For my third year research subject I can make a study of New Zealand Coming-Of-Age movies, and propose the research question “How can I use the coming-of-age genre to help inform a short film with personal experience” - Or something along those lines.
Reference 1 Coming-of-Age Cinema in New Zealand By Alistair Fox
This study will break down some major elements of the genre, analyzing what makes them effective:
The first of which of course being the character growth front and center and how that directly connects to my personal experience; observing that the character can be of any age but must overcome some personal shortcomings of adolescent nature.
I will use some scripts that I write this year to help support my research, functioning as part of my personal practical exploration.
Scripts:
First Diemester (exploring the situation I found myself in last year when Marcella was abroad and I was feeling almost imprisoned in the relationship as it hindered my personal freedom)
_____________
Evolution of the question:
“How can I use coming-of-age cinema to help inform my work with personal experience?”
Theoretical Texts
Coming-of-Age Cinema in New Zealand By Alistair Fox
The essay by director Francois Truffaut
Practical Texts
In-depth analysis of Boy (2010), The 400 Blows (1959) and Lady Bird (2017)
This part of my study looks at the genre that I am starting off with, looking at the history of its evolution and integration into popular media, I observe how important the director’s personal experience is in making a film of this ilk - also leading me to research auteur theory, a film movement which originated my chosen genre.
The conclusion I make is that the foundational elements of the genre are very similar to The Hero’s Journey, doing a dive into that specific storytelling technique as well (a connection I make through my own experimentation). I make this connection and question how much the two are separated from each other, if at all.
My experimentation explores scripts that I have written, and possibly some short films I have produced:
Analysis of past work
SuperDad - an attempt to emulate Taika’s style, adhering to the genre conventions whilst also changing the theme into something different than what was in Taika’s film, something closer to my own heart.
The Trial - Inflicting my own personal experiences on a pre-existing story and changing the entire trajectory of the plot. (Leads into a sub-study of Franz Kafka and the adaptations of his work)
Dillon’s Big Girl Forest - Looking at how I’ve helped someone else tell their specific story in the past through the eyes of a young character who throughout the plot matures. Made more interesting by the things I changed upon receiving the request to develop the story, and how those changes were coloured by my own personal experiences.
Experimentation
These Damned Descendents - A movie exploring one of the biggest revelations and subsequent motivations in my own life, a thought process that I explored at the end of high school and the conclusion I came to then to change the course of my life, fearing a mid-life crisis if I didn’t. It’s a strong part of my own development and one that is long ago enough that I can accurately analyze it whilst also being so ingrained in the personality I have now that the story is still true to those emotions.
Distance Horror Short Film - A story based on my own personal experience of when my girlfriend left back to Germany for the first time, it is focused on a very specific situation she found herself in whilst in Australia on the way over and the specific emotions it elicited in me. The movie’s success of being a coming-of-age story is debatable, this is also something I explore in my analysis of it.
The Let’s Split Up Thing - A film about a couple who break up and are forced to stick together as horrible circumstances unfold, eventually deciding by the end of the film that the best way to defeat the evil with which they are faced is by adhering to the old horror movie cliche of “let’s split up”, showing how a couple comes to the mutual realisation that they would be better off living their lives apart from one another. This again is very much based on my own experience visiting my girlfriend in Germany, the characters reflect the same difference in world view that me and my girlfriend have and the characters’ arcs are representative of a conclusion me and her also came to at one point in our relationship. I came up with the story then, thinking the same as the characters that this was a positive way to resolve the conflict between us.
“How does the hero's journey help us translate our personal experiences into a story?”
Theoretical Texts
Practical Texts
Past Work
First Diemester - An analysis of how this short film script was a reflection of emotions that I was experiencing at the time at feeling stuck in a relationship. The idea came easy enough but upon having to develop the characters and themes I soon found myself digging into my own feelings and experiences at the time and injecting the story with those. This also adheres to the hero's journey and uses it as a way to explore the journey I went through myself, possibly even taking it further.
Experimentation
The Dunwich Horror - Experiment to see how adapting a pre-existing work can be changed because of a new artist’s own personal thoughts and emotions (that ‘artist’ being me of course).
“How can I use metaphor to translate my personal life experiences into entertaining fiction?”
Theoretical Texts
Something talking about horror in the ’50s and how it used public fears to create terror in the audience without ever stating the issue directly.
Practical Texts
Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Personifying the red menace and Russian agents in small-town America.
It Follows - Personifying the fear of sex and STDs in young people.
Get Out - A horror movie that personifies modern issues regarding privilege and race relations.
Past Work
These Damned Descendents - Again this text shows how the themes are transformed into more literal elements within the story; a supernatural personification of the poisonous hold that failed ambition can have on a person later in life.
Experimentation
“How much does our own personal experiences influence the stories we choose to tell?”
Theoretical Texts
Practical Texts
Past Work
Jump Scare - and how it changed over the years, molding itself to whatever situation I happened to find myself in at the time. I specifically looked at how I tried to change the plot whilst abroad and the story morphed completely to change the horror into more of a claustrophobic affair. The character is stuck in a situation where all control is ripped away from him, not dissimilar to the way I felt during this period in my life where I was suddenly thrown from my life in New Zealand where I controlled almost every action of my daily routine and into a scenario in Germany where everything was decided for me and controlled by others.
Experimentation
This is essentially what it comes down to, a study of how what is happening at any one period of time in the life of the writer is directly echoed in their work. The questions previous are answered easily simply by writing as my experimentation and exploration evolved I realize that I am asking the wrong question, this study is not one that is changing my own work in any major way, the formula that I develop is not really a set of guidelines as I first hypothesized, it's instead just a comprehensive analysis of a method which I already naturally exercise. The final product is not one film or script, by the end of my third year I will have many of these serving as supporting experimentation to my work, the work itself will be a written analysis of the writing process - similar to essay or paper.
Reference 1 Coming-of-Age Cinema in New Zealand By Alistair Fox
This study will break down some major elements of the genre, analyzing what makes them effective:
The first of which of course being the character growth front and center and how that directly connects to my personal experience; observing that the character can be of any age but must overcome some personal shortcomings of adolescent nature.
I will use some scripts that I write this year to help support my research, functioning as part of my personal practical exploration.
Scripts:
First Diemester (exploring the situation I found myself in last year when Marcella was abroad and I was feeling almost imprisoned in the relationship as it hindered my personal freedom)
_____________
Evolution of the question:
“How can I use coming-of-age cinema to help inform my work with personal experience?”
Theoretical Texts
Coming-of-Age Cinema in New Zealand By Alistair Fox
The essay by director Francois Truffaut
Practical Texts
In-depth analysis of Boy (2010), The 400 Blows (1959) and Lady Bird (2017)
This part of my study looks at the genre that I am starting off with, looking at the history of its evolution and integration into popular media, I observe how important the director’s personal experience is in making a film of this ilk - also leading me to research auteur theory, a film movement which originated my chosen genre.
The conclusion I make is that the foundational elements of the genre are very similar to The Hero’s Journey, doing a dive into that specific storytelling technique as well (a connection I make through my own experimentation). I make this connection and question how much the two are separated from each other, if at all.
My experimentation explores scripts that I have written, and possibly some short films I have produced:
Analysis of past work
SuperDad - an attempt to emulate Taika’s style, adhering to the genre conventions whilst also changing the theme into something different than what was in Taika’s film, something closer to my own heart.
The Trial - Inflicting my own personal experiences on a pre-existing story and changing the entire trajectory of the plot. (Leads into a sub-study of Franz Kafka and the adaptations of his work)
Dillon’s Big Girl Forest - Looking at how I’ve helped someone else tell their specific story in the past through the eyes of a young character who throughout the plot matures. Made more interesting by the things I changed upon receiving the request to develop the story, and how those changes were coloured by my own personal experiences.
Experimentation
These Damned Descendents - A movie exploring one of the biggest revelations and subsequent motivations in my own life, a thought process that I explored at the end of high school and the conclusion I came to then to change the course of my life, fearing a mid-life crisis if I didn’t. It’s a strong part of my own development and one that is long ago enough that I can accurately analyze it whilst also being so ingrained in the personality I have now that the story is still true to those emotions.
Distance Horror Short Film - A story based on my own personal experience of when my girlfriend left back to Germany for the first time, it is focused on a very specific situation she found herself in whilst in Australia on the way over and the specific emotions it elicited in me. The movie’s success of being a coming-of-age story is debatable, this is also something I explore in my analysis of it.
The Let’s Split Up Thing - A film about a couple who break up and are forced to stick together as horrible circumstances unfold, eventually deciding by the end of the film that the best way to defeat the evil with which they are faced is by adhering to the old horror movie cliche of “let’s split up”, showing how a couple comes to the mutual realisation that they would be better off living their lives apart from one another. This again is very much based on my own experience visiting my girlfriend in Germany, the characters reflect the same difference in world view that me and my girlfriend have and the characters’ arcs are representative of a conclusion me and her also came to at one point in our relationship. I came up with the story then, thinking the same as the characters that this was a positive way to resolve the conflict between us.
“How does the hero's journey help us translate our personal experiences into a story?”
Theoretical Texts
Practical Texts
Past Work
First Diemester - An analysis of how this short film script was a reflection of emotions that I was experiencing at the time at feeling stuck in a relationship. The idea came easy enough but upon having to develop the characters and themes I soon found myself digging into my own feelings and experiences at the time and injecting the story with those. This also adheres to the hero's journey and uses it as a way to explore the journey I went through myself, possibly even taking it further.
Experimentation
The Dunwich Horror - Experiment to see how adapting a pre-existing work can be changed because of a new artist’s own personal thoughts and emotions (that ‘artist’ being me of course).
“How can I use metaphor to translate my personal life experiences into entertaining fiction?”
Theoretical Texts
Something talking about horror in the ’50s and how it used public fears to create terror in the audience without ever stating the issue directly.
Practical Texts
Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Personifying the red menace and Russian agents in small-town America.
It Follows - Personifying the fear of sex and STDs in young people.
Get Out - A horror movie that personifies modern issues regarding privilege and race relations.
Past Work
These Damned Descendents - Again this text shows how the themes are transformed into more literal elements within the story; a supernatural personification of the poisonous hold that failed ambition can have on a person later in life.
Experimentation
“How much does our own personal experiences influence the stories we choose to tell?”
Theoretical Texts
Practical Texts
Past Work
Jump Scare - and how it changed over the years, molding itself to whatever situation I happened to find myself in at the time. I specifically looked at how I tried to change the plot whilst abroad and the story morphed completely to change the horror into more of a claustrophobic affair. The character is stuck in a situation where all control is ripped away from him, not dissimilar to the way I felt during this period in my life where I was suddenly thrown from my life in New Zealand where I controlled almost every action of my daily routine and into a scenario in Germany where everything was decided for me and controlled by others.
Experimentation
This is essentially what it comes down to, a study of how what is happening at any one period of time in the life of the writer is directly echoed in their work. The questions previous are answered easily simply by writing as my experimentation and exploration evolved I realize that I am asking the wrong question, this study is not one that is changing my own work in any major way, the formula that I develop is not really a set of guidelines as I first hypothesized, it's instead just a comprehensive analysis of a method which I already naturally exercise. The final product is not one film or script, by the end of my third year I will have many of these serving as supporting experimentation to my work, the work itself will be a written analysis of the writing process - similar to essay or paper.
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