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!!

Some Primary Research

Days since I last pissed

Cheeks sunken and despaired

So gorgeous sunk to six stone

Lose my only remaining home

See my third rib appear

A week later all my flesh disappear

Stretching taut, cling-film on bone

Im getting better.

4st 7lb - Manic Street Preachers

I wanted to do a touching poignant documentary about someone terminal ill. We settled for a topic that is current and relevant to people our age, and that coincidently helps with our CRS. Now I'm sitting here crying because it's all so horrific. Please bear in mind these girls are our ages, 16 - 19.

Sitting here last night I thought I should probably do some media.. (admitedly I have been neglecting it lately), so I decided to search facebook for some ED groups. I joined a few and left posts asking for any one who would be willing to answer a few questions about their ED. Already I have had a terrific response. Here's some of what the girls had to say..

"My depression was getting better for a while but now its getting worse. If I didn't have people in my life that I know would take it badly if I died I would kill myself. But I know thats selfish, and would be an easy way out. Its not so much that my life is too hard to deal with, because in reality I have a pretty freakin amazing life, and I'm in a good position in life; as well as being set up for success. But I can't help but think that all I have to do is screw up once and everything will be gone and I'll be back to the nothingness I started out to be. I don't know why I get so worked up and depressed about absolutely nothing. The point is, I do. This is how I am; and I have no idea how to cope with it all. I've tried psychotherapy...but it doesn't work for me. I've tried drug therapy, but the docs keep changing my meds and I'm just so f*cked up about all that. I love my life, but I hate this darkness that pulls me in. I want to kill this thing that exists within; but by doing that I'd also be taking my own life."

"Hi my name is jenny. I hate my body. I wish I was skinny, pl tell em that I look liek Im anorexic. But to me I am a fat pig! wihtout clothes I think that I look disgusting! They all sya Im skinny btu to me im sjut emdium I wanan be super skinny! Ive been anorexic for botu 2 yrs now. I don't do it all the time only evey now and then. when I eat too mcuh food. Im soo sry to those who ahev experienced the same thing! it's jsut the way I see myself. I rly rly rly wish I coudl see hwo ppl see me!" (ok she cant type but still)

"sometimes (like now, its pretty much constant) i would rather be thin and unhealthy than healthy."

"I am bulimic, have been for around a year and am starting to lose control since going to uni. I flatshare and my flatmates have worked me out already, though they don't confront me directly the walls are thin and I can hear them talking just as clearly as they can hear me.I now have one friend who makes me talk to her about it. I'm not used to anyone knowing my secret, she tells me I am just skin and bone- I know she says that because she knows it's what I want to hear. Secretly I hope that I am fading and the reason I feel and look so very fat is because of what I've always heard about ED distorting what you see in the mirror."

Anorexic beauty,

Feather-weight perfection,

Anorexic beauty,

Underweight Goddess.

Anorexia Beauty - Pulp

"Yes, i'll admitt, i had 'cut' myself a few times (fortunetlly not deep enough to leave a scar).I remember doing it cause i 'hated' myself.......i felt like i was the ugliest,fattest, dumbest & worthless person alive!!!I still often get it back in my head (now & again)only i stopped cutting cause i realize that,lol, that will only make me look worse(;& i know alot of people claim 'cutting' is for attention...but in alot of cases i know that is totally not true!!!"

"[about self harm] Yeah, only when I'm drunk though.. I usually wake up and not remember what I"ve done, I usually have words like 'fat fuck,' or 'ugly fat bitch'......or pictures of forks and what not cut into myself. It's kind of disturbing. I hate it. I really fuckin hate it.EDs have lead to so much more than just the eating thing.. Its gone to depression, isolation, alcoholism, self mutilation and other substance abuse. It's fucking retarded and I wish I could stop."

Research..

Not Perfect
Perfect I am not, nor will I ever be.

I don't know why people like me, I'm just being me.

I never get things done, I never get it right.

My life a constant battle, in which I loose the fight.

I see people living happy, showing a lot of pride.

Wanting to be like that, I begin to cry and hide.

Everyone seems so happy, wonderful and free.

For I will never be perfect like that, because I am only me.

Honestly I should put a warning on this blog. Googling things like 'proana' and 'thinspiration' are not advisable unless you are not shocked easily. This blog is just a whole bunch of random info for me and cat to come back to later. Makes pretty interesting reading though.

These websites even have mission statements, defending the information they provide to vulnerable young women.

Part of House of Thin's mission's statement -

"Pro-ana is NOT a bad thing, it is here to stay and helps out millions of people world wide. This and several other sites are living proof of that. Until others stop buying into the hype of misinformed media propeganda, and the recovery sites who are so insecure about themselves they have to attack us ... we will be here ... fighting for your rights to seek help on your own and make others see that anorexics and bulimics have the right to be treated fairly. It's time to stop the discrimination based on eating disorders, and stop the demonization of people who want to help. We are NOT the enemy ... the environment that causes eating disorders IS!"

As for Thinspiration websites.. there are definetly reoccuring names. Angelina Jolie, Nicole Richie, Mary Kate Olsen, & Paris Hilton are real 'thinspiring' for girls with an unhealthy desire to be thin. But it's photos like this..

...that are really disgusting. If ANYONE thinks that is attractive please could they step forward so I can smack them round the head with a blunt object!

There's loads on youtube.. these 2 videos are pretty good and should definetly come in handy for our documentary! This first one has a picture of the shot I want!!

Statistics..

• In 1950 mannequins closely resembled the average measurements or women. The average hip measurement of mannequins and women were 34 inches. By 1990 the average hip measurement was 37 inches, while the average mannequins hip measured only 31 inches.
• If today's mannequins were actual human women, based on their theoretical body-fat percentages they would have probably ceased to menstruate.
• The average U.S. woman is 5'4" and weighs 140 pounds. In contrast, the average U.S. model is 5'11" and weighs 117 pounds.
• Over the last three decades fashion models, Miss America contestants, and Playboy centerfolds have grown steadily thinner, while the average woman's weight has actually risen.
• Some of the pictures of the models in magazines do not really exist. The pictures are computer-modified compilations of different body parts.
• A study found that 25% of Playboy centerfolds met the weight criteria for Anorexia.
• Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today she weighs 23% less.
• Kate Moss is 5'7" and weights 95 pounds. That is 30% below ideal body weight.
• Suprmodels Niki Taylor and Elle Macpherson also meet the Body Mass Index physical criteria for Anorexia.
• Gisele Bundchen was Vogue's model of the year, in part the magazine states, because she strays from the rail-thin image. Gisele is 5'11" and weighs only 115, that is 25% below her ideal body weight
• Following the introduction of Western television in Fiji, there was a surge in the rate of eating disorders.
• One out of every four television commercials sends out some sort of message about attractiveness.
• 80% of women who answered a People magazine survey responded that images of women on television and in the movies make them feel insecure.
• Actresses Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz and singer Diana Ross all meet the Body Mass Index physical criteria for Anorexia.
• Model/Actress Elizabeth Hurley stated in Allure Magazine, "I've always thought Marilyn Monroe looked fabulous, but I'd kill myself if I was that fat."
• Pamela Anderson is 5'7" and weights 120 pounds. She is supposed to be the voluptuous ideal yet she is 11% below ideal body weight. In contrast, a generation ago Marilyn Monroe set the beauty standard at 5'5" and weighed 135 pounds. Today her agent would probably tell her she had to lose weight!

Also, worth remembering.. proanamia has a whole list of songs we could think about using..

Final Idea

Right well finally made some decisions and may as well just restart this whole blog!! Going to do a documentary.. with a topic as opposed to a subject (one person) because basically we don't know anyone interesting enough and we couldn't find a lorry for the Ardjan entering England reconstruction..

So linking to both mine and Cat's CRS (killing two birds with 1 stone and meaning all our work can count towards both) our topic is BODY IMAGE!! This ticks about a gizzillion boxes by being a current topic, affecting people our age at our school AND helps me and Cat with our CRS!

I want to get started ASAP cos we've decided we want as much time as possible to edit so here's our (not as incredibly long as I expected) to do list..

• Focus Group (For CRS and can be filmed..) - pictures of models, skinny and curvier, opinions of these? do they feel pressured to conform to these images? where does this pressure come from? etc
• Letter to GP/Eating Disorder professional/Eating Disorder organistations - beg for 2 minute interview. Send questions beforehand
• Collect stills of size zeros and curvier role models (eg Beth Ditto (yeah yeah I know Jake)).. to be used with voice overs from focus group
• Talk to parents/teachers - get adult view on debate

Now.. I really want to film a scene involving a young girl looking in the mirror.. and the mirror version is fatter that the real life one? I know mirrors like this exist but I doubt we can find one.. hmm...!!

Ideas and Opinions are welcomed (and begged for to be honest..I don't like the way Jake & James get waay more comments than us!)

Any one interested in being filmed/recorded and/or being in the focus group please let me or Cat know

my first post :D

finally figured out what to do and what buttons to press without this whole bloody thing cockin up wooop!!!

me and lauren have decided we are going to focus our attentions to documentaries...

i really liked the one amy did last year so i think we need to do a 5minute piece on just one person who is very interestin and amazing and as much as laurens want to..we wont do it on someone dying as its slightly insensitive!!!

we just need to find our lucky volunteer and come up with some questions and "stuff" and hey presto we will have an amzing piece of work

peace out

cat xx

Initial Ideas for Documentary

Well with Cat being so flipping helpful looks like its down to me again! From the like 10 second conversation we had earlier I'm beginning to think we may have disregarded the Documentary thing to early... can't help thinking it'll be easier and seems like no one else is doing it..

So documentary ideas...

What Woman (Really) Want - Being an all girl duo it is only fair that we represent our gender and clear up some common misconceptions for males everywhere!! Could interview woman about what they want and men about what they THINK woman want..

Something Poignant, Touching and Moving - Unfortunately I do not know any one with a terminal illness and Cat said I'm sick for considering it..

..but talking heads is just a bit borring and minimal effort-ish... not going to get me the A I want!! So need something else.. reenactments? Erm.. dunno need to discuss!!

Definitely want to go somewhere.. what's the point in being able to drive if we don't take full advantage!!

Also Mr. M I know you said don't be competition based but it has become EXTREMELY important me and Cat do well.. Jake will eat his words (.."The two lowest scores for coursework last year join together to make the WORST MUSIC VIDEO EVER!")