2 October 2015

Year 11 : Week 5 (Controlled Hours 5 & 6)

In this week's lessons you will answer the following questions;
  1. Who should we interview for our documentary?
  2. What B-Roll should we shoot?
  3. What questions should we ask?
  4. What is the intended 3-Act structure that our documentary will have?
Question 1

Who are you going to interview? What is their area of expertise? How can they contribute to your search for truth? How will their opinions illuminate the issue for your target audience?

Identify the names of the individuals you are going to interview. Justify their selection. How did you identify them as a good source of information. A brief summary of their background, experience or area of expertise is needed. What about a photo? A word processed document entitled 'Interviewee Information' should be saved onto your flash drive. (This is likely to be a shared document).

Question 2

What B-roll do you want to film? What types of locations do you intend to use?  What locations did you recce (recon)? Which ones did you dismiss? Why did you dismiss them? Which locations did you choose? Why are these good choices; how do they represent meaning for your target audience?

Answer the questions above in the 'Location Research' document. Don't forget to include some photographs.

Question 3

You've identified your interviewee's but how are you going to structure your interviews? What questions are you going to ask them? Are you going to ask everyone the same questions or will you have specific questions for specific interviewees? Are you going to include warm-up questions, designed to put your interviewee at ease but not really focussing on your issue in depth? 

As a production team, agree the questions you want to ask each interviewee. Record these questions in the 'Interviewee Questions' document. (This is likely to be a shared document).

Question 4

Now you need to construct an overall vision for your documentary. It should have 3 parts or acts;
  1. INTRODUCTION : Introduce the topic. Give us some facts to put the issue into context. Pose your killer question.
  2. DEVELOPMENT : Investigate your question or issue. Present differing opinions. Address the controversies. Present your reconstructions. Investigate possibilities.
  3. CONCLUSION : Present your final thoughts, the truth or a possible solution. Imagine 'Jerry Springer's Final Thought' format.
As a production team, agree a vision for your documentary. Record your intentions on the 'Pre-Shoot Script' document. You should consider the order of individual elements within each act. Perhaps colour the cells of the Excel document to identify each of the three acts. You won't be able to identify all of the content (you don't know what your interviewees are going to say yet) but you can identify generic intentions. See my example here (go to the 3rd tab; Pre-Shoot Script).

 AT THE END OF THE LESSON, EACH GROUP WILL PRESENT THEIR INTENTIONS TO THE CLASS.

 Out of Hours Learning
  • Update the Lesson Evaluation document (in sidebar)
  • Update your Production Diary, summarising the progress you have made this week.
  • Update your Production Calendar, identifying any deadlines or production team meetings you set.
  • Complete  the Interviewee Information document.
  • Complete the Location Research document.
  • Complete the Pre-Shoot Script.