1. A DAY IN THE LIFE.
Group 4
Lauren Binns.
Fr a n J a r v i s .
Ru t h W i l k i n s o n .
K a t y Ro b e r t s.

2. PROJECT INSPIRATION
 “A documentary is the creative treatment of actuality ”,
John Grierson.
 We found this quote very interesting and took it as
inspiration for our project. We feel this quote sums up
the fact that the claim of truth and authenticity that
documentaries are meant to follow may not be
necessarily correct. This is why for this project we have
decided to do three documentaries. We want to focus
each documentary on the same person, showing the
representation of this person dif ferently in each
documentary.

3. OUR DOCUMENTARY AND
HEGEMONY.
 Whether we do or don‟t have an inner self;
because the media can manipulate footage to be
what ever they believe either consciously or
subconsciously does it even matter? The media is
forever hegemonic to the company, elite person
or elite nation and they can spin-doctor any form
of media/text to support them. We want to
portray how documentary's can manipulate the
audience into subjective view points of their own
desire. This can be done through the editing,
lighting, questions and color coding.

4. RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTARY PLAN
 We plan to create a Participatory Documentary on
Disability, and our focus will be on Deafness.
 There will be a mix of subtitles and voice over to guide
though the different modes. We shall be adding subtitles
which is of course standard practice for media aimed at
people hard of hearing.
 The target audience we are aiming our documentary at is
middle class, Channel 4 viewers as well as the deaf
community.
 We plan on immersing ourselves in to a disabled persons
life, to observe and reflect on their situation in three
different modes of filming and editing . In turn creating
three separate subject view points on them as a person
and their condition.

5. AN INTRODUCTION TO HAMISH.
 We have decided to focus on
representation of the disabled, and have
picked a deaf student, named Hamish, to
be the subject in our documentaries.
Hamish is 21 years old, very
popular, good looking and fun. He also
has a disability. Hamish was born deaf
and wasn‟t given a Cochlear Implant until
he was 12 years old. Since then he has
studied hard in a school for deaf
children, called Mary Hare, getting good
results and making many friends. He
then took a gap year where he travelled
to various places in the world, by
himself, giving him the confidence to be
who he is today. He is now studying Press
and editorial photography.

6. HAMISH‟S BACKGROUND RESEARCH.
 We plan to gather information regarding his actual
condition, how it was discovered and how it was treated.
 Question people in the medical profession linked to
Hamish throughout his life, by speaking to people from
the Nottinghamshire NHS Trust and his former Deaf
School.
 We will include old family/school photographs and
interview and meet with his past and present tutors.
 We want to get the view of Hamish‟s disability from his
families point of view, to find out the struggles they will
have had to face whilst bringing up Hamish. As well as
giving an external insight in to who Hamish really is, from
people that have known him for his own life.

7. WORKING HYPOTHESIS &
INTERPRETATION
 We want to show how documentaries can be manipulated to show
the creator s subconscious or conscious viewpoint. We aim to project
deafness in three dif ferent lights: Hamish is to be por trayed as a;
Victim, Hero and a Ever yday normal per son.
 We want to create conflict between the opposing ideas of Victim and
Hero for example: Heroic being bright and strong and Victim being
dark and weak . As well as the struggle of disability vs. normality.
 We want the audience to feel like they have a deeper understanding
of people with hearing dif ficulties and to give an oppor tunity for the
viewer to under stand the power of the message that the media will
give.
 Its all in the coding…… Three documentaries in one, each coded by
lighting, filming, questioning and editing techniques. To por tray
Hamish and his Disability/Ability. To highlight the power of the
documenter and the ideas and media behind it.

9. DOCUMENTARY ONE
„THE VICTIM‟
 In the first documentary we want to show Hamish as the
victim. We aim to do this by questioning him on life before his
hearing aid and how he coped with not being able to hear for
the first 12 years of his life. We will ask him how his school
life was, if he felt he was at a disadvantage, and questions to
do with whether he ever got bullied. We want to make the
documentary quite sad and allow the audience to feel
sympathetic towards Hamish, they will hopefully be able to
form personal relationships with him. This documentary will
be a good form of escapism (as most media) because it will
hopefully make the audience recognise that their own life
could be worse. It will filmed using bluey/darker colour grades
to denote sadness and the feeling of being alone.

10. DOCUMENTARY TWO
„THE HERO‟
 In the second documentary we want to show Hamish as the
hero. We will question him on how he is helping other people
to overcome their dif ficulties and the work he is doing in
disadvantaged countries. We want to discuss how he has
made it in the „hearing world‟ even though most deaf people
have their own community and don ‟t do associate much with
people that can hear. He has travelled to various countries
and come to university despite his disability. As well as the
fact that Hamish is always the person that people go to for
advice, we want to interview his friends to find out what they
think of him. Filmed with Yellow and bright camera footage,
happy scenes and archive photo‟s and footage of Hamish
striving through life, succeeding at everything he does.

11. DOCUMENTARY THREE „BEING
DEAF IS NOT AN ISSUE‟
 In the third documentar y we
want to show Hamish as a
normal person, only
mentioning that he is deaf
but focusing more on his life
as a student and how it
doesn‟t effect his life.
 For this mode we shall give
Hamish his own camera for
the day, so that we can follow
his life through his own eyes
and his own perspective.
 This will be presented using
neutral colour tones, a mix of
warmer colour codes.