DOCUMENTARY PROJECT PROPOSAL HELPER

Adapted from Directing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger

Working title

Director: Jared Wolterstorf

Camera:
Sound:
Editor: Jared Wolterstorf
Others:

1. WORKING HYPOTHESIS AND INTERPRETATION.

What are your persuasions about the world you are going to show in
your film, the main statement that you want to emerge out of the films
dialectics? Write a hypothesis statement incorporating this wording:
In life I believe that:
In life, I believe that a huge step towards being happy
throughout ones lifetime is discovering ones own identity. It
is important to answer the question Who am I? so one can
decide who he/she wants to be and who he/she will become,
as well as who he/she seeks for friendship and
companionship.
My film will show this in action by exploring (situation):
The conflict in motivations and actions between the two
main characters and how they act to resolve these issues.

The main conflict is between:

The girl and the guy characters, primarily their relationship
with each other.
Ultimately, I want the audience to feel:
Motivated to explore their own being.
and to understand that:
Identity is important to self-esteem and an overall feeling of
satisfaction with life.

2. TOPIC
Write a concise paragraph about:
a) Your films subject (person, group, environment, social issue etc.)
b) The necessary background information the audience must have to
understand and to be interested in the enclosed world you intend to
present. Be sure to show how this information will emerge.
The film will be about a girl who requests the services
of a detective, who just so happens to unknowingly be the
girls imaginary creation/friend. Through their time
together, he discovers the truth of his existence while she
discovers the truth of herself. The audience will need to
understand and be able to relate to the never-ending quest
for friendship and self-discovery throughout life. These
topics will be prevalent throughout the film, and the action
and dialogue of the two main characters, mostly the girl,
will emphasize how difficult these topics really are.
3. ACTION SEQUENCES
Write a brief paragraph for each intended sequence that shows an
activity. (A sequence is usually delineated by being in one location, one
chunk of time, or an assembly of materials to show one topic).

Incorporate the following:

a) What the activity is and what conflict it evidences
b) A metaphor to explain its subtextual meaning
c) The expected structure of events
d) What the sequence should contribute to the whole film and to the
hypothesis
e) What facts the audience must gather from watching it
f) What key, emblematic imagery you hope to capture
The detective will be doing an investigation for a
missing sock at the beginning of the story, and the conflict
presented by this is that without one, the other is useless.
On a deeper level, this will be a foreshadowing or parallel
to the story of the detective and the girl as the sock in
possession becomes dirtied, worn, and useless. This will be
resolved in the end by showing how even a lonely,
mismatched sock can be made beautiful or useful.
(Colorful, mismatched feet, make a sock monkey out of it,
etc.)
4. MAIN CHARACTERS
Write a brief paragraph about each of your main characters. For each
include:
a) Who (name, relationship to others in film and so on)
b) Where (where does this person fit in the scheme of things?)
c) What (what is this characters role, what makes the character(s)
interesting, worthy of special attention and significant? What is this
character trying to do or to get at?)
The detective is the initial main character. He will be
confident and self-motivated in what he does, and he will
begin the story as a hero character. He will reflect someone
that many people probably idolize. However, he will have
underlying motivations in what he does, manipulative and
sneaky. He will initially be the hero for the girl character,
the one she relies upon and learns from. As she learns
more about him, she will begin to find herself through both
his redeeming and non-redeeming qualities. This character
will become ruthless and morally questionable as he
desires to solve the girls mystery without regard to
consequences.
The girl will is the other main character. Shes shy,
timid, and very much unsure of herself throughout the
story. As she progresses, she will gain confidence and
competence in her own actions and decisions through the
conflict she has with the detectives own motivations. She

is going to be the character that we relate to because of

her shortcomings. She is trying to find a missing sock
monkey/doll or other precious possession of hers, and in
the process discovers why its important to her which helps
show her who she really is.
5. CONFLICT
What is at issue in this film? Consider:
a) Who wants what of whom?
b) What conflicting principles do the characters stand for?
c) Does your film put diferent principles in opposition (of opinion, of
view, of vision and so forth)?
d) How will we see one force finally meet with the other? (the
confrontation--very important)
e) What range of possible developments do you see emerging from
this confrontation?
The main conflict here is about the question Who do I
want to be or Who am I?. The characters will connect
with each other initially, and the girl will idolize the
detectives strength, competence, and belief in himself. As
the story progresses, she will begin to discover flaws in his
nature aspects of his personality, morality, and essence of
being that she does not agree with. They will eventually
clash heads when the reality of the detectives unreality
emerges, when the girl abandons him and he learns that he
only exists in her mind. He will come crashing down on his
loss of identity while she strides away with her own, and
the loss of identity will be shown as traumatic and
debilitating in a way similar to having never had one in the
first place.
6. AUDIENCE BIASES
To make a documentary means not only using conflicting evidence to
put forward your subjects dialectics, it also means knowing what
stereotypes or expectations carried by your audience your film must
deliberately set out to alter.
a) Biases ( may be positive or negative)
b) What alternative views, facts or ideas does the audience need to
understand
c) What evidence will you show to get the audience to see those
diferent truths
Typically, detectives or private investigators or law
enforcement of any kind is seen as heroic, strong,
trustworthy, and without flaw. This film will break that belief

and make it understood that one must make his/her own

decisions and to question authority. To question people. To
question life.
Shy, timid girls are seen to be dependent, unable to
rely on only themselves, good for making sandwiches and
cleaning. Theyre not depicted as independent in their own
right, and they often have internal issues. This is somewhat
true when the story begins, but the film will show her grow
and change. The film will help push the idea that each
person is what he or she makes of him/herself, that a
stereotype, however true or applicable, can be broken to
not let it define ones being.
7. ON-CAMERA INTERVIEWS
For each interview, list:
a) Name, role in life, metaphoric role in films dramatic structure
b) Main elements your interview will seek to establish
8. STRUCTURE
Write a brief paragraph on how you hope to structure your film. When
you are doing this, consider:
a) How will you will handle the progression of time in the film
b) How and at what point information important to story development
will appear
c) What you intend as the climactic sequence and where this should
go
d) How this relates to other sequences in terms of the action rising
toward the films projected crisis or emotional apex and the falling
action after it
e) Sequences or interviews you intend to use as parallel storytelling
Being a short film, story development will begin
immediately. It wont be obviously apparent in how
important it is, but it will be there. The story will begin with
my red herring story, the missing sock story. From there,
the characters will meet and begin their search for the
missing heirloom, whatever that may be. As they search
and discuss, the detectives methods become questionable
and the climax moment, as previously described, occurs.
The audience and characters will be conflicted by morals
and choices that are made, ultimately coming to resolution
in the girls self-discovery. The film will potentially cause
the audience to feel pity for the detective as he crumbles in
his discovery, despite becoming extremely dislikeable right
up to the climax.

9. FORM AND STYLE

Any special considerations in shooting or editing style that might further
your films content. Here you might comment on narrative lighting,
camera handling, type and amount of intercutting, juxtaposition of
scenes, parallel storytelling and the like.
The lighting for the shooting will be heavy on contrast
and allow for a darker mood/theme for the film. This will help to
emphasize the seriousness/importance of the primary conflict
of identity. Post-production techniques will then be used to help
emphasize, colorize, and/or saturate items and situations that
demand slightly more attention. It will also be used as a
stylizing technique to help grab initial intrigue.
10. RESOULUTION
Write a brief paragraph about how you imagine your film will end and
what you would like the ending to accomplish for the audience.
Comparing any intended ending with the films beginning also exposes
what must accompYish as a story to get there. The ending is your last
word to the audience and has a disproportionate influence on what the
film will mean.
The ending will be a scene with the girl and that beginning,
missing sock from the beginning of the story. She will use this
sock as either a way to be slightly more interesting in a fashion
sense, in the idea of wearing mismatching socks, or she might
use that sock to create or repair a sock monkey, one of the
hero items of the story.
This will show how even when lost, mismatched, and useless
according to its original purpose, something (in this case, the
sock) can still find a home. An identity lost could mean a new
identity gained.
11. BUDGET
12. LOGISTICS
Briefly address any obvious problems of feasibility, practicality and so
on.
As of right now, the lighting of the narrative with the tools
and funds available to me will make this very difficult to do, but
its still possible.