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1. Tell me in no more than20 words, what is your
FMP idea?
My FMP is a shortfilm aboutthe dangers of
artificial intelligence. The morale of the story is
thatwe shouldbe careful on how we allow
technology to controlour lives.
Why have youdecided to makeit? I havedecided tomake this because I believe
people need a warning aboutAI. Whilst I amreally
into technology I think that the day it becomes
self aware is the day humansbecomean
endangeredspecies. Whilst the idea of AI going
rogue is a commonplot device in film suchas
Terminator & 2001 ASpace Odyssey, I would like
to offer my own twist and interpretationon the
matter.
Having donehorrorfilms Inthe past I wantedto
make a film thatcould seem more realistic and
like the plotcould be somethingthatcould
happentoday. Whilsthorror films are fun tomake
the idea of Ghostsandmonsters(which featured
prominently in my pasttwo horror films) is for me
an exhaustedplot pointat this point. Itis alsoa lot
less realistic then the idea of technology run
amok. Italso gives me an opportunity to
experiment with different genres that I havenot
donebefore. Since I am goingto University to
study Television ProductionI couldperhaps turnit
into a miniseries of two episodes rather thenjust
a long film. This would require extensive planning
to makesure the plot andpacing remain ok butit
could be done. It will dependon if there is a time
limit on how long my film can be. This couldbe a
way of bypassingthattime limit. I musthowever
make surethat it can all be done within my
productionschedulethough.
I wasn’toriginally going todo a shortfilm for my
FMP as I havedone thema lot in thiscourse. I did
think aboutdoinga documentary aboutthe
dangersof Artificial Intelligence however I would
want to doit in a more participatory way rather
then in an exposé form like I did my previous
factual project. Unfortunately I don’thave the
access to the relevant people thatI could
interview in order todo this. Even if I did I would
be worried aboutthe reliability of thisas I don’t
want to be in the positionwere we are in the
middle of productionandI am unable toget
interviews or they suddenly becomeunavailable
andmy access get revoked. I have seen this

2. happento otherpeople before andbecause this is
an FMP andthere is a lot riding on thisproject
suchas my final grade I don’twant to havethis
risk. The samecould be said for doing a client
project which wouldbe a completely different
project as it wouldn’tbe relevantto the idea of
artificial intelligence, somethingwhich I really
want to focus onas I want my project tohave a
strongmeaning. I also think thata film would be a
better mediumto get my messageacross to the
audience as I believe peopleare more likely to
watch a film as they wantto be entertained rather
then
What aboutyourproject makesit importantto
you?
This project is importanttome because the idea
of advancedartificial intelligence does actually
scare me. The idea of thingslike self drivingcars
withouthumaninputor self aware robots is
somethingthatactually doesscare me. I havealso
read thingson the news aboutthingslike malware
thatmakes AmazonAlexa do thingsby herself or
experimental robotsdoingthings they weren’t
supposedto. I think its gone from the point were
the idea of rogueAI hasgone from a fun film plot
to a genuine risk. I also believe that even normally
our lives revolve aroundtechnology toomuchand
thatthe ability to have instantaccess to
informationand masscommunicationwhilst
amazinghas major downsides. Socialmedia
especially. I think humaninteraction sometimes
suffers which in itself is a bad thing.
Many youngteensespecially endup stressing
over pointlessthingssuch ashow many likes they
get etc. This can often lead to thingslike
depression. WhilstI use social media I rarely post
on it. Eventhen I find the thingsI see onit is just
stuff I don’tcare aboutsoI have toask myself,
what is the point?The instantaccess to news we
have is also a problemas it can adda lot of extra
stresswhen youfind outaboutthingsin the world
thatyou rather wouldn’tknowaboutor thatscare
you. SometimesI havefoundthat people get
annoyedif youdon’ttext them back instantly. It
really frustrates me, as I haveno obligationto do
so. Sometimesif I am going outfor a walk or to
the shopsill leave my phone behindjust soI can
have thatsense of freedom of being
disconnected. I find it ironic thatI holdthese
opinions, asI would considermyself a technology
enthusiast. All of thishas led to me considering
whether I shouldcome off social media entirely. I

3. knowthat I couldperhapsdo this butI couldn’t
give up my phoneentirely.
Outline someof the initial influences onyour
idea/work and somepotential research targets
(remember, research isn’t justa paperbased
activity)
Someof my initial influences come from TV shows
andfilms suchas Terminator, 2001 ASpace
odyssey &Battlestar Galactica (2004-2008). The
reasonthese are my influences is because they all
feature the theme of rogue AI destroyinghumans
or humanity asa whole.
In termsof research I knowI will have to look at
the evolutionof how this subject hasbeen done in
film over the years. This will give me a better idea
of how I could try and differentiate my film from
others. I will also need to look at potential target
audiences andfind out whether my audience is a
mainstreammarketor niche. If I were toguess I
would say is defiantly more mainstreamthen
niche since again thishas been a commonplot
pointin movies for a while.
In orderto get primary research I could use
websites like survey monkey tocollect data.
Facebook groupsare anothergood alternative. I
could use groupsfor residentsof certain villages,
townsor city’s which would allow me toget a
muchwider variety of informationon my
audience demographic. I couldalso physically go
up topeople on the street and ask them or knock
on doorshoweversome may consider this slightly
invasive.
Secondary research can be done throughthe
internet or books. Findingandciting different
sourcesof informationandreferencing themin a
bibliography.
What effect do youwant to haveon your
audience when they see yourproject?
I want my audience to finish watching my film and
have a profoundrealizationaboutthe dangers of
AI and for them toseriously considerthe risks
involvedandwhether they are worthit. I want
them andothersto seriously think aboutthis. I
think the more warning there are in the media the
more likely thoseinvolvedin the creation of AI will
heed this warning anddo somethingaboutit.

4. Describe the tone/mood/styleofyourproject
[which productiontechniques/characteristicsare
youemploying?]
I want the tone andmoodto gofull circle
throughoutthefilm. By thisI mean that I want the
film to startof with a moody dark tone. Then
duringthe middle of the film as things seem tobe
going well for the character the toneand the
moodwill lighten as he becomes happier. It will
then darkenagain as thingsstartto go wrong. This
tone andmoodwill not only reflect the plotbut
hopefully provide goodpacing tothe story and
script. I think I could reflect thiswith the colour
grading havingit change from a moody tone, toa
brighter one andback to a moody oneagain.
In termsof productiontechniquesbecausethis
film centres on technology I want the film to look
sleek and futuristic. I think using a high-resolution
camera filming in well-lit environmentsto
eliminate noise and grain can dothis. I will also
use a camera gimbal for free handshotsin order
to makeeverythingappear smooth. Onefinal idea
I haveis touse a cool blue colour gradingin the
darker segmentsof the film. My idea behindthis
is that I want it to reflect the blue light that comes
of screens. This is similar to what they didin the
matrix were all the scenes in the matrix had a
slight green tint to it which represented the green
text based operatingsystemsusedon computers
at the time.
Why have youdecided to makeyour project in
this style?
I havedecided tomake my project in this style
because I want my film to havea lot of meaning.
Notonly in the moralmessage in the plot butin
every aspect. Every shot, every angle, every sound
andevery colour used I want to in some way have
a deep meaning to it thatwill reflect the main plot
morale of the dangers of AI. One interestingidea I
hadwas thatI want my character to startof being
emotionally distantand blank as he is unhappy in
his life. Once technology seemsto “Improveit” he
becomes happierand more humanlike displaying
a wide variety of emotionsuntilhe hasthe human
reaction of anger, which the AI misunderstands
andcauses thingsto go wrong. I have decided to
do thisas it couldact asa further warning in that
humanemotionsare so complex we shouldn’ttry
andget AI to understandthemasthey are not
always logical in the two dimensionalway
computers can think. As a result they might
understandthem.