7UAL Awarding Body

Creative Media Production and Technology

Level 3 Extended Diploma
Robert Alexander Hutchinson : 971713

Unit 13: Final Major Project

Competition: The Sundance Film Festival Institute

Entry dates have so far not been released for the 2019
competition.
Sundance Film Competition Information

As the 2018 competition is already over, I will have to enter my documentary in the 2019
event, which, unfortunately the dates have not yet been released. Founded in 1978 the
Sundance Institute is probably one of the, if not biggest film competition for upcoming film
makers who wish to make an impact in this industry. Even being entered into this
competition already shows you have a very high level of skill in the art of film. The films are
shown annually in Park City, Utah, The United States of America in front of a large audience.

The audience will include film lovers but also managers and producers that wish to carry
these competitive, new, upcoming film makers to something bigger to expand their careers.
In 2016, over 46 thousand people attended, making this the biggest film festival across the
globe. The background of this competition is entirely impressive, the founder of the
Sundance Institute, Sterling Van Wagenen, was, back then the head of Wildwood. When it
started, very famous films which are now still shown on television and in cinemas had been
shown there for the first time, for example, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘Mean Streets’.

There are 3 different times I would be able to send in my production, early, official and late
which all have different prices. Sending my production in early will cost $65 which is just
over £46, sending it in the official timings would cost $85 which equals to just over £60 and
finally, if I needed the extended time for allotted production entry, it would cost me $110
which equates to just over £78. There is a wide variety of categories so that as many people
as possible are able to apply for this competition;
U.S. Narrative feature films
U.S. Documentary Feature Films
International Narrative Feature Films
International Documentary Feature Films
U.S Short Films
International Short Films
Episodic Content – This is what I will be creating
Virtual Reality Projects

If you enter your production, get lucky enough to go through the stages and then finally
‘win’ you could be awarded with a few prizes, ‘The Grand Jury Prizes’ or the ‘Waldo Salt
Screenwriting Award’ or an ‘Audience Award’. These awards are given to the directors to
show that the festival hosts have recognised their ‘standout artistic and story elements’,
which is decided by seven section juries.
Outline of Idea

My production will be split up into a few parts, opening scene, first interview, second
interview, explaining some of the research that I found from peers, what I have learned,
what I now think about the topic. I am going to find out what all generations believe about
the mental health issues in youth, so it will need to be professional but also laidback as I
want all target audiences to be able to watch and learn something new, without feeling
under pressure.
When I first thought about creating this documentary, I decided I wanted to get a global
view of all youth mental health across the world, realising that everywhere is different and I
wouldn’t be able to get enough information from different countries – I have now decided
to stay local in the United Kingdom area as apparently two thirds of British people believe
they have mental health issues in 2016, this production should expose the fact that a lot of
people are using the term mental health issues very loosely so that no one takes it seriously
anymore.
The opening scene will need to include facts on youth mental health and the outline of what
I am going to explain in the documentary, start by asking rhetorical questions that I will be
answering throughout the documentary, things I want to address include:
 Is mental health used as a cheap excuse?
 What’s is causing the rise? Technology? Social media?
 Are we becoming ‘softer’ as a nation?
 Does the youth, on social media, try to portray something they’re not? And is this
creating a pressure on young people to use alternative personas?
 Why is cyber-bullying such an issue and why do people hide behind their screens and
not be able to back it up in person?
 Are real mental health issues in youth taken seriously by the older generations?
 Is there enough help available for youths with real problems?
 Do the government give enough funding to help this issue?
 Are schools doing their part to help youths from an early age?
 Do prescription drugs actually help?
 Does it matter what background you come from?
 Do mental health issues get in the way of daily lives?
 What can help with how you are feeling?
 Is it best to hold it in or turn to someone?
 What have I experienced?
After I have identified what I would like to discuss and expose in my production I will be
interviewing a psychologist, psychiatrist and one of my peers to gain a wider depth on
knowledge from all angles. The interviews should run smoothly and I will ask questions that
give me more of a deep sense of other people’s views. I have decided to interview three
completely different people so that I do not have a completely bias conclusion.
The rest of my production, after the interviews, will be outlining what I have learnt and
where I stand at that point, then give an evaluation of what everyone has said. Hopefully
this whole production will be informative for all audiences to watch and understand.
Rules and Regulations
This festival doesn’t give a lot of rules that you must follow, this is probably to allow all
upcoming film makers to let their creativity flow as far as it can.
This production will go under the category of ‘Episodic Content’ which means that this
documentary will be the first in a series. We may submit one or a few episodes of the same
product, as long as they’re not longer than 180 minutes, with credits. No individual episodes
may exceed 60 minutes in length. They have to be ready to be viewed on any public
platform. Only new content is allowed to be entered to the festival, nothing that has been
uploaded previously anywhere.

Target Audience
This product will be available on YouTube for all audiences to watch and enjoy but mainly
this will be targeted towards the young adults, 16 – 24 year olds. This is due to the fact that I
am taking it upon myself to show that mental health needs to be taken seriously within
teens but also older generations. The whole idea and where this came from is because I
want people to talk about what they have learnt and show their friends, therefore
everybody will learn something and take something away from this.

Production Schedule

Wee Monday Tuesday Wednesd Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

k ay
Star
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12th Create Start Finish Weekly Find Search Keep
Feb website proposal proposal blog competiti for looking
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19th Update Write up Start on Finish Start Get Write up
Feb old productio brief writing bibliogra feedback the
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schedule and given
weekly
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26th Plan Survey Focus Weekly Write up Interview Extend
Feb research monkeys groups blog informati close primary
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5th Start More Make Weekly Extend Harvard Add in
Mar secondar secondar
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12th Storyboar Clearance Crew list Weekly Cost Confirma Props list
Mar d s blog sheet tion
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19th Location Write Make Weekly Check all Complete Get work
Mar recce pitch and small blog work is so any halfway
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26th Foley Equipme Continge Weekly Go buy Find good Check
Mar sounds nt hire ncy plan blog props locations over all
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2nd Test Test Test Weekly Starting More b- Find good
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9th Call Shoot Auditions Weekly Edit the Interview More
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interview all hopefully
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16th Edit the Continue Add the Weekly Finalise Film any Again, go
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23rd Edit in Edit all of Further Weekly Show Add any
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30th IMPROVE IMPROVE IMPROVE Weekly IMPROVE Start Continue
Apri MENTS MENTS MENTS blog MENTS evaluatio evaluatio
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7th EVALUATI EVALUATI EVALUATI Final EVALUATI EVALUATI EVALUATI
May ON ON ON weekly ON ON ON
blog
14th IMPROVE IMPROVE IMPROVE IMPROVE IMPROVE IMPROVE IMPROVE
May MENTS MENTS MENTS MENTS MENTS MENTS MENTS
21st FINAL FINAL FINAL FINAL FINAL FINAL FINAL
May HAND IN HAND IN HAND IN HAND IN HAND IN HAND IN HAND IN