Short Documentary Piece

Pitch

Short (3-5 min.) documentary that goes outside the classroom and into the halls and streets of Hunter College to ask people, “what’s on your iPod?” We want to seek out possible interviewees, with their permission, and discover what kind of music they listen to and why?

Production Notes

Interviews: shoot in and outside of Hunter College, pause briefly and record ambient sound. We want to express a sense of feeling for the environment but it’s important that audio not interfere with dialogue. We should avoid asking questions that can be answered with a simple yes/no and try to engage the interviewee in a conversation about their relationship with music.

Possible interview questions:

• · What are you listening to right now?
• · What’s on your iPod?
• · What kind of music do you listen to?
• · Who is your favorite artist or band and why?
• · What’s your favorite song and why?
• · What was the last song you listened to?
• · How much of a role does music play in your life?
• · Who is the best artist/band of all time and why?
• · Etc…

While shooting, we will try to provide just enough headroom so that the subject remains in focus and the background slightly out of focus. As far as making the video visually interesting, we want to shoot some shots of the overall environment, up-close on hands and iPod screens, that we can mix with multiple angles shot during the interview. See what makes the person unique and how the music they listen to reflects that. The interviewee should have eye contact with the camera, as if they are speaking directly to the lens of the camera.

While editing, we will add a brief music clip of the song the interviewee is discussing in the background. We will also have to add text:

Black screen: “What does Hunter listen to?”

Interviewee’s name and where they are from is visible in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.

Jenni