Mention subject, form (narrative, doc, experimental), technique, stylistic approach.

For example: A doc film about the treatment of elderly people in homes, using interviews of nurses and managers. Made in stop motion, animating ‘home food’, furniture, medical paraphernalia etc. as characters.

–  Read the Modes Summary at the end of this form.

– List the 2 (or more) Modes that you will use to develop your project.

– Explain HOW these Modes to help you investigate your subject and produce new information and/or materials for your production.

– Describe WHAT you will do next, to concretely put these Modes into practice.

The participatory mode will help investigate my subject as it gave me a chance to conduct an interview based on my chosen subject, enabling me to find out about their experience and opinion with and on it. As my chosen theme/subject is about how veteran soldiers adjust back into civilian life and how they function with PTSD I was able to find out this information first hand. I was not only able to find out how PTSD affected him but how he deals with the condition day to day. By having all the information gathered I will now be able to produce my animation with little to no problems however as time progresses, more questions come to mind therefore I may need to extend the interview. The interview has been cut down to just over 2 minutes 30 seconds with just him talking. I took myself out of the interview as my interviewee answers the questions clearly and descriptively.  Next, I will be asking my interviewee more questions regarding how he feels about the subject. I will also ask and find out if he knows anyone who is affected by PTSD who may not be able to function as well compared to himself. Doing these things can allow me to gain more access into the mind of someone who suffers with this condition to a more advanced level. My interviewee Harun will become the main character within this animation and that will be made clear through the film.

2.     Observational Mode:

The observational mode can help investigate my subject as the film only contains the interviewee (Harun) voice. As I am not asking him any questions, he is left to tell us his story and experiences which allows myself to remain hidden until I begin to animate. Also, as I am not someone who has not experienced the same, I remain neutral within this subject. I will be following exactly what I is said from the interview as more factual based rather than an interpretation. By doing this I may not get the best result out of the documentary however I will aim to experiment in pre-production to enable myself to know what best fits.

Browse the Resource below.

Resource:

Documentaries 1: http://tinyurl.com/nkkrprg
  Documentaries 2: http://tinyurl.com/oewjnxe
  Documentaries 3: http://tinyurl.com/qzes3lg

You may choose other films than the ones in the Resource, as long as they are Documentaries and readily available on the Internet (ie you need to include a link).

Watch many of these films as you can. Spend time on this, looking for films that capture your interest and imagination.

List the titles + author of 3 Documentary Films that you find inspiring for your project because of their FORM or APPROACH to their subject.

I really enjoyed this documentary film, especially the style of drawing. The minimal of colour used really brings out the dramatic side of the story even though it is a serious subject anyway. I also enjoyed the ‘flashbacks’ and how the colour of it is extremely vibrant in comparison to live scenes. This is something that I could possibly use as part of my documentary as my interviewee does reference back to past experiences. By using more vibrant colour for the past reference scenes can really show the importance of them.

Lebanon death in the field – Patrick Chappatte:

This documentary was interesting to watch, one of the first things that stuck out was the fact that there were not major amounts of animation however the most important bits were. Also, what stuck out was the fact that there was a mixture of live-action photos and animated photos. This gives the documentary contrast and reminds us that the events happening are very much real-life events. Furthermore, seeing the pictures of the actual people involved rather than just drawings allow the audience to build a connection and have idea of who they were in the real world.

Using the real life photos is something that I could really consider using, especially as my subject is military based – seeing old military photos is something people quite enjoy seeing as it is something the person is proud of as an accomplishment. I feel is it also important to show real life photos as it give the audience the opportunity to see what the subject of the topic looks life.

Johnny Cash Ain’t no grave – The Johnny Cash Project:

This documentary was like the one previous in terms of the mixture of live action with animation, however the difference is, that the animated side of this was a time lapse of the drawing process. This can be extremely interesting in use of animating as it can help the audience build a story during the interview while the drawing is being drawn. The documentary also shows live action interviews, in which gives it contrast. This is something I would love to include within my documentary film however as of right now it is quite a slim chance I can do that however not impossible therefore it is something I will consider.

Each analysis should be around 200 words.

We believe this film uses the Participatory Mode, it is a direct interaction between the film makers and the subjects through the use of interview. This involves the interviewer asking the interviewee’s questions about the topic – modern slavery. The interview starts off with basic questions such as What is your name? how old are you? And where are you from? It then leads into more questions relating to the topic such as how long were you captured for? Etc. No voice over is being used, the participants are the real people who were involved in the kidnapping and slavery. We also find that the children are speaking another language which makes it that little bit more authentic as these types of issues are very common in third well countries – separate from the western world. Reading the subtitles gives the audience to really engage in what they are saying as it is something we need to take in and comprehend. The type of animation is quite simple therefore it allows the audience to focus more so on the subtitle text rather than being distracted by the animation.

In terms of what I will take away from this; the simplicity of the animation and colours. When being interviewed the children’s scenes are in very basic and dull colours but when describing something or referring to the past the colours are a lot brighter which could signify the importance of the events.

Lebanon death in the field – Patrick Chappatte:

We believe this film uses the Expository Mode, which uses a narrator who answers the questions given, with factual information. We hear the occasional voice of the subjects who were involved to tell part of the story that they were involved in however it then goes straight back to the narrator. The film is a mixture of factual information, first-hand account stories – through text, animation and voice. There is some moving animation but more so still animation, but we see a mixture of time lapse drawings, moving pictures and live action pictures. This can be quite effective as it makes the audience focus on what the narrator is saying and the importance of it. Narrators also use information regarding bombs, we therefore as the audience gain knowledge from what is being told which can then allow us to understand the story more. There is also great use of around effects and music which creates and very natural and rural atmosphere especially due to its native sound.

In terms of what I will take away from this; the use of live action images, it allows the audience to relate even more to the film as we get to see what the people really look like rather than just an animation or drawing of them. As said before using old military photos can be something that is used in a proudful way.

Johnny Cash Ain’t no grave – The Johnny Cash Project:

We also believe this film uses the Expository Mode and Participatory Mode, which was narrated by multiple people who were involved in part taking in a project dedicated to Johnny Cash – joint documentary. This can be a very effective mode as it can allow the audience to see and hear the opinions of more than one person and have their own say. As this was a dedications type documentary everything is portrayed in a positive way which in our opinion doesn’t reflect in the style of drawing/animation as most of it is done in black and white. However, it could be seen as quite a nice contrast as the interviews are done in colour and in live action.

In terms what I can take from this documentary, is the use of live action footage. If I am able to gain footage of Harun while in the military, it would add a real-life effect to the film with that cross over with animation and live action. It can be used to ‘fill in’ while Harun is narrating.