Initial Ideas, Proposal and Development

 After researching Maya Angelou's life I knew I wanted to make my film about a social issue, inspired by her time as a civil rights activist. When reading the poem I reflected its ideas through my struggles to feel comfortable as a genderfluid person and wanted to reflect this is in my film by showing somebody battling with gender dysphoria in a way that was very up-close and personal.

My initial proposal: (dated 15/11/18)

"Proposal

Based on: ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me’ by Maya Angelou

A gender-fluid student prepares for their prom, searching for the bravery and confidence to wear what they want.

 A group of students walk down the street, chatting excitedly about a party. The girls are deciding what time they’re meeting and who’s helping who with make-up whilst the boys talk about ‘pulling techniques’ – they’re all arguing over who’s going to get more drunk. Having remained silent and not a part of either conversation, one of the group breaks off and walks into their home.
 We see them getting ready for the party through slow, drawn out close-ups. Shaving a leg, painting their nails etc. As the scene unfolds, we realise the student is gender-fluid and preparing to wear what they want publicly for the first time.
 They leave the house and we follow, people stare and a few stop walking to look. They pass beautifully made up women and a group of ‘lads’ on a night out.  As they arrive at the party, the stares and confusion have become confidence and bravery."

I decided to remove the narrative of the idea in order to really focus on the core idea of the film within 5 minutes.

 The lighting workshop was very important to how I want the film to look. We found very interesting effects when mixing colours and how this affected shadows and I will light my film with very strong blue and pink lights to reflect the idea of binary gender and mix them as it breaks down throughout the film.
 I have decided to use naturalist lighting, using the lights in the room, covered with gels for a strong, harsh look that I hope - in a way - reflects Jean-Michel Basquiat's bold illustrations from the original book.

storyboard

shot list