In week two I gathered with some peers from the course to discuss our ideas. These were only initial ideas that had not been developed yet. I was thinking something along the lines of How do the design, including title sequences, and cinematic elements in films encourage and impact emotional connections, particularly for individuals with mental health conditions who experience flattening or emotional blunting. How can these aspects be optimized to enhance emotional engagement and foster emotional connections?"
After speaking to the girls on my course, I was able to reflect on my idea properly. It was noted that the research question was quite long and perhaps too broad to be comprehensive enough, each aspect that I was trying to include could be a research question in itself. It was advised that I looked into neurodiversity for this project, but we also discussed that if I were to look into neurodiversity, I would have to specify what type of neurodiverse individuals I would be talking about. For example, thrill seekers. For my final outcome I discussed making some kind of subscription box that was similar to a 4d experience with scents and tangible items that made the experience sensory. The feedback I got for this was generally positive, but it also reaffirmed a thought I was having in my head about the practicalities of this and how it would work. For example, if I included scents In my box, would the viewer have to smell the scent at a particular time etc, would this be practical?
It was advised that I could make my project quite personal and reflective of my own experience. We also discussed films between us and things that resonated with us and things that didn’t. I mentioned one of my favourite films American beauty and it’s score. The girls said that it didn’t really resonate with them, which made me reflect on how films are very personal and resonant to us based on our experiences and upbringing. Although I watched this film when I was quite young, I could understand the feeling of disillusionment as I had experienced it in people close to me. We discussed highly rated films such as the banshees of inisherin that just didn’t resonate with any of us and we discussed why this was. Although, I found cinematically this film looked gorgeous I found the storyline a bit uninspiring, possibly because I wasn’t clear about what the subliminal message behind it was.
After speaking with my peers, I had a better idea of what direction I was going to take this project and I started planning my project and condensing my question to something more specific.
