On Tuesday, our group (Female Willy Wonka group as they call it in class) did a pitch for our idea for the documentary we intend to do. We put together a short slide or power point presentation to present in class. We explained that our vision is to tell a story within QVM specifically, the store ‘Lollie Lovers’ and the confectioner: our lovely female willy Wonka, Terri. We wanted to explore Terri’s perspective on being able to work in such a colorful place and why she chose to work there, to an extent, we wanted to capture not only the store’s bright image but also Terri’s bright personality and her lively look. I have met Terri on Sunday the week before and have found her full of joy, she showed up using soft pink eyeshadow, reddish-purple colored hair, blue shirt and holding red jacket on her right arm, which initially just made me happy looking at her.

Furthermore, our group also showed some examples of the Visual and Aural textures we envisioned the documentary would have. This involves the shop from the outside with its enormous lollipops popping out and the inside with more colorful lollies, candies, sherbets, etc. that was stored in jars and lined up on shelves as display and finally, Terri during a normal day at work.

Finally, here is a picture of the location:

We also submitted our proposal for this project, here it is:

Working title:

Confessions of a confectioner

Lollie lovers

Logline

Inside Melbourne’s iconic Queen Victoria hides a small store dedicated to lollie lovers. Through the eyes of Terri, we see the joy and sweetness lollies bring to people’s lives.

Synopsis

Lollie Lovers is one of the confectionery shops at the Queen Victoria Market. In it is where Terri works. Female Willy Wonka tells a story of Terri who works at Lollie Lovers where it is located at Queen Victoria Market. She is a friendly and a kind woman with beautiful short purple hair and bright coloured eye shadows. 25 years ago, Terri decided to be one of the employees at Lollie Lovers, as she appreciates the joyful, colourful and delicious candies since she was a child. She believes that candies could create happiness within people, especially children. Her mindset was built due to the past that she experienced, but what was in her past?

Treatment

The majestic green sign outside the candy store comes into scene, with the words “Lollie Lovers”  in big capital letters and the quote “for excellence in gourmet sweets” scripted right under. Through the windows outside the candy store shows the different jars and packed exotic and colorful candies that can be seen, distinguishing itself from surrounding shops .  A hum could be heard coming from inside the candy store, subtle and sweet, but unmistakably the song ‘Pure Imagination’. The door opens and a lady with bright purple hair starts to get ready to start her day in the candy store.

From her bright purple hair to her sweet smile, her face is shown and she is introduced as Terri, the female Willy Wonka of this documentary. Terri introduces herself and talks about how long she has been working at the colourful candy store. She has been working at Lollie Lovers for around 25 years now and she mentions how she loves the candy store as if it is her second home. Just being at the candy store surrounded by wonderful coloured and flavoured candies not only brings her joy but also to her customers. She then expresses how the store could brighten her mood when she has had a bad day, especially when she meets her customers – specifically children – whose faces light up as they enter the candy store.

Different kinds of candies can be seen inside Lollie Lovers including lollipops bigger than one’s face, gummies, sherbet, rock candies, and many more. Terri starts to arrange the candy jars accordingly to their places where they belong and proceeds to refill the candies displayed for testing on the counter. The scene of her opening the door that faces to the market is shown and she brings out the candy store banner outside for display. As she puts the banner up, she exchange a friendly greeting with the store neighbour next to Lollie Lovers and goes back inside the candy store, sits behind the counter while she awaits for customers.

She begins to tell the reason why she works at the candy store since 25 years ago. A portrait of Terri when she was a kid appears, wearing a purple shirt and a yellow skirt holding candies on her hand and her mother standing beside her holding her other hand, while Terri’s voice could be heard explaining how her mother used to calm her down by giving her candies whenever she cried. She then talks about the appearance of her mindset that candies could make people happy, while another portrait of little Terri giving a big smile and holding candies emerges. She mentions that she wants people, especially children, to be happy when they consume some delicious and colorful candies from the store. Terri’s discussion leads to her goals that by her working at the candy store, she could share happiness to people and she could see the smile on her customers’ faces after buying some candies.

Terri also tells us the history of Lollie Lovers and the type of exotic and flavourful candies that they have in store, where they come from and how they are made. Lollie Lovers is shown again and customers can be seen coming in and out of the shop in time lapse. Terri proceeds to tell us what has changed and stayed ever since she worked at Lollie Lovers, how she still see the same customers from time to time. She remembers that she has seen one customer ever since he was a child and he still comes to the candy store to buy his favourite candies. Terri gets up from behind the counter and shows the camera the candy she was referring to and smiles to herself.

The documentary ends with Terri talking about how even though she is already almost 60 years old, she can still learn a lot from children as she continues growing in her life. Not only does she want to give joy to others but she also gets joy from her customers. She hopes that no matter how tough life gets, remember that maybe all you need is a splash of color and of course, a little bit of candy.

Production Timeline

Week 3:

• Pitch Presentation and Proposal Document submission – PB#3 on Tuesday, 17th January.
• Revise Feedback from presentation.
• Have interview Questions finalised.
• Do some observational filming around location.
• Commence recording interviews (1) – Friday, 20th January, 9:30AM.

Week 4:

• Start editing as soon as there are footages gathered.
• Commence recording interviews (2 & 3).

Week 5:

• Wrap up all recordings – video and audio.
• Editing.
• Finalise draft or rough cut of final documentary.
• Rough Cuts in class submission.

Week 6:

• Final touches on editing and some relevant recording if needed.
• Ensure final cut will be finished.
• Collate production notes.

Week 7:

Final Documentary due – PB#4 on Tuesday, 14th February.