•An observational documentary. The Focus of the documentary would be on one of the elderly regulars at a country park in Eynesford. Looking at the way the staff at the country park come across this person every day yet know nothing about them. I think another interesting focus of the documentary could be the treatment of the elderly in society, which is a controversial political point at this current time. The focus of the documentary would be on this person’s life, and why they choose to come to the country park every week. They would tell us about their life and their past. I think that this may make a thought provoking and interesting documentary, as the audience gets a look at the life of someone else. Documentaries similar to this are often effective as people are naturally curious about other people’s lives. The the establishing shot would be of the wildlife in the country park, the trees and possibly some of the animals and other visitors. This is accompanied by non-diegetic music that reflects the environment. The music fades out and the scene cuts to the person that the documentary is focusing on. They would be seated in either the café that accompanies the country park, or one of the benches placed around the country park. If I decide to film the person inside the café I will use a match-on-action shot of the person opening the door and walking through it. Instead of having an interviewer asking the subject questions, I think it will be more effective to just film responses to questions, as if the person is almost telling a story. I feel that this will help the audience become more emotionally attached to the subject, which will mean that they will care about what happens to this person, and what they have to say. As the brief states it should only be an extract of a documentary with a 5 minute time slot I will have to get a variety of shots into a small space of time, to show my filming ability. During the interview I will use close-ups of the persons face, panning of the camera, and mid-shots, as just a few. Around four minutes of the documentary will be the interview. After these four minutes the scene then cuts to the person walking down the river that runs adjacent to the country park, it is shot from behind so we only see the persons back. They are walking away from the camera. Fade to black. Some problems that may occur if I choose this as my final idea, are that filming outside may prove difficult because I only have the use of a hand held camera to film on therefore sound would be bad when filming outside. Also, I would need permission from Kent County Council to film in the centre as they own and run it.
•Expository documentary. The documentary would be looking at gang crime in London. The use of the Brechtian alienation technique would be important in this documentary, as the audience would need to be a critical observer, rather than becoming too involved. The reasoning behind the need for a critical audience is because of the nature of the documentary, as it has political messages we need the audience to take on the message of the documentary. Establishing shot of London at night and the interviewer giving facts about gang crime, such as the death toll of last year; this is a very common convention in documentaries. Cut too a typical gang on the streets of London, each of the gang will give a short interview, so there is no focus on just one subject, allowing the viewer to distance themselves from the documentary. Close-up’s of each of the gang member’s faces and then a long shot to show what they are wearing or doing. Each gang member will be asked a series of questions about what life on the streets of London is like. The interviewer’s voice will be heard, a standard documentary technique. Each of the subject’s responses will then be filmed. Problems with this idea would be the element of danger that poses in filming a gang, also filming at night would prove difficult. Many documentaries on this subject have been made and so I feel the idea would not have an original view. However would have a large target audience, so many viewers.
•Observational documentary, looking at the life of a student. Opens with shots around their home, showing the general chaos of the student’s everyday life. A standard interview of a student and their life at university. It will look at whether they feel university has been beneficial or just a drain on finances, which is a common debate in the media currently. However this documentary would be less mainstream than most, because it’s looking less at the facts and more at the life of the subject. This would mean the target audience would be relatively small, probably only appealing to prospective students and current university students. I would cut the questions posed by the interviewer so it appears the subject is telling a story of his life. Cuts to the student beginning to talk about life at university. Then every so often cutting to the subject doing different activities that they would usually perform in an every day situation, and some of them doing tasks that their course requires of them. Through the focus on one person the audience can develop an emotional attachment to the subject. I have formulated this as an idea as many producers say that if a documentary is going to be successful it needs to be something that is close to you, or reflects a decision you are trying to make.
•Observational documentary about independent bookshops and whether they will ever be successful again with all of the commercialised stores that are around nowadays. Establishing shot of the front of the bookshop, accompanied by non-diegetic music. Interview with bookshops owner, focusing only on that one person. Standard interview, the questions asked can be heard. Cuts to shots of the books and around the bookshop. Back to the subject continuing to talk to the interviewer. Target audience would be small, only other book shop owners and people who enjoy English literature, so the documentary would not be very main stream.
