Final Major Project Evaluation

When we were first given our final major project I was happy to have such a free reign when it came to deciding what I wanted to do. Having always previously been giving briefs for our projects, I was unsure what to expect.

 After looking at the paperwork we were given to accompany the task, I decided straight away that I wanted to create a documentary. I had tried twice before to make a successful documentary and neither project went particularly well. Never a person to shy away from a problem, I saw this last final project as a chance to overcome my difficulties with this genre of film.

 To start with I looked at my favourite documentary directors such as Kurt Kuenne, Michael Moore and Nick Broomfield and their movies , Sicko, Bowling for Columbine, Dear Zachary and Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer. I felt like all of these documentaries had something in common - a personal touch.  This gave me the inspiration to create a documentary about something that was important and personal to me. I started to draw a mind-map of all the things that meant a lot to me, Snowboarding, the USA, my friends, ice-skating and my family. I also looked at the interesting people  in my life such as my parents who  want to emigrate to America, my unusual pets (ferrets), my grandfathers history and my step-sisters history of being adopted.

 The first idea I came to was a documentary about my grandfather, he had a very interesting life and although I never met him, I always felt that we would have gotten along really well due to similar interests. After his death, my grandmother discovered some family secrets on his side and shared them with us. I wanted to create a piece about the discovery of his secret life however my Grandmother was not happy to share everything on camera and therefore that idea was pushed to the side.

 The next idea I looked at was a documentary about my adopted half sister, Jackie. My father offered to raise her and her brother Paul as his own at the age of 4 and whilst she still has contact with her mother, she feels closer to our dad as he was always present in her life. Recently she discovered that her mum had been keeping secrets from her and she had another brother. I decided that for my documentary I wanted to follow my sister, who lives in Southampton,  as she found out more secrets about who her real dad was, if she and her brother were alike and more.

I started to storyboard the idea, but realised that to get a good feel to the documentary that wasn’t too acted, I needed to just create a general feel for the piece. So instead of storyboarding I decided instead to write a list of questions that I wanted to ask her.

·         How old were you when your mum left?

·         Did you ever ask about your dad?

·         What are your expectations?

These are a few examples from the list.  I sent Jackie the questions before I went to visit her, to see if she was happy to answer them all and also to see if there was anything else she wanted to include.

 Whilst conducting my research on different editing techniques, I watched a series of episodes called “weird weekends” by director Louis Theroux and was really intrigued by the way he involved himself in the situation and made it personal to him, therefore making it personal to the audience. I think that way that Theroux does this is by putting himself on camera with his subjects and really immersing himself in their daily lives.

 This personal feel is really what I was looking for in my own documentary so I took inspiration from Louis Theroux, and asked Jackie if she wouldn’t mind me accompanying her when she went to see her mum, and more poignantly to meet her real dad for the first time.  This then brought me to the title of my piece “The thing about my sister”, I feel like this allows the audience to know that the documentary would be as much about my relationship with my sister as it was about her finding out about her past.

 I travelled up to Southampton in April to see Jackie, and spent the first day of filming with her reminiscing about our dad and the silly things he gets up to. These stories made me realise how much me and Jackie had in common despite never actually living in the same house together.  I then tried to work that into filming as much as I could so as to add another aspect to the documentary.

 The set-back to this documentary came when Jackie mentioned the project to her mother. She was unhappy with the view of the piece and assumed that I would perceive her in a bad light. This unfortunately meant that unless Jackie’s mother was in a public place, there was no chance of us filming her, and so the project seemed to have hit a dead end.

 Without an alternative storyline to follow and with time running out, I decided to abandon the idea and start fresh with a new documentary. However, because of the extent of the research I had done on family dynamics and personal documentaries I wanted to keep within the same subject area.

 This is what led me to my family, and the view of families in the media. After speaking to a few of my friends, I realised that each one of them had described their family to me as odd, different and weird. I then thought about the perfect, Mum, Dad, and two children dynamic that we always see in cartoons like The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad, and movies like Little Miss Sunshine and Matilda. With three siblings, two half siblings and two parents, my family seemed a complete contrast to these characters and with that realisation came my next idea.

In a very “Dear Zachary” type style, I wanted to create a documentary that showed audiences that although they may think their family is incredibly weird and different, all families are in fact the same. To do this I had to put my family, and the dynamics we have, in a spotlight. I was more excited to start on this documentary than the previous one due to their being no potentially awkward situations to deal with, and I think that this really showed in the piece.

 I asked my family to be featured and they agreed, so again I started to film. This time however I storyboarded and I feel that this was the wrong thing to do, because as I had previously feared the footage became stiff and acted. I then went back to just asking light hearted questions such as “What annoys you most about mum” and “what are Josh’s best traits” ect. I think that this method worked better, and the improvements between my storyboard and the finished piece are noticeable.

I decided to take the name of my piece from the well known Madness song “Our House” because not only was the song a favourite of my parents, but  the lyrics and beat really matched the friendly and silly nature of my family.

 I had a few set backs during filming that included older brother Sam deciding that he did not wish to be featured in the piece. It was hard to re-create some moments between my siblings that had been previously captured when we had to reshoot due to Sam being in the background but I feel that because of the nature of the piece, a few potentially “stiff” moments, went unnoticed.  Filming went quite well, with only a few minor problems like dark lighting and camera shyness from the youngest member of the cast.

 When it came to shooting the cut-away footage, I really wanted to capture the personal nature of this piece and so asked each member of the family to choose five things they wanted me to include. This allowed them to feel included in the making of the piece, and in turn made them more willing to participate in extra interviews.  I also think that this personal feel comes across in the documentary, giving the audience something to relate back to their own family.  

 When I started to edit I was unsure about how the project would be perceived, and therefore decided to add a few small titles to outline the objective of the documentary. After a couple of hours editing I encountered a problem with the computer. It decided to wipe a lot of footage and sound from the editing software I was using. This was a major problem because a majority of the footage was now unusable. After taking five minutes to decipher how it had happen, I decided that to fix the problem, I needed to just re-capture the footage. Being able to come up with a solution for the problem was a new step, one that I had previously failed to overcome when creating the other two documentary projects that didn’t go very well.

 Overall I think that my piece turned out really well, I am happy with the message that it conveys and think that it does what it was intended to do.  If I were to make “Our house in the middle of our street” again I wouldn’t storyboard at all because the difference in free-filming footage and scripted footage is very noticeable. I would also look more into different editing techniques before editing the piece,  I became very focused on the style of Kurt Kuenne in “Dear Zachary” and taking inspiration from that when my piece could possibly have benefitted from a different style.

Dear Zachary Critique

"Dear Zachary" is a 2008 documentary by Kurt Kuenne with the tagline "a letter to a Son about his Father".
 The story follows Kuenne as he discovers the background around the story of his best friends murder. Dr Andrew Bagby was found in a car-park in 2001 stabbed to death.
 Shortly after his death, Andrews Semi-secret girlfriend Shirley announces she is pregnant with his child. After she gives birth, Kuenne goes on a journey to see Kathleen and David, Bagby's parents in Newfoundland, Canada. On the way he visists every person who had known Andrew, and documents it with the intention of giving the "cinematic scrapbook" to Andrews son newborn son, Zachary. Girlfriend and mum to Zachary, Shirley Turner then becomes a prime suspect in the murder case, but is incredibly allowed to remain caring for Zachary.
 Kuenne's documentary then turns to the case, and the fight between Shirely and Kathleen and David Bagby for custody of 13 month old Zachary which tragically ends when Shirely chooses to end both of their lives by jumping into the atlantic ocean in August 2003 with Zachary strapped to her chest.
 Although this subject that Kuenne is documenting is a very sad and heartbreaking story, he remains upbeat for a majority of the film. As he visists people that Andrew knew, Kuenne keeps the story going by telling funny stories of his friend and helping each person through their own memories. He keeps whole feeling of the film light and funny trying to make it a nice collective for andrews son to watch as he grew older. After Zacharys death however, the filming became more intense and the film then turned into a showcase of how the legal system had let the Bagby's down. Kurt says "I wanted to make this movie as funny as I could, because I wanted it to mirror Andrews personality."
 As each relative, friend and collegue uses their own words to describe their friend, Kuenne uses an editing technique within the film to overlap their words and create the feeling that Andrew is very well known, friendly and loved by all. I think this technique is very clever because it is fast, gets the point across and then allows a shocking comment to have the full effect intended when the cheerful comments stop. An example of this technique is very clearly shown in the trailer above for the film.
 Another technique that Kuenne uses is a variety of good and bad archival material, including videos of Andrew making his own films combined with pictures from the crime scene where he was stabbed. I think that using this combined footage allows the audience to make a connection with Andrew and therefore gives them a connection with Zachary, Kurt Kuenne, Kathleen and David, and all of his other friends. It also gives the audience a reason to hate Shirley, because almost from the start, they know the extent and brutality of her crime from seeing the police pictures and evidence. Kuenne describes that this was how he inteded the audience to feel. "My goal was to make people, by the end of the movie, feel like they knew the people and were part of this family, so they would feel personally attacked and want to do something."
 I looked at this documentary with the view of learning about different editing techniques, and although I have realised some potential ideas for the editing of my video, I feel I have also seen the effect that archive footage can have on a production, and will take this into consideration whilst filming my own project. 

Developing Ideas

My intial idea was to create a documentary about my adopted sister who lives in Southampton. I travelled up to see her and to document some of the similaritys between us. Using most of my time to research into her family history I was unable to decide on an idea that I was really happy with. There was too many important factors in Jackies history that would need to be included for a documentary to make sense. I set about trying to find a solution and again was unable to settle on an idea.
 I decided that to create a good Final Major Project, I would need to pick an idea that would be simple yet personal.
 I started to look around me and accumulate some ideas. I looked at the people around me, Plymouth, the sports I love and finally the people I live with, my Family. To make my FMP personal I would need to choose and idea that was close to my heart and so I started to storyboard a short documentary about living with my family.
 Within the documentary I want to explore the different characters within my house. My parents, my brothers and sisters, and even the two ferrets we all adore (except dad!). I looked at the differences between us and found some interesting moments that I wanted to share.
 Having looked into multiple documentary styles and film-makers, I decided to create a piece that included slightly vintage feeling archive footage, like Michael Moore's "bowling for columbine" and a variety of montages and sound edits like Kurt Kuennes "Dear Zachary".

Due to this change in idea, I have created a new pitch to show off my idea. The main part of this presentation can be found in my workbook, but this is the viral video to accompany it.

Nick Broomfield - Documentary Director

English director Nick Broomfield is a documentary film maker. With other 30 controversial documentaries on his resume, Broomfield is an innovator in his own right for leading the reflexive documentary mode into the modern film industry. I chose to watch "Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer" and was struck by how extremely personal Broomfield's take on the subject was. Having previously met Aileen whilst making "Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer" 12 years before, Broomfield had remained in contact with her before finally being given "a subpoena to appear at Aileens's final state appeal before execution." He then decided to create the second film about Wuornos who was born in Troy, Michigan. During the film he explored her slow descent into losing her mind, from an abusive childhood to the prostitution of her body. He fully involved himself in her case, and therefore was able to give a very personal and hard-hitting account of the path that Aileen had chosen.
 I think that "personal" is an attribute that Nick Broomfiled brings to a number of documentary he has made and this is an aspect that I would like to explore in my own documentary.
 Broomfields films fall into the self-reflexive genre purely because he spends almost 50% of the time documenting how the film is being made, and the moments that happen that change the course and nature of the film.
 Even when Broomfield ventured into the television industry for a short period to create a series of adverts for the volkswagen passat, he included himself. Asking comical questions to important people about how " the visitors" had chosen important materials for the use of a car. He implies that volkswagen have used the bullet proof glass ment for the president for their headlights, and the ejector seat technology from a fighter jet for their seatbelt ejectors. Each advert lasts around 1 minute, and includes Broomfield in his usual manner with his ever-present boom microphone. These adverts were created with the intention of being a 'teaser trailer' for the car and I think that Broomfield really captured the idea well.
 Broomfield has a very particular way of presenting his subject, by showing the viewer the background story of each character alongside the moment that he is documenting, he allows the viewers to feel sympathetic towards his protaginist no matter what their current situation. For example in "Aileen: life and death of a serial killer", Broomfield shows the naive and vulnerable moments of a woman on death row, and yet he manages to bring out the forgiving side of his audience with some viewers calling Aileen "heartbreakingly human". 
I think that Nick Broomfield is a big inspiration for my project because he was the leading film-maker of this style.  I really want to make my project personal and therefore well recieved. I think that I can use this research to create my documentary.

March of the Penguins - Documentary research

"March of the Penguins" is a 2005 film set in Antarctica, that follows the epic journey of the emperor penguins as they march across the continent to find a partner and raise a family. Directed by Luc Jaquet, and featuring a voice over by Morgan Freeman, this "French nature documentary" has won over nine awards from various different awarding bodies.

 We watch as the penguins make their way from the waters edge, to a breeding ground over 70 miles away across the dark and icy features of Antarctica. They march day and night in single file until they meet with other penguins from their colony. They then find a mate, breed and thus begins their emotional and physical journey to keep their new family alive. We watch as viewers, as storms threaten their survival, and we will them to reach the waters edge once again to feed their family without being taken by predators like the seal. Filmed in super 16mm, this documentary features not only the Penguins, but also the breathtaking scenery around them, including under-water shots of the animals and the natural world.

 Director Luc Jaquet became director of "March of the Penguins" purely by chance, in a rare documentary for cineamareview.com, Jaquet revealed that he had "responded to a classified ad which basically said something like "looking for fearless biologist, ready to spend fourteen months at the end of the world."...I had never held a camera in my life." The outcome of this non-experienced 24 year old biologist turned director was the highest grossing indie nature film of its time.

A very significant feature of the film, is the lack of human presence amongst Penguins, not only because of the absence of the film-makers, but also because the director has chosen not to name or characterise singular penguins. Filmed over 13 months, the film-crew chose not to interfere with the entire process, allowing tragedy's to happen such as the egg touching the ice and freezing, and the baby penguin being caught by the bird of prey. I think that this was partly because of the dangers that situations such as those can present, but also because it was a natural part of the life that they were documenting, and they didn't want to sugar coat reality, I think this is exactly how the director wanted to movie to feel, secluded yet incredible, Jaquet commented "Individually, you can't really distinguish between them. They're all alike. When you...perceive them more as a group; the colony has its own aura, and it changes." Because of this, "March of the Penguins" represents the observational mode of documentary.

 Morgan Freeman provides the voice over for this nature film, and I think that the use of a well known male voice denotes authority and popularity. This enhances the feeling of the documentary because of the authoritative characteristics of the subject, the emperor penguins. I think that Jaquet purposely wanted to make this connection, to allow the viewer to form a relationship with what they are watching on-screen. This relationship then creates a reason for the viewer to feel emotion when the penguins suffer, despite the lack of names and characteristics.

 I feel that the success of this film is directly affected by its ability to attract a wider audience range, rather than the typical nature lover. I also think that the passion of the director is what excelled this film, and the main reason why he chose to make this film. "I wanted to tell things more as I felt them, rather than try to describe them as a scientist" I think that this outlines that Jaquet's motive to create such a documentary was to discover things about the penguins for the first time himself. This naivety is what creates such an awe-inspiring documentary.

 This documentary is a very powerful form of story telling and I think that by watching this I have realised the effect that a voice over can have on footage. I also have looked into the background planning of this documentary and I think that I will take a similar view on my own documentary. Looking at the tag line "In the harshest place on earth, love finds a way" and seeing the effect that these words have on the viewer and the way they percieve the film, I have decided to pick my tagline carefully as it is important to the success of my film.

Bowling For Columbine - Documentary Research

Bowling for Columbine is a documentary made by director Michael Moore. Created in 2002, this documentary explores the possible reasons behind the April 20th 1999 shootings which killed twelve students and 1 teacher in Littleton, Colorado at Columbine high school. Moore also looks briefly at the history of America and their relationship with guns, and then goes on to campaign against K-Mart selling bullets with the help of Columbine student, Richard Castaldo, who was rendered disabled after being shot in the back, chest and arms with K-Mart ammunition.

 Written, produced and directed by Moore, "Bowling for Columbine" was released in November of 2002, with a budget of $4,000,000, and soon became the highest grossing documentary in the UK and Australia.

During the documentary, Moore speaks to multiple people about what happened in Littleton. He talks to people who were affected by the incident, as well as celebrities such as Charlton Heston and Marilyn Manson. I think that the use of people that the audience could possibly idolise gives the viewers a connection to the incident and allows them to have an opinion. As well as speaking to people involved directly, Moore also includes footage of news broadcasts and interviews with related issues. I think that he used this technique because it enforces the reality of the subject onto viewers.

 Michael Moore was born in Flint, Michigan, just a days drive from Columbine, Colorado. In 1999 he had just finished creating a documentary called "Teen Sniper School' which was of a similar nature to Moore's other controversial documentarys (Roger and Me; Canadian Bacon), when he heard about the shootings at the high school. As he started to look more into the reports about the incident, he discovered the "chilling coincidences" amongst what had happened and the people involved. He writes in his directors notes that "he had been intrigued to find out more about the culture he had been raised in" and so went to producer Micheal Donovan with his idea of making a feature length documentary about guns. Donovan agreed to fund the project. I think they wanted to create this documentary with Moore to outline America's relationship with guns, and to encourage audiences to think about how they view crime.
 Moore has a very distinctive style of documentary making, he creates controversy and then resolves it, all in the name of creating a good movie. Every Michael Moore film is easily recognisable, with a picture of Moore on the front cover. This is a good indication of what a viewer will find when they watch a film by this creator, a documentary filled with Moores own opinions 80% of the time, and the subject that covers the rest of the 20%. Although this could be seen as a very selfish point of view, Moore creates a fantastic view of each subject, and isn't afraid to bring up the hard home-truths that other documentary makers would shy away from due to legal and political issues. This controversial take on subjects such as George W Bush ( Farenheiht 9/11) , Gun Crime (Bowling for Columbine) and the American health system (Sicko) has not gone unnoticed and in the year of 2004, Disney owned company 'Miramax' announced that it would not be distributing Farenheiht 9/11 because they didnt intend to "be the distributor of a politically charged movie in an election year".  Moore then fought the case and won, Farenheiht 9/11 was released later on in 2004, showing again that Michael Moore stands up for what he wants the publc to know, regardless of the political controversy it might cause.

 "Bowling for Columbine" was created with the intention to shock viewers into listening and taking into consideration how their culture has influenced them. Moore uses the technique of a non-linear storyline to give the audience multiple things to think about, this allows them to take information on and think about what they have heard, and then connect it to the other parts of the film. I think that that he used this technique because of the nature of the subject. The shootings that happen around America are ongoing occurrences, and by giving the documentary an opening and ending it would have falsely conveyed a conclusion to the reasons behind the crime, however by using this non-linear approach, Moore has left the idea open to other answers to the question "Are we a nation of gun nuts, or are we just nuts?".

  Because "Columbine" is the main and emotive subject of the documentary, Moore had be careful as to how he handled the issues surrounding it. As an experienced film maker, I think that he was aware that to involve too much gloom would have limited his target audience and so instead injected the piece with some wry humour, and I believe he did this to allow some relief for the viewers from the hard hitting facts.

  Although I enjoyed "Bowling for Columbine" and the issues it raised about American culture, I feel that Moore could have chosen some better points to argue, and possibly chose the wrong people to put those points too. For example, the fight against K-Mart was slightly unfair, because the two boys that carried out the shootings, could have brought the bullets from any store that sells ammunition, like Moore demonstrated when he purchased bullets from his barber.

 From watching this documentary, I have realised what effect stock footage can have on a subject. Moore uses a variety of footage, from old war videos; to news reports; to presidential footage of Clinton announcing the bombings in Kosovo just an hour before the shootings began in Littleton. He has manipulated the footage to fit his story, and although this could be perceived as deceptive, I think that the use of this footage is in context with the point Moore is trying to make about America's destructive nature.

 Accompanying the hard-hitting parts of the film, is a soft soundtrack of piano. This is used during the segment that shows the audience CCTV footage and reports from inside and around the school on the 20th April. I feel that this part of the documentary is the most emotive part because of the soundtrack used, and then the actual 911 calls are placed on top. I think that the use of these calls enforces the reality of the situation to the audience, and hearing the panic encourages them to sympathise with the victims. In other parts of the film, he also uses appropriate soundtracks. For example, during the part of the documentary where we are shown all of the facts in caption form about how the U.S have funded terrorist organisations, Moore uses "wonderful world" by Louis Armstrong to accompany the shocking footage. I think this is appropriate because the point he is trying to make is that America sugar coats all of their mistakes, and he therefore does the same by using a sickly sweet song to dampen the blow of the horryfying facts and crime that we see as we listen to the music. In other parts of the film, Moore uses his words as a voice-over to explain some of the things he is doing, and why he is doing them. I think that by using this "god-like" technique, he is able to inflict his opinion onto the viewers and therefore immediatley persuades them to be on his side.

 Although I am interested by the way Michael Moore has produced this documentary, Im am unsure wether I would use this as inspiration for my own piece because my target audience could possibly get confused with the back and forth nature of a non-linear storyline. I also think that the nature of my subject would benefit from being told in a different context.

The Documentary Genre - Modes and Examples

 
In Bill Nichols 2001 book 'Introduction to Documentary' he explains that there are six different kinds of documentary.

- The Poetic Mode - 'reassembling fragments of the world', a transformation of historical material into a more abstract, lyrical form.

- The Expository Mode - 'direct address', social issues assembled into an argumentative frame, mediated by a voice-of-God narration.
 'Grizzly Man', a documentary about bear lover Timothy Treadwell directed by Werner Herzog, falls into this genre, simply because of Herzogs voice-over that swayed the viewer to believe that Treadwell was crazy to live with the grizzly bears, despite the message that Treadwell was trying to convey by spending all his time with the fascinating creatures. I think that Herzog created a very impressionable tone by using his 'God-like' narration.

 - The Observational Mode - as technology advanced by the 1960s and cameras became smaller and lighter, able to document life in a less intrusive manner, there is less control required over lighting etc, leaving the social actors free to act and the documentarists free to record without interacting with each other.
 "March of the Penguins" is a observational documentary, directed by Luc Jaquet with a voice over by Morgan Freeman. The film follows the emperor penguins as they embark on a journey to find a partner to mate with. The documentary includes no human participation or interuption at all, and some parts of the footage seem rushed as the film-makers try to keep up with the action.


- The Participatory Mode - the encounter between film-maker and subject is recorded, as the film-maker actively engages with the situation they are documenting, asking questions of their subjects, sharing experiences with them. Heavily reliant on the honesty of witnesses
I think that a good representation of this would be 'Bowling for Columbine' by director Michael Moore, as the narrative of this documentary really includes him in the process of the event he is documenting. This is also partly poetic, shown by the way that the storyline jumps around and goes back and forth between recorded facts and then includes Moore giving his opinion. I think that this genre isn't seen as much in the modern movie industry because it isn't very popular and is confusing for viewers unless the documentary subject is a very broad one.

- The Reflexive Mode - demonstrates consciousness of the process of reading documentary, and engages actively with the issues of realism and representation, acknowledging the presence of the viewer and the modality judgements they arrive at.
 "Man with a movie camera" directed by Dziga Vertov, is an abstract documentary featuring similar traits to "Life in a day" produced by Ridley Scott, he documents a day in the life of a soviet union worker, but also includes the editing of the film, and the film being shown to an audience, all in a silent form.He also includes several camera tricks, such as theatre seats moving by themselves and a tiny camera man, climbing onto a full life-size version of his own camera.  I think that this documentary demonstrates the reflexive mode because it shows the viewers the whole process of creating the documentary, allowing them to make their own judgements and opinions about the footage.

 
- The Performative Mode - acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of documentary, and presents ideas as part of a context, having different meanings for different people, often autobiographical in nature.
  Performative documentaries are considered "highly personal' and they focus more on the experiences and emotions of the subject area rather than the facts. "Dear Zachary" is a documentary by Kurt Kuenne, the tagline 'a letter to a son about his father'. Kuenne sets out to create a documentary for his best friends son 'Zachary' about his dad Andrew Bagby who was murdered by his girlfriend. 'Dear Zachary' falls under the performative genre because of the personal link that the film-maker has with the subject

Identifying Your Audience

A potential audience member for my project could be Gary McGam. Gary is a quiet yet active family man who is in his mid 30's. Alongside spending time with his family, Gary enjoys watching Youtube videos and socialising on Facebook. Gary has an interest in researching into peoples history.
Gary likes to watch documentaries about sport and nature, he also enjoys watching family drama's. His favourite TV program is "who do you think you are?" and his favourite movie is "Dear Zachary".

I am going to create a documentary about my sister Jackie, who is a sports lecturer at Southampton university, she was adopted at four years old and is now finding out about her history. I will also include things about family life and focus on the dramatic events that have happened to her.

This idea 'fits' Gary because he is passionate about family. I also think that his like for dramatic documentaries like 'Dear Zachary' will encourage him to watch the film and also because he will be able to relate to many of the subject areas that will be covered within the documentary such as family issues.

I will create a facebook page that links my youtube page and my blog. I will place a trailer onto these websites and then eventually the finished piece. I will monitor the hits that these pages receive to accumulate information about the people who may be interested in watching this documentary, I feel that many people will be similar to Gary.  I will also focus my advertising on facebook and youtube because this will be where my audience will access the trailers etc.

To reach my audience I am going to create a blog just for people to follow the production, I will then post regular updates. I would also like to make a trailer that I can link on the blog. A poster would also be another way to get peoples interest. In addition to that I am going to create and interactive family tree, so that people can look at and find out more about Jackie's family before the piece is actually viewed.

I would like to place information about the project on a website that I will create, I think that this would be an ideal location for the interactive family tree and regular updates on the project. I will also create youtube and vimeo pages so that I can post trailers and viral videos for people to view, I would also like to link these videos to the website. Another route I could try would be to get my trailers into blogs such as 'its nice that' to try and generate some interest behind them.

The Simpsons - The 'Perfect family' research

'The Simpson's' is a comic American animated TV series about a family living in the eventful town of Springfield. It features the family from day to day as they negotiate a series of surreal adventures. The Family consists of five members, a dog and a cat. The husband, 'Homer Simpson' is an ape like man, who is famed for liking beer and cannot control his anger. The mum, 'Marge Simpson', is a stay-at-home 'mom' who nags the children, and primarily looks after the house and well-being of the family. 'Bart Simpson', is the reckless son who always seems to be in trouble for his countless pranks, in several episodes it is suggested that he has ADHD. Daughter 'Lisa Simpson', is the nerdy child prodigy who loves animals and music. In addition to the main characters, silent baby 'Maggie', Grandad 'Abe', cat 'Snowball 2' and Dog 'Santa's little helper' all make up the family 'Simpson'.

 Matt Groening created 'The Simpsons' in 1987 as a filler for 'The Tracey Ullman Show' after being contacted by James L.Brooks. He based most of the characters on members of his family, and even named them all accordingly. In 1989 the show became a FOX network, half hour prime TV show, with more characters being introduced, including the 'comic book guy' whom Groening claims is some-what of a self portrait. 



Original 1987 animation



 Each member of the 'Simpson' family is completely different in multiple ways, whilst 'Homer' is the very typical angry dad, always thinking of himself,his stomach and leading the family into thoughtless encounters, 'Marge' is on the other end of the spectrum. As the mother, she is the glue that holds the family together, ensuring that things are carefully planned, she also admirably tolerates 'Homers' Oafish-ness. As the family terror, 'Bart' lives up to his role of the typical naughty son. He pulls pranks on his father purely to wind 'Homer' up and then cackles at the result of being chased because of it, and also repeatedly annoys most members of the animated town of 'Springfield'. Next youngest, is 'Lisa' who is a very bright young daughter, and usually displays her annoyance at the family's disregard for the environment and the arts. Youngest of the Family is the small baby 'Maggie' who interestingly never seems to make a noise, although she communicates using facial expressions and the help of her pacifier. However in one episode, she displays a possible 'prodigy' side ("smart and smarter" - episode no. 326), and this gives an indication that she may take after her older sister. Described individually, these family members seem like they are worlds apart. However, when put together in different situations, they seem to work as a family unit. At times, they annoy and frustrate each other when the episodes problem is first presented but ultimately pull together by realising each others strengths at the end.

 I think that although 'The Simpsons' definitely do not conform the media's idea of 'the perfect family', they are a good indication of the typical family. Speaking to Los Angeles times, shortly before the 500th episode was due to be aired, creator Groening told writer 'Robert Lloyd' that "James L. Brooks insisted from the very beginning that the characters had to be real and if it were just a cartoon he wasn't interested in pursuing it". I think that this outlines the writers desire to create a family that everyone who was watching the show could relate to, therefore creating the almost impossible to achieve 'perfect family' stereotype would have been foolish because viewers would not have been able to find a connection.



Current 2012 animation



 In 'The Simpsons', as previously discussed, the family are all very individual but also gel together as a family. This is reinforced by the use of aesthetics during each episode. As is commonly known, 'The Simpsons' are animated yellow characters, this was a choice suggested by one of the animators, and was well received by the production team. Although this was a choice only to differ the animation characters from other cartoons, I think it denotes comedy and playfulness, enhancing the comic aspects of the episodes. Other aspects of the episodes that depicts the characters are; the opening credits - where the characters are each shown interacting with other residents of Springfield and gives a snapshot of their personality; the theme tune - is playful and matches the speed of the chaos that surrounds the family, in parts the tune is also of-key which shows the the family are slightly dysfunctional; the characters clothing - is usually the same in episodes, almost denotes the repetitiveness of the way that the family continue to argue then make up, then argue again in every episode. Using the same clothing also allows the family to be well known for the sake of merchandising.

 I think that this has helped me to develop my research because it has shown that there can be different ways of depicting a family, and also has given me some ideas on the different ways that I can introduce significant characters in my documentary. Watching the way that family dynamics is presented during this animation has also given me some ideas on the differences of opinion about the idea of 'the perfect family' amongst animators and moving image producers. I think that by looking at the time-scale that each story each episode story is told within, it has given me an idea of how long it takes to tell a story. This could possibly affect the time-scale I choose to tell my story.

"Little Miss Sunshine" - The perfect family research

 "Little Miss Sunshine" is a 2006 adventure/comedy/drama that tells the story of a dysfunctional family that race across America in their VW camper to get their daughter to a beauty pageant in California. At the start of the film, we find out that 'Olive' (the youngest daughter) has progressed from an interstate beauty pageant, to the next level of competition and that she must travel to California to compete. After being introduced to the family dynamics, including a homosexual uncle who tried to kill himself; a brother who has taken a vow of silence; a stressed out mum; a failing dad and the heroin addicted grandad, seven year old Olive seems to be the only undisturbed member of the family.
 Directed by husband and wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 'Little Miss Sunshine' was released in the USA in 2006, shortly followed by a release in most parts of the world. Produced by Fox Searchlight Pictures, with an estimated budget of $8,000,000 , this mainstream black comedy has reportedly won over 50 awards, including 2 Oscars.
 With a cast of well know stars, including Greg Kinnear (You've got mail, Ghost town), Alan Arkin (Get Smart, Edward Scissorhands) and Steve Carell (40 year old virgin, Despicable Me), Abigail Breslin who plays their young daughter 'Olive' was a new face to the screen, having only previously starred on screen in small roles, most memorably as 'Sarah Davis' in the 2004 'Raising Helen'. Aged just 8 years old during her portrayal of the innocent girl 'Olive' experienced co-stars claimed in USA today that they "were astounded by her seriousness of purpose during shooting" and writer Claudia Puig announced she felt that had "Olive had been played by any other little girl, she would not have affected us as mightily as it did". I think that the casting of this film really affected the success of this film.
 In the pre-production stages of this film, writer Michael Arndt came to producers from Big Beach productions with a screenplay, and they were "instantly disarmed by the offbeat but distinctly American family...that thrived in spite of themselves." The Big Beach producers teamed up straight away with Bona Fide Production, who also felt drawn in to the cutting raw humour of the screenplay, and started to help develop the characters into people that every member of the audience could relate to. This film was created with the intention of seeming as non stereotypical as possible whilst actually portraying the stereotypical American family, this is visible in the directors notes as they describe the characters "A motivational speaker who can seem to motivate anyone"  "a divorcee who struggles to keep her second attempt at a family together" and "recently suicidal after a downward spiral". I think that, although very amplified and outrageous, these differences in character, outline the differences that every family in the world faces.
 During the film, all of the family members lives become more entwined as we get deeper into the story, however at the beginning we are introduced to the characters one by one. I really like the way that each character is built up individually first, and then we see them all as a family for the first time at the dinner table, and we watch as they have an awkward conversation that erupts into and argument about suicide and the appropriateness of the conversation. I think that this sets the basis for the film, and eases the audience into the darkly comic ideas of the writers. I think that directors Dayton and Faris chose to introduce the characters this way so that the audience could be shown how each character was individual in their own way, and how this ultimately results in an unstable family.
 An old yellow VW van is the focal point of the family's travel and transport, and whilst adding the comical element of being broken, and the family having to run to catch up and get into it, I think that the van also has another meaning. According to a review by Vicky Luzon - "an old VW van typical of the 1960s and 1970s, a time when the Conservative idea of perfection had not yet taken hold" I think that this history combined with the family running for the van almost denotes the family running to find and catch up with perfection.
 The directors have twisted the popular "perfect family" scenario of a mum, a dad, a daughter and a son, by adding a grandad and an uncle. I think that they have done this to portray a more realistic example of the 'American family' and therefore relate to a larger audience. I also think that this sense of an "un-perfect family" also adds to the awkwardness of the whole character dynamic.
 In contrast to that, as the movie progresses the family begin to seem more alike and then as 'Olive' performs her naive yet suggestive dance at the end of the pageant, we finally see the family come together as a whole and support her amidst all of the perfect "beauty pageant queens" because they see her as perfect for their family of "weirdos". This whole outcome is accompanied by a musically descriptive soundtrack, with the list of songs containing emotive music such as "No One Gets Left Behind" and "We're Gonna Make It" by Mychael Danna and DeVotchKa. I think that the producers chose to use this selection of music because it encourages and allows the audience find a connection with the family and therefore root for them to not only make it to the competition, but to make it as a family.
 Summary
The family is depicted:

- Through use of odd clothing/costumes , i.e Olive's basketball uniform.
- By using quick cuts between characters to denote awkwardness and sharpness
 The family are over all depicted as a geeky and out of place American family. This is shown through the use of language and script, the way that the characters relationships are introduced and also the overall story and outcome.
Watching this film has been helpful towards the research for my project because it was an example of an un-perfect family who eventually accepted each other, it has also enforced my idea of the perfect family dynamic being a mum, dad, son and daughter, but have realised that this is infact not a realistic view of family, "Little Miss Sunshine" outlines the real idea of 'family'. I hope that I can research more into the public view of the perfect family, but this has been a really good start to finding out the movie industry's take on that idea, as futher research I am going to look into the cartoon/animation depiction of family.

Initial Ideas

Because of the freedom we were given to create our own piece with little guidance, I decided early on that I wanted to do some form of documentary because of previous experiences in that genre. Having had troublesome documentary projects before, I wanted to use this last project to overcome the problems I could possibly face and finish with a good piece of work.
 I played around with the idea of a artistic documentary that outlined the peoples view of "truth", I wanted to explore how much of what the government tells us is true, and pry into the conspiracy theories that circulate previous events in the UK. However after a little research on the Internet, and trawling through a search of over 20 million hits, I decided that the subject was too broad for the type of project I wanted to create, and I would not be able to get in contact with the correct people.
 I then started to think a little closer to home, and realised I wanted to create a simple documentary about someone in my family. I first decided on my grandad, because I had never met either of my grandad's, and felt like a personal journey to discover more about them would be a good thing to document. However this idea had to be abandoned because my Nan decided she didnt want to participate, and without her getting information would be difficult.
 Eventually I came to my sister. She lives in Southampton and my dad adpoted her when she was about four, she has had two children and I only recently discovered that she wasn't a blood relative.
 I dont know much about her history, and the rest of her family, so I decided to create a documentary that follows as I discover about her as a child, growing up and being a young adult in the rebellion years.
 Therefore I propose to do a project that looks at how the media and movie industry portrays "the perfect family" whilst creating a documentary about a young girl who was adopted.

Mobile Monday - 5 second Film

The five second film that we were asked to create was surprisingly difficult to plan because it only allowed a short time frame to tell a story. I chose to use a video that I had previously filmed because within my final major I wish to use old footage captured by members of my family. I think that this was a good starting point to experiment with the use of old footage that might not have been intended for this use. I wanted to try and manipulate the footage to create a new story.

 My five second video features three characters who are directing themselves towards the cameras making faces and moving in peculiar ways. I decided on these pieces of footage because their body movements and facial expressions introduce them as characters, in my final major project I hope to be able to introduce the subject "characters" in the correct way.

 The purpose of my FMP is to develop and present all of the skills that I have learnt during the two year of the course. I have had multiple problems whilst creating a documentary before so this time I would like to prove that I can overcome problems and produce a good piece of film. I would like to use this project also to challenge myself into researching in-depth, creating a piece that is memorable, and using the resources that are available to me to fully plan this project and production.

Promises to myself:

- Use the resources and equipment available to me to achieve the best results.

- Do not allow work to pile up and complete work at my highest standard.

- Look for a solution to every problem.