Commission Documentary Unit 3: Ideas Lab

Ideas lab

Today we had an ideas workshop for group ideas to pitch to Helen and our class to receive feedback,.

Prior to the ideas lab we'd all spoke about ideas we had and discussed amongst ourselves which we would take forward and pitch. 

I myself didn't  have a set story idea but I wanted to create a dramatic documentary following the story of someone whom had done something dramatic and maybe even life threatening to save or help someone. This could be someone of any age and background, stories that influenced me included a story on 'The Pride of Britain Awards' about a young girl (around 5 years old) who rang an ambulance when her mum had collapsed on the floor, throughout the programme they played a sound clip of the young girl following instructions of the ambulance lady telling her what to do for her mum- following these instructions the girl successfully put her mum in the recovery position and helped her until the ambulance arrived. The programme created a reconstruction of the accident which inspired me to want to create a re construction in our documentary. Another example was on the same programme, a bus driver was on the motorway and had fainted at the wheel - in a state of panic a brave passenger saw the drivers arm fall to the side and knew something wasn't right, the bus began to start going off the  road so the passenger went to the front and successfully drove it to a halt.

Andrei also had an idea to use a story of a man who taught martial arts and karate to young people at a community centre.

However, due to the fact I wasn't able to attend the ideas lab,,my idea didn't get put forward which I was disappointed about... Instead people thought the martial arts story sounded good and Andrei decided he wanted to do the Cathedral Story. Although I wasn't happy with the decision as we'd all discussed we didn't want to do that brief, we ended up doing it as an email got sent out to Heather (the head of conservatory at the Cathedral) telling her we wanted to do the documentary. 

I decided to try and get into the project and do some further individual research on it so I could at least know more about the cathedral.  

Commission Documentary Unit 3: Group Ideas.

Andrei kindly created a shared Google drive, this is so when each of us has ideas we can add it to the document and it will automatically update on each persons computer. This was a great idea for when we meet up - everyone can talk about ideas with each other and then if we thought of more after we can further elaborate on the page.

What is the name of the documentary/ideas?

• Apprentice at work, Cathedral’s apprentices
• Ancestry craftsmen
• Historical artifacts of the tomb
• The historical artifacts stories

Stories behind some of the glass artwork

Encouraging young artists to become interested in the stained glass artwork. - ideas for overview of film.

Style & Genre

On first introduction to Heather Newton, the head of the stone masonry conservation at Canterbury Cathedral, when we discussed about possible styles for this documentary, one thing that she specifically mentioned is that she doesn't want this documentary to be another fly on the wall, historical paint drying documentary - she would like for it to be interactive and to show the lives/characteristics of the workers whom are involved in the conservation project.

Historical style of coverage, possibly narrator driven: giving a brief account of the history of the cathedral.

Eyewitness style of coverage, character driven: experiencing a day in the life of an apprentice stonemason. It will involve a lot of interaction between the apprentices and the experienced stone craftsman at the cathedral workshop as they carry out their daily task’s. Hopefully if possible, if we know their schedule/timetable and what they’re working towards we can show a complete process of the stone being imported from the cathedrals stone mason yard - to the cathedrals workshop, then it being worked upon, and then placed on the cathedral.

The genre of this documentary is factual, and also would appear under lifestyle, as not only is it informing us of how the cathedral stone conservation is happening, but also of the people responsible for the work and there lifestyle as an individual, sort of the characters that are helping to keep the story of the cathedral alive.

What is the pitch?

1. In this exclusive documentary of Canterbury Cathedral, we see the astonishing work created by apprentices and craftsmen and the fascinating stories behind the stone masonry, artifacts and stained glass windows.

2. Stone masonry, historical artifacts and stained glass are all the exquisite elements that make Canterbury Cathedral the place for tourists and craftsmen. In this exciting documentary we see behind the scenes of the work that gets put into creating the astounding pieces of art.

3. Canterbury Cathedral, built over thousands of years ago is an unbelievable historical piece of architecture. In this documentary we will look at the troubles the cathedral faces to repair itself and the people behind the works. We will also have a sneak peek into the historical artifacts which are held in the cathedral’s secret tomb.

A brief outline of the story you wish to tell?

- Brief history on Canterbury cathedral

- The work that’s being done to conserve the stone monuments

- The day to day work of the stone masonry apprentices

- Who creates the stained glass and the process?

- The work that is created and where the stories come from behind each piece of work.

Where the historical artifacts come from behind each piece and the story behind them.

What is the USP?

Our unique selling point is, you’re getting exclusive inside story on the work of the stonemasons at the Canterbury Cathedral.

An insight into the Cathedral and the work that goes on in each section.

Who are our audience?

Because our documentary is for Canterbury cathedrals you tube channel, our audience is mainly be web based, such as tourist, historians; young enthusiastic stonemasons, experienced stonemasons and visitors of the cathedral website/youtube channel.

Are audience is quite a niche audience as stone masonry has quite a small population which is why we are trying to get more people to be interested in the hobbie/job.

Demographics & Psychographics.

Demographics:

Our audience will be a range of ages between the younger audience around 18-25 and then the older audience which could range between 50-80. However, the age could change as there is no particular age to be interested in stone masonry. We believe we could have a younger audience as there are apprentices that work at the Cathedral that are enthusiastic in wanting a career in stone masonry which could influence others. There is also a high stereotypical amount of older people who are interested in the cathedral.

The gender for our audience can be male and female.

The class for our audience could be a range of working class/middle class to upper class - if they are highly fortunate and are interested in collecting artifacts.

Psychographics:

The older audience could be interested in reading and writing.

The younger audience could be interested in attending social events and with friends and attending classes to encourage their knowledge in crafts and stone masonry and stain glass artwork.

Who are target market audience?

To help identify our audience, Andrei used some SEO techniques to see what information he could pull from the internet in regards to stone masonry. This is what Andrei said;
''to see how many searches it gets, where the searches are coming from, and what other keywords that are either associated with stone masonry and Canterbury cathedral. These keywords would determine how a user is directed towards the video, via the keyword association, as this would be used as a secondary means for advertising. Even though the list of keywords might seem laborious, this is very important as stated earlier to see where the possible entry points to this video are coming from. (show SEO research) http://aallenuca.blogspot.co.uk/
2014/03/commissions-unit-seo-marketing-
research.html ''

We also found that;

The Cathedral You Tube channel has 44 subscribers

Their Twitter account has 772 followers and the page is very active, receiving on average 10-twitter post/ re-tweets a day from either themselves or followers.

Their Facebook info page has 5600 likes, and 79,000 people have visited the location; with tourists posting frequently on the reviews section at the bottom of the page.

Documentary Commission Unit 3: BBC Documentary Comission Outlines

BBC Outlines.

If creating a documentary for the BBC, we need to know the rules and regulations to follow and the style of work the BBC creates.

I decided to visit the BBC's commissioning website to have a look at what they look for and the style of work they want.
Here is a link to the website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/briefs/tv/browse-by-channel/bbc-three/

For the BBC 3 channel, it's very specified, they want key priorities which are:

• The channel needs to be disciplined about focusing on the young - its centre of gravity will be 16-34 year-olds: people who are young in spirit and mindset.
• BBC Three is ‘Never Afraid to Try New Things’ and that’s why we will continue to innovate with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intelligent factual formats. Our content needs to have potential to innovate across platforms.
• BBC Three should provide an environment for the development of new ideas and talent and for existing talent to take risks, becoming a genuine laboratory for BBC One and BBC Two.

they are looking for comedy, drama, entertainment, documentary and current affairs and factual.

Here is a link to the website for other BBC channel outlines and styles for each different hybrid channel such as BBC 1, BBC2, Ceebebies...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/briefs/tv/browse-by-channel/

Looking at the BBC outlines will help us as creators establish what style we need to focus on to create a documentary for the BBC.

Commission Documentary Unit 3: What is a documentary?

What Is A Documentary?

I first wanted to figure out what exactly IS a documentary? To do this I looked at videos online which interviews film makers and directors explaining their defintion of a documentary.

I visited http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/what-is-a-documentary.html and found the page really interesting as it not only had a video and a written explanation of what a documentary is - it also gave examples of documentaries to watch to look at the different styles that can be used.

''Documentaries can be funny, poignant, disturbing, ironic, absurd, inspirational, amusing, shocking or any combination.

It is a genre of movie making that uses video & film scenes, photographs and/or sound of real people and real events which when edited together creates a particular story, viewpoint, message or experience.''

I also researched into what features should go into a documentary such as the narrative style, if it's an actuality piece, the visual elements, and any sound effects or music tracks.

What features go into a documentary? 

SCRIPT: The script is extremely important in our documentaries as it contains the basic story for our film, the shots that we want, and supports what we want to film. You can also include voice over in your script and also words of those you have interviewed for research.

TREATMENT: The treatment is usually 1-2 pages however can be up to 5/6 pages long. It is very important as it works as a synopsis and blue print for your documentary. You can write down a basic story of what you want in your documentary whilst also backing it up with the research you have under taken and talk about the MAIN CHARACTERS whom we will interview and the LOCATIONS we will visit whilst on our shoot.

VISUAL IMAGERY: The visual images are critical in a good documentary as they provide the visual support for your script and brings it to life. It's important to build a large image collection as you are doing your research, instead of waiting until you are putting the documentary together last minute.

MUSIC OR SOUND EFFECTS: Music can be extremely useful when cutting to B Roll dramatic scenes and can also change the feel of a documentary adding moving music to a film, or up beat music to a film to change or enhance the tone and story. However, we music make sure the music and sound effects cannot be too loud or distracting from our actual narrative as your narrative is the most important aspect of  a documentary.

Narrative styles?

• Character driven narrative. - This is when what the character/interviewee is saying is continually playing over footage and controlling what happens is the documentary as they are the ones telling the story - not us. 

EXAMPLE: 

I found this trailer for a documentary named 'After Happily Ever After'. The documentary follows a couple whom are newly married interviewing other couples that have been married for years, and also people who's marriages have broken down. The main character tells the story based on her story - however the people she's interviewing also drive the documentary story along as we follow what they say and the secrets in a strong marriage. I found this documentary interesting as Kate Schermerhorn (the main character) isn't only the main characher driven narrative person as she interviews others too.

• Plot driven- this is when an event takes over the structure and story of a documentary through cause and effect.

EXAMPLE: 

• Actuality - actuality is a documentary style which captures events and does little if anything to control them. However it's difficult to film as you will not have characters repeating the action, therefore continuity can sometimes be a problem. Allowing the subject to enter the frame and leave the frame helps create an edit point therefore helping continuity become clearer.

EXAMPLE: ''Cops With Cameras''  is a great programme to look at how to shoot actuality and the challenges faced. It can be hard to film because when the police are going into a raid they don't know what is about to happen therefore everyone needs to be prepared for a variety of outcomes. It can also be really dangerous and scary as the camera op gets ONE chance to get all the shots they want as you can't repeat a raid and ask them to do that again.

• Sequences - Sequences are individual shots which are constructed and controlled so that they are captured perfectly into a piece of continuity editing.

Comission Documentary Unit 3: Research Ideas.

We have already begun discussing ideas for the documentary and how to come across creating a documentary. For example Andrei created a group message and sent a link to the Lynda tutorials to a documentary tutorial by Jeff Sengstack which tells you everything you need to know about how to create a documentary.

I also began thinking about all the different definitions of heroism there is as our group doesn't want to do a stereotypical war hero story as we want something new, original and to have a reason for the story. I gave the idea that we could put an advert out in the newspaper asking people to nominate people whom they think have done something heroic, from young to old - I got this idea from watching the ITV programme The Pride of Britain Awards which is a really interesting programme that invites people to a large awards ceremony to receive a Pride of Britain award of a variety of celebrities and shows the courageous things they have done. This can range from saving someones life to help look for research into different charities based on something that's happened to them or someone they know. The programme was first televised in 1999 and has been running for 15 years with the presenter Carol Vorderman.
http://www.prideofbritain.com/

Here is a Youtube clip of The Pride of Britain Awards and some stories which have been recognised.

I also researched into courageous people as this can also be defined as a hero in someones eyes. I found this video off Youtube asking people what the most courageous thing they've done is. A lot of people really didn't know what to say - which made them think about stepping up... However a few people said they'd saved peoples lifes when they was young and some people named others that they thought was courageous. The video was really inspiring as it shows the different levels of courage and heroism.

Comission Documentary Unit 3: Group

For the Comission Unit, I am working in a group with Andrei Allen and Vittorio Falcucci. We have chosen to work together as first of all me and Andrei have worked together once previously and choose decisions well together as well as helping each other out and both knowing knowledge on different things so was able to help each other out. I also chose to work with Vittorio as I have chosen him previously for crew work and he has always been extremely reliable and even stood in for a cast that had let me down once. He is also extremely creative and both our ideas bounce off each other. Andrei and Vittorio have also created some good camera work in the past as in the Directions Unit 2, both of them had a lot of coverage, a variety of camera shots and a good story idea.

In our group we all agreed to choose the brief: BBC3 - 'My Hero' - stories of heroism

Comission Documentary Unit 3: Brief

Today we started our third Unit: Comission Documentary. In groups of 2/3 we are challenged to conceive, develop, script, shoot and edit an original 10' documentary which fits the following brief:

-BBC3 - 'My Hero' - stories of heroism.
or
-Canterbury Cathedral - film for their Youtube channel about the artists and artisans work to keep the beauty of the cathedral alive.

We must create a 25-50 word pitch for the idea for the documentary along with creative vision for it's visuals including ideas for locations and characters.