Basic Outline of MFA Thesis Proposal
- Synopsis
- Treatment
- Style/Form
- Aesthetic (Mood/Look)
- Pacing
- Shooting and Editing
- Effects
- Sound Design
- Influences (contextualized within cinematic/visual cultural traditions)
- Narrative Structure (perhaps followed by a list of films, and
how your film is situated to XY and Z films)
- Directors of Influence
- Proposal
- Goals
- Approach to Directing
- Significance (e.g., social impact, aesthetic impact)
- Theoretical Framing (lay the foundation - what theoretical ideas
are underpinning your project?)
- Aesthetic (how might your theoretical approach inform the 'look'
of your film?)
- Structure (how might your theoretical approach inform the structure
of your film?)
- Director (how might your theoretical approach inform your approach
to the project - how do you position yourself within (or outside) the narrative?)
- Subject/content (how might your theoretical approach inform
the presentation of subjects/content - e.g., talking-head interviews, voice-over
narrative?)
- Spectator Relations (how might your theoretical approach anticipate
the spectator's relationship to your film - e.g., are we invited to enjoy
the spectacle, or will the project in some way resist/frustrate visual pleasure?)
- Social/Historical/Political (how might your theoretical approach
inform the politics of your film?)
- Research
- Narrative description of your research
- Bibliography
- Filmography
- Director's Notebook
- Screenplay
- Proposed Budget
- Production Schedule
- Personnel/Crew
- Shot List
- Story Board