Initial Ideas and Conventions/Stylistics

By Maisie

Initial Ideas:Dogumentary

DOGS

abuseviolence animal cruelty

how they’re treated

breeds

emotions

how they’re helpful

Man’s best friend

FOOD

Dominoes

Hungarians

quality

McDonalds

quality of food

age of food questionable

migration

SCHOOL

bullying/cyber bullying

life at university

STYLE

subcultures

fashion changes over time

comparisons

CRIME gangs

sociology

The dark figure of crime FAMILY

LIFE

single child vs big family

pressuredomestic issues

MAISIE

Wagamamams

authenticity

fresh?

Possible conventions/stylistics

to include

raw footage- to make it non fictional and more ‘real’

the interviewer in front of the camera

MAISIE

voiceover- authoritative to make it clear that they have more knowledge

technicality of realism- with natural lights and natural sounds/ real voices/ background noises

archive footage/stills- adds authenticity

Interviews with experts, for example dogs’ trust or Battersea Dogs’ Home

Text- for the audience to read in case they are deaf or are unable to hear properly

Labels/names and dates to make it easier to understand

Sound: - non-diegetic - soundtrack added- made louder or quieter

Visual coding, for example a doctor wearing their uniform to make it clear they’re a doctor.

Mode/Style and Locations:

By Ella

Ideas:

• When deciding what document mode to use we decided to look at other dog documentaries to see how each mode was incorporated.

• We felt this was necessary as seeing a common theme in modes based around dogs will help us see what made other documentaries successful, therefore helping us decide what route would be best.

• For each mode we look at a documentary about dogs, however we do not strive to replicate any other dog documentaries so we will also look for differences we will add to differentiate ourselves from the rest.

Reflexivehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omUIhrCcGqI• We have two main presenters, who are shown in front of the camera and narrate throughout• The theme is fun and light• Raw footage is used from a dog show, to help keep the audience engaged• Presenters interact with dogs• Variety of dogs are used to keep subject of documentary interesting.

Expositoryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xohGv6YRsHo• Documentarian remains behind the camera• Interviews with soldiers who work with the dogs, giving more of a personal effect• Narration is used to ensure audience is being fully informed on what the documentarians want to get across • Raw footage to help audience get more of a feel of the life of the dogs

Observationalhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6AX4garACM• The documentarian remains behind the camera• Footage is all of the life of poppy the Labrador retriever • Text is shown on screen to help spread out Poppy’s day, meaning no speech is needed

Participatory• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW8Z9m4jr-4• Uses well known celeb to interact with dogs throughout • Interaction with dogs helps get the information on dangerous dogs more suspenseful • Interviews with people who have connection to dangerous dogs, meaning dogs are not shown continuously• Awareness is an aim of this documentary, participation from the presenter is key for this to be successful.

Possible Locations:Sos Dog Rescue- Located in Woking:• SOS dog rescue does not have kennels and every dog in their care lives in a family foster home while waiting for a home,

however viewings are strictly done by appointment so if we wanted to look into this location, we would have to organise a meeting.

• Woking is very local to us so mobility will not be a problem.

GSR Surrey German Shepherd Rescue:• German Shepherd Dog Rescue Surrey is a non-profit volunteer organisation dedicated to finding the right home for each dog in its care. They take in unwanted German Shepherd dogs and provide shelter and care for them until they can find them a secure and loving home. They promote responsible dog ownership and provide an after care advice, support and guidance service for the new pet owner. All their dogs are kept in a home environment and not in a kennel, this will gives us a better chance of seeing the real character of the dogs and to make a more informed assessment of their lives.• GSR is located in Chertsey which means mobility will once again not be a problem• Despite the location being very good the restriction of one dog breed may be a problem.

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home: • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8oYebi7haA• Located in Winsor which is further than our other locations, however this location offer a variety of information and available footage that make not be accessible in the other locations.• They aim to never turn away a dog or cat in need of help, caring for them until their owners or loving new homes can be found, no matter how long it takes. We would find out about what they do and how they take care of over8,000 dogs and cats every year.

Potential channel to screen onGeorge smith

Dog documentaries• The Dog Factory - BBC• Dog Fighting undercover – BBC• Dogs : their secret lives – Channel 4• Britain's favourite dogs – ITV• Dangerous dog owners & proud – Channel 5• The dog rescuers with Alan Davies – Channel 5• Cats and dogs : which is best? – BBC 2

George smith

What we can see from what channels the dog documentaries are on

• From the research I done, I can see that the more gritty, shocking documentaries about dog fighting, animal cruelty and dog trading tend to be on BBC1 and channel 5. The BBC1 documentaries are always more serious and they will take part in undercover filming revealing the people who take part in these crimes. This is compared to channel 5 where they have serious documentaries but will only reveal what happens and not do much undercover filming to expose someone and get them in trouble.

• ITV and channel 4 have the more happy, light documentaries about the lives of dogs and are overall more cheerful than most of those on BBC1 and channel 5.

• As our documentary will be on the darker side of dogs, we will feature our documentary on BBC1 or channel 5.

George smith

Narrative and Target Audience:

Emily

Narrative of your documentary• Within our documentary we want to expose the different lifestyles of having pets.

Through this we want to show the perks of having a pet and the negatives in which animals are often included in. For example; animal cruelty, neglect, dog fighting and other violent acts.

• We plan to include interviews with different people and charities in order to gain a better understanding into the recent facts about the examples above. These interviews we aim to complete with charities and companies such as Battersea, RSPCA, Dogs Trust, Bruce’s Doggy Day Care and Dog Days Adventure. We hope from this we would be able to gather a variety of information covering both positives and negatives in order to be able to show both lifestyles in which dogs tend to have.

Target Audience

The audience in which our documentary would be targeted at would be animal lovers with the largest interest being received by dog owners. This is due to dog owners being able to relate their own experiences with their pets and therefore being interested into other owners relationships with their pets and the variation upon these relationships. Dependent on which channel we plan to have the documentary on, the age range of the target audience would vary due to different channels often receiving a variation of attention from age groups.