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My new concept consists of creating a documentary, based on my friend, Will Foster and his experience on travelling to Fiji to volunteer with 'Think Pacific' project organisation. As it states on http://www.thinkpacific.com/ the project aims to:
"In the Fiji Islands, Think Pacific provides the funding, planning and logistical support to enable volunteer teams to achieve specific development goals in the poorest areas of Fiji as the core element of a well structured, challenging and adventurous expedition. Think Pacific fund short term, medium term and long term government directives which are designed and monitored by local communities and the Fijian Ministry to provide long term social, economic and environmental benefits to local communities."
I want to show Wills journey into his volunteering trip, from the beginning, middle and end. Some structure points i would like to address are:
- Where the idea to volunteer came from
- When and where he decided to actually go and apply to volunteer
- How he went through the process of applying
- Leaving and saying goodbye from his friends and family to volunteer for a long period of time
- Experiences: Arriving and the first task in the project, meeting the other volunteers he would spend the next few months with, making friends, connecting with the villagers, the tasks he worked on, getting an infection and going to the hospital, keeping diaries of his time, activities and social life outside of the project, the culture and lifestyle.
- Leaving the project, last goodbyes and the achievements he made rounded up
- Looking back and reflection
- How it impacted his life and how he has impacted the village
- How volunteering for Think Pacific was a great opportunity and how he would recommend it to other people to take part, a life changing experience
As well as showing his videos and images, i will also shoot video of Will in our home town. These are going to be the filler shots to use at the beginning and in an interview style setting where he can sit and talk to the camera about his journey. I want to create artistic, scenic shots of the beauty of our home town, and how this has led him to want to explore the world, doing what he loves most, helping people and sharing with those less fortunate, what other places are like.
Locations i want to include:
- Dunstable Downs - Hillside in my home town
- Wills bedroom - where he keeps his most treasured memories from the trip
- The hills and field behind his house, where he got the idea to volunteer
Will is still in contact with some other volunteers from the trip, who live in the UK, one of which lives in Leicester, Another location will be here in Leicester, walking to meet his friend again for the first in a long time and then in an interview style setting, possibly a cafe, have them discuss their journey together. In between this interview, i will show videos and images of them together, over their conversation.
Sound wise, i want the opening scene to play calming, scenic music, to match the scenic view of our home town. During the video clips and main body of the documentary, i will have an acoustic guitar piece, which was written by Will whilst he was in Fiji and then to finish off with more scenic music to round off the piece, connecting with the beginning scene.
Equipment i will be using for the first shoot, this weekend include:
- Silver reflector
- LED flo light panel
- LED light for on camera use
- Canon (Tamron) Wide 10-24mm f/3.5 - 4.5
- Canon 50mm f/1.8
- Fig Rig
- Zoom recorder
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Research wise for documentary structure, as shown in the print out of my presentation, i looked at netflix documentaries such as Making a Murderer:
Although this is based on the story of Steven Avery, and the injustice of spending many years in jail for a crime he did not commit and the conspiracy theory of the individuals who set him up, the way it is structured and the journey step by step from how it began to current time, is well presented and a technique i would like to include in my documentary.
Other documentaries, that have inspired me are:
The salt of the earth - Wim Wenders based on photographer Sebastiao Salgado - Shots that are wide angle, inspiration for my landscape shots and also images shown from his previous work used at relevant times, inspire me on structure methods.
And a volunteer documentary called H.O.P.E was here: a volunteer travel documentary. Based on the journey of american kids, embarking on a project to help a poor village in Peru. Although this documentary was shot during real time of the journey, the things they talk about in terms of the power of volunteering and showing why it is an inspirational process.
From looking at the structures of these different themed documentaries. it has inspired me and given me great ideas of how i visualise this documentary to look, both factually and artistically. I will commence filming this weekend and use final cut as the editing software to piece the shots together.
