1: How to find your documentary idea during lockdown

 Photo credit@EdwardHowellPhotography. Twitter: @howell_eddie

"We shouldn't be looking for heroes, we should be looking for good ideas".
Noam Chomsky
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In the beginning is the idea

Easier said than done! So how do you find ‘that’ documentary idea during Lockdown? An idea which will drive you so crazy it keeps you awake, will drag you to places you never thought you would go, and obsesses your waking moments?

Finding an idea if you don’t already one is often tough; add confinement to the equation and it can seem so much harder.

If you are lucky like the German filmmaker Werner Herzog, who can boast, 'my ideas are like uninvited guests. They don’t knock on the door; they climb in through the windows like burglars who show up in the middle of the night and make a racket in the kitchen as they raid the fridge,’ you will have no problem; but what if you aren't?
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The good thing is, during the first step of the documentary filmmaking process we don't need to be out filming or interviewing, roaming the countryside, town, city or village. Finding an idea can be done at home, so this time of isolation can become our friend of creativity.

We have time to think. Time to daydream. Time to create.

Photo credit@PopeJeanne

 5 ways to generate great ideas

 
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If there is no passion for your idea, then like any love affair, it will fade out before long. Get brainstorming about all those things you find worthwhile. Compile a list no matter how crazy and far-fetched. Then ask yourself? Can I really make a documentary from this idea? Does it fascinate me enough? Am I really able to spend the next year or more working without giving up?

 Then dig deeper. Here are some suggestions.

• Short or Long? (Will discuss this in more detail in next post)
• What access will I have to the subject?
• Where is the location?
• Why do I like this idea so much? What is the reason behind my choice?
• How long would I like my documentary to be? (I will go over length in a future pre-production workshop.)
• Who is my ideal target audience?
• Is my documentary subject popular? 
• What angle do I want to explore? (Every story has many threads.)
• What can be learnt from my documentary?
• Has anyone made this idea into a documentary before? (Research, research, research!)
• What is the purpose of my documentary? Why will I make it?
• Where would I like to show my documentary? TV/cinema/online?

 
​If you really have no idea, newspapers are a great source to begin with during lockdown. Read as many as you can find, even from different countries. What is trending, what is popular, what appeals to you?

Listen to Podcasts, to your family, revisit your past.

Reading the UK's Independent newspaper, the first headline which caught my eye is a subject close to my heart. I once worked at a women's refuge in Montreal, Canada, where some women were victims of stalkers. I would not want to spend a year or so working on this subject, but it certainly interests me.

Online communities like Reddit are great for discussions. Facebook and Twitter also offer platforms for discussion where ideas are born. Follow blogs, follow up snippets of information. Become a detective, be curious, be VERY curious.

Since our lockdown in the UK, all types of communities have sprung up to cater to our varied interests. We have recently created a zoom workshop for our students in China.
 

 “If you do not have an absolutely clear vision of something, where you can follow the light to the end of the tunnel, then it doesn't matter whether you're bold or cowardly, or whether you're stupid or intelligent. Doesn't get you anywhere.” Werner Herzog

You now have some great ideas, but how do you get through the selection process to find THE ONE?

This is where you need to add to a bit more to your passion. Making a simple chart to compare your ideas is a good way to visualize them.

You don't need a lot of information, just the general idea, no matter how vague.
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Here is a list of four subjects I really care about. I have gathered the essentials for making my selection. ACCESS being the most important one.

My Friend Gray, has always said I can interview him. Over the years I have collected his emails brimming with brilliant banter and edgy photos from the squats. However, how do I do this now? And when lockdown is over, I'll go back to China, it won't be easy to come and film in London. I need months to 'live' Gray's life, get the feel for it, be present, what's it like when he and his mates move from one London squat to another? I will need to build up a lot of trust with them. In lockdown, how can I?

 
I have finally decided to go with 6 Months, Waiting for my Brain.

Why?

I filmed my entire stay in the Chinese hospital year, and now, holed-up in the UK, the unfolding sagas and realities of Cornonavirus are really changing my life, your life, our lives. The idea struck the other day to make a video-diary. I love the idea of it, it is immediate, I can easily control it, and this is a situation we will never live again in the same way.

I am collecting quotidian anecdotes from the newspapers, and from friends around the world, eventually I'll weave all this together. In the current situation it's easier for me to sit here, in my brother's flat, studying the news, doing interviews via zoom, no matter how shaky the images, it's all research. I find it interesting, it excites me.

 Here are my answers to some questions:

• What access will I have to the subject? I have permission from the Chinese hospital authorities. I have full support from Doctor Wang the neurosurgeon.
• Why do I like this idea so much? What is the reason behind my choice? I think it is unusual. Not everyone has a brain operation in their lifetime, and certainly not as a foreigner in a Chinese hospital.
• Is your documentary subject popular? Documentaries on health can popular, especially if we can go on an exciting journey and we learn some facts along the way - but not too formal and dry.
• What angle do you want to explore? Every story has many threads. The trust between patient and doctor. Two different cultures, two different languages. The inner journey. I was the first non-Chinese to have a brain operation here. This gives the story a slight edge. The doctors were nervous in case it went wrong.
• What can we learn from your documentary? That Chinese doctors work around the clock and Chinese life will be seen through a different lens. I search for empathy. We learn about the Chinese hospital system, how families care for their loved ones. I think people would be interested to see inside a Chinese hospital, especially now in this time of virus.
• Has anyone made this idea into a documentary before? Research, research, research! Yes, My Beautiful Broken Brain, although it deals with a different type of brain operation, as the subject has a terrible brain haemorrhage, not a tumour. I admire the way the film is treated. I learnt a lot from it.
• What is the purpose of your documentary? Why will you make it? It was a life-changing situation in a system so different from my own. To share experience, talk about preparation, belief and trust, and whether positive attitude change the end result. To explore the cultural differences between the two health systems, to highlight the talent, devotion and care given to patients at the Qilu Hospital in Qingdao. ​

     
 

​                You’ve found your idea and your vision

Ask as many questions as you can. Find out as much as you can about your subject. Brainstorm, Research, and, more than anything, Enjoy.

In the next workshop we’ll start to look at how we can make a film during lockdown, what, how, when, why and what elements you can experiment with

           Get thinking, and thank you for passing by

                                                              WORKSHOP 2: 19 MAY 2020

                             FREEDOM , RESTRICTIONS AND LIMITATIONS DURING LOCKDOWN                      
                                        

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