PowerPoint Presentation

DINOSAURS IN THE FLESH

STYLE & GENREUnlike previous nature direct cinema/talking heads documentaries that consisted of a serious tone and narrative (i.e. March of the Penguins (2005), Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)) (about animals/plants/other, mostly concentrating on the subjects in their natural habitat), my documentary, which is partly of the same genre, Dinosaurs in the Flesh , is very satirical, and shall consist of a comedic style; thus causing the documentary to consist of the sub-genre, mockumentary; in which a television programme or film takes form of a serious documentary in order to satirise its subject.The comedic tone of the documentary is partially represented in the title, as the term, flesh, consists of inverted commas. This is because all the dinosaur characters (iconography of the nature documentary genre) would evidently not be actual dinosaurs, but rather plastic toy dinosaurs that have been animated through stop motion; combined with live action footage in post-production. This shall therefore produce a comedic effect on the audience.

STYLE & GENREEXPERIMENTAL STOP MOTION TEST:

CHARACTERSHUMAN CHARACTERS:Presenter Dave Ratinaburrough The main human character of the documentary. Due to his name being a pun on the name David Attenborough, he is the presenter of the entire documentary. He initially appears to be a professional presenter, but as he finally reaches the Cretaceous period and begins documenting footage of the dinosaurs, who are frequently represented as comically weak, rather than being strong and intimidating, during which he grows increasingly irritated and angered; even physically abusing his crew (again, comically). However, he learns too soon to be careful what he wishes for, which I shall explain in the storyline.Crewmembers Camerawoman Despite never being on screen, she is the character that Ratinaburrough interacts with the most; either snapping at her for finding the dinosaurs comical behaviour amusing, or with she being the voice of reason between the two.Minor crewmembers Few characters that have very little role in the documentarys narrative, and only hear their voiceovers; with only one of them appearing on screen.Doc Brawn A minor but essential character. With his name being a pun on the famous scientist character, Doc Brown, from the film series, Back To The Future, he is the character that invents the time machine which shall lead Ratinaburrough and his crew to the Cretaceous period.

CHARACTERSDINOSAUR CHARACTERS:Two Tyrannosauruses Natural Consists of the typical realistic attributes in terms of appearance.Rex (from Toy Story) In emphasising the mockumentary genre and comedic tone, this character from the Toy Story film series appears with the Tyrannosaurus; being the character that is chased.TriceratopsAnkylosaurusApatosaurusVelociraptors Initially appear to consist of the comical behaviour that the other Dinosaur characters consist of, but during the climax of the documentarys first part before the break, one of them shows an actual feral side.

LOCATIONSDoc Brawns Laboratory Either/both of these two ideas:Use Art Room 4 (Photography Room) Consists of the widest depth of field out of all the technical rooms in the school; also consists of a large white background made of card, which I can use as the portal to the Cretaceous Period by using the brightness tool in Adobe Photoshop so that the card gradually brightens; representing the portal.If I am unable to, I shall merely use green screen for the laboratory backgrounds.Cretaceous Period A number of locations that consist of valleys, fields and trees; including:Priory ParkWoodson ParkThe River Lea

STORYLINEBEGINNING:Builds up the dinosaurs as being powerful, with various large images of the dinosaurs being recorded with a steadicam at a low angle, while a deep-pitched negative soundtrack is played as the presenter, Dave Ratinaburrough, provides a voiceover; narrating over the still images.Cuts to science laboratory scene, where Ratinaburrough explains that he will be taking the viewers back in time to the time of the dinosaurs (as well as the crew, as pointed out by a crewmember) through the use of Doc Brawns time machine which he is currently turning on.Soon, Doc Brawn gets the time machine working, and the presenter and crew step through the time machine. Thereafter, the title fades in.

STORYLINEMIDDLE:Ratinaburrough and crew have been transported to the Cretaceous period, where he and the crew begin their trek through the valley to find the dinosaurs.Frequently cuts from establishing shots of locations to Ratinaburrough attempting to find dinosaurs. After the second establishing shot, the presenter has still not found any dinosaurs; the camerawoman stating that they have used up a quarter of the footage by now, but Ratinaburrough assures that they will just use stock footage of him walking through landscapes as filler. Parodying the moments in documentaries when the presenter is frequently only being shown walking through various landscapes.However, they eventually come across a Triceratops in a field, and stop in quietness. Ratinaburrough describes the triceratops as a feared wrestler of the Cretaceous period, and continues to describe how great of a creature it is, but all it does is walk round in circles continuously until it drops down tired; producing snores. From the sound of it farting, Ratinaburrough orders the cameras to cut.Next portion of the documentarys middle consists of various gags in which the dinosaurs appear comically weak, much to Ratinaburroughs anger and embarrassment. These include:Two Velociraptors fighting over food by slapping each other like little girls.Tyrannosaurus chasing another that shares resemblance to Rex from Toy Story (reinforcing the comedic and satire tone of the documentary) in circles. Rex runs away, but Tyrannosaurus still runs in circles. Camerawoman begins humming the Benny Hill show theme while this continues, but Ratinaburrough snaps, Shut it, or Ill feed you to the Raptors. An Ankylosaurus hitting its own head with its tail club, and being knocked out; resulting in Ratinaburrough grabbing the camera and smashing it on the ground; cutting to snow.

STORYLINEEND:The final gag:Velociraptor vs. adolescent Apatosaurus initially appears like a major battle to death, but as Velociraptor makes final leap towards Apatosaurus, it misses and comically crashes into tree; the Apatosaurus runs away as the Velociraptor falls to the ground unconscious.Ratinaburrough has had the final straw, and begins going on a rampage; shouting and swearing (which shall be censored) at the top of his lungs, and even punching the crew member nearest to him. Shouting into the camera that Dinosaurs are actually useless and idiotic; anyone who likes them is an idiot, and other such immature insults and statements.However, while he rages on, the Velociraptor awakens and stalks slowly towards Ratinaburrough. The crew attempts to tell him, but he ignores them and continues ranting. However, too late, he turns around and sees the Velociraptor, which leaps towards him, as he produces a comically high-pitched scream.Initially cuts to snow, but then cuts to transmission, which consists of an ironic still image of Barney the Dinosaur, while upbeat music plays. This is a parody of transmissions that consist of friendly imagery to calm the audience after an intense moment. However, it soon cuts to a dark interior where Ratinaburrough is hiding from the Velociraptors; crying and cowering in fear, and praying. The crew question him what they should do; which he responds with just cut to the break, which they do.

SIMILAR PRODUCTSOne of the products similar to my planned documentary is the nature documentary, Chased by Dinosaurs, a two-part spin-off miniseries to the more popular BBC nature documentary miniseries, Walking with Dinosaurs.Unlike its predecessor, it consisted of a narrative and form that was a lot more similar to nature documentaries set in modern times in countries like Africa; in which presenter, Nigel Marven, encounters various dinosaurs in the wildlife; interacting with them and feeding the audience information about the various species. These elements I may use similarly in my documentary, except in a much more comedic tone, as presented in the previous slides.