MEDI 236: Documentary Proposal Two

For my documentary project I am going to focus on paganism sadly my research isn’t going as well as I had hoped due the overwhelming amount of hate, prejudice and general misinformation out there. I have come to the conclusion that I am going to have really dig around to actually find some real and valid facts and figures. I am more than likely going to have stills with either a text accompaniment or an audio track. It has worried me at the moment that this may be quite a flippant subject. I have taken some investigative shots of pagan objects and also a cat (being the traditional familiar) and I am pleased with how they turned out even though one might consider them to look stereotypical.

Definition of paganism: A blanket term used to define earth based and polytheistic religions or belief systems. Central to most if not all is a reverence of nature, which may or may not be represented through Gods or Goddesses. Included in the term pagan most commonly one would think of Wicca, Druidism and Shamanism etc. However even in these subsets individuals differ greatly.

Since paganism is in itself an umbrella term for a LOT of different beliefs so I may eventually just focus in on one aspect or one ‘path’ or one Holiday so that it minimizes confusion and my documentary doesn’t feel to cluttered.  

I would like to approach this from a pro-pagan stance and would like to be able to show that pagans are normal people, not to be feared.  

I have emailed and contacted some pagan groups via the internet to try and gather data and participants so I am waiting to hear back from the various groups.  

I would like ideally like to have my documentary with stills and voiceover in a kind of style of the film ‘La Jetee’ to reflect the subtle and gentle almost artistic feel to most earth based religions. I intend to record the interviews on a Marantz since the sound quality is good.   

I am still wondering if I need to include some video or not as ideally I want something hitting and effective without it but am worried I may need it to link things up if I do have the stills making a movie.

I would like to include images of the natural world and pagan objects as well as maybe people and also animals. I want a wide range of images that explain and showcase paganism in a positive light.

I think I would really like to fade on some kind of sunset shot since that is a very natural close and paganism is all about the natural world.

I am hoping overall to have an artistically beautiful piece as well as to make my statement (that being that pagans are just people too) and I hope it flows coherently.