script for poetic documentary

1. Scene Visual Audio
SCENE 1
Introductory entrance piece.
In this scene we are introduced
to Claire through the piece Claire
as a Soldier, invited to get to
know her through close shots of
the detail surrounding her face,
her hair, her outfit, the
background. She is our main link
to the past and the piece that
fuels the questions asked and
the subjects discussed in the
interview. She is at the start of
the timeline and a marker for
the time period of the 80’s.
B-Roll: Pans over Claire as a
Soldier piece, zooming in on
her face, into her mouth,
into her eyes, the details on
her hair, on her jacket, her
hands etc.
Claire as a Soldier, created in 1987, a
a different time now some 34 years ago.
A time of great chaos, of Thatcherism, of
unemployment. But also, a time of
growth, a time of exploration, of
growing acceptance. But what was it like
really living in this time, what would
Claire as a woman had to go through,
was struggles did she face, struggles
that the young women of today may not
have too…

2. SCENE 2
In this scene we are introduced
to Emma, the bridge between
my present as an 18 year old
young woman, and Claire.
Hypothetically she is in the
middle of the timeline, having
her experiences in the 80’s but
also having her experiences now
in the present and has watched
me grow up in a time, we will
find out, that is similar or
different to her.
Emma Interview: Medium
Shot of Emma’s unmoving
face. Straight on in static
shot. Emma looking directly
into the camera, with a
neutral facial expression.
Observational/A-Roll: Emma
walks through softly lit fields
of John o Gaunt Reservoir
Park, the sky illuminated a
warm purple in the
background, emitting a soft
light to the surrounding
environments.
A-Roll: We move to a close
up shot of her feet and
hands as she climbs the
fence, providing an even
more intimate feel.
B-Roll: Shots of the
environment around, shots
of the sky and the clouds,
shots of the soft naturistic
landscape with the opposing
wind turbines in the
background.
A-Roll: A sequence of shots
of Emma walking up the hill,
close up of her foot to
medium of her face, to her
reaching the peak of the hill.
A-Roll: Shot of Emma
looking out onto the
reservoir, as if she is
pondering her thoughts.
First from a side angle, the
Emma Interview:
“My name is Emma MacDonald, I am 50
years old, I was born in Middlesbrough
North Yorkshire, grew up in Whitby, and
in 1987 I was 17 years old.”
“Life as a 17, almost 18-year-old young
woman in the 80’s was…”
“Being a young woman in the 80’s, a girl
on the brink of adulthood was…”
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“Expectations of me as a woman in the
80’s were…I was expected to be…”
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“I don’t envy the fact that you… the
internet… etc…”
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3. background in view, then
moving to face her straight
on.
FINAL SHOT: For the final
shot of Emma, we get quite
a similar to the beginning
shot and how we are
introduced to her,
completing the piece in a
narrative circle almost.
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SCENE 3
In this scene we are introduced
Madeleine, Emma’s daughter,
who is an 18 year old young
woman in 2021, growing up 34
years later than Emma.
Madeleine is at the end of the
timeline, and in her interview
adapted from Emma’s to fit the
present, we hear what her life is
like now almost 40 years later,
and we hear her discuss the
parallels as well as the contrast
Madeleine: Just like with
Emma’s, we get a close shot
of Madeleine’s face, her
emotions neutral, a straight
on static unmoving shot,
eyes softly focussing on the
camera.
A-Roll: Madeleine is filmed
from the side at a slight
angle, looking into the
distance at the forest
opposite and the river.
Madeleine Interview: “My name is
Madeleine Ross, I was born 28th of June
2002, making me 18, almost 19, and I’m
Emma’s daughter.”
Madeleine Interview: “I think it’s
undeniable that things have changed for
women since the 80’s, I mean it’s bound
to right that’s just what the progression
of time is. I think right now, in a way, is a

4. between her mother’s life and
her own.
B-Roll: A wide angle shot of
the river, the bridge that
runs over it and the town
below. This makes the
connection between
Madeleine and Emma
through the idea of water,
Emma’s being the reservoir
and the Madeleine’s being
the river.
B-Roll insert sequence:
Insert shot leading on from
wide angle of bridge,
zooming into the boats
untouched on the river,
close up of the stern of the
boat and the inside, then
onto a close up shot of a
singular bug landing calmly
on the water, leaving ripples
as it goes.
A-Roll: A slow tracking shot
of Madeleine as she walks
through a ruined arch of
Knaresborough castle, and
panning out to the right to
rest of the castle.
similar time to the 80’s, I feel like with
social media, the internet etc, its like
there are mass movements all the time,
movements for gender movements for
race, for age, and with the wider
introduction and consuming of TV, in the
80’s it kicked of similar movements. “
Madeleine Interview: Being a young
woman today, in comparison to the 80’s
and what my mum spoke about, I feel
quite lucky. There are less sort of
gendered expectations on me today,
there is less about me than just the fact I
am a young woman, that I am a girl, and
the world is seeing that now. I am glad I
am worth more than that. I think there
are expectations that haven’t gone away
though, if anything they have
maximised! With social media and
everything, consumerism, everything
being on display, there’s a lot more
weight on how we look, how successful
we may appear to be, how much fun we
are having. And even when we are on
the internet, we are getting bombarded
with diet products, “how to get skinny!”
and we have these amazing online
groups, online activists telling us that we
don’t need to be skinny don’t need to be
thin, but when you are constantly being
showed it, it’s hard to get it out of your
mind. “
Madeleine Interview:
“I think being a young woman, 18 nearly
19, hopefully leaving home and to begin
my career soon, is really exciting.
Looking at the difference to even 20
years ago in the 2000’s, and then going
further back to 1980’s when my mum
was the same age as me, I am really
excited to see how things progress, I am
excited to be in the workplace, and
knowing the way things are now, I am
excited to know that things will probably

5. FINAL SHOT: As with
Emma’s final shot,
Madeleines will be the same
as her introductory shot,
completing the narrative,
and, as with all the shit,
mirroring Emma’s
connecting them together
as one.
be better for me, ill feel more
comfortable more heard, hopefully! I am
excited to see what things will be like in
20 years, in 30 years in 40! I am excited
for my life to begin, and to be taken
seriously, to play my part. I am always
looking to the future, always, and I can’t
wait to see what it holds for me, and my
friends and the rest of the young women
in the world.