Questions

List of possible questions

What exactly is it that you do for a living?

What made you choose this line of work?

When did you decide to choose this line of work?

What other jobs did you consider? 

Where did you study?

What changes have you seen in the industry?

What is your biggest achievement?

Have you got any favourite pieces of work that you've worked on?

What do you do in your spare time?

What's it like being able to work at home? 

What inspires you to do these sculptures in your spare time? 

Narrative Structure

Story: Story is not a synonym for narrative. The plot gets told, but can change a lot overtime.

Narrative: How we decided to tell the story.

Agent: The key driver for the narrative.


3 acts narrative structure: Begging, Middle and End.

5 act classic Hollywood structure:

Exposition: Key characters and locations.
Development: You get to know the characters better.
Complications: When something negative happens.
Climax:When the problem/problems get resolved.
Resolution: Happy ending.

Linear: When the story is told in the 5 acts of classic Hollywood structure. (Little Miss Sunshine, Fight  Club, Se7en, Lord of the Rings, American Beauty etc...)
Non-Linear: All the 5 stages happen but they're not in order/jumbled up. (Pulp Fiction, Slumdog Millionaire, The Prestige, Sin City, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Oldboy, Kill Bill, City of God, The Usual Suspects, Forest Gump)



Little Miss Sunshine Linear Diagram:















Pulp Fiction Non-Linear Diagram:




















Pulp Fiction Storyline Breakdown Graph:

Story Structure Diagram

Pitch Feedback

We had Simon Mullen and John Clements come into college to give us some feedback on our pitches. I chose to pitch my Wesley West idea, along with showing  them some of his work.

Simon Mullen & John Clements feedback:

They thought he was a great subject to interview, and found his work fascinating. They also suggested interviewing his family members, and suggested some good questions to ask him, such as where has his work has been featured, what his job involves, and how he got into model making.

I also pitched my ideas to Tom & Barney, who came up with an ideas spider diagram: 

From my feedback I have decided to not just make the documentary a film about his work/career, but also about his personal life such as his family members and events that have taken place in his life. This will give me enough footage to bring more of a narrative to the documentary and help engage the audience and who can really get to know his personality.

I also plan to structure the the film into 3 scenes, the first being his house, the second being his garden, and finally the third being his workshop. The reason for placing him in his home first will be because I plan to open with a quick summary/biography/history on Wesleys life, from his childhood to where he is now and how he got there. I feel his home would be the most comfortable and relevant place to film him for this topic. Then we get taken into the garden, I chose this as its a nice transition from going from the home to the workshop, and I feel the workshop should be last as it would be the icing on top of the cake as people will be intrigued to finally see all of his eccentric creations and where he works.

The Pitch

Idea outline:

Research Tasks:

•  Find out if we can interview the subject (I have already done this, and he is happy to have the documentary done, and talk about his work)
• Find out what days and time they're available to be interviewed
•  Discus what equipment is needed, and where we can get it from 
• Do test shots with the camera (handheld, shoulder mount, tripod etc…) and test out the boom mic
• Ask if  the subject has any archive footage of themselves when they were younger (to do with their work)

The working title will be: 

Behind the doors of Wesley West
OR
Wesley West - The Inside Story

Long line:

A documentary about a local inventor and advertiser, and an insight into his life and eccentric creations. 

Synopsis 

The documentary will be an insight into a man named Wesley West's life. He is a local inventor and advertiser living in Cambridge, and produces lots of eccentric work, from double decker caravans with balcony's to metal sculptures of animals and objects. We would interview him in his home filled with his art, and follow him through his garden of sculptures into his workshop, where the magic happens. 

6 Ideas for the Documentary

The truth behind Schizophrenia 

The media's portrayal of Schizophrenia is often questioned, and the mental illness is often shown as 'dangerous' in many films, books and newspaper articles. But is this really the case? Many Schizophrenic people are harmless.

For the documentary, I would interview everyday people, and ask how they think people with schizophrenia are portrayed. I will also interview people with the condition, and ask what they think of the media's portrayal.
I would also point out and take a look at different media, such as films, websites, TV shows, news paper articles and more.

This documentary will not only look at the portrayal of Schizophrenia in the media, but also how schizophrenic people deal with their condition.


Fine Art

This documentary would be looking at what makes art- art? We would interview random people who have no strong interests in art, and ask their opinions on what they think counts as fine art today, and show them examples, whether it be a photo of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, or a simple dot on a canvas. We would also do the same interview for strong fine artists and art teachers etc... and see their opinions.

This idea came when I saw a brick in a gallery. This wasn't any special or unique brick, this was your everyday -build a house with- brick. I thought to myself, this must have to have an extremely deep meaning/concept behind it for it to be accepted into such a gallery.

The key question the documentary will be looking at is: Is the concept more important then the appearance of the artwork?
Many art pieces today are classed as art because of the 'meaning behind the piece' rather than the actual aesthetic appearance of it, and it doesn't have to be visually stunning to be called a masterpiece.

The main question would be, is the concept more important then the aesthetics?

How much the world has changed in a generation

This interview will be aimed at people of all ages, especially the old and young.

We would firstly conduct interviews with an older audience, showing them the new technology and gadgets recently released, asking them if they're aware of what they do, and if they think they're necessary.

Secondly, we would interview a very young generation (toddlers to early teens), showing them things that existed in their parents childhood, and ask them if they're aware of what they do, and if they'd find them useful or not.

This documentary would point out just how much the world has changed in a generation, and will show us the views the elderly have on the new technology, just how much children know about the era their parents were raised in, and what they think of the old technology.

3 Questions

The documentary would be like a storybook, filled up with a variety of tales from peoples pasts. The agent/drive for the documentary would be 3 key questions about their lives.

1)What's your greatest achievement/happiest moment?
2)What would your one wish be if you were granted one?
3)What are you most scared of?

I will ask people of a range of different ethnicities, ages, social standing, and backgrounds.


Inventor and advertiser
We would be interviewing a man who's quite a character. He invents things for a living, and for advertisements. He would tell us about all his wacky creations, and show us around his workshop filled with his life's work.

He has made things such as a double decker caravan with a balcony, builds sculptures out of metal, a bike out of paper, art pieces out of mud and drawing pins, and much more.


Pushing through with disabilities
The documentary would be based around  people who have fought through their disabilities and achieved great things.

One of the people we could interview  has spina bifida and was told from birth they would never be able to walk. They're now a paralympic swimmer.

Blackfish & Supersize Me

Blackfish (2013)

Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Topic: 

The documentary is about the effects of taking killer whales out of the wild and keeping them in tiny artificial tanks to train for shows. It informs the audience not only the effects on the whale, but also the workers at sea world. 

Reason for the Documentary:

The documentary is informative, and brings to the audiences attention certain issues that need to be dealt with (in this case, the killer whales being kept as an exhibit and for show). This then means the audience are more aware of the issue, and less people will go to Seaworld, hopefully one day resolving the issue. 

Techniques used:

-Stills of newspaper articles (of the killer whale attacks)

-Photos

-Archive footage

-Interviews (talking heads) - (with people who worked with the animals at the marine park, sea world, family of the people who were killed)

-Animations/models (of the whales in the ocean as this couldn't be caught on tape)

My response:

I thought the documentary served its purpose extremely well, It highlighted the problems, and made me want to do something about the situation. It changed my views towards keeping certain sea life in aquariums, as it really pointed out to me the intelligence of the animals. 

Something in particular that stood out to me was an animated model of the killer whales. When the killer wales were being hunted, the family split up, one half with the babies and the other half to distract the hunters. This was a clever way to make the audience feel sympathy for the whales, and also show us, just how smart they are. 

The documentary was also extremely thrilling throughout, as they had already introduced to the audience at the beginning, that some one was going to get hurt. 

Supersize Me (2014)

Directed by Morgan Spurlock

Topic:

The documentary follows a man named Morgan Spurlock, who's aim is to eat nothing but McDonalds for all three meals a day for a month. From this experiment, he risks bringing harm to his body.

Reason for the Documentary:

He is trying to inform the audience of the health risks that the people of America are causing to themselves by eating so much fast food. He is also doing an experiment to prove his point, and shock the audience from the amount of damage it can do to his body in just one month. 

Techniques used: 

-Vlogged everyday

-Interviews (with doctors, health specialists, people who work at McDonalds, nutritionists)

-Animations/models (to demonstrate things, such as Texas on the map)

-Current footage  (shows us its happening in the present)

-Archive footage

-Stills of newspaper articles, flyers, leaflets etc...

My Response:

I thought the documentary was not only informative and proved his point, but highly entertaining and humorous to watch. By doing this experiment, it already brings curiosity to the audience, as they want to find out really just how much harm can be done from eating fast food on a daily basis. It also brings humour, as Spurlock, who is carrying out the investigation, makes himself the lab rat. 

Its purpose was met, as after watching this documentary, it has highlighted to me that even one fast food product a month isn't recommended, and has made me think twice about eating at McDonalds.