Project Proposal

I haven’t started production officially, but I plan to in the next week or so. So far I’ve mostly been looking at other documentaries/short videos that are in a similar vein to my project (which is a 7-9 mini documentary). Also, through my NYWIFT internship, I have access to an upcoming women in comedy panel which I think will be especially informative. I have also contacted my friends that I want to interview. I am starting to think about how I want to tie in more of the social/political message behind my project as well.

 

This is a really good documentary that gives an overview of NYC improv, particularly at UCB.

As far as the breakdown goes, ideally I will start in the next week or so with filming. I plan to film the interviews in one day, but depending on people’s schedules it might need to be spread out a little more. After that, I will need to spend a decent amount of time editing it. Since I have almost zero editing experience, I imagine this will be the most time-consuming part of my project. I’ve been story-boarding it, and I want it to have a sort of cinematic feel, but not too over the top. I want it to be something that I’m proud of, but at the same time my resources are limited and I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew. 

 I want to make this because comedy is something I really love, particularly improv comedy. Improv like much of the Western world is dominated by heterosexual, white men (at least in my experience). However, there are more underrepresented voices emerging through diversity programs and a shifting social consciousness. Here I’ll ask about all our experiences as women in comedy. I want to start off fairly personal with my interviews (asking people about their starts in comedy, why improv, etc.) and then branch out into the more philosophical/hopeful questions regarding the future, etc.

My indie improv team's Facebook page

I want to make this for people starting out in comedy, the community I’m involved in, and those that feel like they’re on the outskirts. I mentioned this in my first proposal, but I am interviewing my teammates who are all white, so unfortunately it will make some of the discussion pretty limited. I plan on putting this project up on Youtube. It’s the most accessible and user friendly I think. Since it’s more of a personal project, I might email my friends the link, or maybe message people on Facebook. Hopefully, this will give me a good jumping off point for tying in my media studies with my personal interests. I would love to create more of my own content and this allows me to do that.