Dog documentary media pitch.

1. Initial Ideas:
Dogumentary
DOGS
abuse
violence animal cruelty
how they’re treated
breeds
emotions
how they’re helpful
Man’s best friend
FOOD
Dominoes
Hungarians
quality
McDonalds
quality of
food
age of food
questionable
migration
SCHOOL
bullying/cyber bullying
life at university
STYLE
subcultures
fashion
changes over time
comparisons
CRIME gangs
sociology
The dark figure of
crime FAMILY
LIFE
single child vs big
family
pressure
domestic issues
MAISIE
Wagamamams
authenticity
fresh?

2. Ideas:
• When deciding what document mode to use we decided to
look at other dog documentaries to see how each mode was
incorporated.
• We felt this was necessary as seeing a common theme in
modes based around dogs will help us see what made other
documentaries successful, therefore helping us decide what
route would be best.
• For each mode we look at a documentary about dogs,
however we do not strive to replicate any other dog
documentaries so we will also look for differences we will add
to differentiate ourselves from the rest.
ELLA

3. Narrative of your documentary
• Within our documentary we want to expose the different lifestyles of having pets.
Through this we want to show the perks of having a pet and the negatives in which
animals are often included in. For example; animal cruelty, neglect, dog fighting
and other violent acts.
• We plan to include interviews with different people and charities in order to gain a
better understanding into the recent facts about the examples above. These
interviews we aim to complete with charities and companies such as Battersea,
RSPCA, Dogs Trust, Bruce’s Doggy Day Care and Dog Days Adventure. We hope
from this we would be able to gather a variety of information covering both
positives and negatives in order to be able to show both lifestyles in which dogs
tend to have.
EMILY

4. Possible Locations:
Sos Dog Rescue- Located in Woking:
• SOS dog rescue does not have kennels and every dog in their care lives in a family foster home while waiting for a
home, however viewings are strictly done by appointment so if we wanted to look into this location, we would have
to organise a meeting.
• Woking is very local to us so mobility will not be a problem.
GSR Surrey German Shepherd Rescue:
• German Shepherd Dog Rescue Surrey is a non-profit volunteer organisation dedicated to
finding the right home for each dog in its care. They take in unwanted German Shepherd
dogs and provide shelter and care for them until they can find them a secure and loving
home. They promote responsible dog ownership and provide an after care advice, support and guidance service for the
new pet owner. All their dogs are kept in a home environment and not in a kennel, this will gives us a better chance of
seeing the real character of the dogs and to make a more informed assessment of their lives.
• GSR is located in Chertsey which means mobility will once again not be a problem
• Despite the location being very good the restriction of one dog breed may be a problem.
Battersea Dogs and Cats Home:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8oYebi7haA
• Located in Winsor which is further than our other locations, however this
location offer a variety of information and available footage that make not be
accessible in the other locations.
• They aim to never turn away a dog or cat in need of help, caring for them
until their owners or loving new homes can be found, no matter how long it
takes. We would find out about what they do and how they take care of over
8,000 dogs and cats every year.
ELLA

5. Target Audience
The audience in which our documentary would be targeted at would be animal lovers
with the largest interest being received by dog owners. This is due to dog owners
being able to relate their own experiences with their pets and therefore being
interested into other owners relationships with their pets and the variation upon
these relationships. Dependent on which channel we plan to have the documentary
on, the age range of the target audience would vary due to different channels often
receiving a variation of attention from age groups.
EMILY

6. Possible
conventions/stylistics to
include
raw footage- to make it non
fictional and more ‘real’
the interviewer in
front of the camera
MAISIE
voiceover- authoritative to
make it clear that they have
more knowledge
technicality of realism-
with natural lights and
natural sounds/ real
voices/ background noises
archive footage/stills- adds authenticity
Interviews with experts, for example
dogs’ trust or Battersea Dogs’ Home
Text- for the audience to read in case
they are deaf or are unable to hear
properly
Labels/names
and dates to
make it easier to
understand
Sound:
- non-diegetic
- soundtrack added
- made louder or quieter
Visual coding, for example a
doctor wearing their uniform
to make it clear they’re a
doctor.

7. Potential channel to screen on
GEORGE

8. Reflexive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omUIhrCcGqI
• We have two main presenters, who are shown in front of the camera and narrate throughout
• The theme is fun and light
• Raw footage is used from a dog show, to help keep the audience engaged
• Presenters interact with dogs
• Variety of dogs are used to keep subject of documentary interesting.
Expository
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xohGv6YRsHo
• Documentarian remains behind the camera
• Interviews with soldiers who work with the dogs, giving more of a personal effect
• Narration is used to ensure audience is being fully informed on what the documentarians want to get across
• Raw footage to help audience get more of a feel of the life of the dogs
Observational
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6AX4garACM
• The documentarian remains behind the camera
• Footage is all of the life of poppy the Labrador retriever
• Text is shown on screen to help spread out Poppy’s day, meaning no speech is needed
Participatory
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW8Z9m4jr-4
• Uses well known celeb to interact with dogs throughout
• Interaction with dogs helps get the information on dangerous dogs more suspenseful
• Interviews with people who have connection to dangerous dogs, meaning dogs are not shown continuously
• Awareness is an aim of this documentary, participation from the presenter is key for this to be successful.
ELLA

9. Dog documentaries
• The Dog Factory - BBC
• Dog Fighting undercover – BBC
• Dogs : their secret lives – Channel 4
• Britain's favourite dogs – ITV
• Dangerous dog owners & proud – Channel 5
• The dog rescuers with Alan Davies – Channel 5
• Cats and dogs : which is best? – BBC 2
GEORGE

10. What we can see from what channels
the dog documentaries are on
• From the research I done, I can see that the more gritty, shocking
documentaries about dog fighting, animal cruelty and dog trading tend to
be on BBC1 and channel 5. The BBC1 documentaries are always more
serious and they will take part in undercover filming revealing the people
who take part in these crimes. This is compared to channel 5 where they
have serious documentaries but will only reveal what happens and not do
much undercover filming to expose someone and get them in trouble.
• ITV and channel 4 have the more happy, light documentaries about the
lives of dogs and are overall more cheerful than most of those on BBC1
and channel 5.
• As our documentary will be on the darker side of dogs, we will feature our
documentary on BBC1 or channel 5.
GEORGE