Proposal 1

Throughout my documentary unit of my course, I discovered that to an extent I preferred watching documentaries to fiction. I feel the story being told means more because it is real, and has actually happened, compared to some of the (frankly ridiculous) stories we see told in mainstream Hollywood cinema. This is not to say that I don't enjoy films that are fiction based or do not see their worth, it just means that for my final year film I have been drawn towards making a documentary.

My first idea looks at the aging population, specifically elderly people who have dementia.

Purpose: My purpose would be to educate and inform my audience of what happens to people when they get dementia, both from a physical point of view, and an emotional point of view.

Audience: I would hope for this to appeal to a wide audience, because everyone has a chance of becoming old and becoming at risk of developing dementia. I think it would also appeal to anyone who has grandparents or just family in general due to the way the disease affects all family members.

Content: I want people to understand more fully what dementia does. I know from experience of a close neighbour developing dementia that it is quite scary and sad to see someone who has known you for years to not have a clue who you are. I want people to understand that maybe they shouldn't give up on that person and to be able to document the moments of hope or clarity within a person who has dementia.

Style: I would want to shoot this in a documentary style, taking real interviews from within real life situations, however do it in a sensitive and thoughtful way. I think I would have the pace of the film to vary slightly as it unfolds to represent the dislocation being explored.

Tone: I think I would want the audience to feel like they've learnt something. I want to be able to maybe shift their persceptive on how they view old people (I think sometimes we can be guilty of not really "seeing" old people) and just to give them some food for thought really.

Budget: As it would be real people in real settings, I don't think there would really be any budget concerns apart from transport such as buses/ taxis which shouldn't be too expensive.

Problems: Unfortunately, the problem with this is the subject choice itself because it is a sensitive and personal matter that people may be unwilling to talk about. It concerns elderly and vulnerable adults so I would be worried in case I was overstepping the mark or feeling like I was taking advantage of them, which I obviously do not want to do. I would have to make sure all procedures were in place for the safety of the person as regards Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults. Because it is an uncurable disease it might be too difficult a subject to find people willing to talk about it so openly.