1000 words

The aim of this project is to create three mini documentaries based around three
different subjects, each shot in a different style. The reason I wanted to look into making
documentaries was because it’s not really a type of film making I have ever really
explored, but I've wanted to for a long time. The reason behind deciding to make three
mini documentaries is because there’s so many different ways and styles of shooting a
documentary and I really wanted to explore more than one approach to doing so. As I
am working with two other classmates, we are planning to each adopt and rotate the
different roles on each of the films. By doing this, it will help develop our knowledge and
understanding in each of these areas, such as producing, directing, editing, etc.
The first of the three films we plan to make will be looking into the music scene in Plymouth,
and following a band through their trials and tribulations as they attempt to walk the road
leading to success. The second will be covering the exploration of Plymouth’s militant
history surrounding its Navy port. The third will be a documentation of a few individuals that
are now residing in a care home. We thought it would be interesting to continue the history
theme, but at a much more personal level, such as several elderly citizens life experiences,
thoughts and their histories. For this, we’d like to find some individuals who have lived in
Plymouth for an extensive amount of time.
Overall, this project will be combining different subject areas that cover several different
areas of Plymouth; Plymouth’s youth, with dreams and aspirations and they’re future ahead
of them; The elderly residents of Plymouth, with a mass of experience and stories about
how Plymouth and how it has developed and changed over the years gone by; A look at the
history of Plymouth itself and the history surrounding the famous Naval base.

I have been looking at several documentaries, making note of what I like and don’t like
about how it’s constructed and, from this, developing and planning my own ideas. I have
contacted a friend of mine who asked if I could film a documentary about his band last
summer. Unfortunately they’re not available to film before the deadline date, so we’re
looking into talking to some other local bands that may be interested, as it’s still a route
we’d like to take. We have made a list of different care homes within an appropriate and
practical radius that we could potentially film and are planning to get in touch with them,
once we've fully figured out a schedule for filming. The Naval one will be the hardest to
organize, but we have a couple of contacts, so hopefully we can make some arrangements.

Our main priorities at this stage are to make some official dates and arrangements with
some of the potential subjects. We also need to make a solid structure for what we need to
film. We know roughly what it is we want to do with each film, it’s just a matter of getting
it down on paper and making sure we’re all agreed. We’re still in the early stages of pre-
production as it took us a while to conceive an idea and overall objective for this project. We
didn't want to waste the opportunity with something we didn't feel would benefit us later
on. We wanted to explore something significant, which we knew we’d learn from and add
to our show reel, for a bit of diversity. We've discussed technologies, such as cameras, and
we've agreed that DSLRs may be the way to go with this project. The reasons being mainly

because of their size; they’re easy to carry around to different locations, and they don’t
seem so intrusive and intimidating as the bigger cameras, which, hopefully, will put our
subjects a little more at ease when they’re in front of it, allowing us to get footage where
they’re behaving in a more natural and truthful manner.

As far as strengths go, I think that the biggest strength of this project is that not only will it
allow us to explore a type of film making we've never had experience with, but it will let us
explore it in more than one way. We’re covering a lot more bases this way, than we would
if we made a 2 hour long documentary. We can explore and play with different elements
that you typically see on documentaries and experiment with what it is we feel comfortable
with doing, what works well, what doesn't work so well and the different outcomes those
elements can produce. I think the fact that this is quite an ambitious project is, in a way, a
strength, as it’s really pushing us outside our comfort and safe zones and will give us an idea
of what a typical work load could be like in the working world. We’re very conscious of the
fact that achieving 3 documentaries on such varying subjects in such a short period of time
will be difficult and that we could only come out the other side with only two, or maybe
even only one, but we feel it’s worth giving it a try. We want to push the boundaries with
this project and get out of it as much as possible.

Our main weakness here is having to arrange so much in just a short period of time. We
don’t only have to find one, but three different willing groups of participants and arrange
meetings and schedules so none of them clash, and so it’s at times so that we all can make
it. It also means three times more sets of locations, interviews, editing etc. Triple the work
load we’re used to. I think once the majority of the pre-production is out of the way, a
significant amount of weight will be lifted, but during these pre-production stages, it’s going
to be very hectic.

I've always been a fan of watching documentaries about all sorts of things. Mostly about
people around the world and the interesting stories they have to tell.
But I think the screening of Baraka happened at the perfect time for us because it showed
me a type of documentary that I hadn't really experienced before. The fact that it had no
dialogue or narration seemed odd at first, but it really opened my eyes to how you don’t
NEED someone telling you what’s happening or who and what the subjects on screen are.
You can just experience something, in this case ‘the world’, for what it is. It doesn't have to
be explained away by a narrator or an expert giving an opinion.
I’m going to start looking into more historical based documentaries, as most of the
documentaries I have watched have been about people, rather than places.

For this project I’m going to be working with Lucy and Jemma. We feel like we work well as
a group and we all have wanted to look at filming documentaries for a while, so this seemed
like the perfect opportunity. We’re not going to have set roles for this entire project; we’re
going to rotate roles between the shooting of the different films, so we all gain some
valuable experience in each of the different fields.

Schedule:
8th April – Deadline for pre production. We will aim to have the necessary arrangements and
paper work sorted, ready for filming.

9th April – 7th May – The shoots. This will be the space in which the shoots for all three
documentaries will take place.
A more specific schedule for production will be constructed once we can finalise dates with
participants.

8th May – 27th – Post production. This is the time frame we will have to edit and create a
soundtrack for each of the different projects. It is likely that each of us will edit one of the
films each, to help save time.