My Documentary Proposal

From now on, i'll post work i've done for my uni assignments (the ones that can be shared) up here. There are only 2 reasons for this:
1 I will have a copy in case i lose the files in the future (although it is definitely possible that Blogger could get a virus in the future and i'll lose my files anyway... i don't care... whatever, that's one of the reasons anyway).
2 Anyone interested can take a look at what assignments for my course are like.

Here's that documentary proposal i was working on last week, it's already been handed in. It's 10 pages long (in Word), and there's a rigid format to it. Just skim if you want, or don't bother, you don't Have To read it.

THE CONTENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT ARE PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL

HOLY SMOKES

‘To smoke or not to smoke?

You ALWAYS have a choice’

by

JAMIE CHONG

FIRST DRAFT

MAY 2007

© JAMIE CHONG, MAY 2007

2/16 Parkdale Court, Blamey Street

Kelvin Grove, QLD 4059

Ph: 0432189137

LENGTH

10 minutes

THE FILM

This film’s witty and comical approach to smoking will employ the traditional creative writing technique of the 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where and most importantly WHY?) and 1 H (How) to gain insight into the backgrounds of my three smoker friends and WHY they light up multiple times each day although they are fully aware of the detrimental effects smoking has on their health. The film’s main concerns are to provoke thought, to help non-smokers like myself understand the mentality of smokers, and by the end of the film have all smokers question their bad habit of smoking.

SYNOPSIS

It all begins on the bus ride to the city with Daniel, my flatmate, Katherine, my classmate and Kannan, my close friend, where they will be introduced to one another. On the bus, they will each be asked the same questions:

· When did you start smoking? At what age?

· Who influenced you? (If there was anyone)

· WHY do you smoke?

· What does smoking do for you?

· Where do you normally feel the urge to smoke?

· How much do you spend on cigarettes a week?

· What do you like about smoking?

· Who do you normally smoke with?

Upon arrival in the city, we will start counting the number of people that are either holding a cigarette or preparing to light one. During this activity, we would also go up to a few of them to ask the big question——WHY do you smoke?——all the while still keeping count of the number of people with cigarettes in their hands. After that, we would ask a few non-smokers what they think of smoking.

Then we will proceed to Queen Street to ask newsagents within the vicinity the amount of cigarette packs sold on average each day or each week. It is during this survey that I buy each of them a pack of their favourite or preferred brand of cigarettes before we head to my apartment for further interviews, or so it seems...

Seated around the dining table, further questions will be asked:

· WHY smoke when you know it's bad for you?

· Have you ever considered quitting? Have you ever tried? (If answer is no, then why not?)

The answer to the last question is usually “yes”, and it is at this moment that I tell them they will have a chance to try, as they will be living in the apartment with Daniel and I, forbidden to leave for the next five days (with the consent of their families who packed five days worth of clothes, except for Daniel who already lives there), with no lighters or any means of lighting a cigarette, ONLY the cigarettes I bought them as a gift.

Their reactions to this predicament are all that I am interested in before I tell them they actually have the choice to stay and give it a try or leave without taking up the challenge, same as smoking, where they have ALWAYS had a choice.

The film will conclude with the success or failure of my intervention as the four of us gather again a year after to see if all three of them are still smokers.

AIM

Although smoking is common anywhere in the world, most non-smokers do not understand the psychology behind smoking. This film will EXAMINE the three subjects’ reasons for smoking, EXPLORE how they started and INSTIGATE or ENCOURAGE change in their lifestyles to serve as entertainment, food for thought, and knowledge for a broad audience.

AUDIENCE

This piece is suited to any member of the public above the age of eleven, regardless of if they smoke or not, as it is a serious topic that should be and needs to be discussed. However, adolescents may be more interested in the film as all three subjects of focus are representative of their demographic. This film would probably attract networks like the ABC, SBS or even Channel Ten because of the film’s alternative, light manner towards a serious issue like smoking.

MOTIVATION

I came to Australia for QUT’s Foundation course in February 2006, and made friends there that I am now happy to call my support system. Within this group of friends, seven out of ten smoke (one of which started due to the influence of others), one of them quit years ago and only two are non-smokers like myself. I also happen to live with Daniel, one of the focal points of this documentary, who has been smoking since the age of 13.

As someone who cares about her friends and is terribly against smoking for all sorts of reasons, I have nevertheless been fascinated with why smokers persist, knowing how bad it is for them. In some ways, it is almost like killing yourself a little bit each day; at least that is how I see smoking.

I have always had the urge to run up to smokers on the street and put out their cigarettes with a fire extinguisher. That would be my description of that impulsive feeling I get every time I see someone light up a cigarette; I really want to help them quit. It is not only bad for them, but it is also bad for the people around them that have no choice but to breathe in second hand smoke. Based on that reason alone, smoking should be illegal and all smokers should be encouraged to quit. But from discussions with my smoker friends, I have gathered that quitting is no easy task.

Through the radical methods employed in this documentary, I hope to at least change the lives of my three friends, although three is a small number compared to the rest of the Australian population that smoke. However, I believe a small change has the potential to inspire change on a larger scale and would like to think that my efforts, however diminutive, will make a difference.

BACKGROUND

This proposal and the idea behind it are entirely original; inspired only by the smokers around me, my curiosity towards their mindset, and my drive to help them quit.

This film is different from other documentaries or programs about smoking in the sense that it does not intend to “scare” people out of smoking with facts and figures on the probability of smokers contracting lung cancer or the life stories of lung cancer patients. In fact, it is the journey that I take them on and the experiences from it that will hopefully change their perspective of smoking and bring about or strengthen their will to quit.

Before shooting the documentary, I will need to speak with the family members of my friends. I will gather their opinions on their loved one’s habit of smoking and if they approve of it, are against it but respect their decisions, or completely disapprove but have no choice other than to accept it. Photos for the opening sequence of the film would also have to be obtained at this meeting.

Although at first it seems like I will be holding my friends against their will for five days, they are ultimately given a choice; therefore, I will not be breaching any laws on human rights.

The reason for providing my friends with cigarettes but no means of lighting them lies behind the theory of behavior alteration or conditioning which is linked somewhat to psychology. Using the basis of this theory, I will condition or alter my friends’ behaviors towards smoking. With the new packs of cigarettes I bought for them laying around my apartment while they are there for five days, I am showing them that it is possible to live with cigarettes, without having to smoke them. And by keeping them in my apartment as if they were all my flatmates, I am creating a normal living environment complete with bathroom facilities, entertainment (television and internet), communication devices (cell phones and landlines), meals and human interaction MINUS the cigarettes.

SOME INTERESTING RESPONSES FROM PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS:

Kat for Katherine

K for Kannan

D for Daniel

Qs : What does smoking do for you?
D : Kills me more everyday. I just do it out of habit nowadays, the initial feeling I used to have has pretty much faded.

Kat : Smoking for me is enjoyable and relaxing in social situations, and on my own if I’m annoyed or angry, it calms me down.

K : Let’s me spend my free time doing something.

Qs : WHY smoke when you know it’s bad for you?

Kat : Why? The same reason people drink even though it’s bad for you. It’s enjoyable.

D : Why not? Why live if you're only going to die? I'm not going to be emo [emotional] about it, if I'm going to do it then I will. *smiles and winks*

K : When I weigh the pros and cons, there are more pros for me when I smoke, I don’t mind risking my health for social activities. And if I’m going to get lung cancer then I will get lung cancer.

Qs : Have you ever considered quitting? Have you ever tried?

Kat : Yes, I have tried quitting smoking because I don’t like the smell on my clothes/fingers etc.

D : Yes I have. I try everyday. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

K : Yes, of course, I will someday. Yes I have tried, but after a best friend passed away, I picked it up again.

Qs : What do you like about smoking?

D : The taste, the smell, the action of doing so. Hey come on, I'm cool.

K : Gives time for soul searching, time to yourself, something to look forward to as a break.

Kat : I like the ease of smoking, plus it is social when around friends. Sometimes I smoke out of boredom.

STRUCTURE

Due to the nature of events outlined in the SYNOPSIS, the cinéma vérité style will be adopted for the shooting of the film. Therefore, there re-enactments or dramatizations will not be necessary.

Since the film presents my personal opinion on smoking, I will always be behind the camera and never in the frame, indicative of my point of view.

The use of voice-overs will be sparing, as they will only be utilised at the beginning of the film when the subjects introduce themselves while coloured Polaroid pictures of their life flash intermittently on the screen. This introduction of characters/subjects of focus ends with a split screen effect of one Polaroid picture per person, in black and white, wherein Katherine is lighting a cigarette, Kannan is taking a drag, and Daniel is blowing smoke rings.

After the opening sequence described above, the INTRODUCTION will comprise of informal interviews on the bus with my three smoker friends as we head for the city.

The DEVELOPMENT will include the ongoing activity of a “smokers head count” (illustrated in the SYNOPSIS) as we walk to Queen Street; interviews with smokers and non-smokers on the street; the survey on cigarette sales at newsagents around the Queen Street area; and my daring attempt to interfere with their personal lives and stop them from smoking.

The CONCLUSION will encompass a retrospective view of the five days in my apartment (if they stayed), OR of that trip to the city (if they did not own up to the test of will power), as a year has passed and the subjects have come together once again to see if their lifestyles have changed——i.e. if they have managed to quit or are still a slave to the habit.

CONTENT ELEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCE YOURSELVES MY FRIENDS

· V/O and COLOURED POLAROID PICTURES: Pictures of them from family albums (babyàtoddleràchildàteen) flash one after the other over a black screen (this provides a taste of who they are and the environment they were brought up in), as each subject talks a little bit about themselves.

· SPLIT SCREEN EFFECT and BLACK & WHITE POLAROID PICTURES (of each subject doing something different with a cigarette, as described in STRUCTURE): This establishes the focal points (the three smokers) of the film and offers a gist of what will be discussed (smoking).

THE HEART-TO-HEART

· INFORMAL GROUP INTERVIEW: On the way to the city by bus, I ask my friends the questions outlined in the SYNOPSIS to gather information on how they started smoking and most importantly, WHY they keep it up.

DEVELOPMENT

CAN YOU COUNT?

· CINÉMA VÉRITÉ and VOX POPS: A head count of the number of smokers present on the streets during our “city session” will prove that there is a vast majority of smokers out there. Interviews with random smokers and non-smokers will illustrate the disparity in opinions and reveal more behind WHY people smoke.

FANCY A MINI SURVEY?

· CINÉMA VÉRITÉ and INFORMAL INTERVIEWS: Brief interviews with shopkeepers and/or owners of newsagents will give us an estimate of just how popular smoking is.

YOU WERE HOPING FOR DIVINE INTERVENTION,

BUT GOD SENT ME INSTEAD

· CINÉMA VÉRITÉ and INFORMAL INTERVIEWS: At my apartment, more questions will be asked and as the bearer of bad news, I tell them they will be “detained” for the next five days without any means of lighting the cigarettes I bought for them as a gift.

· CINÉMA VÉRITÉ and FLY-ON-THE-WALL: Their reactions will indicate their true feelings and level of determination to either quit or continue smoking.

CONCLUSION

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? STILL SMOKING?

· CINÉMA VÉRITÉ and INFORMAL INTERVIEWS: At a get-together with my three friends a year after that fateful day I offered a helping hand and shared my insight as a non-smoker, they will tell me if I gave them a different perspective and inspired them to quit, or if my efforts were useless, as they are still addicted to smoking.

VISUAL STYLE

This film will employ the realist, CINÉMA VÉRITÉ style to all the elements used in this documentary: POLAROIDS, INFORMAL INTERVIEWS, VOX POPS and FLY-ON-THE-WALL observation.

As the film will be shot from my point of view, I will be filming and conducting interviews at the same time, from behind the camera.

POLAROIDS: The coloured Polaroid pictures of my friends at different stages of their life are used to imply how great life was before they picked up smoking; whereas, the immediate juxtaposition of black and white Polaroid pictures (of my friends with cigarettes) after the coloured Polaroid pictures are used for a jarring effect, to suggest the reality and seriousness of smoking as a bad habit. Also, the split screen effect used in conjunction with the black and white Polaroids is meant to signify how torn most smokers are between smoking and quitting.

CINÉMA VÉRITÉ: The “smokers head count” section of the documentary will be filmed handheld as we walk from the bus stop to Queen Street. Extreme close-ups of the way smokers light their cigarettes; the way they hold their cigarettes; the way they take a puff; and the way they expel smoke will attempt to capture what smoking is like for smokers, why they like it so much, and how they feel when they smoke.

INFORMAL INTERVIEWS: The informal interviews would ideally be shot at the very back of the bus, handheld, with attention paid to composition and framing. Mid-shots will be used as establishing shots; zooms and close-ups will be used to highlight the expressions on my friends’ faces as they respond to my questions. Framing would be loose, however, tighter framing will be used for intensity when questions like “WHY do you smoke?” are asked. The same styles and techniques will be utilized for the informal interview at my apartment. The informal interviews at the gathering a year after will also be filmed handheld and in a relaxed manner for an inclusive effect on the audience.

VOX POPS: Handheld camera movement will give interviews the atmosphere of the streets, with comfortable, loose but proper framing.

FLY-ON-THE-WALL: My friends’ reactions (to my proposition of helping them quit by keeping them at my apartment for five days) will be covered with still and steady camera movement, possibly with the help of a tripod, to convey the weight of the predicament they have been presented with. And depending on if they decide to take up the challenge or not, five days worth of footage will be captured by four cameras (three on tripods and one handheld)——one in the dining area, one in the kitchen, one in the living room area where the beds for Kannan, Katherine and Daniel will be and one that will be taken around the apartment by me. Only important snippets of the footage will be used in the final product to keep the documentary within the ten minute timeslot.

SPECIFIC CONCERNS

ETHICAL CONCERNS

My friends may decide that they do not want certain comments or responses aired for personal reasons and I will have to adhere to their requests.

CULTURAL CONCERNS

With sensitivity to culture, ethnicity and age, I will try to interview as many different people from a diverse range of races and age groups so that no particular demographic/race will seem to be portrayed as a group/race that smokes or does not smoke more than others.

LEGAL/COPYRIGHT

My friends will need to sign clearance and release forms as part of their agreement to be part of the documentary. Permission from Queensland Rail will be needed in order for us to shoot on the bus. As well, permission from the Brisbane City Council will be required if we were to shoot around the Queen Street area. Newsagents and their owners or staff members will only be filmed with their approval.

MEDIA ACCESS

The photos of my friends’ will only be used if I am given permission to do so.

PRODUCTION & BUDGETARY CONCERNS

Because half the documentary will be shot on location in the city, costs for a filming license should be factored in. However, because the city is not the focal point of the story, that is, the camera will only film the responses of people on the street and not the city itself, a filming license may not be needed. The bus ride to the city and to my apartment would cost little. Camera and tripod rentals will cost a considerable fee, as will the amount of tapes needed for filming.

RESEARCH

PERSONAL INTERVIEWS:

• Interviews with family members of my three friends.

• Interviews with smokers in the city.

• Interviews with non-smokers in the city.

• Owners and/or employees of the newsagents.

• Daniel Mosiun, my flatmate (a preliminary interview was conducted).

TELEPHONE INTERVIEW:

• Kannan Singaravelu Jaganathan, friend that I met in Foundation ‘06 from Singapore (a preliminary interview was conducted).

EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE:

• Katherine Foster, my Media Writing classmate (a preliminary interview was conducted).

Thanks for reading and thanks for caring!