Fabulous Frogs: Has mixes of old and new footage.

1. Intro: Close up of a lot of frogs. With David Attenborough narrating about 5000 species of frogs.
He is aging: Interaction with the Narrator and amazing camera work. (Slow motions and fast
camera).
Notes: Frogs are cool. The close interaction with the narrator and the frog creates a flow for the
documentary. The mix of old and new footage shows how much work has gone into each scene.
Wonderful clips showcase what would be in this documentary.

2. The CBS intro and title scene. “NATURE”

3. Frogs are cool – “I had them since childhood”- David Attenborough. Amphibians are first to go
on land. Historical chat. Frog evolution. Lots of shots of fossils and bones. Not so alive.
Notes: Comparison of Now and Then. Raises questions. Spines were longer but now legs are
longer. The Historical nature of this scene sets the educational tone of the documentary. Lack of
living things in this section shows how old these species are. It is also a nice contrast of the
documentary about living breathing frogs to the very dead and evolutionary past.

4. Fast Frog – Frog leaps and more science. CGI – show off BBS money. Muscle structure of the
Frog leg. Frog that leaps on water. Frog flies through air. The webbing and its use.
Notes: Several Frogs to display the strong and unique legs of frog. Dramatic CGI shows that this
education “won’t be boring.” Also, the order of frog: normal frog – water walking frog – flying
frog, creates a fun contrast to keep people interested. (earth/water/air)

5. The development of Frog communications. 2nd to insects in global history. Mainly to find a mate.
“He who shouts the loudest”. 1. Frog that communicates with its legs. 2 species of them.
Dramatic music of fighting off a rival with a wave. Cute music. Drama, rain and lighting, = very
ugly not so funny frog. Largest Frog too. Very violent wrestling match. Skin color courtship.
Funnier tone of music.
Note: Love is complex and weirder in Frog world. The various species of Frog showcase the
variety of mating. It starts simple – quirky – ugly/funny – largest frog – to funny again with each
species. All of them have very different taste in mates. The calm voice of David Attenborough
really ties in this section very well. His casual laughs and level tone keeps everything wrapped up
and going.

6. Frog birth/life. Reverse motion and fast growth. The enormous transformation. CGI/ Education
in its growth.
Notes: A radical transformation of its body. Dramatic music and the show of life and death.
Frogs fluidity and flexibility is powerful. The documentary truly showcases its scenes with slow
motions and reverse videos as well as fast pace videos to create a dramatic shift in the
documentary.

7. Poison Frog and its parenting. Ominous music – to a homely/family music. Tiny creature great
adventure. Double parenting. Mama carries its baby to safety while papa guards. Extra egg for
 evolutionary trait. Bull Frog parenting is hard. Tadpoles are in danger, but papa frogs save the
day. Darwin’s Frog – creepy and scary
Notes: Big task accomplice by special traits. The scenes are carefully placed so Frogs gets larger
and dramatic then changes to a funnier weird/scary one in the end to bring the audience back
from the serious and more treacherous task of parenting (by frogs)

8. Cool shot of Frog travelling and crazy tongue. Remember: frogs are hunters. It can eat so much
in one day. The amphibian invention = tongue. More pre historical frogs. And eyeball utilized
eating. – More science of that. CGI. No neck so big eyes. Its Toepads – more science and CGI.
Freefalling frog and its legs. Pebble Frog: fast pace music. Also falls to escape. Camouflage to
escape/hide. Or confuse predator or poison them. Bright color can mean warning.
Note: defense mechanism of Frogs. And the dramatic action-packed scenes. The terrifying
nature and the little servicer. This is the climax about frogs. Everything from frog being a hunter
and the hunted: Both extreme side of nature.

9. Modern use of Frog poison.

Note: Human interaction with Frog in use. This is the only human related thing that is
mentioned in the documentary (if you don’t count the human contribution to environmental
decay). Not a single mention about edible frogs that are a typical cuisine of china and French.

10. Frogs don’t drink = seeps through water and oxygen. Sunscreen for some frogs or never leave
water at all. Fun music – funny frogs.
Note: adaptiveness of frogs to its environment. Adorable scenes where frogs are grooming
themselves. This gives no clue about the scarier more impactful scenes later. It is a fluffy cute
scene that truly showcase the loveliness of frogs and how they are perfect and adorable. It’s the
set up for the next scene.

11. Environmental issue can me shown from Frog: Ex1 nutcracker music?
Note: Loss of habitat, pesticides and lethal fungus. Science and SGI shows death by fungus. 3rd
of Frog faces extinction. Fast paced music makes everything sound dire. The Narrator expresses
how important frogs are in the wild. How we can use frog as a natural indicator of
environmental change, since they are easier to spot and see fast enough changes for research.

12. Years of his study and extinct species in the wild.

Notes: real life issue. Focusses on the Narrators history and his relation to nature. That he had
seen the changes in nature. Makes it seem more real and important. This scene is the emotional
climax. Where the audience would have to think about their impact on the environment and
how this particular type of frog ad gone extinct in the wild. The narrator had the chance to work
with this species before and now they are gone. Bleak and dark emotional impact.

13. Hopeful ending. Frogs adaptiveness – frog that lives in the desert. Miracle of life. Wood Frog –
cold area by being frozen solid. The frog is essentially dead/ no heartbeat. IT comes backs to life
every winter. More CGI
Notes: The two extremes. Shows hope that the frogs may adapt in the future. Spring returns.
 14. Close up of Narrator – sad to lose em. But hopeful despite the threats.
Note: The documentary ends with a hopeful note. Encourages better changes in the future.

Fabulous Frogs
10
9
8
7
Emotion Level

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
# of Scenes

Step Five: Make conjectures about why the documentary was edited together in the order that
it appears. How does the order of edits create the emotional timeline?
The Order of the documentary folds in educational factor with dramatic ups and downs. Showcased by
multiple species of Frogs. Gradually the story gets heavier, from about leaping to love to body
transformation to parenting etc.… The climax is the dramatic action-packed frog survival traits and the
disastrous environmental effect on their lives. The documentary starts with beautiful showcases of Frogs
and ends with a hopeful, brighter end. The various Frog species are shown in order of either cute to
scary or easy to harder. Showing all kids of difference in frog perspectives and variety of environments.

Step Six: Think ahead to your own documentary plan: What strategies will you take with you
when writing your own treatment?
For my own documentary plan Quick changes of various images and scenes would make the
documentary seems fuller and more complex. Hopefully I can add cooler camera shots to interest my
audience. One thing is that the documentary is tied together by the narrator and intertwined with his
own story. It brings continuity to a documentary that utilizes old footages. His voice is most recognizable
as well. Extensive research and visually appealing educational scenes gave structure to the
documentary. There were several topics being discussed with its own ups and downs. Have he focused
climax(the frog climax) and the emotional climax(environmental impact and about us).