I am working with Frank Holmes, Saman Parwez and Jitesh mistry. We are all going to share responsibilities for bringing in different equipment, props and other requirements. Frank will be supplying the camera, which will be used to film out of school. We will all participate in planning the documentary by using each other’s ideas and putting it together, such as locations, props, dialogue etc. We will all get a chance to use the equipment so everyone knows how it works and no one will get left out.
For the documentary, I have researched other reportage and investigative documentaries regularly seen on Channel 4, but mainly documentaries shown after the watershed. This is so we can relate to these documentaries, as our documentary will contain certain footage, which cannot be viewed before the watershed. We will appropriate the techniques used in the Channel 4 documentaries and particularly the two documentaries that we have researched the most, which are “Macintyre Undercover” and “Beneath the Veil”. These documentaries were the most conventional when it came to content. They dealt with drugs, alcohol and violence, which are mainly the main issues which are going to be discussed in our documentary. Things that sometimes go unnoticed can be immensely effective. An example of this is an interview, where a teenager is smoking drugs in their bedroom with posters of drugs on their walls, along with music playing in the background. This aspect of the mise-en-scene obviously helps put across the influence of music. The mise-en-scene influences the audiences’ view of the individuals being represented. Another technique, which will be used, is of hidden camera footage. Filming teenagers doing drugs and alcohol before they go to a party.
The documentary will be aimed towards teenagers and parents to show them what really goes on in the real world. It is aimed towards parents so that we can educate them about how one thing leads to another and to keep them aware of what some teenagers do. It is also aimed towards teenagers to keep them aware of what they might get up to and hopefully change their views about these issues, as well as educating them. To achieving this, we will use different methods like showing disturbing footage. We expect individuals to not be represented entirely as innocent, but as gullible. The documentary will be shown after 10:00pm because the documentary content will be unsuitable for certain viewers, and some people may take offence to certain issues discussed. We will include a warning at the start of the documentary saying this program includes detailed discussions of violence, alcohol and drug abuse, which may cause offence to certain viewers.
The Equipment for the filming will be a mixture of technology, such as a Mini-Digital DV Camera, which we will borrow from the school, along with an external boom microphone, which is used for a much clearer and sharper sound. For lighting we will use an external light and have to try and use mainly natural light to give it more of a realistic look. We will also use a Digital camera outside of school for other extra footage, which we can then take certain extracts from our filming and putting them together in the schools editing room, using their Adobe premiere 6.5 software. This will allow us to edit certain shots and music; also to add special effects like slow motions, fade-outs, dissolves etc. Finally, we will be able to use voice over to give it that professional documentary finish.
By Pradip Maisuria
Word Count: 765
