Transcription
DocumentaryProposalDocumentary Filmmaking 101 (MOOC)Week 2
Purpose of Proposal Present in conjunction with a pitch, tofunders and anyone you wish tointerest in the project Is a way to plan your documentary ingreat detail and in writing
Elements of Proposal Synopsis Financial Plan Subject Bios Marketing Plan Crew Bios Two-Column Script Background Research Director’s/VisualTreatment Budget
Synopsis A written summary/outline of thefilm’s content
ExampleSynopsis: HardwoodHardwood is a personal journey by director Hubert Davis, the sonof former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis, who explores how hisfather's decisions affected his life and those of his extendedfamily. 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 inthe hope of finding a new direction for his own. At its core,Hardwood is about the power of archival footage and home moviesto delve into his father's past in the hope of finding a newdirection for his own. At its core, Hardwood is about the power ofredemption and the healing of the bonds between fathers andsons.Source: viewing/hardwood
Subject Bios It is essential to provide a list of yourintended subjects and a biography for each. This will require you to pre-interview yoursubjects, ideally over the phone. **
Crew Bios Provide bios for your key crew members,including yourself (director/writer), cameraperson/cinematographer/camera operator,sound recordist, editor, producer, composer. If you plan to do all positions yourself, youcan preface this and then include your bio.
Example Filmmaker BioNettie Wild is a Canadian documentary filmfilmmaker. Wild has directed and producedfour full length documentary films: Wild wasawarded the audience award for bestdocumentary film at the 1998 AFI Fest for APlace Called Chiapas. She was given GenieAwards for both A Place Called Chiapas andFix, and won two awards at the BerlinInternational Film Festival for A Rustling ofLeaves.Source: http://www.whoislog.info/profile/nettie-wild.html
Background Research All documentaries require research, evenif they are highly personal. The nature of the research will depend onthe nature of the content of the film.
Research Example 1 If your documentary is about acertain period of your own familyhistory, your research will entailconducting many interviews withdifferent family members andperhaps also researching the timeand place, through newspapers,letters, pictures or other artifacts.
Research Example 2 If you are planning to make a documentaryabout "The History of the Berlin Wall," youwill be required to conduct a great deal ofresearch, likely in the form of newspapers,journals, books, news footage, other filmsthat have been made on the subject, archivesand much more.
Director’s/ VisualTreatment To provide the vision of the director,in categories including: “the look ofthe film, documentary genre, thestructure, bios/interview style, thetheme and pace/editing” reatment/
Budget A film budget is the total cost of the production. Budgets are organized in a spreadsheet in excel or using othersoftware, such as Movie Magic Budgeting. Documentary budgets are different from a fiction film budget, asthey do not require payment of talent. Other costs that are usuallylow or exempt are art department, wardrobe, locations and more. Budget level depends on the nature of your documentary, but mostoften the subjects wear their own clothes and you would film them intheir space, which is usually free of charge. Documentaries can have high post-production and archival footagecosts.
Budget Sample A comprehensive resource with a samplebudget can be found here: r-budget-toeing-line-items
Financial Plan A financial plan is a list ofwhere the production isobtaining its funding. Director Contribution - 100% For example, if you arepaying for all costs yourself,your financial plan wouldstate "Director Contribution 100% (the total dollaramount, which is the EXACTamount of the budget)." If you have money coming infrom other sources, youwould break down yourfinancial plan to representthe different sources.OR Director Contribution - 50% Investor - 30% In-Kind Services 20% Total 100%
Marketing Plan For now, the only thing you should keep inmind at this stage is, who is your targetaudience? Eg. My primary target market are audienceswho watch short documentaries, and a moreniche market is environmental festivalaudiences and other activist audiences. More on marketing in Week 11.
Two-Column ScriptFAMILY LAND, MAPS & RUINEDHOMES--duration: 5:00DC EXPLAINS HISTORY OF FAMILY LAND TOLEYTEDC EXPLAINS FAMILY LAND TO LEYTE(WHITNEY)LEYTE DRAWS TREESFULL MAP OF FIRST FAMILY LANDSECOND FULL MAP OF FAMILY LANDFCM: NON-DROP FRAMECUCUCUCUCUBOUNDARY OF TIA'S AND DC'S LANDCOOKING HUT AND PATHCOOKING HUT NUMBER TWOPATHHUT WITH BLUE DOORPTVO: Don Chabo dictates thehistory of the family land.He speaks little Spanish, and hisgranddaughter speaks little Mayan.80 years ago his granddaugher’sgreat-great grandmother lived in aforest.60 years ago she sold some of it.50 years ago her daughter soldmore.EXPLORATION OF FAMILY LAND40 years ago her daughter--DC’smother--sold more.30 years ago DC sold the rest,sliver by sliver, because what heearned as a shaman was too meagerto live on.PHOTO: DONA DEMETRIA20 years ago, DC’s second wife,Doña Demetria, left him for abetter life selling fruit on thestreets of Merida. Documentary scripts are written in a twoIt was then that DC began to eatscraps.column format (audio/video).WALK AROUND FOUR SIDES OF OLDFAMILY LAND Please download format template underDC GATHERS HERBSTo make his medecines, DC entersland now owned by strangers togather leaves from trees he plantedyears ago on land that once washis.resources for this week.-4-
Homework Prepare your documentary proposal containing: Synopsis Subject Bios Crew Bios Background Research Director’s/Visual Treatment Budget Financial Plan Target Market
Budget A Þlm 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 Þction Þlm budget , as they do not require payment of talent. Other costs that are usually low or
