwriting: The 12 Stages of Story Development by Michael Chase Walker

5. Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder

6. Advanced Screenwriting: Raising Your Script to the Academy Award Level by Linda Seger

7. Oscar-Winning Screenwriters on Screenwriting: The Award-Winning Best in the Business Discuss Their Craft by Joel Engel

Books on directing

1. How Not To Make a Short Film: Secrets From a Sundance Programmer by Roberta Marie Munroe

2. Making It Big In Shorts: The Ultimate Filmmaker’s Guide to Short Films by Kim Adelman

3. Setting Up Your Scenes: The Inner Workings of Great Films by Richard D Pepperman

4. Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television by Judith Weston

5. Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know by Jennifer Van Sijll

6. The Film Director’s Intuition: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques by Judith Weston

7. The Working Director: How to Arrive, Survive and Thrive in the Director’s Chair by Charles Wilkinson

8. Film Directors on Directing by John Andrew Gallagher

9. On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director by Alexander Mackendrick

Directors’ biogs and autobiogs

1. American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood by Marc Eliot

2. Quentin Tarantino: The Man, The Myths and His Movies

3. Loach on Loach

4. Steven Spielberg: Director of Blockbuster Films

5. Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh

6. Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player by Robert Rodriguez

7. Woody Allen on Woody Allen

8. Ridley Scott: Interviews (Conversations with filmmakers series)

9. Scorsese on Scorsese

Watch movies

Top 10 movies to study:

1. Million Dollar Baby, directed by Clint Eastwood

2. The Soloist, directed by ?

3. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, directed by Rebecca Lee

4. My Life as a Dog, directed by Lasse Hallstrom

5. Looking For Eric, directed by Ken Loach

6. Avatar, directed James Cameron

7. District 9

8. American Beauty, directed by Sam Mendes

9. Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Danny Boyle

10. Midnight Express, directed by Alan Parker

Watch the best short movies (ie Oscar and BAFTA-winners and nominees) I want to watch these in January, so I’m fully informed by February when I start writing my Spring 10 short

Oscar winning shorts:

Year of winning Oscar	Name of film	Director	Writer
2009	Toyland	Jochen Alexander Freydank	Johann A Bunners & Jochen Alexander Freydank
2008
2007	Les Mozarts des Pickpockets	Philippe Pollet-Villard	Philippe Pollet-Villard
2006	Six Shooter	Martin McDonagh	Martin McDonagh
2005	West Bank Story	Ari Sandel
2004	Two Soldiers	Aaron Schneider	William Faulkner & Aaron Schneider
2003	This Charming Man	Martin Strange-Hansen	Flemming Klem & Martin Strange-Hansen
2002
2001	I Want To Be, and The Accountant	Florian Gallenberger, and Ray McKinnon	Florian Gallenberger
2000	My Mother Dreams the Satan’s Disciples in New York	Barbara Schock	Rex Pickett
1998	Visas and Virtue	Chris Tashima	Chris Tashima and Tom Donaldson