Please Help: Under-Grad Student Looking for Final Year Project Idea

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Energy_c

New member
Hi all,

I am university under graduate in my final year. For my final year project I have quite quickly had to choose a title for my dissertation for examining purposes. The title I have chosen is 'An Investigation into Experimental Film'. Now I am really struggling to come up with ideas of what it is that I want to do for this investigation.

But I didn't choose this title just for the sake of choosing a title. I did have a rough idea in the back of my head of the direction I wanted to go in. I basically want to create something that is very unconventional in the methods of film making and I wanted it to be more about the effects on the audience. Now some of you maybe thinking "Why not look into Avant Garde techniques or other such art forms" and I really have but my university course demands me to base my investigation on technical aspects rather than Art, as I am on a Bachelor of Science course.

If any one can maybe share a few thoughts or any ideas that come to mind I would be very greatful. My passion for film lies in psychological horror films (going back to when I said about wanting it to be more about the effects on the audience) If that helps at all. Thank you in advance for any replies.
 
Maybe an experiment about the visuals of horror? E.G. we see the same scene multiple times but see "more" of the scary thing every time, exploring how much is too much in a scary movie.
Or you could show the same scene with different sound, etc.
 
Get picture composition by Peter Ward, he goes into the preception of techniques. Topics include gestault theories, human perception and much more. I think you'll find plenty of material there to set something up.
 
Thank you for your replies! I'll also post it in the cafe. 'Gopher' when you talk about perception techniques and theories, it is actually the kind of stuff im really interested in and the ideas that 'ProfessorU' suggested are also things i would like to investigate. But the course that I am doing at university is a BSc course, so I have to base my entire project on technical aspects such as techniques of how I used the camera to shoot the film.

With my subject matter being 'Experimental Film' what i wanted to do was find different ways in which to composite a short film for example I heard of a film maker who created a short psychological horror using a Digital stills camera and he basically took thousands of still images and used layering to composite something that looks completely different. This is something that I could also do but im still looking into other ways in which I can create a film differently.

I think when I repost in the cafe I will pose my question slightly different. Thankyou any way for your suggestions and If you have any more ideas then please come forward. Thankyou.
 
Energy_c said:
Hi all,

I am university under graduate in my final year. For my final year project I have quite quickly had to choose a title for my dissertation for examining purposes. The title I have chosen is 'An Investigation into Experimental Film'. Now I am really struggling to come up with ideas of what it is that I want to do for this investigation.

But I didn't choose this title just for the sake of choosing a title. I did have a rough idea in the back of my head of the direction I wanted to go in. I basically want to create something that is very unconventional in the methods of film making and I wanted it to be more about the effects on the audience. Now some of you maybe thinking "Why not look into Avant Garde techniques or other such art forms" and I really have but my university course demands me to base my investigation on technical aspects rather than Art, as I am on a Bachelor of Science course.

If any one can maybe share a few thoughts or any ideas that come to mind I would be very greatful. My passion for film lies in psychological horror films (going back to when I said about wanting it to be more about the effects on the audience) If that helps at all. Thank you in advance for any replies.
Click to expand...

Watch some David Lynch films.

Then, AFTER YOU'VE SEEN THEM (preferably multiple times) research some stuff online, discuss with folks, technical stuff.

Inland Empire was shot entirely DV, I think you might find some stuff you're looking for there.
 
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Energy_c said:
Hi all,

I basically want to create something that is very unconventional in the methods of film making and I wanted it to be more about the effects on the audience.
Click to expand...

Okay, so in the same book you'll find camera angles, lens angles, focal length and many more camera techniques and how they are imployed in the invisible technique and alternatyive techniques. You could shot many different aspect ratios and see how that affects your audience. There's lots you can do I think you should check out that book because it covers exactly what your talking about
 
Thank you Gopher, I've already got the book on order and looking forward to reading it. Can any one suggest any short movies or videos clips that I could look at, preferably ones on the net i.e. you tube? and also does anyone have any sort of background with experimental film? I would very much like to talk with you. Thank you.
 
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