Animated Reality

The Jams Project Proposal

Film/T.V/Animation Collaboration 26^th October 2015

Background

In our first discussion we very quickly bonded as a team and were enthusiastic about getting as many thoughts and ideas straight down to paper and although we had no plans at this stage we thought that this would be a place to start.

We first of all focused on the ‘Real Place’ and discussed several options from old ages pensioners homes, the military housing at the Royal Mile, Tourist Information Centers, Waverly Train station, the water of Leith, Waverly food Court and the Kirkgate shopping Center.  Whilst talking about the Kirgate we got into a discussion about the high flats there and also the Tower Blocks at Muirhouse and Holyrood this conversation included topics such as people’s preconceived ideas about people living in these types of housing and we also looked at film documentaries which had an interesting on what life is like in a modern tower block may be like.

As a team we decided that the most interesting and geographical choice for us would be the High Flats at Holyrood, this decision was made from an aesthetic point of view and because there is a contradiction between its locality and the parliament next door may also give us a different angle to use and investigate further.

We also discussed the way in which we wanted to film our scenes this discussion includes the use of machetes to substitute the real building, shooting through windows or activities on the balconies/verandas.  Thought was also given to the idea of shooting the images from a different viewpoint for example from the viewpoint of a cockroach, a pigeon or small rodent.  We then decided that our main area i.e. that the High Flats would be static and the movement would come from activity surrounding the buildings.

There was mention of a scene from the film ‘Love Actually’ in which the camera shot pans through the cityscape and the viewer is taking the view of the city and the eye is drawn to small things happening in the windows, e.g. a couple cuddling, a couple watching t.v together in other words a small snapshot of life in a big space.  This again was an interesting angle that may be used after further investigation.

From the outset we had difficulty in finding sources material or members of the public willing to discuss or go on record with any conversations around the area and although we expected a high volume of people this turned out not to be the case.  This lead to a rethink on how we would now approach the project.