Task.1 Documentaries

Documentaries Filmakers

1.Louis Theroux Documentaries he is known for  Lou Theroux’s weird weekend, Louis and the Nazis, Louis Theroux Behind Bars, Louis and the brothel, Louis Theroux under the knife among with many others.

Lou Theroux was born in May 20 1970, Two of the his documentaries I remember the most by him is the documentary were I tried get a interview with Michael Jackson which he did not get,and the one were he spent time a in a brothel.  I think he has a real straight getting to point about his films.  Lou Theroux is also a writer and a producer. Louie Theroux is BBC television Presenter who is known for investigating different life styles.

His career has lasted over Fifteen years now.  Louie is known gentle way to ask his questions he also uses a formal approach to his interviews.

He also gets to know the people behind the stories in his documentaries.  during his long career Louis has got many scoops in the world of journalism. Louis garrotted from Oxford in 1991.

http://louistheroux.com/

Above is a link to Louie Theroux Wedsite.

2.Jon Shenk Documentaries He known for The Beginning Making Episode 1, State of the Art:The pre visualisation of Episode 2,  Lost boys of Sudan.

Jon Shenk Studied at Yale University, He has been Nominated for a News And Documentary emmy award. Jon’s documentary The Begging Making Episode 1 is one favourite behind the scenes of movie set ever. In my option it is very honest and a good insight on how that film is made.

This documentary don’t just show the production of the film but it shows reactions of the fans of the star Wars series after the film is shown for the first time.

Some of the scenes what stick out for me in Jon’s documentary are  When George Lucas Is colouring  over the storyboards and explaining to his team what will be real and what will be digital. It also shows the actors such as Liam Neeson learning how fight with there lightsabers, It also shows the Actors choosing the lightsabers they want.

Another Scene which stood out for me in his documentary is after George Lucas and his team screen The phantom Menace for first time afterwards George and his team are pointing figures at each other and blaming each other about all problems the movie has for me this scene is a good example on how honest this documentary is.

It also hows how many problems they had in the production stage.

3. Stevan Riley Documentaries He known for Everything or Nothing,Fire In Babylon

Stevan Riley’s first Documentary was Rave against the Machine, Stevan Riley is a British director, writer,editor,producer and documentary maker. He studied at the University of Oxford .Stevan  earn himself a Grierson award and he was nominations for best documenary at a independent film award.

4.George Butler Documentaries He known for Pumping Iron, Pumping Iron The women, Roving Mars

George Butler was born in 1944 in London he mostly known for Pumping Iron which is a documentary which feature Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Feringo back when were competing for Mr Universe.

He is also a Photographer,

5.Justin Lee Collins Documentaries He is known for Bring Back Star Wars, Bring Back Star Trek,Bring Back A Team

 

Justin Lee Collins Was born July 28th 1974 and his a known TV Presenter and Documentary maker. Most of his Documentary in involve him travelling to places to track down cast members of his favourite TV Shows or films in a series of shows called Bring Back.

The concept of The Bring Back show was to track down the cast of the show he was trying to bring back if they were still alive, and hold a reunion at the end of the show, but most of the time only a few a cast turn up at the end if any at all.#

Above is a link to Bring Back Star Wars in this one Justin Tried to reunited the cast of Star Wars in this clip he is interviewing Carrie Fisher who is known for Playing Princesses Leia .

Justin Lee Collins took a very hands on approach in his documentary often going out finding and interviewing people himself, Sometimes Justin Lee Collins took a comedy approach to his interviews maybe to make who is interviewing feel at ease.

The 6 Modes Of Documentaries 

1. The Expository Mode- Often Uses a Narrator,Addresses the viewer directly using  with titles or voices. this is to advance a argument or recount history.
2. The Performative Mode-This involves the filmmaker interviewing his subjects and allows the filmmaker them selfs to be involved in the documentary them selfs going on a journey to finding the anwesers of what his documentary is about. It also makes the viewer go into the foots steps of the filmmaker. This mode of documentary uses voices overs and commentary.
3. The Poetic Mode- Shows images and continuity  editing and patterns
4. The Observational Mode-Mostly they have no Voice over, No commentary It os documentary mode were  real social people act as there or no cameras filming them.
5. The Participatory Mode In the participatory mode “the filmmaker does interact with his or her subjects rather than unobtrusively observe them.”^[1] This interaction is present within the film; the film makes explicit that meaning is created by the collaboration or confrontation between filmmaker and contributor. Jean Rouche’s Chronicle of a Summer, 1960, is an early manifestation of participatory filmmaking. At its simplest this can mean the voice of the filmmaker(s) is heard within the film. As Nichols explains “what happens in front of the camera becomes an index of the nature of interaction between filmmaker and subjec
6. The  Reflexive Mode  The reflexive mode considers the quality of documentary itself, de-mystifying its processes and considering its implications. In Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera (1929,) for example, he features footage of his brother and wife in the process of shooting footage and editing, respectively. The goal in including these images was, “to aid the audience in their understanding of the process of construction in film so that they could develop a sophisticated and critical attitude.” (Ruby 2005) Mitchell Block’s …No Lies (1974,) functioned in a notably different manner, as it reflexively and critically questioned the observational mode, commenting on observational techniques and their capacity for capturing authentic truths. In this way, the reflexive mode of documentary often functions as its own regulatory board, policing ethical and technical boundaries within documentary film itself.

Bowling For Columbine 

Bowling For Columbine is a 2002 documentary by Film Maker Michael Moore. which was about  gun violence and the shooting in Columbine high School Shootings back in 1999.

For Me Bowling for Columbine is a Participatory Documentary because Micael Moore Partictapates in his own documentary. Michael Moore goes on a journey to find something out which he wanted to know to find some sort of answer. You also see Moore as he interviews various people about the certain topic in this case gun violence.

It also shows Moore arrive away from America over to Canada. In this documentary it very much about Moore as A viewer you go on a journey with him.

The tone of this documentary changes throuhout it starts of being more comedic  and turns more serious as it progresses.

Life its self 2014

Life its Self is a documentary about life and career of Roger Ebert  the documentary  was directed by Steve James. It also had footage of Roger Ebert leading up to his death  showing him in hostpital. The documentary had stock footage of Roger’s life . The documentary  also shown the love hate relationship between Roger and fellow Film Crititic  Gene Siskel who has also sadly passed away . Both  Roger and Gene Hosted the show  At The Movies were they Critised movies.

The Mode of Documentary which Life its Self is  Expository Mode because it has narration talking over stock footage. It also has certain people being interviewed.

 

 

 

Task.4 Evaluation of pitch

Evaluation  Of Pitch

In my final pitch I noticed I have missed out certain things I wanted in my pitch what I mentioned in my treatment.

In my final pitch I wanted to mention that the main  Character the explorer is female ad I wanted to mention in my final  pitch her name and the fact she was going act like the Indiana Jones and Han Solo character. But I could not find right time to bring these things up in my pitch with in the time limit which as just two minutes

I also  wanted to mention locations and my option if I could do my film with the winnings I would get from winning Enter the Pitch.

But I could find a place mention this in the time I had to do the pitch.

I also wanted mention clothing for example I wanted to explorer to be dressed like mix Indiana Jones and Han Solo I really wanted to get across but I didn’t, also in the final pitch I wanted to mention the Suivors  clothing on the ships I wanted to go into more details about how character looked and more details about the story. I also wanted to tell them what the crystal would look like.

Like  I was saying I was thinking about the two mintue time which made me forget to mention certain thing I needed  to improve my Pitch.

My pitch was only one minute thirty, the reason this is was I could not see the time running out so I suspected I hit or just about to hit the limited time. I wish I rerecord my pitch to mention more of my things  I wanted to with to two minutes.

I was happy with my overall idea which I decided to pitch and the story which I choose. I think  I went to detail in my treatment and spoke about character,Location ect.

I was happy with the Sci Fi genre I choose because gave me a chance to explore my idea and bible story I choose.

My Final Pitch its self I felt I talked about my idea with confidences  and gave eye contact to camera. I spoke about with infusiasim and I think my pitch will stand out.

one of the things that I would change about my final pitch is it might come across a bit commercial so may not be taking seriously by the judges.

What I felt while recording my pitch, I felt I spoke a little quiet through out the recording.

I throught it was a good idea to introduce by pitch by telling them which bible story my idea was from which was Genesis.

Task.2 Research

Research

Enter The Pitch 

Enter the pitch  is a filmmaker competition  where there is twenty five thousand prize to be won for the best pitch to be entered. To invest in the winning idea. Your pitch has to based a bible idea and most be at least two minutes long.

There is a panel judges who choose out the best idea from pinewood studios.

There is a range of genres you can put your film under.  There has been many winners through the years the competition started   from 2009 up present day.

Winners 

2009- Simeon Lungair- Derelict

2010-Rob Mclellan-Rahab

2011-Tim Bassford-Black Scholes Conspiracy

2012-Simon Cookson- The Light

2013-Aurora Fearnley-Pulsar

2014-Andy Toovey-Only Child

The Enter the Pitch web site  also have tips  and advice there is certain criteria judges are looking for and there list of that certain criteria to follow on there site.

Some things that is in that criteria are show the filmmakers vision, Story telling skills. Passion for filming making and ability to communicate and along with many others.

The story I choose is from Genesis, Genesis is where god created world with six days and on the severenth had a rest.  After that God created the first two humans Adam and Eve. God also created all the animals in the Garden of eden.

Instruction The First Five book of the bible.

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”. And it was so.

This is a line from the story Genesis which I Thought  was a Interesting line from the story.

The Book Genesis is often known as the book of Mosses and quoted to be author.

Above is a link to a YouTube Video which uses narration and pictures to talk about Genesis.

Task.3 my pitch video

This link is for the video I made for Enter the pitch. This my pitch in the link above

This a screen shot showing that I have enter the the pitch.

Task.1 Enter the Pitch My

Genesis

Idea-

My idea is based on a story from bible the story comes from the old Testament.

The story I choose is Genesis which is basically about how god created the Earth.

I am going to do my own take based on the idea of Genesis my do my own version of it.

Genre – Sci Fi

My Story is set is deep space there is a planet far away from Earth. There is Planet that once one full of life it had an ocean,plants ,animals  now the planet is dead, the oceans  has  dried out. The residents are now living on space ships not far from there dead Planet.

Five years after the residents left the planet a Explorer returns to find his planet had died. On his journey through space the exploer found a crystal that is meant restore life to planets.

The explorer stands on the edge of spaceship uses the crystal starts restore life. The crystal takes seven days to restore life.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1

For my pitch  I deciding to go with a simple idea. I am going with simple way to present my idea I am going to sit in front of camera just explain my idea  and maybe cut to some pitures to show what I am talking about.

My Pitch will be filmed in my college

Doing this for me is the best way to get idea across I might also use different examples during my pitch to get my idea across such as objects such as maybe a crystal because there is a crystal in my story.

I choose Sci Fi because Sci Fi is the easiest genre you can adpated from the bible  because Science Fiction can be mostly anything it set in space,The future or a different dimension and you can use imagine.

I going  have speak about my idea with conifidents to convince the judges my idea is the one to choose to make the short list. even though pitch is just me if the idea is good it may stand out.

I want the lead the explorer to be female because I see a female character giving life more than a male.  I would like female to be name Erisa Len.

Shots 

Open shot be of the dead planet, then ships in space were the people of the dead planet now live. the explore returns, The Exploder sees his dead world. Explorer tells the people about his crystal that is meant restore life to planets, The Explorer stands on the edge of the ship just floating outside the planet, A yellow beam comes out cystal hitting the planet, With in seven days the rivers,Plants  and life restores to the planet. it ends

props

Crystal,Futureist clothing, A mixture of Indiana Jones and Han Solo Style cousome for the Explorer but for a female.

Character 

Explorer Erisa Len she will act as the Han Solo and Indiana Jones style character very much your cowboy character I wanted my priamry to be female.

Mayor Nass he is the leader of the inhabbitions he controls the space ships and he is one the explores goes to with the crystals.

plus a few extras/Background Characters.

Locations 

I will only have one priamary location which will be the main space ship were the mayor lives , The location will very futurastic looking with hi tech technology.  The location will be large with a lot of space. You can also consider the mayor’s office as different location but will be based on the ship.

The Location i would need to film in would be a large location with loads apace in would need to be large enough to fit the set the crew and their equipment.

Will I be able to do my idea with twenty five thousand?

For a start I only real need two actors  need main actors who will need to be payed plus extars who would also need to be on the wage.

for shots of the dead world I could use a green screen luckly at college we have access to a green screen.

I will also have a book a crew and equiment and also think about how long it to shoot. How long many days i will need to book cast,crew and equipment.

all the the scenes on the ship I think can be filmed in one location I just design it to look like a ship so I need design to design the  scenery.

I would also need consume designer to design the costumes.

So there is a lot to take in to consideration with all staff and crew who paying plus how many days that take to film and traveling to and from locations.

So that take a lot from from the budget.

What needs to be done.

On Thursday 17th of September  around 1030 all the groups did a group Skype sessions with one of the members who works for enter the pitch which gave use the chance to ask questions to him which could of help use with our own pitch and ideas that we were coming up with.

Even though I did not ask a question myself I felt most stuff needed to be awes aweswed  did in Skype  session. he even gave bible stories which have never been enter which we can adapted. I also told different bible stories we could choose which a similar to the ones we choose what better ideas which haven’t really been pitched.

He also mentioned the more rearer stories in the bible that choose and finally he told us what is best way to pitch our ideas  and what he personally liked to see a pitch be.

On whole I found the session very helpful when composing my own idea and how I am  going to present my own pitch.

I throught best way start my pitch was to come up with my idea so I did brief research into bible stories and pick one that I felt I could do a good version of and story which I felt would stand out.

When had the story my first idea was choose genre straight away I want Sci fi because i felt Sci Fi was easiest genre to change.

After I had the genre I came with basic idea once I had that I could expand on that adding characters and stretching out the plot.

Obviously the explorer  character acts a are god in bible story god created the Earth, in my The explorer  restores her planet. I choose a primary female character to make very different from bible version. because in bible I think god is mostly  written about to me a male character so I wanted something different.

While filming my pitch I choose a room with plain white walls. because I wanted to be as simple and plain aspossible so the judges focus on me and what trying pitch rather than be detected by what is in the background.

Then I started think location where I could set my idea.