PRE-PRODUCTION - PITCH

Above is my groups pit for our project. Each of us split our roles into our own slides to explain our ideas for the project. My slides are:

- Style
- Interview filming
- Tone
- Kit Choice

Style

Through my research into documentaries I found that interview led are better for observational. Jemma wants the documentary interview led which helps me a lot when deciding the style of filming. From watching Raise by Queers and Jim & Andy The Great Beyond I really liked the idea of the handheld footage over stabilised footage for the documentary, I feel it gives more of a observational and also fits better with the documentary. Also from watching RuPaul's Drag Race and my own experience with filming a Drag Queen performance with Steal the Style I know that I'd want to film the performance with Tanya as if it was a music video but this will require more research as I'm still not 100% satisfied on this idea and really need to plan it out more.

Finally I added in that I want to do experemental sequences and the idea here is that since we're following Tanya on this journey and it's so new and different I want to do some different filming here to go with this different story, what I'll do yet though I'm unsure. 

Interview Filming

We have 3 different interviews, main one being our Drag Queen Tanya (Miss Zodie) who will have classic interview styles but a mixture of interviews, one in Drag and then going with the style from RuPaul's Drag Race of out of Drag, this being to reveal Tanya as a female Drag Queen. As well I want the actuality style footage interviews we see in Raised by Queers this is all to tell the story of Tanya. With our contributors from the Straight community, we're expecting them to have a negative opinion of Tanya or a different opinion so I think the straight angle, locked off interview I found in Jim & Andy and Dreams of a Life makes them stick out and would benefit the documentary in being different but working with the theme as well. 

Tone

With Tone, I talked briefly about how I want this to be edited which is fast paced and moving between the 2 stories until these characters meet. I want the footage bright and colourful matching with the theme of Gay Pride as they're always colourful, happy and it's about quality, coming together and love. There will be a lot of energy and passion coming from Tanya and this I want expressed through the footage and grade as well. 

Kit Choice

Although I looked into the Canon C300 in my camera options, this was originally my camera choice however, Victoria told me this wasn't in our budget range. I knew of the C100 which is like the C300 but doesn't film 4K among a few other aspects but it's a classic documentary camera. Shoots well in low light and has a lovely colour quality which comes with Canon footage. 

With the performance and reveal, I know I'll need more coverage so I'll require a second camera and operator. I'll need a camera that can match up with the Canon C100 so I've looked into the Canon 5D Mark 4 as it's a small DSLR which can film high quality and easy to operate without a rig. 

Looking into the rig, I own a Filmcity shoulder rig with a follow focus which allows easier operating for the Canon C100. With Lens's I'm using my own Canon 50mm Prime lens for that blurred out background to have the focus on the interviewee, most likely with the straight angle interviews. My 24mm-70mm Tamron lens for standard filming and also filming the interviews with Tanya at her house and locations to keep the background in focus and relevant to the story.