Commission: My Draft Pitch

Draft Pitch

Title

Victoria Hill in the Noughties

Millennium Street

Victoria Hill in the Millennium

The Millennium on Victoria Hill

Pitch

The documentary will focus on 4 generations all living on Victoria Hill Road, how they celebrated the entering of the 21^st century, what were their goals and aims for the new century and were they achieved and did any big events happen to them in the past 10 years. The style of the documentary will be interview, archived footage and natural observation footage. There will be a child who was born in 2000 and is now 11 and starting secondary school, someone who is in their mid to late 20’s now and so was a teenager in the 10 years of the noughties, someone who is 40 now so back in the noughties they where 30 and had children and someone who is 70 now and so was in their 60’s back in the noughties and retired. I will unravel all of these 4 individuals’ stories in order to find out how the noughties changed them. My opening and linking sequences will be travelling up the road and entering the different houses. At the end of my documentary all of the generations will get together showing that neighbours still exist and even though they are very different ages and lots of different things have happened to the in the last 10 years they can still all relate and respect each other and be friends.

Direction Unit: Opening Titles

After a long discussion we finally came up with a title and the idea for a title sequence which we all liked and agreed upon. The title we have chosen is "Directors 13" and if you click on this link http://daniel-baugh.blogspot.com/2011/09/direction-unit-series-titles.html it will take you to Dan's blog where you can see the final title sequence which he has put together for the group.

Direction Unit: Performance Workshop

To day we had to take it in turns directing performers to create drama in a scene but at the same time we had to think of what camera angles we would be using to capture the drama as well.

Here is what I came up with.

I was pleased with how I directed my performers but I was disappointed with shots that I chose as they were not framed or as close up as I would have wanted but from doing this project i have learnt that I need to concentrate on all aspects of creating drama as with this task I was to busy thinking about my performance.

Narrative and Genre: The Story of Narrative

Every drama, documentary, news and reality show have a story to communicate their point.
Christopher Booker argues that all stories can be split into 7 plot lines and all stories are versions of these. They are:

• Tragedy
• Comedy
• Overcoming the monster
• Voyage and the Return
• Quest
• Rags to Riches
• Rebirth

Tragedy

This plot usually concerns a hero with a fatal flaw, which causes a tragic ending.

• Romeo and Juliet
• The Godfather
• Madmen

Comedy

This is not necessarily laugh-out-loud funny but there is always a happy ending typically of romantic fulfilment. Will usually have a hero, down on their luck and looking for love in some shape or form. There will be a hero and a heroine destined to get together, but dark forces prevent them doing so. Normally there is a guiding light to help them on their way.

• Take Me Out
• Friends
• Scrubs
• Gavin and Stacey

Overcoming the Monster

Fighting against a seemingly unbeatable foe at its core. Only will the hero prevail if they can overcome this monster.

• Jaws
• Deal or No Deal
• Doctor Who
• Detective Programmes

Voyage and Return

This plot line follows the archetypal structure of personal development through leaving and then returning. The hero enters a land/place/time that they don't understand and must overcome.

• Alice in Wonderland
• Wife Swap
• Big
• Freaky Friday
• Undercover Boss

Quest

Was always about finding a holy grail. Usually requires the lone hero to have a team or companions with specialist skills. Quite often the object of the quest isn't actually something dramatic - a macguffin.

• Lord of the Rings - the ring
• Pulp Fiction - the suitcase
• Moby Dick
• X Factor
• Total Wipeout

Rags to Riches

The riches in question can be literal or metaphorical. Usually there is a hero who goes from rags to riches and a villain who does the opposite. With a coming of age story the rags and riches are maturity and immaturity.

• Stand By Me
• Pursuit of Happiness
• Only Fools and Horses
• Weakest Link
• Makeover programmes

Re-Birth

The central character finds a new reason for living and turns their life around. Villain spirals down into evil and then at the last second raises their head and gets pulled out of mire by some redeeming figure.

• Eastenders
• Secret Millionaire
• Kitchen Nightmare

Commission Unit: My Ideas

Today we had tutorials with Helen to see where we were with our commission project and what ideas we had come up with. The 3 ideas I pitched to her were:

1. What happened to different generations in the noughties?
2. What happened to different couples in the noughties?
3. How has reality television changed throughout the noughties? Why is there so many reality dramas around now such as The Hills and The Only Way is Essex?

With the third idea I wasn't sure on what the story could be so I sort of discarded it to concentrate on the other two. Helen liked these other two and she helped me to get my ideas flowing about how these people could be linked, what there story could be and what ages they could be.

For both of them I thought I could base it on a street and visit 3 different houses and talked to a different generation/couples in each household to find out what happened to them in the noughties.

Generations                                               Couples
10                                                               Married
30                                                               Divorced  
50                                                               Widowed
or                                                                or
Born                                                           Married in 2000 and where are they now
20
40
60

Commission Unit: What happened in the Noughties

Noughtie's

September 11^th 2001 – terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York

2003 the Iraq war began

Earth quakes

Tsunamis

Hurricanes

Fuel prices went up

The price of the euro went up 

Some of the most popular and successful online sites or search engines of the 2000s included:Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, eBay, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Mobile phone convergance - camera, radio, internet, emails, sms, etc

Same sex marriages made legal

Swine flu

Rise in reality drama tv shows – The Only Way is Essex, Laguna Beach, The Hills, etc

Rise in reality competition shows – Strictly Come Dancing, X Factor, The Voice etc

Change in technology

·        Computers

·        Game consoles

·        Mobile phones

·        Cars

·        Televisions

·        Internet

Change in fashion

·        Uggs

·        Crocs

·        Skinny jeans

Initial Ideas

What the noughties involved for different generations?

What happened to different couples in the noughties?

Why programmes like the Hills and Laguna Beach have become so popular?

Why is there so many interactive reality competition shows around now? 

Commission Unit: Things to consider when coming up with an idea

When coming up with ideas I will have to think about:

• The time scale we have to shoot and the amount of time we have to fill in the channels schedule - will the idea be interesting and exciting enough for a 10 minute documentary and would you have enough time to shoot it.
• Size and skill of my production team
• Camera and kit accessibility
• Be original - what is the unique selling point of the idea
• Accessibility - are the locations, characters and information you need accessible
• Who is your audience
• What is your budget - can you afford to do your idea
• What are the facts
• What are your commissioning details - what does the channel want
• Locations - where can you film, is it easily accessable, do you need permision
• Branding - what programmes does the channel already show and will your idea fit in with the channels style
• Legal Constraints - can you actually film your idea
• Treatment/ style of your idea - how are you going to film your idea