NEW Mocumentary plan

MOCUMENTARY

For the next project, I will make a participatory mocumentary.  The story will focus on a boy, possibly me, who is making a documentary about a popular videogame that he does not like.

The game, called “Skyrim,” is supposedly a really big deal, but the main character does not see why it is so special.  His friends keep trying to convince him to play it, but he will not give in.  The main character will make a participatory documentary about his experiences before, during, and after playing Skyrim.

One of the friends lets the main character borrow his copy of Skyrim, and bets 40 dollars that that he will like it.

The majority of the second half of the film is comprised of a sort of video diary.  Everyday, the main character records himself playing the game for a little bit.

At first, he is not impressed by the game, however as the days increase, he becomes obsessed to a dangerous degree. 

As the days pass, he goes to greater measures to obsess over the game.  He barricades himself in the basement, blocks out all windows, and severs himself from the outside world entirely.

Things start to go wrong: the electricity goes out, he runs out of food, the television starts affecting his eyesight.  Everything that could go wrong does go wrong.

The dialogue will be largely improvisational, however since there are not many scenes with any characters besides me, this should not be too much of a problem.  I will be the main character, since this is a participatory mocumentary. 

Here is a brief script draft for the scene with dialogue.  These are just points that will be covered, for the most part it will be improvisational.  Some ideas for the video diary (before things start going bad) are also included.

Jacob: I just don’t think it looks that great.  I don’t know why people are flipping out about it. 

Friend: Dude, you’re crazy. It is actually the best game I have ever played.

Jacob: I‘ve seen videos; its glitchy as hell and the graphics are like the Atari.

Friend: are you kidding me?

Jacob: I know its open world and I guess that’s cool, but it just doesn’t look that stellar. It definitely does not deserve all the hype.

Friend: All right, that is not acceptable.  I will drag you into this store, take a copy of Skyrim, and shove it in your mouth, just so you will play it.

Jacob: So you will buy me a game that I don’t even want?

Friend: No way I’m not spending sixty dollars on you.

Jacob: well I’m not either

Friend: All right.  How about this. I lend you my game for a week, and if you like it, give me forty dollars.

Jacob: All right, and since I won’t like it, what happens then?

Friend: your choice.

Day 1

All right lets do this. Skyrim.

Bethesda blab la don’t really care

All right lets sit through this ten-minute cut scene.

Whoa that’s like some freaky cat-person.  All right lets make him even weirder WHOA you can give him a mohawk

Wow this is boring.

Bla bla dragon burning my face. Save me bla bla.

Day 2

Aaa skyrim suckssssss

Shoot fire from my hands thbpth

Okay and there is a elephant chasing me  aaaand I’m dead.

KOYAAAAAAAAAANISQATSIIIIIIIII

When introduced to Koyaanisqatsi, I was expecting a more traditional nature-against-modern-man sort of documentary.  I thought that it may be something like the Planet Earth series, with narration over impressive shots of nature.  Needless to say, my expectations were a bit off.  While watching the film, it became more and more clear that this is a very unique work.  I have never seen anything quite like Koyaanisqatsi.  Some may say it is not a documentary at all.

Koyaanisqatsi is in someways very similar to the Planet Earth series, with the extreme wide shots of various natural and unnatural environments.  However it is very different, considering its lack of narration and the very slow pace.  The beginning of the film was, in my opinion, the only boring part.  There were interesting ideas, such as showing the parallels in the ocean and the clouds, and all of the shots were very beautiful, but there was not enough variation.  After a few very slow minutes, the monotony of deserts and the, the ocean, and clouds started to get to me.

I most enjoyed the shots of industry and human "civilization."  A few shots stand out to me in particular, such as the jumbo jets swimming through the mirage.  The images of people and the things they have created somehow dehumanized people themselves.  Set to the ominous music, the civilization shots were unsettling and almost creepy.

In my opinion, Koyaanisqatsi is more of an experimental film than documentary.  Unlike most documentary films, Koyaanisqatsi does not deliberately feed information to the viewer.  As a documentary, this film would require too much inference.  As an experimental film, I don't think that there are many better than this.  Koyaanisqatsi delivers a meaningful message through a structure comprised of incredible visuals and a very powerful musical score.

"Idea" preproduction plan

The documentary will focus on Dr. Kathy Jamison, our family’s vet.  I will research the veterinary industry in order to better understand the general topic.  Even though Dr. Jamison will be the focus of the documentary, I want to know more about animal health care, and show how much she strays from the “traditional” idea of a vet.

Main interview subjects will include Dr. Jamison, our neighbor who is a friend and owner of a “patient,” and perhaps other volunteer interviewees who are at the office while I am shooting.  If there are no volunteers, there should be no problem.  I could interview my mother, as she has gone to the vet plenty of times as well and is familiar with Dr. Jamison.

Most of the footage will be on-location at the office.  I have spent a lot of time in the waiting room, and I know for a fact that I could easily shoot hours upon hours of b-roll (dogs, cats, birds, fish, talking birds; the sound alone is very entertaining), since so much is always going on.  For interviews, the office may suffice as well, except for the friend/neighbor, who can be interviewed in her own house.  I will schedule at least two days of filming at the office, most likely on weekends.  I can interview the friend/owner anytime she is free within next two weeks.  Interviews with Dr. Jamison will be filmed on location during the two shooting days. 

This will be an expository documentary, considering the inclusion of interviews and extensive editing.  I will avoid participating in anything other than interviews.  The structure will focus on the words of the owners who bring their pets to Dr. Jamison, and then her own words and opinions on her job.  If a major topic of interest happens to pop up while I am there, I may follow it throughout the piece as something to give the final project a more linear structure.  There will be no narration.  In my head I see a final product that somewhat mimics a history channel or TLC documentary.  I will not, however, try to manipulate situations.

It would be ideal to have a crew of one to two other people.  I already know one of my friends who would be happy to help me.  He was part of the “mobile costume support unit” while filming Custodian, and he also had a cameo in Things In My Basement That Spin.  The only factor in question is his reliability, which has not been a problem in the past.  If worse comes to worse, I am able to do everything on my own.

Possible questions for Dr. Jamison:

What has your day been like?

What are your opinions on animals (more specifically those you work with)?

Why did you become a veterinarian?

What are some of your opinions concerning the veterinary industry?

Do you have monkeys, and if so, may we meet them?

Possible questions for Neighbor and other interviewees:

Where did you hear of Dr. Jamison?

Why do you choose her services over other vets?

Why do you think that Dr. Jamison is unique/special/awesome?

What past experiences with Dr. Jamison stand out in your memory?

What do you know about the monkeys?

HOLD UP GUYS- I have an idea

As some may know, my family has cats.  too many cats.  four cats live in the house, and every year we find and adopt out an average of two stray cats.  With all of these animals, we end up going to the vet regularly.  We do not go to a "normal" vet clinic (one that looks and feels like a hospital); we go to a local, privately owned veterinary clinic, which looks like an old house that could use a cleaning and may or may not have a colony of more than two dozen monkeys living on the third floor. For my IDEA documentary, I am going to see if I can follow the doctor who runs the clinic for a few days.


Let me just say, there is so much material about this place, Animal Planet could do a whole series about it.  The vet has around 8 dogs of her own, I think, and every morning they jump out of her car like one of those clown cars.  They are not small dogs, either.  There are at least two full size greyhounds.  It is never, EVER boring in the waiting room.  There is always something to keep your mind busy, whether its an escaped puppy running up and down the hallway, or a cat in a carrier howling bloody mary.  And then there's this parrot in the room opposite the examining room, and he hears everything that goes on.  the door to that room is always open, and it sounds like there is a dog, cat, soap opera, and laugh track in that room at any point in time, all thanks to the talented parrot.


One other thing is that apparently the vet takes care of more than thirty monkeys.  I do not know this for sure, and I have never asked her.  The closest thing to concrete evidence I have is that a family friend said she asked the vet about the monkeys, and got a positive response.  Again, I'm not sure, but that would certainly be interesting for a documentary (at least I think so).


We are on very good terms with the vet herself, and she appreciates our efforts in finding homes for stray cats.  She lets students do volunteer work at her clinic, so I have a feeling that she will not mind my doing this project.  I will try to be as minimally invasive as possible, but that may not be possible.  I would need to get a film crew, but I have a feeling my friends would not want to help for more than one day.  






P.S. 
 I think that maybe a certain photo class taught by a certain Mrs. Woodruff should get extra credit for volunteering as film crew.

maya DErEn

Jacob Wetzel

Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon”

When boiled down to its simplest form, Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon” is an interpretation on dream structure.  Seeing as all dreams are very specific to the dreamer, the concept of turning a dream into a film that viewers can interpret and enjoy is not easy to pull off.  In “Meshes,” Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid achieve the effect of dream through utilizing experimental techniques in framing, sound, composition, and movement.

At the beginning of the film, we are not yet in the “dream world.”  We know this because all of the shots are taken from a point of view similar to Deren’s, and we do not see her face in any shots.  Maya Deren finds a flower in the road, and picks it up.  She then walks to the front door, drops her key, picks it up, enters the house, observes odd placement of the bread knife, the phone, and the record player, and falls asleep in a chair.  It is important to note the objects that the camera focuses on in the “real world” sequences, as they all play significant roles throughout the film.  The flower, key, knife, phone, and record player are all recurring symbols throughout the “dream world.”  Much like how in a dream, the mind pulls together random images from the day before and relates them to eachother.  As Maya falls asleep, we enter her “dream world” with her. 

BRIGHT IDEAS for the light project

These stick people costumes were made with el wire, which is basically a light in wire form.  it is pretty bright in the dark, and it can be bent into shapes like these stick people.  It is pretty popular as costume lighting, since it is cheap (about $1.00 per foot), effective, battery powered, and easily manipulated.  To shorten el wire, you just cut it like a thread.  It would be pretty easy to make a complete scene with el wire in a dark environment.  A similar effect could be achieved with glow in the dark elements or blacklights, but el wire is much brighter.  People do amazing things with el wire, like this guy, who recreated the el wire "encore" suits worn by the band Daft Punk at their live performances.  We probably could not do something quite this complicated, but it just shows the capabilities of this material.  WE SHOULD GO FOR IT.

"Grassassin"

My film will be a study on the anthropomorphization of blades of grass.  I will film multiple blades of grass, using "close ups" of individual blades, and shots of groups of blades as well.  The blades of grass will experience various calamities, which are rather common events, but on the scale of the grass are terrible disasters.  Examples include: a hand plucking individual blades; someone stepping on grass; and a weedwacker.  The film will feature dialogue, from the perspective of the grass.  The lines spoken by the grass will be recorded in post production, and will be an interpretation of how I would react to the various events if I happened to be a blade of grass.
The goal of this movie is to make the viewer mourn the deaths of the blades of grass who are dying so violently in the film.  I am attempting to make inhuman objects evoke a human reaction by making them seem human while killing them in an inhumane fashion.