Title: "Short Film: A Film of Modest Proportions" by Enrique Villena I have been a part of the TV production program for four years and I have always struggled to put the necessary time and effort into making a good short film. Regular classes take up a large chunk of my free time and being released from these classes will allow me to make something noteworthy.
Dream Big: I am interested in pursuing a career in film and having my Senior Year Project be related to film seems like obvious decision. I have created a short film before, but I've never specifically dedicated myself to making one over a long period of time. Everything I do is written, shot, and edited within 2 weeks. With a large amount of time, I would like to focus on pre-production more than I have ever before. Things like planning out my shots, locations scouting, and scheduling. If I can spread time out effectively and not make things up as I go, I hope to not only become a more organized person, but also hopefully come out with a better product.
Scope: Finding the best times for my friends and other willing participants to help me will probably be the most difficult. Especially if I need to shoot during a specific time of day.
Guage of Success: I suppose my short film would be a tangible product. Whether it's good or not is for other people to decide. Success for me is to actually finish it. Backgroud/Prior knowledge Exploitation (Or B) films are one of my favorite sub-genre of movies. Most of them are awful, but there is something magical about them. A great exploitation film showcases the effort to make a good movie even if they didn't have the necessary budget to produce it in the first place. Many of today's greatest directors came from a background in exploitation or B-film. Directors like Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, and James Cameron have all been involved in an exploitation film or two. I would love to delve into the past and write about how exploitation films began and how they have evolved to today's standards. I would talk about the major innovators of this genre like Ed Wood and Roger Corman. Overall, exploitation films are a passion of mine and writing a paper on them would be awesome.
Research question vs. Field Work: I would love to write a paper on "exploitation films" specifically talking about what they are and how they have evolved,impacted modern culture, and affected the film industry.
Who / what to turn to for help: Neil Giordano...I can't think of anybody else.