Documentary Showbible

Research

The Genre i am going to choose will be documentary. This is because i feel like i can make the most of the information i gather if i make it into a documentary. Documentaries can be about anything you want, but if i chose a genre like wildlife, i would be limited to only information about wildlife. I want my idea to be about crime in darlington as i think it is an interesting subject and will be able too capture some good footage and interviews. Vice is a company that makes documentaries that are mostly set around the UK. Quite a few of their documentaries are similar to my idea in the locations they are set in, for example a lot of the locations that are filmed are quite rough areas.

Benefits street

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3mkGkhnPp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMcjoP670so


Developing ideas

The concept for my documentary is that i want it to be about crime, as its a interesting subject and pretty easy to talk about if its set in a rough area. The location i want it to be in is Darlington as its close to where i live and as i used too live there i know it very well. As i know quite a few people who live there it will be quite easy for me to find people that i can interview and talk too. I want the documentary to show what growing up in Darlington is like from the prospective of a teenage living there so that people can see life from a different age point. The target audience is aimed around 16 and above as anyone under 16 might not be particularly interested in documentaries, and if they are then it depends whether they will be interested in the topic. Also its aimed at people who live or have lived in Darlington as they can relate to the topic and the things that are being mentioned, and its a good source of information.
I want the documentary to start of with all the bad things that go on in Darlington and then end with a positive note, this is so people see the bad side and the good side of places which means my documentary will not be bias. It will involve one of my friends that has lived in darlington all his life so he has a pretty good knowledge of it.

Locations

I did some research about the different places i could film my B-roll shots, i simply did this by using google maps as this is a very quick.

This photo is of Alex's house where i'm going to hold the main interview.

This is darlington town centre where i plan too do a time lapse of the clock.

This is Alex's grandads house, Bill Coatsworth, where i will ask him a few questions about darlington.

Interviews 

When i interview Alex im going to ask him these questions:

• Whats it like growing up in Darlington?
• What was school like in Darlington?
• How where the people in secondary school?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• What are your opinions on the council?
• Is it easy to get alcohol?
• How has Darlington changed over time?

I think that these are some good questions as if he answers them in detail, then we will be able to hear about what its like growing up in Darlington

When i interview Bill Coatsworth, it wont be as long as the main interview with alex as i want to hear more of a youths prospective on society. These are the questions i will ask him:

• Is there any places that you would avoid going to in darlington?
• Have you had any trouble with youths?

As you can see the list for Bills questions is much smaller, but still gives an impact on the audience.

Secondary sources

Before i started too make my documentary i had too do a bit of research through the internet about how to set up lighting to get the best picture. I looked at a tutorial on YouTube about 3 point lighting for interviews, this will help me get the right shadow on the subjects face, and either make the shadow soft or hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLlMl2KuZi0

I looked at a video on youtube that a guy made about how to write and produce a documentary. He

talks about the journey he went through too make his documentary, he uses a narrative to make his documentary more interesting and this makes the audience more interested to see what happens next. He starts off by finding the protagonist with a desire, this makes people want too find out what the end result is. Then he films the journey that the protagonist took to complete his desire, and last he shows the discovery and the end product. So even though its factual it can still have a story, for example i want my documentary too go though all the bad thing then too finish off i want too show all the good things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdKGHkTljh0

Some more research:

http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/making-documentaries.html

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/ten-tips-for-dslr-documentary-filmmaking.html

Legal and Ethical consideration

As i am mostly going too be filming in public i dont need to ask anyone for permission, but the only thing i can do is get liability insurance. This means that for example if i had a light and someone knocked it over and electrocuted them they would not be able too sue me if i had liability insurance, whereas if i didn't they would be able to sure me.

Planning

Now that i had done all of my research, i am ready to start planning my production. The main thing i need to do is get my interviews out of the way as i can do B-roll shots in my own time. As if it gets too late and the people aren't available then i wont be able to film my interviews. I have asked Alex what days he can do for the interview and as he is not currently not working he can do any day. With Bill he doesn't work on weekends, so anytime on the weekend are ok with him. Now that i have planned out when im going to do my interviews, i need to look at what equipment ill need.

Equipment list:

• Nikon D3300
• Tripod
• Microphone
• Shoulder rig
• Intervalometer (Time lapse controller)

I am planning to do a time lapse of Darlington at the start of the documentary and too do this i will need to use the intervalometer as my camera doesn't have one built in.The only thing i will have to spend money on would be transport to get to darlington, and food.

Risk assessment

There are always risks when it comes too filming things, and they always need to be addressed for everyone's safety. For my documentary i think the biggest Risk is walking around certain parts of Darlington, as equipment could easily get stolen. Also if we are walking with all the equipment we can easily trip, hurt ourselves and damage the equipment.