By Gabriele Paliulyte

The competition that I decided to enter my short film to is the Raindance film festival
2022. I found that the submission criteria suits my intentions for how I would like my
short film to come out. Raindance is passionate about innovative and independent work,
and I feel like my topic of choice could be something bold and unique on-screen.

The deadlines and fees:

Early deadline - 11th April 2022 - £25

Regular deadline – 9th May 2022 - £35
Late deadline – 13th June 2022 - £50

Based on the deadline for my FMP, I would be able to submit my final edit of the short
film to meet the late deadline of the 13th of June.

The timing of my production and final outcome will suit these criteria perfectly, as the
FMP will be something brand new (therefore created after the 1 st Jan). I imagine my short
film to be maximum 10 minutes in length, which fits the criteria as well. Because the
production must not be seen publicly prior to the exhibition, I won’t be uploading it
publicly to YouTube until it is suitable to do so in compliance to these rules.
The film festival rules & regulations:

- Under 45 mins in length

- Must be in English or have English subtitles
- Must be completed after the 1st of January 2022
- Cannot be seen publicly beforehand

The UAL exam board rules & regulations:

- No explicit or offensive content (mild swearing tolerated)

- Must meet the deadlines

My personal target audience:

- Aged 16-25
- UK based
- Open-minded and curious individuals

The film festival audience:

- Aged 18-34
- Predominantly London-based
- Hip, artistic and intelligent urbanites
My short film will follow the sudden death of my protagonist, and their journey to the
afterlife. The all-time question of what happens to us after death is something that I am
deeply intrigued in and would like to take the opportunity to visualise in this production.
My current ideas revolve around the kind of thoughts and revelation that would occur
when a human being leaves their body, and I intend to display a positive tone of reflection
on how our world really works. I aim to inspire my audience with this short film, leave
them thinking about how making the most of your life is the only thing that matters, and
how powerful you are as an individual. I want to show how regretful you may be if you
don’t take advantage of opportunity, seize new experiences and follow your intuition. I
imagine the narrative of the short film to follow the protagonist’s realisation of how she
didn’t make the most of her human life, and how the life experience was her own choice;
that she had pre-planned what she wanted to get out of her time on earth in that specific
body her consciousness resided; and how she limited herself anyway.

The perspective that my story will take will be supported by the beliefs of secular
spirituality. I will support my idea development and planning with research that gives a
more in-depth explanation of what this kind of understanding of the world provides. I
have a connection to talk to a professional in the field, someone who both has this
understanding of the world, and who’s profession is closely related to human life and
death. I will discuss this more in my research and it will hopefully guide me towards
interesting material to explore. There conversations and my final idea has kind of a deep
tone in terms of belief/ understanding, and to make this easier to digest to an audience
that potentially isn’t aware of this kind of perspective on life, I should be researching into
what is relatable to that demographic and making practical decisions based on that.

I am currently not sure on the exact plot progression of my short film and hope to discover
what will be the best way to narrate these ideas with more research. I should aim to be
diverse in my research, looking into the different resources available (like books, people,
the internet) to form a more aware outcome.

I need to make the most of lesson time, as well as independent study to have this project
complete on time. The workload for this FMP can pile up very quickly, as I have seen in
previous projects, and I really must stay ahead in order to meet deadlines and ultimately
the final deadline. There isn’t room for bonus time to improve after the final deadline,
which is something that I hope will motivate me to produce the most and the best work. I
want to be proud of my final outcome and create a short film that satisfies my current
ideas and vision.
When I work on projects like these, I am a pretty independent person and I tend to find it
kind of difficult to ask for help sometimes. To my tutors, this might make me difficult to
understand or support when I am struggling, and I am aware that this is something I
should break the habit of to perform better in lessons. I aim to be more open to receive
feedback and put questions out there when I am unsure. Independence can be great, but
in this case, I think it gets to a point where it closes me off. When working in lessons, I try
to keep my workspace separate from others’ personal spaces, as invading those areas
with my own belongings can be detrimental to another’s progress. I should also aim to
discuss less with the people around me during lesson time about things that aren’t related
to the work set, creating a focused atmosphere. This can be detrimental to both myself
and others, since we have a lot going on within these projects and should be making the
most of lesson time. I try to be an active support to my peers during projects like these,
whether it’s a practical problem or stress from lack of ideas/ loss for words. I’ve seen that
this promotes more motivation for the workload set and also helps me, as there are times
that I need support from my peers as well. These positive and cooperative moments
create healthier relationships in our lesson time, which is beneficial for all.

We have to communicate our ideas the most during focus groups, in the delegated circles
our teachers made. I find that during these discussions it is important to present ideas in a
way that is inclusive and compassionate. For example, if I have a certain belief and I raise
a question that gains a response different to what I would personally say, I must be open
to the different perspective and hear them out fully. I know that I am not the only one
with strong opinions or ideals, and other people’s voice is just as important as mine. In
most cases, it would even teach me something that I wouldn’t have looked into myself,
and that is a great factor of having focus groups with people you wouldn’t normally
interact with.

When it comes to feedback from our teachers, I find a lot of value in how I can improve
and challenge my work from these interactions. My go-to for critical questions during
lesson time are my teachers, and in almost all scenarios I find a lot of guidance and
support there. I will continue to ask for their outlook in this project and future ones, as my
work constantly develops from it.

I love using music in my work, yet something that I must be careful and aware of is
copyrighted songs that I wouldn’t have permissions to use. I should be seeking
permissions for content that I wish to use however don’t own, or otherwise deter from
using it. In cases of personal use that isn’t monetised, using copyrighted music isn’t a
problem, however in all other scenarios it would be discrediting to the artist and I have to
be actively aware of that. This includes many more things than just music, whether its
text or images or videos. I would never plagiarise someone else’s content, and that is
something very important within research. When looking into articles and borrowing
information and ideas, I should be considerate of whether I am elevating the original
material and redefining it in my own work- and absolutely not just stealing it. I should be
actively asking myself if I am bringing value to the resources I research from and if I am
crediting the owners. For example, if an article has a paragraph on the topic of my work
and I find the information relevant to my research, the boundary between plagiarism and
influenced learning would be copy and pasting that extract, or rephrasing; elevating with
my own introspective and opinion; and discussing how it applies to my own work. I would
also, in that scenario, reference and credit where the original paragraph came from should
be actively asking myself if I am bringing value to the resources I research from and am I
crediting the owners. Harvard referencing all of these resources is important because of
this, as it makes it clear to the marker where the inspiration for my work and research is
borrowed or influenced by something else, or where it is original. This is, I my opinion, a
bare minimum respect to the artists and designers that I may inspire my own ideas from.

When it comes to my actual ideas that go into producing work, I should be considering the
implication on my audience when they would be reading/ watching/ listening to what I
make. In this scenario, with the spiritual topic that I am exploring in my short film, I must
be aware to the diversity of my audience and whether I am being sensitive with the way I
present my ideas and opinion. My target audience as individuals will potentially have
their personal ideas of what the afterlife is like, whether it is of an theist, atheist or
agnostic background. When I am presenting my own vision of life after death, I must not
invalidate anyone else’s belief nor push mine onto the audience. I aim to make my short
film empowering to the audience to make the most of their lives, and when I do weave in
a type of secular spiritual perspective into the script, I should be careful as to not make
anyone feel like they aren’t being included. I don’t want to be overly overt/direct with my
opinion, however share this understanding of the world in a kind and even subtle manner.