Outdated

Outdated main intention is to provide a talking point within our generation, highlighting what we are doing to break down the stigma around drug use as a society. Outdated strives as a showcase of how revolutionary companies such as ‘The Loop’ are allowing users to speak more freely about drug use,
enabling a talking point and direct education, helping to mitigate risk throughout events and more recently city centres. My goal was to produce a stylistic modern approach towards a very serious contemporary topic, enabling me to not only show a story but also help to educate my viewers.

Having attended music festivals from a young age, mixing this with my passion for the electronic music scene I have always been at the for-front of witnessing drug use. Having the ability to see how our approach towards drug use has slowly changed over recent years has been inspiring, in my opinion something that has come at a crucial time. The inclusion of onsite drug safety testing being implemented throughout the festival circuit has been a very positive approach towards how we talk about drug use within the UK. After getting the chance to film with the Loop prior to this documentary and see first-hand what it is that the company does, I was destined to produce a piece to highlight how this company is altering our outlook and paying homage to what we are seeing within other countries in Europe. Looking into who is actually using the facilities and how the services are being perceived within our society.

Before starting the production of Outdated I have always thought that our approach towards drugs within the UK has been a very parented and narrow minded. One thing that I felt strongly about when creating Outdated was that I didn’t want the film to stereotype cause offence or prevent people from watching the documentary, neither segregating the audience in anyway which unfortunately I feel I have seen within a variety of similar style productions. I wanted the production to not focus on drug use or users themselves but more into what we are doing to help, stylising it in a very modern and cinematic way, helping to tailor it to my audience.

My main stylistic goal was that I wanted the piece to be visually pleasing as well as both gripping and informative. One of the main techniques that I use throughout my productions is utilising the Variable Frame rate when shooting on the Panasonic GH5 (The camera I shot Outdated with). I used this setting when shooting the Night club shots, I wanted to really capture the pure emotion and rawness of what clubbing culture is like within the UK. My inspirations from these shots came from the stylistic industrial marketing of Printworks (A venue in London), I feel that they are truly at the fore-front of what they are doing at the minute. I chose the monochrome overlay to homage my inspirations also contrasting between the subjects within my documentary. I wanted these shots to create a monotone view on clubbing culture, allowing a breathing space for thought.

I hope that watching Outdated has enabled my viewers to think about drug use for the future. Gain help, utilise the services being provided at events and look after each other. But most importantly don’t be afraid to seek help. It is our generation that need to be mature enough to break down the stigma that is so Outdated around drug use within our society, the time to change is now.