Documentary Proposal, Summaries of History of film

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Documentary

Proposal

Purpose of Proposal

• Present in conjunction with a pitch, to

funders and anyone you wish to

interest in the project

• Is a way to plan your documentary in

great detail and in writing

Synopsis

• A written summary/outline of the

film’s content

Example

Synopsis: Hardwood

Hardwood is a personal journey by director Hubert Davis, the son

of former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis, who explores how his

father's decisions affected his life and those of his extended

family. Elegantly structured into three chapters entitled "love,"

"recollection" and "redemption," Davis uses personal interviews,

archival footage and home movies to delve into his father's past in

the hope of finding a new direction for his own. At its core,

Hardwood is about the power of archival footage and home movies

to delve into his father's past in the hope of finding a new

direction for his own. At its core, Hardwood is about the power of

redemption and the healing of the bonds between fathers and

sons.

Source: http://www.nfb.ca/playlists/nfb-oscar-nominations/

viewing/hardwood

Crew Bios

• Provide bios for your key crew members,

including yourself (director/writer), camera

person/cinematographer/camera operator,

sound recordist, editor, producer, composer.

• If you plan to do all positions yourself, you

can preface this and then include your bio.

Example Filmmaker Bio

Nettie Wild is a Canadian documentary film

filmmaker. Wild has directed and produced

four full length documentary films: Wild was

awarded the audience award for best

documentary film at the 1998 AFI Fest for A

Place Called Chiapas. She was given Genie

Awards for both A Place Called Chiapas and

Fix, and won two awards at the Berlin

International Film Festival for A Rustling of

Leaves.

Source: http://www.whoislog.info/profile/nettie-wild.html

Research Example 1

- If your documentary is about a

certain period of your own family

history, your research will entail

conducting many interviews with

different family members and

perhaps also researching the time

and place, through newspapers,

letters, pictures or other artifacts.

Research Example 2

• If you are planning to make a documentary

about "The History of the Berlin Wall," you

will be required to conduct a great deal of

research, likely in the form of newspapers,

journals, books, news footage, other films

that have been made on the subject, archives

and much more.

Budget

**- A film budget is the total cost of the production.

• Budgets are organized in a spreadsheet in excel or using other**

software, such as Movie Magic Budgeting.

- Documentary budgets are different from a fiction film budget, as

they do not require payment of talent. Other costs that are usually

low or exempt are art department, wardrobe, locations and more.

- Budget level depends on the nature of your documentary, but most

often the subjects wear their own clothes and you would film them in

their space, which is usually free of charge.

- Documentaries can have high post-production and archival footage

costs.

Budget Sample

- A comprehensive resource with a sample

budget can be found here:

- http://www.documentary.org/magazine/

dont-fudge-your-budget-toeing-line-items

Marketing Plan

• For now, the only thing you should keep in

mind at this stage is, who is your target

audience?

• Eg. My primary target market are audiences

who watch short documentaries, and a more

niche market is environmental festival

audiences and other activist audiences.

• 4 -

FAMILY LAND, MAPS & RUINED

HOMES--duration: 5:

DC EXPLAINS HISTORY OF FAMILY LAND TO LEYTE

DC EXPLAINS FAMILY LAND TO LEYTE (WHITNEY) LEYTE DRAWS TREES FULL MAP OF FIRST FAMILY LAND SECOND FULL MAP OF FAMILY LAND FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

PTVO: Don Chabo dictates the history of the family land.

He speaks little Spanish, and his granddaughter speaks little Mayan.

CU BOUNDARY OF TIA'S AND DC'S LAND CU COOKING HUT AND PATH CU COOKING HUT NUMBER TWO CU PATH CU HUT WITH BLUE DOOR

80 years ago his granddaugher’s great-great grandmother lived in a forest.

60 years ago she sold some of it.

50 years ago her daughter sold more.

EXPLORATION OF FAMILY LAND

PHOTO: DONA DEMETRIA

40 years ago her daughter--DC’s mother--sold more.

30 years ago DC sold the rest, sliver by sliver, because what he earned as a shaman was too meager to live on.

20 years ago, DC’s second wife, Doña Demetria, left him for a better life selling fruit on the streets of Merida.

It was then that DC began to eat scraps.

WALK AROUND FOUR SIDES OF OLD FAMILY LAND

DC GATHERS HERBS To make his medecines, DC enters land now owned by strangers to gather leaves from trees he planted years ago on land that once was his.

Two-Column Script

• Documentary scripts are written in a two

column format (audio/video).

resources for this week.