Collaboration Documentary Project

1- Create a Statement or Treatment
What the theme/question is?
The history behind the Stuyvesant Park Residence Hall.
What is your perspective of this theme?
Residents investigating the haunting events that occurred at the dorm.
What is your vision?
To give proof to the rumors that states the dorm is actually haunted because it used to be a mental hospital.

2- Create a list of Priority Elements in the documentary
This should include opening, context of theme, interviews, supporting information, moment of culmination and ending.

• Start off with the rumor of Stuyvesant park residence hall being haunted because it used to be a mental hospital
• Provide evidence that shows Stuy being haunted
• Interviews and footage of residents (their experience at the dorm)
• Investigate the past and history of Stuyvesant building
• Interviews with hospital staffs
• Fake statistics, interviews from hospital staff saying how the nurses and doctors would disappear
• Conclude on Stuy being a mental hospital before

3- Make a list of video shots needed
This must include establishing shots, environmental background shots, close-ups, transition shots, visual textures, etc.

• Establishing shot of the dorm from outside and from different parts inside.
• Narration by the resident
• Interviews other residents
• Experiments (the outlets, laundry room, hearing weird noises, etc)
• Get a psychic
• Leaving the camera on for the night
• Hospital (Beth Israel)
• Investigation (Check maps,old pictures, statistics, news reports)
• Conclusion: mental hospital

Partner: Alex Chia

Squential Movement Animation

Reflection on "Exit Through the Gift Shop"

Which elements are believable?
The elements that seem believable in the film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, are all associated with the elements of a documentary film, which this film is supposed to be even though some may argue that it is more of a mockumentary. For instance, the footage (videos or photos) filmed by Thierry Guetta and the others gives a sense of reliability because it provides an evidence of things taking place in time. The interviews, including the ones of the street artists and the ones interviewing the audiences at Mr. Brainwash (Thierry Guetta)'s exhibition, and the voice-over of the film also adds another element of documentary to the film.

Which elements are not believable?
Elements are that not so believable in the film may be the sounds that are intentionally added to accompany the interviews and footage. For example, there is an extensive use of music and sound effects (like the sound of a motorcycle). The fact that the viewers are not aware of Banksy's real identity because his face is always hidden in shadows and his voice is altered creates mysteriousness thus making the viewers hard to believe what he is saying and it contributes to the "fakeness" of this film.

What is the morale/purpose of this fictional documentary?
Street art were not meant to be sold in the first place but they soon became commercialized and people started to purchase pieces of street art. In the middle of the film Banksy mentioned his purpose for making this documentary. He said that street art "was never about the money" and he said to Thierry "you have the footage, you can tell the real story of what art is about. Is is not about the hype, it is not about the money. Now is the time, you have to get your film out." However, the movie that Thierry created was a unwatchable mash-up of short clips on street art. Therefore, Banksy decided to take this on his own. Despite the fact that there were lots of discussions on Banksy's "real" intentions and questions regarding the creation of Mr. Brainwash after the movie was released, the viewers still think Banksy's main objective was to criticize the over-commercialization of street art.

Graphic Novel

Notes on:

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

• There are six different types of transitioning between panels


• Movement-to-movement
• Action-to-action
• Subject-to-subject
• Scene-to-scene
• Aspect-to-aspect
• Non-sequitur

• Sometimes you don’t need the panels (the lines of the box)
• Use bold to emphasize the words
• Make the readers look/think/imagine things outside of the panel
• The use of closure which allows the readers to perceive an object as a whole (based on past experience) while only showing parts of the object
• Use some black backgrounds when it’s the main character talking to the readers
• Use different sized panels
• The gap between panels are known as the gutter, which allows the readers to combine the images and imagine what’s happening between the two scene
• The readers are participating in the story as they imagine the story in the way they want
• Authors assume readers can read in the order they want
• Draw outside of the box
• Portray time on a line from left to right
• Panels (and content) serve as a general indicator of time and space being divided
• The length of the panel can convey the length of the time

What I applied in my graphic novel:

• Transitions:

Movement-to-movement

Action-to-action

Subject-to-subject

Scene-to-scene

Aspect-to-Aspect

• Used different sized panels 
• Didn't use panels for some
• Extended the panel to emphasize the length of time