Documentary Planning - Further Preparation

Further Preparation

This week I have started to prepare some broad questions making sure I cover all the areas I hope to address. Next week I plan to find children at school who are happy to be interviewed and have a quick meeting with them. In this meeting I plan on asking them about their dyslexia, how they cope at school with it etc. As a result of this meeting, I hope to be able to then ask them questions which are more personal and particular towards them in the actual documentary. 

I also have contacted a dyslexia specialist. Hopefully as a result I will be given an official questionnaire to quiz the teachers' knowledge and also an online interview to get an expert opinion. I will not be contacting teachers until after I have spoken to the specialist so that I have all the information and resources I need to conduct the teacher interviews. I have a list of teachers that I hope to interview. I have however added extras onto the list encase some teachers are not available or do not wish to participate. 

I have been watching more documentaries over this week when I have a bit of time in the evenings. At the moment I have found sound the trickiest part. I am deciding on what music to add to the documentary. I plan on having it at certain times to aid the dialogue but not too much that it draws attention away from the documentary. I will also need to also do lighting tests in the school so that the documentary looks professional. 

Due to having had a busy week I have decided to start my in-depth storyboard on the weekend which will incorporate what cinematography I want to use, which edits to add as well as a clear narrative structure which helps address the issue of my documentary. When creating projects, I like to have played it through my head fully before creating anything. Currently I have had a few ideas for certain shots/scenes, but I still am thinking about all the details. To help me get a rough idea of the documentary, I plan on going around school to have an idea on mise-en-scene and cinematography. This will help bring my documentary to life. 

5/7/2024

I contacted Corrine (the dyslexia specialist) and is thrilled to participate in the documentary. She is also currently writing a book which talks about Neurodiversity which is greatly linked to my documentary. Next week we have arranged a zoom call where I will tell her my idea for the documentary in greater depth so we can plan some ideas etc. We will also create a questionnaire for the teachers to complete as well as talking about any other dyslexia related things that come to mind. After this we will arrange another zoom call which will be filmed and added to the documentary where I will interview her, and she will be able to talk about her experiences at schools and how they deal with dyslexia.