Documentary planning session 1

Today we discussed plans for our documentary in my group we had 3 main ideas which were; film a zoo and what goes on there daily possibly interview some staff members and an ex-owner which we had access to, the problem was it would take an hour to get to the zoo and we only would have 2 hours to get our shots filmed, this was including the time we had to shoot interviews, so this idea was soon written off. Next, we thought of filming some small bands in Weston getting an idea of what goes on behind the stage and also talking about some controversial topics like drugs and underage drinking. However, this is not the first time someone has made a film like this and I personally had a better idea. My idea was to get my mum (Claire Derham) to explain her challenges of life starting out when she was young (20) when she became a bodybuilder and later became the no.1 in the UK and 3rd best female bodybuilder in the world which is a very impressive achievement. After this, my mum got into gymnastics and competed for years until the birth of me in 2002, however her life was not smooth sailing when she was bodybuilding she suffered a prolapsed disc in her back which limited my mum's capabilities when lifting and other intense moves.

However, in 2015 my mum and I became very interested in the boxing sport and attended classes on both Thursdays and Monday evenings, a year later my coach announced there was going to be a challenge for men or woman who wished to step into a ring and fight someone for real. My mum was quick to accept the challenge and 4 months of brutal training later it was fight night.

She was victorious against a women half of her age, mum was 47 and the other woman was 24. It was incredible, and I got the whole fight on my camera in glorious 4K quality. I believe the documentary we are creating in college could be very interesting if I execute this idea professionally.

Realistically, however, I believe the only challenges for this film would be getting some cinematic boxing footage in exotic locations like on a cliff in Cornwall and a sheer drop in a quarry with a sunset in the background, I do have locations for both ideas and I also have the equipment to pull it off (phantom 4 and Lumix GH4 combo).

I can’t wait to get started and begin writing the script and planning the production.