Documentary pitches

Yesterday as a group we informally pitched our ideas to each other; an informal pitch meant it was a relaxed and we could just freely talk about our idea without the need for a presentation; this does not mean we didn't have to plan though as planning is important.

My documentary idea is to a 3 minute film that shows an inspirational young person in the area; she is a co-founder of 'Youth Action Darlington', is a Youth Officer of the Darlington Labour party and won the Young Citizen of the year 2016 award in Darlington. She contributes to the community on issues that personally affect her and her family, like hate and race crime, as well as getting involved in the town's politics and other imposing factors that affect the town.

My doc will show her as a person, what exactly she does and why, as well as what interest her about politics. I want to show the person she is and the things she's accomplished at the age of 17 and where she wishes to go next.

The planning I did was focussed on her achievements and involvement with the local labour party; I believed I explained my idea well to others but feel like others in the class were not as welcoming to idea therefore I am worried it will be considered boring by people our age. I will have to try and make sure the video is edited well and keeps the audience's interests; this is why I believe 3 minutes will be enough time to show her story.

I have yet to contact her about the idea but hope she will be willing, I was friends with and went to secondary school with her so I know her quite well.

If this idea does not work out, I have another idea. This is to do a documentary about talipes, which is the technical term for clubfoot, which my niece suffers from. I have first hand knowledge and experience on the condition and will be able to talk to parents whose child suffers from the condition as well as doctors. I will be able to explain the treatment plan and how successful it is/isn't. This too would be a 3 minute film and would be a different style of documentary, it would be expository as it would include facts but also interactive as there would questions being asked to the parents about their experience. For this to work really well I should try and find more than more family/person suffering from talipes so that it is not just a video about one child.

Other people in the class had a range of very good ideas, some more thought out than others and I believe there will be a range of documentaries being made. I would like to be a part of the spiritualist documentary as I find it very interesting, if I were to take an angle of it I would like to focus on tarot card readings - what they are, how they work, why people believe them, how they affect people. 

I am looking forward to documentary, I'm not a huge fan of watching them but I am very interested in the research and how production and editing especially differs from short films.