Where I'm At

Research Question – Wellness in an Unwell World - ??? (need to think of question)

The film will focus on our 'addictive society', focusing how both addiction and the harmful nature of the 'wellness' industry (consumerism) come together. An industry which is on the surface GOOD for us, i believe has come derived from good intentions, however like many things in this world, the good intentions were sucked up by capitalism and turned into a harmful machine, building us up to 'be the best we can be'. In reality 'wellness' has become a consumerist bomb-site and i would argue is making us far from well. The self-care cult we are being exposed to tells us that the blatant injustice in the world, the environmental disasters, government cuts, social inequality are not the issues, you are. We are made to believe the issues lie within us, the scam which says society isn't to blame, you are. (WAFFLING NOW)

My aim is to create a full immersive experience, maybe quite an intense one which highlights the complexity of 'the addictive system' and how many of us have addictive/harmful behaviours, we aren't even aware of in a system which actually distracts us from actually living.

Although the theme is quite (deep) and political, I want it to be visually quite light hearted and satirical. With this I am in the process of confirming the collaboration of a fashion designer and for her pieces to feature in the film.

What format?

For my project I will be creating a fashion film, to be viewed in an installation space. (or not, various factors will decide if this can happen as i know works are selected to even be shown at grad show etc.)

Why?

I've thought a lot about why and initially i was going to do a VR piece (may still do, i think it could work just as well for the nature of the project) and i realised i was feeling quite stuck in terms of 'what i want to do', 'who i am', 'why am i doing this', blah blah blah. So i've come to the point where i know i like to dabble in lots of different things styling/art direction/photography/graphic design. But i didn't feel confident in saying i 'do' those things. So i'm now thinking sod it, i'm simply going to make a film where i can show i'm capable of doing all of these things, leading an entire team. *hopefully* this will show through the creation of a film. Also I've always wanted to try out set design and feel as though it could be successful permitting the Coronavirus situation calms down..

Where I'm at

During this isolation period i'm a little stuck as i have no camera, none of my things (in the north with my mum), so i'm really scraping the barrel with actual 'creation'. So i've dedicated my time to doing a LOT of reading/theory work. I am clear on the general idea of what i my film will be about however i've got a lot to do in terms of actually writing a script. With the coronavirus i'm trying to not get too ahead of myself with HUGE ideas which might not be able to happen. So i've been making moodboards and gathering lots of inspiration to get the 'general idea'. I'm also working full-time from home which is a bloody ball ache!

With Covid-19, social media ADS have exploded. ESPECIALLY those for 'wellness' products. I don't want to focus my project on the isolation period at all, but it's interesting to see what has happened on social media/advertisements due to the virus. Also are we still able to carry on with our addictive behaviours even with coronavirus going on?