For my final project I would like to explore a sector of activism that is pretty much new to me, but in which I have been particularly interested lately: women rights and, in specific, abortion. I was inspired in making a documentary about abortion by two main events: the CLPP conference that took place here at Hampshire and recent attacks that have been made in Italy on the law n. 194 that legalized abortion (law established in 1978 after a referendum).
I would like to start my documentary exploring abortion as a global issue touching on very ‘statistical’ facts (abortion is not legal in many parts of the world, many women die because of illegal abortions, lack of services, a high percentage of women would have an abortion in their lives, etc). Afterwards, I would frame the time of my documentary in the present and the places that I will focus on will be the United States (in particular Hampshire) and Italy. I will use two different ‘methods’ to talk about abortion at Hampshire and abortion in Italy. For Hampshire I will interview a student working with CLPP and some girls on campus (i will then select just one among the interviews) and give a very short introductory historical background, while for the part about Italy I will use still images, found footages (from demonstration in the 70s and demonstration that are taking place right now connecting two different generations- the mothers and the daughters), a telephonic interview with a doctor and one with a woman activist. My aim is not to make a comparison between the United States and Italy but to give two different faces and two different places to this issue. My main questions will evolve around contraception, education on sexuality, freedom to choose and religion (a very ‘hot topic’ especially in Italy).
The style of the documentary that I have in mind will be an intersection of different voices, texts, interviews, pictures, found footages (from the internet), phone interviews and visual elements tied together by a narrative voiceover (mine). I would like to shoot the interviews both in the student’s room and around campus. The phone interviews will probably be on skype with a web camera (so that I can also have some visually ‘interesting’ elements) and those interviews would be in Italian subtitled in English.
The ‘voice’ of the documentary will be layered by many different voices. My voice will be the narration (mostly me learning about this issue as the documentary goes on) and the voices of women, students, activists and experts on abortion (I’m trying to get to talk to a doctor who is also the minister of public health in Italy, who is Catholic but I’m almost positive supports the law) will be the other voices. However, I feel that my voice is going to be the one that will 'lead' the topic into its development and I'm still not sure if it's going to be a very emotional or mostly descriptive voice (it will probably, eventually, be emotional). The editing will be very "traditional" and narrative-oriented, I'm not going to use effects, but the cuts will be very straight-forwarded with cutaways and some fading in-out. I'm not going to use music; the only sounds, except for the voices of the people interviewed, will be slogans from demonstration in Italy.
I will use this week (4-8/4-13) to contact all the people that I want to interview and to gather the still images and the internet footage. I will set up interviews times for the week that follows (4-14/4-20). I will then edit (4-21/4-28)
The main aim of this documentary is to raise more awareness on this issue and, even though, I think that I cannot tell yet what the ‘intonation’ of the documentary will be (because I don’t have any interview yet); what I’m trying to depict in these five minutes is the activism that exists around women rights and a call for society to educate itself around issues of contraception, sexuality, right to choose and to create more support and less stigma on women that decide to have a conscious abortion. My documentary will mostly be on activism regarding women rights and the voices will be predominantly women pro-choice.
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Camilla,
You sound very inspired by your topic and have clear plans to implement them, which is exciting. What you are setting out to do is ambitious, especially given the limited time you have for it, however I am confident that the passion you clearly exhibit for the project will propel you forward. It sounds like you have enough there to make a longer piece. Remember that unfortunately we do not have that much time for the final pieces. However, the concept of a parallel look at abortion here and in Italy is a smart one. This could be the beginning of a longer piece, a sketch to present for funding for a longer piece.
Your treatment is comprehensive and clearly states your goal, timeline, where you will find footage and interviews, and how you are going to create a structure.
Simin
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