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Burn Day documentry ideas saught

W

wheatgrinder

Hi all,
In other threads Iv talked about a FAST approaching controlled house burning near my home that I want to document.

Seeking ideas for "story" or what ever you call it in a documentary.

I do know what I want to "say" with the documentary. Something like this:

Every old broken down house was once a home. Children likely lived there, hopefully in joy, but possibly in pain. Some houses have the honor of being "home" to several families over the course of the buildings life, others become prisons for lonely people at the end of their days. How would you know looking at an old decrepit corpse of a building what peals of laughter or wailing of sorrow once reverberated in its now crumbling halls?

Such a house waits across the street from my home. It was empty and forgotten when I moved in five years ago. It has since been foreclosed and is now the property of Columbia County. In two weeks it will be destroyed in fire. This film may not answer any of the intriguing questions, rather, perhaps we shall only sit at the bed side of a dying patient and bare witness that it once existed.



discuss..


Thanks
 
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wheatgrinder said:
Hi all,
In other threads Iv talked about a FAST approaching controlled house burning near my home that I want to document.

Seeking ideas for "story" or what ever you call it in a documentary.

I do know what I want to "say" with the documentary. Something like this:

Every old broken down house was once a home. Children likely lived there, hopefully in joy, but possibly in pain. Some houses have the honor of being "home" to several families over the course of the buildings life, others become prisons for lonely people at the end of their days. How would you know looking at an old decrepit corpse of a building what peals of laughter or wailing of sorrow once reverberated in its now crumbling halls?

Such a house waits across the street from my home. It was empty and forgotten when I moved in five years ago. It has since been foreclosed and is now the property of Columbia County. In two weeks it will be destroyed in fire. This film may not answer any of the intriguing questions, rather, perhaps we shall only sit at the bed side of a dying patient and bare witness that it once existed.



discuss..


Thanks
Click to expand...


Do you know the history of the house/can you find out about it? It would be interesting if you could do a "from it's beginnings' type of story, instead of talking about a family, talking about the familes and the times the house went through(of course, that would require....research*cough* ;))

But that would be the angle I'd take.
 
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A policeman gets injured and is in a wheelchair.


The police force wants the location that the fire department is located.

The policeman is forced to apply for a job as a fireman and infiltrate and burn down their location so the police can rebuild their new station there.

While the policeman is spending time applying for the job, getting the job, helping them out, he realizes the firemen are not a bad people and he begins to speak their language.

In the end, the policeman ultimately decides to join the firemen, though the building does burn down because the Chief of Security of the police force succeeds in shooting incendiary grenades through the front door.


There. Make it.

Name it "Ash-and-tar".


Give me 200 million.
 
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wheat,


You could make an awesome "Benjamin Button" feel to it, like film it after it's burnt down and the toys all charred up and such.

Then it gets shot back in time to when that toy was in it's prime with a girl from the 1900s or something. (I don't know how old the house is or if it's possible to do something like that...) but that would require you get 2 of the same toy and burn one and keep the other one in good condition to shoot it earlier.

Dunno if that is the type of thing you were looking for.
 
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ROC, I like the feel idea.

For the burnt toy idea, likely I would "artistically" burn it at home, then drop it in the aftermath.. not much chance of planting it in advance of the burn and finding it afterward.

That said, I do want to tell the "Truth" but with a capital T. There is something that transcends the facts of this one house burning down. The FACTS of this home must be explored, but they are exposed only in support of this larger truth that Iv yet to discover.

Alternatively, I could focus on the house burning as "combat" make it more action oriented about the fire crew, the dangers, etc..
 
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I think it would be cool if you got a shot of your kids roasting marshmallows in it. For the credits. You know?

I like Tina's idea. If you could interview someone who lived there that might help you tie stuff in. It would be cool if the person/people could be on the site after the burn (this also would help your blood pressure because you could do it after may 1st) that way they can have that spooky, 'oo i used to sleep 20 feet above me and it's just air' feeling.

As for manipulating your interviews/footage to get the narrative you want, see if you can get the firefolks to say what you wrote. Either by coaxing or by asking them to read from a sheet. This could also be narrated by you (or Sean, lol).

Or you could do a story about a couple of hummingbirds that live there
 
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Well in that case, cool shots of the "human" things inside there,

boots, shoes, gloves, baby crib, photo frames (with no photos in them, just black), stuff like that.

I still think you should do my Ash-and-tar idea and make us all some money.
 
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Dreadylocks said:
I think it would be cool if you got a shot of your kids roasting marshmallows in it. For the credits. You know?

I like Tina's idea. If you could interview someone who lived there that might help you tie stuff in. It would be cool if the person/people could be on the site after the burn (this also would help your blood pressure because you could do it after may 1st) that way they can have that spooky, 'oo i used to sleep 20 feet above me and it's just air' feeling.

As for manipulating your interviews/footage to get the narrative you want, see if you can get the firefolks to say what you wrote. Either by coaxing or by asking them to read from a sheet. This could also be narrated by you (or Sean, lol).

Or you could do a story about a couple of hummingbirds that live there
Click to expand...

ooo, i like it. I should try and find someone and tell them that there lovely old home is about to burn down.. (its a dump but who cares) see if I can manufacture a little drama.. (wow, scary to think how much of what we think is real is just as manufactured as Im suggesting doing!)

What Im really hoping for is a dunk angry man throwing beer bottles at the house as it goes up in smoke cursing the bank and the government! Thatdbecool
 
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ROC said:
A policeman gets injured and is in a wheelchair.


The police force wants the location that the fire department is located.

The policeman is forced to apply for a job as a fireman and infiltrate and burn down their location so the police can rebuild their new station there.

While the policeman is spending time applying for the job, getting the job, helping them out, he realizes the firemen are not a bad people and he begins to speak their language.

In the end, the policeman ultimately decides to join the firemen, though the building does burn down because the Chief of Security of the police force succeeds in shooting incendiary grenades through the front door.


There. Make it.

Name it "Ash-and-tar".


Give me 200 million.
Click to expand...




Warren Betty as the "Fireman"
Dustin Hoffman as the "Cop"
Throw in a Moroccan deli owner
finally drop the AND from the title..

ASH-TAR
 
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wheatgrinder said:
ooo, i like it. I should try and find someone and tell them that there lovely old home is about to burn down.. (its a dump but who cares) see if I can manufacture a little drama.. (wow, scary to think how much of what we think is real is just as manufactured as Im suggesting doing!)
Click to expand...
To paraphrase someone on 'The Cutting Edge' docu, it's kind of funny and ironic when audiences complain that the filmmaker is trying to manipulate them. That's the whole point and that's why people love it. Were you scared before you walked into the horror/suspense flick? No. But they manipulated you into it and YOU LOVED IT.
What Im really hoping for is a dunk angry man throwing beer bottles at the house as it goes up in smoke cursing the bank and the government! Thatdbecool
Click to expand...

I'm casting you, wheat. Do it!! Have someone else film so the camera is all shaky like a COPS episode or something. :lol:
 
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That said, I do want to tell the "Truth" but with a capital T.
Click to expand...

This is called an "essay" film rather than true documentary...and it would be fantastically appropriate for this story. I spent the year before last house hunting in metro Detroit and just about everything we looked at was a bank-repossessed vacant home, each one haunting and screaming their stories. You could make an essay film on this subject very easily, and probably wouldn't need narration. Get coverage of the house before the burn...load it with props that tell the story of the family that once lived there. Props that evoke good memories and bad memories. Then get coverage of the burn. Then burn your props and replace them, continuing to get coverage.

Or introduce your film by parking yourself in front of those Christmas lights and reciting your essay thesis, probably exactly as you stated in your original post.

Sometimes with documentary you don't know the story ahead of time. The story only comes out in the editing...get coverage of everything and maybe your film ends up being about one of the firefighters, or one of the neighbors, or merely a direct documentary of one of the millions of interesting things that can happen to an abandoned house.

In any case, this is one of those "once in a lifetime" opportunities that rarely face hobbyist filmmakers...can't wait to see what you do with it!
 
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I freaked out when I got home last night..I came home and saw a huge pile of ruble across the street! First thought was CRAP, someone knocked down the house, but it was just an old barn next to it. I need to check and see if they intend on knocking down the house too!

Last time they did this they left the house standing, better training that way.. but Im tense..
 
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I can see wheat sitting in front of the house protesting in front of the bulldozer with his camera around his neck.

And your daughter dragging your 1000 watt bulbs to you.

!!!
 
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ROC said:
I can see wheat sitting in front of the house protesting in front of the bulldozer with his camera around his neck.

And your daughter dragging your 1000 watt bulbs to you.

!!!
Click to expand...

That's an interesting image :)

The "essay" movie(I hadn't heard of that concept" is pretty neat, ties in a bit with the "storytelling" of the house, as well as whatever dramatic parts you wish to add.
 
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YES. help.

Id like to have someone working a boom, but thats just not going to happen. (plus Iv not got that far in my DIY work yet...)

For hand held interviews and general camera work, Ill shock mount an Octava 012 on my DIY hand held rig (building that tonight!) run the mic into the Beachtek DXA-6 and right into the cam.

For the interviews in the fire house offices, I should able use a tripod for the camera and set up the Rode NT1 on a boom stand.

I was half thinking of mounting BOTH octavas (xy) on the cam rig, and record in stereo. I understand that stereo for dialog is a bad idea, and in those cases I could simply pick one of the channels in post. But for the filming of the fire, the trucks and general ambiance, having the stereo image would be nice.. Is this a good idea or bad ?(I am a noob)
 
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