- What is the ‘controlling idea’ (Robert McKee) of your portrait? I am interviewing my sister who is transgender. The controlling idea of the interview is how she copes with this challenge, especially through creating costumes.
- How is your film structured? My film is going to be structured largely through voice over narration in the form of the interview. It will follow certain rituals in my subject’s life, in a ‘day in the life’ type style.
- What do you want your audience to make of your interviewee? I want my audience to gain some insight into the life of someone who is transgender, and to realise that although this concept may be slightly strange and unfamiliar to them, she is just another person with the same hopes and dreams as anyone else.
- How is your portrait being narrated? My portrait is being narrated by clips from the interview with my subject. This will make it seem personal.
- What role will the ‘found footage’ play in your portrait? The found footage in my portrait will be largely clips from 1940-60s videos that focus on stereotypical gender (particularly women’s) roles and appearances. This will contrast with my interviewee, who despite transitioning to a woman, still does not the encompass stereotypical woman.
- Does your portrait have a dramatic turning point? I’m not sure my portrait really has a dramatic turning point. Whilst it is communicating a narrative about my subject, it doesn’t follow the three act structure precisely, besides having an opening and closing.
- When does this turning point in your portrait and why? If any part can be called a turning point it would probably be in the final moments of the project where I will attempt to emulate the process of transformation, symbolic of transformation of gender, which I’ll try to reflect through my interviewee’s costuming craft.
- How does your portrait gather and maintain momentum? My portrait gathers momentum by beginning with simple introductory statements, such as the interviewee’s name, before delving into deeper and more personal narration.
- Where will your portrait’s dramatic tension come from? The dramatic tension will come from the building and combination of different images, the found footage and original footage. I will cut between shots of my interviewee answering questions, shots of her working on her project, and found footage that will reinforce the theme of the film.
- Does the portrait have a climax and/or resolution? The climax of the film will be a shot of my interviewee dressed in one of her costumes, signifying the completion of the transformation.
These questions definitely incited me to think more deeply about my project and lead me to decide I needed to make some changes to make my project more engaging and effective. I struggled to answer a few of the questions, which made me think that I needed to put more thought and planning into the construction of my project. Hopefully this exercise will lead me to create a better final product. As Rabiger puts it in Directing the Documentary, (2009), 5th Edition (Focus Press), this exercise did lead me to “think hard about [my] story’s essentials, which is the spade work of creativity.”