Documentary treatments

Working title

Length:

Format:

Hook or tag line:

A pirates life for me/Landlocked

5-10 minutes

Observational documentary

Plundering the steel city / Yo ho ho and a bottle of…

Short synopsis (25-50 words):
What is the film about? Bev Hoy, a middle aged Sheffield local, is a well known busker with a twist: Hes a pirate.
Often seen around Sheffield city centre busking the streets he casts an iconic shadow as he adopts the persona of captain
Jack Sparrow, The fictional character made famous by the portrayal of Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean
franchise.

Mid-Length synopsis/outline (250 words):
What is the core subject matter of your film? How will the story unfold? What are the themes/issues/arguments you are
trying to uncover? Who are the key contributors? What makes them interesting? What will we learn about them? Use
visual language the aim is to bring the story alive and the characters off the page.

Understanding the world he has immersed himself in, we plan to explore his reasons for his lifestyle choices whilst
taking a personal look into the other aspects of his existence.

We plan to allow the story to develop in an observational manner, allowing 'the captain' to take the viewer on a fully
submersive journey into his world. We hope to capture the other aspects of his life concerning family, occupation and
moral and social views.

As we have decided to go with an observational style we plan to steer clear of explository documenty issues and themes
based in argument for and against subject matter. Instead we plan to offer a lighthearted character study, allowing the
viewer to create their own personalized view, emulating current documentaries such as Grizzly man.

Bev Hoy aka Captain Jack Sparrow is the sole contributer of our piece and will narrate his own story via past
experience. He is interesting in the fact of his unconventional lifestyle choices and his unusual demeanor for a 21 st
century city.

We hope to learn more about Bev Hoy and the events that have led to his transformation into a busking pirate. We
also hope to take a more personal look into his life, exploring the other aspects of his weekly activities, those removed
from his busking activities. We also hope to explore how he took on the persona of Jack Sparrow and the events which
preceded this transformation.

To bring the story alive we believe that using handheld footage to absorb the viewer, as though they are actually present
in the unfolding footage will be the best approach to allow his character to leap from the screen. As this is purely a
Character exploratory piece we plan to focus purely on him, using short depth of field to force the viewer to see things
from his view.

2



Analysis of approach (500 words):
How will you make this film? What will it look and sound like? What is its style? What are the techniques used? What
works were inspirational to the film? What works does it resemble? What is its mood? Its ambience? Demonstrate
enthusiasm and a distinctive visual/aural voice here. Include references to TWO films that you have watched as
research.

First we plan to meet the captain to discuss his history and find out what the catalyst was for his transformation and
to establish him as the narrator of his story. We will explore his views and experience as an alternative busker by
filming from a fly-on-the-wall perspective. We would compose the soundtrack using songs The Captain performs on
the street, as these performances account for a large aspect of his profession and lifestyle and will offer the audience a
more intimate portrayal of the man through his own music.
We will look into his reasons for him being the fiction character and explore what influenced him so much from the
Pirates of the Caribbean film and what he gets out from pretending to live the lifestyle of this character. Why he acts
this way? What was the turning point in his life? Is this the characters alter ego coming out.

We hope to emulate the cinematography of David Altobelli, who uses a minimalistic approach, utilising depth-of-
field and focal points within his carefully framed shots showcased in his music videos, such as Hammock's 'Breathturn'
and 'Mono No Aware'. We have also drawn influence from the skate documentary 'Plank', in which the audience is
given insight into skateboarder Nassim Guammaz' personal life and background as well as the hobby that has
brought him widespread attention. We hope to achieve a similar insight into The Captains world.

the mood of this documentary will try and follow the eccentric nature of the character and his flamboyant mannerisms
therefore overall it will create a light hearted documentary in which we hope our audience will convey to be
entertaining, interesting and insightful.

Filmmaker biography (50-100 words) :
What kind of documentary maker or filmmaker are you? What are the themes in your work? How do you approach
work? Do you have any awards?

we a going for the observational look on this documentary. we what to show or subject, The Captain, in his own
light following him around being himself. This abstract take on the life of a Pirate will hopefully go way deeper
into his resons for his life choices rather than the busking aspect of it all.

3



Working title

Length:

Format:

Hook or tag line:

Freeganism and alternative eating

2 min

Observational documentary

Whens the sell by date?

Short synopsis (25-50 words):
What is the film about?
This documentary explores the growing trend of freeganism. This is the act of using food thrown out by shops, primarily
due to expiring its sell by date, which is often many days before the food is actually inedible.

Mid-Length synopsis/outline (250 words):
What is the core subject matter of your film? How will the story unfold? What are the themes/issues/arguments you are
trying to uncover? Who are the key contributors? What makes them interesting? What will we learn about them? Use
visual language the aim is to bring the story alive and the characters off the page.

The subject we are exploring investigates the alternative methods available of obtaining food without the use of shops
or supply chains. We will look at a variety of methods varying from freeganism to allotments. We will also look into
urban foraging in which people pick seeds, herbs and other edible items from the abundance of flora which surrounds
the landscape. The themes will look into the ethics and ideologies behind the movement and whether for many people
its economic or personal reasons for their involvement. We will also examine the other areas in which the large
supermarkets deal with ‘expired’ food and the legality of the issues which arise.

The key contributers to this documentary will be active freegans and urban foragers who are often lively characters
in themselves. As it is social taboo to go routing through a bin, or foraging from a bush at the side of the road, the
characters involved are normally more alternative than that of the social norm; although we will find out this is not
always the case. We will look to explore the reasons for their involvement in their chosen activities and whether this
has deeper implications linking with their political views and personal views. We also hope to learn about their chosen
times to practice their activity and how often they partake in it.

Analysis of approach (500 words):
How will you make this film? What will it look and sound like? What is its style? What are the techniques used? What
works were inspirational to the film? What works does it resemble? What is its mood? Its ambience? Demonstrate
enthusiasm and a distinctive visual/aural voice here. Include references to TWO films that you have watched as
research.

This film will be made created in an observational and investigative manner. It will be formatted in a traditional
documentary format, constructed of interviews presented around footage in a conventional and informative style. It
will be visually pleasing and stylistic which blends smoothly throughout, using extensive sound bridges matching that of

BA Film and Media Production – Level 5 – 20 Credit Points
Moving Image Production Narrative Module – Experimental Film and Video Strand

BA Film & Media Production | Level 5 | Semester 2

Module:

MOVING IMAGE PRODUCTION NARRATIVE:
DOCUMENTARY STRAND – TREATMENT TEMPLATE

DEBBIE BALLIN

Tutors:

our poetic treatment. The information will be presented in an informative yet friendly style without the inclusion of an interviewer. From this, we hope to present it in a style in which the interviewee asks the question in their own answer, allowing for the viewer to keep pace. We will also film the processes of each activity, exploring the many aspects
involved.

The mood of the piece will be light hearted and joyous yet informative in its approach. We hope to use melodic
and ‘natural’ music to accentuate this style and match the natural aspects of the subject matter.
The style of documentary will visually be very appealing, whist interviews of the chosen subjects are happening cut-a-
ways of the natural landscape for which certain areas of these cultures thrive on. The ambience of the documentary we
would prefer to keep it therapeutic and a nice happy documentary; nothing to serious or shocking for the audience.
Two documentaries I would say sort of relate to ours would be firstly a documentary called Off The Grid by Director
Alexander Oey. This film shows the extreme side of living of the land when a whole town in Massachusetts of gone Off
The Grid. They try to find their own utopia outside the financial system or government.
The second documentary we took inspiration from is actually a short you tube clip, not for its impressive construction
or editing but purely for its subject matter. It revolves around a man who has collected thousands of plastic bottles
which he has netted together to create an island; which he incredibly now lives on. The sheer interest stimulated by
such an intrinsic idea is enough to make this an impacting story, which lives on in the memory. We hope our film
shares a slight similarity with this style of production and offers an idea un-thought of in the vast majority; creating a
stimulating and thought-provoking documentary.

This film was inspired by our realisation of how big freeganism was in areas such as Sheffield, we’ve spoke to a organic
vegetable shop called new roots who spoke to us a lot the throw away culture that so many of the big companies just
because its cheaper for them yet wasting so much food that’s perfectly fine.
Our film will dive deep into all aspects of this rapidly growing trend.

Filmmaker biography (50-100 words) :
What kind of documentary maker or filmmaker are you? What are the themes in your work? How do you approach
work? Do you have any awards?

We hope to create social exploratory documentaries in which the subject matter examines alternative lifestyle
choices. We like to examine areas often residing within the realms of social taboo which draws the attention
as the unusual or the unexpected. The themes we employ usually involve society and its components, health,
alternative and fringe lifestyles and economics/social hierarchy.