Formal Proposal For Documentary

The main topic of our documentary is the ‘Gig Experience’. This included the idea of exploring the process behind buying a ticket to going to the actual gig. The documentary itself will aim to promote live music and will take into account the general public’s views on live music.

Our type of documentary is a mixed informal documentary as we will include a voice over which leads the narrative and will have a series of interviews of artists/bands, vox pops, recreations, live gig footage, and archive footage. The documentary will be created in an informal style to suite the topic and the target audience. The music bed for this documentary will be relevant to the subject and we will use music by the artists/bands we interview. The style of the narrative is going to be linear, as we will introduce the topic, and then discuss all factors including the comparison to live music and finally come to a conclusion about the ‘Gig Experience’. The documentary will also show how acts thrive from being on stage and how it generates entertainment for the audience. The documentary will be shown on MTV Live on approximately 9pm on a Sunday night as we will reach our target audience at this time.

We chose this channel as our target audience is 13-24 year olds and MTV is known worldwide as the leading youth broadcaster which appeals to our target audience. We chose the time 9pm on a Sunday as the majority of our audience goes out on a Friday and Saturday. Plus, statistically the majority of young adults watch television around 7:00-11:00. By showing the documentary on a Sunday we will not be competing with other popular channels that will be showing similar programmes.

For our primary research we distributed 30 questionnaires to our target audience asking them 10 questions. We discovered from our questionnaire that MTV was the most popular television channel to watch by young adults. We also found out that the most popular genre of music to go see live was Rock, Metal and Dance music. This will influence what genres we feature in our documentary. When comparing live music to recorded music 18% of people said that they prefer to listen to live music.

For our secondary research we will look at online videos of gigs and live music. We will also look at example gig documentaries so we have an example on how to structure the documentary. We will also look at example gigs that have been filmed and consider the camera angles and shots. We also looked at the mise en scene in these videos and the way a group interview is filmed.

Outline of Content:

Archive footage of gigs.

Archive footage of music legends.

Vox pops of people.

Interviews with musicians.

Interviews with parents on their thoughts.

Recreations of people buying tickets.

Statistics.

Cutaways of b-roll footage.

Resources used are:

Camera

Battery

Tripod

Headphones  

Green/blue screen – for interviews with relevant mise en scene in the background.            Clip microphone

Brainstorm of Content for Documentary

Target Audience Research

 

As a result of this questionnaire, we are going to base our documentary to fit what our target audience want. The majority of our audience have been to a gig therefore we would like to recreate some aspects of a gig they would have experienced such as queuing. We will use a mixture of live and MP3 music throughout as it was shown that teenagers liked both types of music - by doing this, it was also include variety. Different genres were answered in the questionnaire, witth rock music as the main. Because of this, we will then use all different genres with predominantly rock.

Initial Plans

Initial plans

Topic – The topic of the documentary is ‘The Gig Experience’ which will show how acts thrive from being on stage and how it generates entertainment for the audience.

Channel & Scheduling – It will be shown on MTV Live on approximately 9pm on a Sunday night as we will reach our target audience at this time. Furthermore, the watershed may be needed if there is swearing involved.

MTV is viewed in over 342 million households in 140 countries, on 31 channels and in 17 languages. Consistent in its stronghold over those aged 13 to 24 making it known worldwide as the leading youth broadcaster.

Target audience – Our target audience will be young adults age ranging from 12-34 as satistically MTV as the most recognized network for young adults. and this is the age group that go to the most gigs.

Their demographics state 'MTV has experienced ratings growth over the last two years among our target audience of 12-34 year-olds. MTVhas spent 26 consecutive quarters (3Q97-2Q03) as the top rated basic cable network.'

We will play our documentary on MTV Live HD channel. It will play at 9 between Kings of Leon MTV World Stage and Hot Right Now. We will hammock it between these two as the previous programme is gig related, and we are going to include modern music, which relates to "Hot Right Now!"

Brainstorming

SKIN - A Body Modification - Genre Analysis

Title: SKIN - A Body Modification 

Type of Documentary:

‘SKIN - A Body Modification’ is a short expository documentary showing the reasons for body modification. 

Themes:

This documentary is about body modifications and society’s thoughts on people changing their bodies to look more original. It’s also about stereotypes and the concept of normality.  

Your/Audience Responses:

I found the short documentary quite freaky and bewildering as I can’t understand why people would want to modify themselves to such extremes.

Structure/Narrative:

The narrative structure of the documentary talks about his reasons for body modification. He feels that it is needed to show his individuality. During the documentary you find out that he is supported by his mother but his father who was a military man, can not understand why he modifies himself. The documentary in itself is a bit of a success story as in the end he gets what he wanted. The narrative of the documentary it told solely by him.  

Mise En Scene:

The documentary is set in a tattoo artist studio that belongs to him. There are sections in the documentary where medical equipment to complete the modifications is shown as well as the different types of piercings. The lighting is very focused on him and is low key to emphasis his weirdness.

Camerawork:

There is a variety of camerawork used within this documentary to help with the exposition in the documentary. There is a large use of extreme close-ups in this documentary to show each of his modifications close and personal. There is also a use of pan ups. An over shoulder shot is used to show him making modifications and the person who is having it done. This signifies how involved the he is with doing modifications. A hand-held camera is used to make the documentary more personal.

Editing:

The use of editing in this documentary helps to play a part in the process of modification. The majority of editing throughout this documentary is the use of cuts. They use these to cut away to B-roll footage from A-roll footage linking what they are talking about to the actual thing. Jump cuts are used to shorten the footage of him doing the modifications. Long frames are used to emphasis his oddity more.

Sound:

Within the documentary there is a large use of accent voice and voice-overs that overlaps with other video clips to help the audience see visually and also hear about what the person is saying. The non-digenetic music in this documentary is a soundtrack by DJ Shadow. The music is a basic drum sound thought the documentary. The volume differs during the documentary when it skips from A-roll footage to B-roll footage.

Gotye - Making Making Mirrors - Genre Analysis

Title: Gotye - Making Making Mirrors

Type of Documentary:

‘Gotye – Making Making Mirrors’ is a short expository documentary showing behind the scene footage of Gotye’s album, Making Mirrors. The documentary also has a poetic style to it with its use of music.

Themes:

The documentary shows how Gotye uses a variety of different sounds to incorporate his music. It focuses on what he likes to record and his love for music. 

Your/Audience Responses:

I found the short documentary in a way inspiring due to Gotye’s drive to make original sounding music.

Structure/Narrative:

The narrative structure of the documentary is very linear throughout the documentary no one actually speaks other that Gotye narrating. The beginning of the documentary introduces the topic and some of the albums background. This emphasizes how involved he is with his music.

Mise En Scene:

His clothes in the documentary help signify his personalities and his individualism. The majority of the documentary is filmed from within his studio where he creates his music. The lighting in this documentary is mainly back lighting to connote an instruments importance.

Camerawork:

There is a variety of camerawork used within this documentary to help with the exposition in the documentary. There is a large use of close up shots of instruments within this documentary to link with what he is talking about. An over shoulder shot is used here also to show Gotye and the objects of his interest in the same shot. Fore-shot is used to focus on one thing and blur out the background. This draws the attention of the audience to the subject of focus. Stop-motion is used at the start of the documentary to signify the amount of equipment he uses to create his music.  

Editing:

The majority of editing throughout this documentary is the use of cuts to make the documentary smoother. Fades are also used when the topic changes to something different. Jump-cuts are used in this documentary to signify the amount of different instruments he used to create his album.

Sound:

Sound is important in this documentary as it mixes non-diegetic music together with diegetic music from his album to connect the finished product and the starting product together.  

Graphics:

The graphics used in this documentary used to show people’s names, important places and titles. The text is white and artistic to reflect signify the nature of the album and Gotye himself.