NEA blog

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. For example, I could put a slow, sombre piece of piano music in where the documentary looks at how hard it was without an assistance dog. Then later on I will use a more happy, upbeat piece of music when it is being reflected on the positive impact an assistance dog has had.  After watching lots of short documentaries I realised that most of them work well with a narration over the top. So I may also include this during archive footage. Or I may include the audio from the interview part of my documentary, then the cutting between both shots will be smoother.  I may also include times of complete silence where she is reflecting on a difficult time. Then the audience will be able to just focus on her emotions and nothing else. In certain parts, I will also make sure to keep in the ambient sound. This...

As for the narrative of my documentary, I was inspired by the narrative techniques used in 'The Stories We Tell' by Sarah Polley. In this documentary, the narrative is multi stranded and has may different narrative lines that it is following; archive footage, current footage, reconstructive footage, and Michel's narration. 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. It will also include current videos of the assitance dog helping....

As I am filming a documentary, the majority of the mise-en-scene elements will be natural and true to how it would normally be. The mise- en-scene will not be exagerated at all, as the story and what the individal is saying is more important, it should be focused on.  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.   Another setting will hopefully be outside. This will be when I film them on a walk and prehaps a game of fetch. By filming outside it may effect the sound quality, if so I will get rid of the audio from the video and have music over the top instead.  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 g...

Final Idea  After my presentation and feedback I have decided to continue with the idea  of a documentary   about the impact of an assistance dog on someone with  cerebral palsy's life.  I want to do this to make people more aware of how difficult it can be to live with cerebral palsy. I also want to do it to show just how helpful an assistance dog can be, and how much they can change a persons life. I want to make sure that the documentary focuses on ending positively, showing how much an assistance dog can impact a persons life for the better. My ideas of what I would like to include in my documentary: - Archive footage - Narration - Current footage of assistance dog helping - Static shots of the individual talking about the assistance dog and answering questions.  - Go pro on dog - Footage of both on a walk outside

Before going and filming my documentary I thought I would do some research on Cerebral Palsy and assistance dogs. In doing this I can increase my knowledge in the subject area and avoid creating a documentary on something that I have no knowledge about. Cerebral palsy (CP) - causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment & pathology: This video gave detailed information about Cerebral Palsy, why it happens, its symptoms and treatment. From This video I learnt that: Cerebral Palsy is an umbrella term to cover a wide variety of issues. The majority of Cerebral Palsy cases are thought to happen prenatally. It is a non-progressive disease There are three different types of Cerebral Palsy; Spastic, Dyskinetic, Ataxic .   It is not cureable, but can be treated.

After  meeting up with the person who I would like to focus my documentary on, I came up with a list of questions to ask her in the interview element to my documentary . What was it like before queenie ? What things did you find difficult to do ? What made you decide to get an assistance dog?  Did you know anyone at the time who had an assistance dog?  How did you feel when you found out you were getting queenie ? When did you get queenie? Was it easy adapting to having an assistance dog ? How has queenie changed your daily life ? Has it been for the better? Do you wish you had made the desicion to get an assistance  dog sooner ?  Would you recommend getting an assistance dog to others ? I our first meeting we also came up with a list of tasks that Queenie (the assistance dog ) does daily to help .  Taking clothes in and out of the Washing machine  Picking up anything - phone , keys , purse  Br...

I had to give a lesson to the other year 13 class on applying the modes of documentary to ‘the stories we tell’. My lesson included a PowerPoint, to provide the class with the information. A sheet for the class to fill out throughout the lesson, this was to make sure they were paying attention. Lastly it also included a kahoot quiz, this was so that the class could apply what they had learnt.

For the my second lesson, I had to present it to my class. The lesson included a PowerPoint with all the information on it. It also included several Kahoots, so that the class could apply what they have learnt to a quiz.                https://create.kahoot.it/details/77a3673d-54b1-4de0-9ecd-55cf586ee559

We created a presentation to convey our short film idea, and gain feedback on what to change and improve. Feedback 1 I will take into account that my documentary could end up having a small amount of a commercial aspect to it. However I do not want to have it take over the documentary, as I still want its main aim to be making people aware.  I also agree with the idea that I definitely shouldn't linger on the negativity of it too long, but  make sure to end on a positive note.    I will remember to not make it to complicated and stick to the simplicity of it.  I will spend time looking at previous campaigns and documentaries to get ideas.  I want to make the audience aware of assistance dogs and how much of a positive impact they have on people. I want the music to emphasise the mood. so when she is reflecting on before she had the dog and how hard it was, I would have more sombre, sad piano music. Then when she i...