Appendix...

I'm hoping that this blog is our appendix? And that I don't need to print it all off and hand it in?? Assuming that then looks like everything is all done. Hoping Ms B still has the storyboards I did, just need to add a shot list to the blog and some audience feedback and that's our appendix complete!

In the words of Gordon Ramsey (and Mr. M) -
Media coursework... DONE.

(Many thanks to Cat for err.. all her help! :P)

Main Aim..

Just wrote this out and thought I'd save it here as it'll probably be useful later on..

The main aim of this documentary is to educate people on the seriousness of eating disorders, why they start, how serious they can be become and the consequences they can have. We did a survey in 6th form and an alarming number of girls have on more than one occasion gone a few days without eating just to lose a bit of weight and see this as nothing serious. Our aim is to show that ED's aren't just about losing weight, even if they start that way, and they can have really serious consequences.

Some Ideas for Voice Overs

Media Advanced Production ‘My Friend Ana.”

Dramatised Reconstructions of Recovering Anorexics Script

[This is will be in the conventional style of a documentary tackling sensitive issues, such as 'Raped' by Johnnymc (FourDocs). Faces will be shaded so as to hide identity and lots of filler shots will be used to prevent the scenes from becoming boring]

“You have no idea what it's like to be me,
There's more pain inside than you'll ever see.
The mask on the outside hides what's really there,
But look deep into my eyes and you'll see my despair,
This thing that gnaws away at me night & day.
But if I told you what would you say?
Would you understand when I look in the mirror I hate what I see?
That thing in the reflection, it's not me.
I want to rip it all out and start again.
What use is a waste of space that has gone insane?”

“I started focusing on food when I was in my early teens. My parents divorced and I felt it was my fault. I felt unworthy and stopped eating. I felt I no longer deserved food and controlling what I ate would help me get control of my life. It became the only positive aspect of my life. I feel I have succeeded at something if I get through the day only eating what I have planned. If I don't succeed I have a voice in my head that tells me how bad and weak I am.”

“Starving to death is NOT beautiful or poetic, it is an UGLY death and a painful one. Starved bodies ache all the time. The skin bruises, the muscles cramp and deteriorate, the brain slows and slurs, the bowels STOP working on their own, the bones splinter and hurt and break, the body is constantly weak but ceases to be able to sleep restfully, the mouth dries, the eyes fog, the heart flutters and beats hard and painfully, and there can be many scary moments prior to actual death where the body feels so sick and like its dying, because it is.”

“Anorexia is consciously committing suicide, taking an agonizing long time, during which you get to suffer from various medical problems that drag on for years and age you faster... only to end up not living out your full life expectancy, never even reaching that blessed age where you supposedly won't care about your looks anymore anyway, and realizing at the last minute that you could have done something else with all your energy...”

“I remember wishing to be anorexic. I remember doing it all, searching for tricks, feeling oh-so-clever when I found them, and feeling like I won something when I first heard about laxatives. Then the person I heard it from almost died. Next it was my turn. It's an endless cycle. And the wish never gets answered, because when you actually are anorexic you don't feel anorexic (in the way you had fantasized anyway). And other things start to disappear besides your weight. Like your sense of humour and your ability to relax. There is this urgency, an unnatural anxiety that starts to take over. It might happen slowly or it might reach up and grab you completely by surprise. But once it reaches you, it pulls you under.”

Just need some willing actresses now..!!

Conventions of a Documentary

Documentary conventions

- Archival/found images (not created by documentary maker) – adds credibility to the subject. Essential in documentaries about the past, for example war time
- Talking heads – people interviewed about the documentary’s subject. Often in peoples homes or offices with corresponding mise en scene.
- Voiceover – used to explain and comment on visual elements. Alternatives are title cards or on screen presenter
- Re-enactments – to show audience exactly what happened, can add realism especially if the subject is improbable or difficult to comprehend.
- Real people – documentaries rarely using actors (with the exception of during re-enactments), again adding to realism

Institutions..

Documentaries
Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can be either direct-to-video or made for a television series. Documentary, as it applies here, works to identify a "filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries.

Significant institutes dealing with documentary
The Documentary Institute
American Film Foundation
Independent Lens
Docs in progress
The DocsOnline Foundation Watch documentaries online.
joiningthedots.tv Broadband documentary channel.
Big Sky Film Institute
Documentary Filmmakers Group, UK
EMB Film Unit
Film Arts Foundation
International Documentary Association
National Film Board of Canada
National Film and Television School
The D-Word Online community for documentary professionals
Institute of Documentary Film
The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program
The Documentary Film & Video Program at Stanford University

FourDocs
FourDocs is an online documentary site provided by Channel 4. It allows viewers to upload their own documentaries to the site for other people to view. It focuses on documentaries of between 3 and 5 minutes. The website also includes an archive of classic documentaries, interviews with documentary film makers and short educational guides to documentary-making. The also includes a strand for documentaries of under 59 seconds called 'Microdocs'.

[- wikipedia]


WHAT IS FOURDOCS?
FourDocs is the place to upload four minute documentaries. Anyone with a story to tell or an opinion to voice can submit their film. The only rules are that it has to be four minutes long and comply with FourDocs legal and technical standards. Once a documentary is uploaded, anyone can watch it. Uploaded films are categorised in different ways: you can watch the most viewed, the most recently submitted, or the highest rated. FourDocs represents the democratisation of documentary film-making. Everyone can join in, not just those who are already making films. So get shooting and show us what’s out there.

[- FourDocs FAQs]

Textual Analysis

Thanks to Mrs. B me & Cat had a look on channel 4's Fourdocs website which is going to be incredibly helpful. Also got me thinking about our topic, and after watching some of the other documentaries I'm wondering whether or not its going to be as hard hitting and poignant as I want it to be. Hmm..



The website isn't that easy to search but as far as I can tell there doesn't seem to be any documentaries about eating disorders or body image. This seems a bit odd to me as it's a pretty current topic but this leaves a definite gap in the market for our documentary.



'Raped' by Johnnymc uploaded in March 2007 tackles an extremely serious and personal topic. For obvious reasons ("because of the children" one man says) two of the characters have remained anonymous and this may be something me and cat have to deal with. This is at times a bit boring, but because of the sensitive issue being discussed its not really a problem for this documentary. Another option may have been to shoot related objects suggesting the struggle such as a knocked over chair etc, instead of focusing on the characters features.



'Generation Love' by Vessu uploaded in December 2006 has a real Creature Comforts feel to it.. but it's just not as funny. It's a really refreshing change from generic talking heads and vox pops (oohh check out my vocab!) It's one of the highest rated documentaries on the site, showing there is a real call for fresh new documentary ideas.


'Everything Was Life' by eland uploaded in December 2007 is extremely haunting and visually disturbing. The director has clearly taken this approach as a method of getting their message about Female Genital Mutilation across. It includes several voice overs, from real victims of this hideous act and someone who seems to be an expert, but no title cards are used to show this, allowing the visuals to stay the main focus. Keeping the speakers fairly hidden is a beautiful way of keep anonimity but is perhaps a little too dark and goes on for a little too long. The imagery is shocking and genuinely distressing without being overtly disgusting or graphic. A particularly beautiful scene is when the bride lifts up her wedding dress to show money falling down, to signify the true reason for this mutilation. The colour red is very dominate, portraying not only the obvious blood loss, but also the danger of this issue, and the anger and passion people feel about it. The music is extremely subtle and simple but surprisingly effective and chilling. This is a perfect example of a short documentary that still makes the viewers take a moment to think, which is exactly what me & cat are trying to achieve.

'Fact Factor Number 1' uploaded by digitalis in September 2006 is supposedly a pilot version of a podcast the director is hoping to set up which will use a no-nonsense approach "to inform people about issues affecting their lives." The topic of Number 1 is bird flu and the director has used fast paced music and flashy SFX to make this fairly dull documentary interesting. The lighting and framework used on himself is interesting, and definetly intensifies his amazing blue eyes if nothing else but the vox pops seem random and unneccessary and the other images are all found on the internet. Cat & I know we will need to use found images, and it will be an integral part of our documentary but hopefully it will not become the main feature.

Just Quickly..

Found this on a pro-ana facebook group.. we could use it somehow..

Recipe for AnaRecipe:

Anorexia

Servings: One

Note: The recipe you are about to make is an acquired taste.

Ingredients:
1 cup low self-esteem
2 cup self-control
3/4 cup determination
1 1/2 strength
2/3 cup solitude
2 Tbsp routine
3 Tbsp secrecy and lies
2 tsp jealousy
3 tsp guilta dash of anger
and 1/2 cup tears (optional)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients and mix in a fragile soul.
Beat until all feeling is gone.
Place in a shallow bowl and serve with a tall glass of Diet coke.
Dish is ready to enjoy - guaranteed to disappear right before your eyes!!