BACK TO PROJECTS
In the summer of 2004 I saw on Sky News a report about how �Manhunt� (by Rockstar Games) was being blamed for the murder of a 14 year-old from Leicester, immediately I thought this would be an excellent idea for a documentary and so, for the next year I waited as more on this (and other) moral panic came flooding into the media. Sure enough as time passed by there were several more targets for controversy and quickly the intentions of the film expanded beyond a quickie 5 to 10 minute short cobbled together over Xmas 2004, to a piece which covered a whole year of controversy � initially in Britain, but then pretty much across the globe. Then the plan was to bring it all together during the summer of 2005, but the whole �Hot Coffee� scandal kicked off and I couldn�t ignore that � so whilst I waited for the wind to blow out of that I worked on several shorts and �Trapped�.
Finally, after I had completed my short zombie flick then I could start thinking about the film (�MDI� for short) much more seriously. While keeping �Smack Addict� ticking over, work as a freelance researcher and job hunting going I began to gather all the research together and slowly read through every single article, highlighting like the veteran student I am. Things began taking shape once I�d organised all the articles out into separate groups (GTA, Manhunt, Legislation etc). Then progress took a couple of knocks when some assignments rocked up to be dealt with, and then of course �Smack Addict� became the �next up� project. However, it was all about scripting with �MDI�:
First draft: 24th October � 17th November 2005
Second draft: 30th November � 7th December 2005
Third draft: 27th December 2005 � 1st January 2006
Fourth draft: 6th January � 10th January 2006
The first draft clocked in at a rambling 35 pages and with each subsequent draft I knocked off 5 pages until I ended up with a tight and controlled 19 pages. A couple of years ago with my editing I�d end up keeping a lot of unnecessary content in, just because I liked something about it or because I felt I had to reach a lengthier running time for some reason. However, I�ve since learned short is sweet and short means a tighter film in the end � I�ve often seen short films by my peers or others in my position and have sometimes felt the piece drags on too long � or punches above it�s own belt (another thing I try to avoid � use what�s at your disposal and be realistic). So really it was the scripting process which proved the most valuable aspect of making this film.
I learned how to apply research into a coherent order, get as much information over as quickly as possible (without missing anything necessary), but most importantly I better understood how to write dialogue (or in this case narration), which could actually be spoken. Hearing something in your head is very different to actually saying those words, which may suddenly trip you up with similar or conflicting syllables. Finally, it was good to fight against the urge to waffle or rant � which I�m quite prone to sometimes � so the writing process throughout both �Smack Addict� and �MDI� has proven invaluable and has certainly set me off in the right direction for my next couple of film projects, which both involve a great deal of writing.
In terms of the visual style of the film itself, I was inspired by the gritty, generations-old VHS look of the �kill videos� in �Manhunt� itself. The disembodied voice of Cash�s instructor was another aspect I wanted to try and get close to, lowering the pitch of my own voice using Cool Edit Pro 2. Going a little further into my own direction, I wanted to add a sense that this film had almost been made by a slightly twisted individual using the rather �old school� VHS dubbing techniques (which I used quite a long time ago on my earliest projects). Therefore throughout the film I placed �screen noise� or used my old Hi8 camera for some of the filming, as well as adding grain and manipulating the contrast/colour whilst editing. I wanted to achieve a gritty, somewhat erratic � perhaps even �Cubist� � look to this piece and I think it�s come off quite well. It�s just a shame I couldn�t transfer from a VCR to my camera, otherwise I would have aged the film more by going �authentic� by �dubbing down� to third or fourth generation VHS and then re-uploading � however I had to try and re-create that as best I could, but I am still very pleased with the outcome.
It�s been a long road to get to the finish line and it has indeed been my most ambitious project to date � a full 18 months since the first spark of an idea � right up to completing it as extremist Muslims threaten bloodshed over a cartoon on the TV behind me. It�s been a learning curve throughout, in all aspects of the process and needless to say I�m chuffed I�ve seen it through to the end and produced something I�m proud to have given so much time and effort to.
Status: Completed February 2006
Info:
I plan to make a pseudo-documentary expressing my views on the current situation in Britain pertaining to the 'video nasty' computer game "Manhunt" by Rockstar Games and surrounding censorship issues, which spread outside of not only video games but also Britain.
"Manhunt" was blamed for the murder of a 14 year old by his 17 year old friend. The motive was utterly detracted from the game itself - it just happened to be in his possession (in fact the game was found in the victim's bedroom) - the evidence of the case suggested there was no link between the game and the murder. The police found no link, the Judge and Jury found no link in a courtcase, yet reactionary groups called for the game to be banned. There has been a media frenzy surrounding this case.
I'm looking to get across the views of many, many people - gamers in fact. If this game (and others like it) really did make the players into killers, surely there would be millions of people the world over trying to cave in each other's heads?
There has even been rumours that the game and others like it will be banned by the British Labour government, but when you consider the fact that the games industry is bigger than Hollywood and that it brings millions of revenue to not only Britain, but the world - surely it's a simple choice.
This film is currently in production and has been since July 2004.
Probably my most ambitious project to date (besides �my NIGHTMARE�), this pseudo-documentary with the presentational sensibilities of a music video was inspired by the media witch-hunt surrounding Rockstar�s �Manhunt� after it was blamed for the murder of a 14 year old in Leicester by his 17 year old, drug-addicted friend. The frenzy began in July 2004 (although violent media has always been controversial, most notably during the Video Nasties era in Britain). Since �Manhunt� was thrown onto the tabloid front pages and withdrawn from many shop shelves (albeit temporarily), I have been following the press relating to this particular title. However, as time progressed and I began developing an essay topic on violent video games for my Media & Cultural Theory class during Autumn 2004, I began formulating a plan to spread this pseudo-documentary wider, including other media events � including renewed action against the three latest �Grand Theft Auto� titles (mainly in America and Japan), Jerry Springer The Opera and the current trend being the �Hot Coffee� modification for �GTA: San Andreas�. I will examine blame culture, but the main purpose of this piece is to lay out the events of a year in the life of media vs. media frenzy so that the viewer can draw their own reactions from what they see. But as is the case with all documentaries, there will be plenty of room for me to get across my own views on this undying subject.
As this project is going to be some time yet before it is complete, I decided to construct a teaser trailer to put online and include on my Show Reel. Doing this also allowed me to try out a couple of ideas concerning the �look� of the final piece. Gathering audio samples mainly from �Manhunt� itself as well as the initial Sky News report concerning the game and the murder of Stefan Pakeerah. I then gathered visual material from these two sources and began piecing together the trailer, which gives a brief idea of what the film is all about. The sound samples echo throughout the trailer, gradually giving you snippets of both sides of the argument as well as how the news was broken on July 29th 2004. Inter-cut with the text are glimpses of fight scenes and most importantly some �kill videos� from the game � when you pull off a stealth kill there are three possible kills, each more gruesome than the former, presented as a grainy snuff film of sorts. Finally, towards the end of the trailer I cut between grainy images from the game to the eyes of the killer and victim and a statement from Stefan�s father, calling the game an �instruction to murder�.