Treatment
Working Title: Anechoic
Length: Poetic Documentary –
00:02:00 Main Documentary – 00:05:00 – 00:10:00Format: 1080x1920 HD 16:9
Hook or tagline: echoes of Sam Emsley’s life living with
a hearing impairment
This portrait documentary focuses
on Sam Emsley who is in his early twenties, enjoys subjects such as Geography
and History and who is deaf. It investigates on his experiences growing up,
with the support of his family and the unfortunate loss of the Leeds Deaf
Social Club, a cause of financial cuts, resulting to impacts on his and his
family's lives. This piece focuses on the importance of family and support from others when living with a disability.
The poetic documentary reveals life
with and without a hearing impairment; we see a montage of images and home
videos of Sam Emsley as a child and manipulate the soundscape to enable to
audience to reflect on life with and without sound. This will foreshadow Anechoic
which unfolds the story of Sam Emsley, focusing on themes of disability,
family, support and finance. Through observing his day-to-day life we witness
the struggles he faces in order to be happy and healthy, the support he has
from his loving family and the support he has lost from institutions due to
financial cuts which has had an impact on his development and life. The
documentary also shows archived footage of him as a child. We meet Sam’s
Grandmother, Barbara and Mother, Christine who are discussing the sacrifices
they have had to make in order to look after and support Sam, but how they are
happy to do so. We also reveal the news of the Leeds Deaf Society’s
closure, despite a petition to save it.
We also discuss the impact on his family and the widespread closures of similar
facilities around Yorkshire. Finally we explore Sam’s relationship with his new
carer, Matt, who serves to reverse the loss of the society by enabling Sam to
take part in activities he would have done at the society.
This film’s goal is to make people
empathise with Sam and other people affected by the cuts that the council is
making, especially those who suffer from disabilities. More importantly the
crucial importance family have over individuals like Sam.
The poetic documentary is one that presents the character of the
documentary and enables the audience to reflect and consider what it is like to
be deaf. We will present a variety of photos and home videos of Sam Emsley as a
child through montage; over the course of presenting these images and videos,
this idea being inspired by Night and Fog
(Alain Resnais, 1955), we will manipulate the soundscape in terms of recreating
the loss of sound. The use of the sound is inspired by Blight (John Smith, 1996) a recreation of atmosphere and there
emotional effects. For example we show an extract of Sam as a child playing
with his family, to which we pull into the image of him on this video and
remove the sound replacing it with muted noise or drone. Establishing the focus
on the piece and enabling the audience to think about what they should be
hearing and are not. The editing of the montage will also put together a visual
rhythm that will emphasise the abnormality the audience is intended to feel,
such as gradual fast pace and
sound-bridges.
Anechoic will follow the modes of observational and
reflexive techniques. The piece will begin with following Sam in his everyday
life from morning to night; this will be shot in a fly-on-the-wall manner,
inspired by Titicut Follies (Wiseman, 1967) and Gimme Shelter (Maysles
Brothers, 1970). The mood of this opening will be neutral and observational; we
see Sam doing sign language, lip-reading and having subtitles on the television
– using subtle visual means will respectfully reveal Sam’s disability. The
sound of the piece will predominately be diegetic, using the sound from the
visuals to reiterate Sam's disability.
As Sam returns to his home we reveal the identity of his Grandmother and
Mother, Barbara and Christine. Through a wide shot in a natural, practical
light manner, inspired by Plank
(Billy Pols 2009) we interview Sam and his family together in a way they feel
comfortable in their own home. The mood becomes light and heart-warming as they
discuss, in a colloquial manner, their experiences as a family this will be
presented with cutaways to images and home videos of Sam whilst he was growing
up. In this section, the soundtrack will be light and cheerful to incorporate
the mood. This will be edited to have as less 'talking head' shots as possible
throughout the sequence, so the audience can still be entertained by cutaways
and action shots but also see Sam use his sign language to provide his feelings
on the matter.
The mood in
the conversation will become negative as the family begin to discuss the
sacrifices they have had to make in order to support Sam we will discuss the
news of the Leeds Deaf Social Club; cutting away to images of the petition, the
old building, any illustrative archive footage available and access to other
social clubs to reinforce the topic under discussion. Furthermore we will
briefly interview members in a formal interview setup of authority who can
discuss other cuts made in Yorkshire.
This is when the piece becomes formal and negative. As the discussion
takes a turn to finance and trouble finding support this is cut to formal
interview setups with characters of authority who work for organisations of
support for those suffering with a disability and who will confirm with
evidence about cuts made; providing information that this issue is not just
over Leeds but in Yorkshire as a whole.
We then return to the family and are introduced to Matt. We will return
to observing Sam doing social things in Yorkshire with his carer Matt with wide
two shots inspired from Richard
(Matthew Hopkins, 2012). Complimented by a friendly interview setup with Matt
with Sam as he discusses why he helps people and any relevant information.
Finally returning to Sam with his family, the mood lightens as despite
troubles we observe them as a family supporting each other happily with a uplifting
soundtrack to compliment this.
Anechoic is a
documentary that investigates sociological issues that appear to go unnoticed
by the majority; focusing on themes of family, support, finance and disability
Anechoic requires the audience to reflect on Sam’s life, their own and others
that may be around them too.
