Tutorial 1: 23rd January 2012

Today I meet my module leader to discuss my project. I was keen to do this as I know I'm going to have a lot of pressure on me this term with regards to my work load at university and the BBC Second Screens project.

Having talked through my ideas, we discussed the areas I need to develop and research further, and the various issues I may encounter.

1) Stereotypes.
One of the aims of my film is to make the audience re-think the stereotypes surrounding homelessness. As I have spent the last two years working closely in different centres for the homeless I have built up a working knowledge of the homeless community in Bristol - this will be a great help when making this project.
However, my module leader, Rod, voiced his concerns about falling into 'stereotype traps'. Unless I plan and create the story of my film very thoroughly and carefully there is a chance I may end up simply re-emphasising the existing stereotypes to the audience. I really don't want to do this. Rod's advice on this matter was to create a story that was less literal than the storyboards shown in previous blog entries. I need to find a more innovative and possibly risky way of exploring the theme of homelessness. My experience in this field should work to my advantage, but in the meantime I am going to explore how different films deal with stereotypes. I have struggled to find films with the main theme of homelessness so Rod has advised that I don't narrow my viewing simply to this subject, and instead explore different stereotypes in general. Having watched a variety of films, I will be able to uncover what works and what doesn't.
I need to find a way of articulating homelessness that offers a different perspective, is unusual and interesting, while not being too literal.

Form.
My film 'Scopo Networking' was influenced heavily by Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon idea, and this was heavily echoed throughout my film. As a result, my film was very successful and I had a clear method for creating each scene through simply putting my research into practise.
I haven't looked into any theories that could help shape my project so this is something I really need to do.
I am feeling a lot of pressure to create a film that is as successful as 'Scopo Networking' but I can only combat my concerns by working even harder on this project.

Imagery.
Rod has suggested I create an inventory of images that tie in with the theme of homelessness and the stereotypes surrounding it. I am currently conducting a study into homelessness for my dissertation and have got a newsletter from a day centre I visited in Exeter which has some wonderful images of the service users in it. I will upload these on to my blog shortly.

Following this tutorial I went to the library and took out three books:

• 'The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation' by Richard Dyer (Dyer, R: 2002: The Matter of Images: Essays on Representation. London: Routledge)
• 'About Looking' by John Berger (Berger, J: 1980: About Looking. London: Writers and Readers Publishing)
• 'Understanding Representation' by Roy Ashbury et al. (Ashbury, R et al: 2005: Understanding Representation. London: British Film Institution.

I have skimmed through and have selected some chapters which I think will help me get inspired and will read these fully. I am also going to continue coming up with ideas and locating images to help shape my film successfully.