Music

Now, depending on what I film, I have differing ideas of the music that I will be using. If I end up filming and using the African culture video, than I will obviously use music that is native to their culture. If I continue and end up using the Education idea, than I will use acoustic or Indie, moving music like:

Boyce Avenue
Camera Can't Lie
The Still
Dashboard Confessional
Hinder
John Foreman
Secondhand Serenade
Eli
Suzanne Vega

I want the music to be simple but deep. I will be using a lot of alternate tunings in order to give depth and bass to the melody. If the rest of my band is not too busy with tours and crap, I will try to lay down a few more complex tracks with them. If I can't than I will just use some of our older, previous tracks.

Alternative Ideas

Mr. Biggar:
I know you are going to have my hide for this, but hear me out. I have gotten a few offers for filming stuff in the States this summer and an amazing opportunity has arisen. My aunt who teaches cultural dance is spending 8 weeks with impoverished African-American children who pick cabbages for a living. The man in charge of the project says that he is interested in giving me a grant to fund future documenatry ideas and stuff. SOO I was just thinkin'...if the footage I get over the summer turns into something better than the current film I'm planning for... can I use it instead? :)

Independent Study Question

What techniques of propaganda found in German documentaries are also found in Michael Moore films?

IB Film Resource List

http://www.onroadmedia.org.uk/

IA IB FILM RESOURCE LIST:
The Triumph of Will
Wag the Dog
Michael Moore Films
The Birth of a Nation
Victory of Faith
18-minute Day of Freedom
Nuremberg Rallies Trilogy

Tips for making a Short Documentary

Humanity Explored Film Festival: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/festival/submit.php


Before shooting:

1. Pick a theme

2. Plan a goal/big-picture for the film

3. Research your theme

4. See the professionals have to say

5. Study articles, so when you begin to shoot you are knowledgeable

6. Think of some possible questions that can be answered in a short, straighforward way



"Documentary displays a tension arising from the attempt to make statements about life that are quite general, while necessarily using sounds and images that bear the inescapable trace of their particular historical origin. These sounds and images come to function as signs; they bear meaning, though the meaning is not really inherent in them but rather conferred upon them by their function within the text as a whole. We may think we hear history or reality speaking to us through a film, but what we really hear is the voice of the text, even when the voice tries to efface itself" (Nichols in Rosenthal, Voice of the Documentary, 1998, p. 52).



http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_13/section_5/artc1A.html

Intro Shots

The 30 second re-enactment at the beginning is going to be a Verisimilitude, or an 'imitation of reality'. Because I do not know the exact location of where it is to be filmed, I can't plan specifically, but I do know that I want something along the following shots:
1. A hand-held tracking shot of boy walking down street with basket.
2. Sound of jingling coins
3. Shot of boy giving a few pesos to his mother
4. Cross-cut and over-the-shoulder shots of his conversation with his mom
5. Shot of boy peering through barred school gate at the children inside

Possible Locations:
1. San Pablo School
2. Mexico Catholic School
3. Santa Rosa School
4. Professor Genie's Office
5. Random people's houses
6. Lolo Fort's Farm
7. ING Learning Center, Baseco

Basic Structure:
Beginning Credits: My trademark introduction (collage of travels)
Intro: Boy with the fish who can't go to school.
TITLE: One Ticket Out
Body: Narration
Narrator
Commentary from professionals
Commentary from parents
Body: Visuals
Visuals of all those speaking
Shots in schools
Shots of daily life
Shots of quality of life in village (nothing wrong with it, but sometimes they are missing the bare necessities.)
Shots of the educated going to school
Shots of child labor
Ending:
Collage of children talking about how education is a privilege
Powerful. Quick. Moving.
THE END

Good Documentary Slideshow: http://sismedia.wetpaint.com/page/Independent+Study