Treatment

Working title: ‘I love u will you marry me?’

Length: 5:00 minutes

Format: Documentary

Hook or tag line: ‘Decaying love upon the bridge’

Short synopsis (60 words):

In this short documentary, we explore the story behind the famous Park Hill graffiti in Sheffield city centre. With no main character, we interview different people and explore what they know of the tragic love story between Jason and Clare. This will include the infamous rumours, what they know about the couple now and how Sheffield views the neon lights.

Mid-Length synopsis/outline (244 words):

The documentary “I love you will u marry me” will have a core basis towards love. Both the love between Jason and Clare and also include some questions about the love by the public of Sheffield towards Park Hill Flats. The documentary will state the story between Jason and Clare, whilst also including some interviewees and how they feel about the tragic love story, or even what they know of their story. It will also marginally indicate how the similarities of the love, which was once great, between Jason and Clare ended in tragedy and how the flats, which were once a great architectural achievement, ended in tragedy with various murders, drug related instances and ultimately ending in approximately 250 acres of derelict flats. We will explore how the flats and specifically the graffiti is easily seen from the city centre, and that they are a constant reminder of new and old which are held together by graffiti which marks a point in history in Sheffield. Another key focus of the film will be the potentially unjust and immoral use of the graffiti by Urban Splash to promote the new flats. We will try to look at the grey area that is the property of the graffiti and if it is right to profit off someone else's “art” even if it’s on their property. Furthermore, if it is just to profit off what is ultimately a reminder of death to the family of Clare.

Analysis of approach (576 words):

In order to create this documentary, we do not require any main actors, only a few interviewees and a narrator who has minimal speech. We shall use these interviews and our narrator as our main element for story telling because we do not want to use a main character who will disrupt how intense the story is. This requires a lot of time spent emailing and calling those who have some relation to the graffiti. Although, once we have a minimum of two interviews, we will be able to start shaping the rest of the documentary around this.

On the other hand, we need a reasonable amount of equipment and a lot of time capturing shots on set and then editing. Whilst at Park Hill, which is our main set, we will not tamper with any of the setting or natural props within the complex, as we want to portray how brutally and truly derelict, dirty and daunting it is. We will use one XF100 and two different DSLR’s to capture all the footage, using multiple lenses. This will allow us to concentrate on different details, be able to zoom in further, capture wider shots, change focus/focal points and create different effects by using three different cameras. For example, DSLR’s are able to use multiple lenses, whereas the XF100 won’t allow us to do this. Therefore, we could use a 50mm 1.8 lens which can capture a greater depth within shots to create meaning. Overall, we preferred using the XF100 because of the greater bit rate than the DSLR to capture more details at 50 mbps on the XF100 compared to 12 mbps. Furthermore, we also require a tripod and slider in order to gain steady and establishing shots and a slider to capture smoothly running establishing shots. This will allow us to portray the vastness of Park Hill and how big and empty it is, creating an eerie effect.

Moreover, editing will be very important in portraying the desolate and bleak mood. By using mostly fades as transitions, it will be subtly creepy instead of quick cuts which would indicate more excitement and increase the tempo of the documentary, whereas we want to slowly incorporate the dark themes.  The sound in the documentary is also key, as it accentuates how dark this story really is, and so we will create eerie piano music which can go over the montages of Park Hill, hopefully disturbing the audience. By just having a simple piece of music and shots of Park Hill, it will easily and simply portray the contrast between their and the busyness of the city centre. 

We were greatly influenced by ‘The Imposter’ by Bart Layton (2012), because alike our documentary, it includes very dark themes. Thus, techniques they used we want to include in ours. For example, their interview with the antagonist includes him sat facing directly towards the camera, frequently glaring into the audience from medium and close up shots. Thus, interviews with characters/actors who have a negative influence of the story will include this interviewing technique.

Furthermore, ‘Making a Murderer’ by Demos and Ricciardi (2015) also includes dark themes, and they present them by frequently having interviewees act as narration with many shots of what they’re saying over them. This influenced us because Park Hill is visually very interesting, and by simply showing the audience what is there, with few voices will make them concentrate more on what the documentary is about.

Filmmaker biography (63 words) :

As a group, we enjoy creating films or documentaries that have dark secrets or twists within the story. Thus, we tend to include themes such as realism, mystery, melancholy and hopelessness. We approach our work by creating stories and later include mundane events or points turned eerie. This means all our work is dimly lit and fairly plain, to accentuate the miserable themes.

By Meg Masters, Jack Humphreys, Luke Jackson, Beth Kerry, Connor Christian & Harvey Mountford