Project 6 Proposal

Rileigh Smyth

Project 6 Proposal

1.     Last Sunday, I was dumped pretty out of the blue by the boy that I had every intention of marrying. I have spent this past week experiencing every emotion under the sun. I know a lot of art throughout history has been a direct response to suffering and trauma, and I would like to transform some of the raw emotion I have been feeling into something tangible. I have thought about writing my thoughts and shredding or burning them, putting his clothes and photographs in a box and storing them somewhere out of sight, screaming in the woods, and various other activities as a way to work through these unpleasant emotions that demand to be felt. I would like to document my experience to look back on when I am in a better place. I also think it would help break down the stigma a bit, that this sort of thing needs to happen in secret or dealt with on its own. I hope that by sharing my experience and attempting to capture the beauty in its vulnerability, it might be able to help someone else as well.

Shot list: shredding or burning papers with my thoughts on them- closeups, dramatic angles, shallow DOF of the pages and shredded remains on the ground, various shots from the ground looking at the scattered pages. Disposing of his clothing in different shots- angles from below as they are placed in a box, freeze motions of them being tossed away. Me dealing with my emotions as a mature adult and screaming into the void in the empty field next to my home. My filled journal with scratched out, dirty notes as my pen struggles to keep up with my kaleidoscope of emotions and thoughts. 

Test shots: 

2.     In the case that the first idea is rejected due to its intangibility, I will document the process of living in an in-between state. As I have all of my belongings in boxes, have stuff at my parents’ house, at my old apartment, and at my new one, I am forced to live in a kind of limbo between each of these places. It is a chaotic, necessary reality of being in college and co-oping every other semester. I have not been stationary in 4 years and often move every four months. That has led to me being very comfortable living with very little control over my environment and belongings. My dad has moved my sister, brother, and me at least seven times each throughout college and often across states. I think it would be very fascinating to capture the experience of living in boxes and transitioning from place to place.

Shot List: captured motion with flash of boxes being filled and moved, stacking and un-stacking, items being organized and scattered. Capturing the haphazardly stuffed car trunks, the maze of my living room, the unholiness of the mess in my childhood bedroom, and the paths I have managed to carve out to access my bed. I can also imagine taking images of my dad as he lifts furniture on top of his car and doing a closeup of his face and arms, tossing the bungee cords over the car to secure it. 

Test Shots: