Coursework- where I am now

 Final Idea 

I have decided to go with the idea of a documentary   about the impact of a trained dog on someone with cerebral palsy life. My other idea was a short film about what its like to live with anxiety. However, I am going to do the  documentary instead as the anxiety idea is very cliché and is very common. Whereas, the idea of looking into the impact of a trained dog on someone with cerebral palsy is less common, and so people will find it more unique and interesting. 

Micro elements for my film

Mise-en-scene:

• Main, current setting would be in the individual's home. I would do this as her home will be a lot quieter than my house. It will also be good as she would feel more comfortable being asked questions within the comfort of her own home. 


• Hair and make-up, and costume will be whatever the individual is comfortable with wearing. It is a documentary, which is based on truth, so there would be no need to change the way she would normally look. We wouldn't be getting to know her truthfully if she doesn't feel like herself. 


• For props, I would make sure that the static shots aren't too cluttered with objects, so that the audience is not distracted from the individual and what she is saying. 


• For lighting, I will try to make it as natural as possible. However, I will experiment before hand with the lighting in the room I will be filming in, and if the natural light is too weak, I will use some extra, stronger light. I will need to make sure the light is strong enough to show her face, but not so strong that it gives it a very unnatural look. 

Editing:

During the interview parts, I will have all my static shots to be quite long takes, perhaps simply cutting between two or three different angels. 

• I think I will include some fading between bits of archive footage s they will be far apart from each other in time. so I would want the transition between them to be slow. not just jumping quickly from one time to another.


• I will mostly be using very simple editing, as this is a documentary, and I would want to keep it naturalistic.

Sound:

• The non-diegetic sound that I will include will be music in the background. This music will change  along with the mood. I will do this to empathise the emotions more. 


• Most documentaries work well with a narration over the top. So I will also include this during archive footage. 


• I may also include times of complete silence where she is reflecting on a difficult time. 


• I certain parts, I will also make sure to keep in the ambient sound. This again will give the documentary a very real, naturalistic feel. 

Cinematography: 

• Again because it is a documentary, I wont be using too abstract cinematography techniques so that I keep it natural and realistic. 


• So the main shots that I will be filming will be static, eye level shots. I would do this so that the spectator can focus on Jess and what she is saying, rather than any movement of the camera. This static shots may be from several different angles, and will mostly be medium shots. 


• I have the idea that I may use a go-pro camera to capture some footage through  the eyes of the dog. I would include this as it would be quite a fun element and entertain the audience. It would  also vary the cinematography a bit. 

Macro elements for my film 

Genre:

• My short film will be part of the documentary genre. 
• I don't  know yet whether I will include showing the process of creating it. If I did this, it would make my film a reflexive documentary.
• I think that my documentary will mostly follow the conventions of content for the documentary genre. for example, I will include, like most documentaries, a narration over parts of the documentary.  

Narrative:

• My short documentary will be non-linear. I will do this by including archive footage of before the dog and of when the dog first arrived. 
• I will have it non-linear so that it is more interesting for the audience, than if it was just linear. 
• The audience will get to see how much of an impact the dog has had on Jess, just buy seeing past videos. 
• My Documentary will have a multi-strand narrative. It will be showing archive footage of when the dog has first arrived. However, along side that, it will also be showing Jess in the present, talking about the impact the dog has had on her. 

Representation:

• I will use this short documentary to represent those who are disabled and struggle with daily tasks.
• It will also represent trained dogs and how much they can improve peoples' lives. 

Audience:

• I would want to create this film with the purpose of the audience to be educated about Cerebral palsy. To learn about how much impact a working dog has had on Jess. 
• The audience that choose to watch my documentary will be for their own education and even curiosity.