Research

29/3/22

What is a documentary?

Documentaries are non-fiction movies that 'document' subjects that happen in reality. They are used to show to the public certain topics that interest those who make the documentaries and there are many unusual topics that unknown to the public and documentaries help bring light to them. 

One idea I have with a documentary is the publics opinion on black and white films and films now. Whether they think black and white films are better than todays films and if there are certain traits in films now that aren't as good as films in the 1930s-70s. Another idea I have is to make a documentary about the forensics on the Commonwealth War Memorial Commission and I will try and access  some archived photos and videos. 

First Initial idea

 Mind Map

This mind map just describes my basic plan for my documentary. I described who I would talk to and what I would do to check if i'm getting the right information. I wrote some questions that I would ask during the interview those questions are just some of the questions I will ask and I will think of more later on and add it to my mind map. 

Mood Board

I've put some ideas of fonts I will use when I put the questions in the edit and I've used the Josefin font in this blog title. I have added some films that are from the 1930s-70s and the present century just so I have an idea of what films I could talk about and see if anyone knows them. I added what colours i will use for some shots and the main theme i would try and incorporate in the edit. I also added an idea of how i would do the interview with the frame just having the person answering the questions and the interviewer behind the camera. 

Plan B

This mind map has a few ideas that I have for a documentary about the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. I have added some ideas for questions as well which I will add to when I have more to ask. Those are a few of my ideas for the documentary as I go through this project I will think of more and add it onto the mind map but also those ideas will help with my questions.

Documentary Types 

An objective documentary shares the facts and is unbiased and there is no persuasion to make its point.  A subjective documentary is biased and subject to another's opinion, the problem with this type is that you won't get all the facts and is one-sided. 

A mockumentary is light-hearted documentary and it is made to look like a real documentary but its satire. Examples of a mockumentary would be Borat and The Office. 

A poetic documentary is made for artistic reasons and it may be 'experimental' and not a strong narrative. A poetic documentary is set out to create a 'mood' rather than stating facts and figures. An example of a poetic documentary is Godfrey Reggio's 'Koyaanisqatsi' and it doesn't have any dialogue or narration and focuses on images and music. 

An expository documentary uses a narrator to inform the viewer in relation to the topic.  It includes archive footage, b-roll, reconstructions. Nature documentaries are good examples such as Planet Earth. An observational documentary uses handheld shots, long takes and less voice-overs. An example of an observational documentary is Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Biographical documentaries are looking back on the life of the person in subject and this type of documentary tend to be used for people who aren't around such as discovering film which is on Sky Arts. They use film critics and they discuss on each episode different actors life and their growth to fame and wealth. 

Participatory documentaries are that the film-maker becomes part of the film and there is direct interaction between the film-maker and subject. An example of this is Louis Theroux documentaries and he goes to many places such as prisons and he is a very trustful person. 

Writing a Treatment 

31/3/22

The purpose of a treatment is to be pitched to a studio of a  major broadcaster such as BBC and Channel 4. It's very rare now to make your own project without funding from a broadcaster somewhere. This treatment describes the process I will go through and who I will interview. With this document I have more of an idea of where im going with this documentary.

Documentary Titles 

1/4/22

What is the purpose of TV titles?

They are an introduction to the film or episode and gives a clue on what you're about to watch, usually they have a musical theme which remains constant. It's also a way of crediting people involved in the creation. The "Skip Intro" could be useful for those who live busy lives as well but most people only watch the title sequence once.  They are described as an 'airlock' which means it sucks you in the film and entices the viewer before they even watch it.  originally they were to advertise products but now they have become a form of artwork.

Examples of Text Animation 

Pitch

5/4/22

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aJSJSVwTraTZWn9aIp5nirWH6LQSKojMQHS_9WlKH4s/edit?usp=sharing

This pitch is my first idea for my documentary. I talk about the purpose of me making this documentary and how I would go about making this documentary for example who I would interview. As I explain in the pitch this idea is workable if I get the footage I would like to weave into my video to show examples of what the interviewee is talking about. 

Plan B

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1duMiadZkyjNpL_lZ08TA_RHTaivUmSXc_CFRCSJzfP0/edit?usp=sharing

This is my pitch which I will be presenting to show my plan for my documentary. I am still stuck on two ideas I can do for a documentary but it all depends on whether I can get the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to have an interview. 

Archived Footage 

7/4/22

Archived footage is to show a variety of visuals or to add 'filler' between gaps of content. Usually they are accompanied by a voiceover and they are mostly used in stories about historical events. There are three types of archived footage these are: 

• Photos
• Videos 
• Illustrations 

Mis-en-scene is 'telling a story' as translated is 'Visual Theme'. Usually within scenes Mis-en-scene is used via establishing shots so the location/mood is set up within the scene. The mood has to be consistent within the scene and the key creative expression describes the specific aspects of the theatre/ film design and production. 

Keyframe Animation 

28/4/22

This is an example of using keyframe animation I used a landscape picture from my photos. We had to change the position then work out where we would start the animation from and I chose the top left corner and used ease in so it was a clean transition. 

Primary Research

This my version of primary research, which is a survey about what the class thinks of the Golden Age of Hollywood compared to 21st Century films. From the results it look like more than half of the class haven't or might have watched a Golden Age of Hollywood film and everyone said they prefer 21st Century films because of the quality of acting or better CGI and easy to relate to the actors. They also feel the production side is better today than in the Golden Age of Hollywood which I agree the film production has definitley evolved quite well, the visuals in today films especially 2016 onwards has and I'm sure it will evolve and experiment more over the years . I then asked a question which is one of my questions in my documentary which I feel is quite a debatable question and I wanted to know other people opinions because films today are 3 hours long whereas in the Golden Age of Hollywood their were long films but not as many as you get today and the short ones were an hour and a half maybe 2 hours.

Secondary Research

Censorship