Week 2 [Workshop Notes]

Research, Proposals & Pitching

Why Research?

• Respect the intelligence and work of others
• Provides stimulation for ideas and possibilities
• Helps develop your singular voice
• Essential to know about what is to come

How?

• Methods - media theory
• Contexts - history and today
• Work already made - previous films
• Through doing - making films
• Through observation and experience

Context, Idea, Methodology and Outcome

The Lie of the Land - Participatory mode documentary concerning fox hunting 

Lift - Mark Isaacs

Final Project Pitches

• Humans and Churches (Christians and Church)
• Drag Queens 
• Humans & Money
• Humans & Online Dating

human and fire - how fire makes them feel and the impacts its had on their life

interview people who have a close relationship with fire such a someone from the fire brigade, a pyromaniac, someone who has been in a house fire. Maybe something related to the Bonfire night in Lewes, not sure what angle to take but i like the initial idea

Ideas for Documentary Video Creative Project

The creative project theme our production group decided to go with is...

Human and Non-Human: 
For this you might think about how you could tell a story about the following through particular characters, objects and places: our relationship to landscapes / places / environment / nature / other creatures / machines.

Here are some of our group's ideas for possible project themes:

• Humans and Ventriloquism
• Humans and Fire
• Humans and Mental Illness
• Humans and Dogs
• Humans and Greyhound Racing

Initial Documentary Proposal: Group D

Documentary Title: (Working Progress) A Short Dogumentary? 

Documentary Theme: Humans and dogs, looking at certain relationships between people and dogs

Documentary Mode: Participatory and Observational

Target Audience: No specific target audience, but we aim to engage and inform our audience

Style: Engaging and informative. Interviews with people who have a close relationship with a dog or dogs, focusing on the personal reasons why certain people in Brighton own and what purpose they function for them. 

Research Method: 

Looking at people who spend time with dogs due to their occupation or other circumstances and will focus on looking at the history between the dog and owner and the positive effects it's had on their life and to others around them. These could be such as:

• Dog trainers/walkers in Brighton (Made contact with 2 trainers in town)
• Dog racers, people who own and race greyhounds (Made contact with Brighton & Hove Greyhound Stadium)
• Dog carers such as Vets and Kennel workers (Made contact with a local kennel)
• Guide dogs for the blind (Made contact with a guide dog service in town)
• Police dogs
• General dog owners in Brighton

We will narrow down our interviewee's to 2-3 people and revolve our narrative around their relationship with a dog(s). 

We will also need to compose interview questions once we decide on whom we are interview on camera, as the answers that we capture on film will dictate our entire documentary's narrative unless we resort to using a voice-over. 

In order to compose the right questions, each member of our group will do research into one of our interviewees occupation and the interviewees personally.

Outline of Content:

• Interview footage
• Stills of dog and owner (if needed and acquirable)
• Cutaways of dog and owner in action and of just the dog, giving balance of frame time for dog and dog owner
• Possible use of archive footage of dogs and humans (this would only be necessary if we can find something relatable to something our audience is told by our interviewees)

Cutaways & Locations

We will try to acquire at least 2 minutes of cutaway footage per interviewee and location change but we will shape our cutaways around our interview audio. A few examples that we have thought about are:

• Dog Trainer - dog school footage, performances, tricks, activities and walks with owner
• Kennel Worker - On location at Kennels, showing them caring for the dog, 
• Blind person - At their house or at a guide dog meeting/event, footage of the dog functioning as a guide for the person
• Police Dog trainer - Police kennels and shots of how they're trained
• Shot of where dogs are taken by other owners such as Wild Park, the Levels, Seafront 

Sound/Music:

We want to incorporate both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds respectively to engage the audience more into the narrative. Maybe some musical soundtrack to go in between transitions between interview clips and cutaways to add a more emotive response to some scenes of a close relationship between the dog and the owner. If needed, as a last resort we shall incorporate a voice over. Preferably a male voice with a soothing, authoritative tone. K6 Rode Microphones will be needed to record key audio sequence such as the interview. Each location we record and interview or cutaway will need 25 seconds of ambient noise recording

Resource Requirements:

• HD Video Camera with Memory Card
• Lights if interviews are going to be conduct in the evenings or inside, most shots will have natural lighting as a majority of the footage would be shot outside.
• Microphones such as K6 or Boom mics 
• Mac and Editing Software eg. Premiere Pro, Audition.
• Tripod and monopods