Statement of Intent

Group: Pivotal Productions (M Liddle, J Stubbs, J Tonge, A Scargill, J

Hutchinson, J Williams, A Payne, M McDermott)

Project Title: INCITE: Doug's Story

Date: 5th November 2015

Audience & Outlet:

It would be very difficult to ascertain the demographic of the

documentary, given that the statistics are not there to reference.
However, we dont necessarily believe that the demographic would
be restricted to a particular age range, sex/gender, or belief system
of a group of individuals. The nature of the documentary being
homelessness means that it can be communicated on a
multicultural scale, as homelessness is something that can affect
everyone, no matter age, gender etc.
Despite this, stylistically and the narrative form the documentary
will is most likely to create a multicultural demographic of young
adults aged from around 18, to 35 years old. This is because weve
found that statistically, those most engaged with social media are
both male and female aged between 18-29, and social media is a
tool wed like our audience to engage with, to provoke an awareness
of the documentary and its theme.
Incite: Homelessness would be exhibited via television, idealistically
being broadcast on BBC Two. The BBC TWO commissioning website

describes the content which it outputs with regards to its

documentary as compelling and engaging but they should also be
up front about the issues and content they are exploring. Our
audience wants to learn about the world and embraces complex and
content-rich storytelling. Previously to visiting the website, the
ideologies of the aforementioned quote were agreed amongst the
group when discussing what it is we aspire to produce.
Ideologically the documentary would be akin to that of a Louis
Theroux documentary, which also airs on BBC TWO and is of a
similar nature and context. However, Therouxs approach towards
documentary is mainly international, he focuses his work and
subject matter mainly in America, whereas this run of
documentaries would centralize itself within Great Britain and focus
on subject matter relevant to people from the UK.

Theme:

The production will be in the form of documentary, which it itself is

going to be about homeless people, centering on the homeless
people who reside in the shelter Arclight, in York. The subject of
homelessness has been tackled before but in the examples the
production group has viewed online, none provided enough depth or
humanization of the subject and of the participants involved.
Homelessness is a topic, which has become increasingly prevalent
in UK, seeing a 45% increase in homelessness in the past four years.
Homelessness in York is a large subject because it is home to one of
the largest numbers of homeless people, with correspondence to the
cities size.

The documentary aims to humanize those whore homeless, an

attempt to exemplify that theyre no different from the rest of the
public. The documentary also attains to provide a new level of
awareness and education to its viewers regarding the subject of
homelessness, as well as an insight as to what homeless shelters
do, to provide and assist those who are in need.
Overall, the documentary aims to communicate through the notion
of a day in the life style format, a relation between subject and
audience, fulfilled by presenter Matthew and the participant of the
documentary.

Story/Structure:

The intent of our documentary is to create awareness for the plight

of homeless people, giving an insight into their lives on a more
personal level. We plan to relay a personal story from one or a
number of the residents of Arc Light homeless shelter, using visceral
stylistic images to add more emphasis to the stories, invoking an
emotional, empathetic response from our audience. The
demographic for our documentary is an audience of 18-30 year olds,
both male and female. Social-media users are who we want to
target, as this will be made as a BBC 2 style documentary and this
the age-group that best fits that bracket. We intend to create this in
the style of a presenter-led documentary with some elements of flyon-the-wall documentary to give an informative, more natural feel.
Making sure to regularly incorporate a voice-over narrative to keep
the documentary contextual and non-intrusive. We will have a
narration almost from the start, opening with a 30-second visceral

sequence using a lot of powerful discomforting images to impact

with the audience, instantly gripping them in to watching the rest of
our documentary. Roughly 5-6 minutes of the 10-minute film we are
making will be an interview with one of the residents.

Cinematography:

For the Interview I [Andy Paine] would like to use two cameras. One
set as a close up on the participant and the other set as a two shot
on the participant and presenter. This will allow me to capture not
only the participants emotion on camera but also the presenter,
which can show two sides to the story. While filming this interview I
want to abide by the rule of thirds. For the close up I will have the
participant in the middle of the shot and on the two shot I will have
them on the left and right side of the shot. Using the rule of thirds
allows for my shots to be more interesting and dynamic. For
example, my close up shot will tell the audience that the participant
is the main focal point of the interview since he will be in the
middle. After seeing the room I will be filming in I feel that I will be
able to get the shots I want for the interview. As a group we have
decided on doing a montage at the beginning of the documentary
and filming it in a gritty style. If our participant has any rough
stories about being on the street, then if possible we could recreate
this and give it that gritty style to grab the audiences attention as
soon as the documentary starts. We have also decided to film some
time lapses in York. A time lapse at night would allow us to give our
audience an insight into a homeless persons life. For equipment we
would like to use the track and the slider. If given consent from the

participant, I would like to use the track to get a shot of the room
they are sleeping in at arc light to show a juxtaposition of life on the
street to life in arc light. This will only be possible if we get consent
from the participant, as it is their private space. As for the slider I
think we could get some good low angle shots of people walking by
on the street. The reason I think this shot could be effective is
because many people have a negative view on the homeless and
this shot would give the audience the feeling that the homeless are
being looked down on by society.

Sound Design:

I [James Hutchinson] thought it would be wise to plan ahead so I

could capture as many appropriate sounds as possible when we
come into the production phase. Firstly, whilst at Arclight, I will try
and find residents with musical abilities; this would work perfectly to
introduce the topic of Arclight in the final documentary. I will need
to capture wild tracks of the indoor location in Arclight for
atmospheric tone, but I may also capture sounds of the city to
reflect on the harsh environment other homeless people have to
sleep in. Finally, we may choose to capture the voice of the
presenter to create a voice over narrative; this would be completed
in the best quality sound recording room at York St John University. I
felt it important to note that the interview will be one of the most
important sound aspects of the piece, as the voice of the participant

will be used throughout the documentary. For this reason, I will

attempt to capture the sound of the interviewee at the best quality
possible. Firstly, to capture the interviewers voice I will use a radio
mic; this will allow me to concentrate on the audio I am picking up
from the participant. I must make sure I, or anyone operating the
boom pole, doesnt end up in shot. For this reason, I will work in
collaboration with the cinematographer to create a simplistic
diagram detailing the locations of the camera, or cameras and the
sound equipment. To help create an appropriate environment for the
interview, I will attempt to hire out and bring noise dampening
equipment. If this is not possible I may see what materials are
already there; at the very least I should request that the participant
not be placed close to any walls as to avoid reflective sound.

Editing:

As editor of the documentary I [Josh Williams] have a responsibility

to piece together all of the footage that has been collected. In this
production I will use Avid Media Composer to edit this raw footage.
After using this editing software for over a year now I feel confident
it will help me get the best possible edit from the footage. With a
documentary sequence, an editor is given a lot more creative
freedom than say a dramatic film. This means I will need to work
closely with the director to produce something with a likeness to
what was intended. I intend to edit the documentary footage in a
thoughtful and compelling way. The subject of the documentary is

important and needs to be taken seriously. Once all of the footage is

imported into Avid Media Composer, the first thing I will do is screen
the material a few times so that I can get a feel and understanding
of what I will be working with. At first, I will work closely with the
editing assistants to bring together a rough cut. Once a rough cut
has been finished, I will consult the director and will transform the
rough edit into a final cut. In this time, it is imperative that I make
sure the footage flows well and the cuts are clean. The built in
microphone of the C100 camera will help me synchronize the
footage with the sound. I plan to use split edits throughout the
documentary. L cuts and J cuts are a good way to keep film looking
fluid. With a documentary, this is something I feel would work well.
During the planned interview section, I intend to use a variety of
different shots. As the camera operator is hoping to use two
cameras within this section, this means I will be have a greater
amount of camera angles of the subject so that the interview
doesnt appear static and boring. I dont plan to use fast, jump cuts
in the documentary as I feel this takes away from the realism of a
piece of film. As mentioned earlier, with a documentary the editor
has quite a lot of creative freedom. However, with this freedom
comes responsibility. I would be responsible of making sure the edit
is the way the group wants it rather than my individual preference. I
also need to try and pace my editing time out equally as I believe
trying to do a chunk of editing in one session would be a bad idea.