Pitch for my A2 Level Documentary: Dinosaurs in the 'Flesh'.

2. Unlike previous nature direct cinema/talking heads documentaries that consisted of a serious
tone and narrative (i.e. March of the Penguins (2005), Walking with Dinosaurs (1999)) (about
animals/plants/other, mostly concentrating on the subjects in their natural habitat), my
documentary, which is partly of the same genre, Dinosaurs in the ‘Flesh’ , is very satirical,
and shall consist of a comedic style; thus causing the documentary to consist of the sub-
genre, mockumentary; in which a television programme or film takes form of a serious
documentary in order to satirise its subject.
The comedic tone of the documentary is partially represented in the title, as the term, flesh,
consists of inverted commas. This is because all the dinosaur characters (iconography of the
nature documentary genre) would evidently not be actual dinosaurs, but rather plastic toy
dinosaurs that have been animated through stop motion; combined with live action footage in
post-production. This shall therefore produce a comedic effect on the audience.

3. EXPERIMENTAL STOP MOTION TEST:

4. HUMAN CHARACTERS:
• Presenter – Dave Ratinaburrough – The main human character of the documentary.
Due to his name being a pun on the name David Attenborough, he is the presenter of
the entire documentary. He initially appears to be a professional presenter, but as
he finally reaches the Cretaceous period and begins documenting footage of the
dinosaurs, who are frequently represented as comically weak, rather than being
strong and intimidating, during which he grows increasingly irritated and angered;
even physically abusing his crew (again, comically). However, he learns too soon to
be careful what he wishes for, which I shall explain in the storyline.
• Crewmembers –
o Camerawoman – Despite never being on screen, she is the character that
Ratinaburrough interacts with the most; either snapping at her for finding the
dinosaurs’ comical behaviour amusing, or with she being the voice of reason
between the two.
o Minor crewmembers – Few characters that have very little role in the
documentary’s narrative, and only hear their voiceovers; with only one of them
appearing on screen.
• Doc Brawn – A minor but essential character. With his name being a pun on the
famous scientist character, Doc Brown, from the film series, Back To The Future,
he is the character that invents the time machine which shall lead Ratinaburrough
and his crew to the Cretaceous period.

5. DINOSAUR CHARACTERS:
• Two Tyrannosauruses –
o Natural – Consists of the typical ‘realistic’
attributes in terms of appearance.
o Rex (from Toy Story) – In emphasising
the mockumentary genre and comedic
tone, this character from the Toy Story
film series appears with the
Tyrannosaurus; being the character that
is chased.
• Triceratops
• Ankylosaurus
• Apatosaurus
• Velociraptors – Initially appear to consist of
the comical behaviour that the other Dinosaur
characters consist of, but during the climax of
the documentary’s first part before the break,
one of them shows an actual feral side.

6. • Doc Brawn’s Laboratory – Either/both of these two ideas:
o Use Art Room 4 (Photography Room) – Consists of the widest depth
of field out of all the technical rooms in the school; also consists of
a large white background made of card, which I can use as the
portal to the Cretaceous Period by using the brightness tool in
Adobe Photoshop so that the card gradually brightens; representing
the portal.
o If I am unable to, I shall merely use green screen for the laboratory
backgrounds.
• Cretaceous Period – A number of locations that consist of valleys,
fields and trees; including:
o Priory Park
o Woodson Park
o The River Lea

7. BEGINNING:
• Builds up the dinosaurs as being powerful, with various large images of
the dinosaurs being recorded with a steadicam at a low angle, while a
deep-pitched negative soundtrack is played as the presenter, Dave
Ratinaburrough, provides a voiceover; narrating over the still images.
• Cuts to ‘science laboratory’ scene, where Ratinaburrough explains that
he will be taking the viewers back in time to the time of the dinosaurs
(as well as the crew, as pointed out by a crewmember) through the use
of Doc Brawn’s time machine which he is currently turning on.
• Soon, Doc Brawn gets the time machine working, and the presenter and
crew step through the time machine. Thereafter, the title fades in.

8. MIDDLE:
• Ratinaburrough and crew have been transported to the Cretaceous period, where he and the crew
begin their trek through the valley to find the dinosaurs.
• Frequently cuts from establishing shots of locations to Ratinaburrough attempting to find dinosaurs.
After the second establishing shot, the presenter has still not found any dinosaurs; the camerawoman
stating that they have used up a quarter of the footage by now, but Ratinaburrough assures that they
will just use stock footage of him walking through landscapes as filler. Parodying the moments in
documentaries when the presenter is frequently only being shown walking through various
landscapes.
• However, they eventually come across a Triceratops in a field, and stop in quietness. Ratinaburrough
describes the triceratops as a feared wrestler of the Cretaceous period, and continues to describe
how great of a creature it is, but all it does is walk round in circles continuously until it drops down
tired; producing snores. From the sound of it farting, Ratinaburrough orders the cameras to cut.
• Next portion of the documentary’s middle consists of various gags in which the dinosaurs appear
comically weak, much to Ratinaburrough’s anger and embarrassment. These include:
o Two Velociraptors fighting over food by slapping each other like little girls.
o Tyrannosaurus chasing another that shares resemblance to Rex from Toy Story (reinforcing the
comedic and satire tone of the documentary) in circles. Rex runs away, but Tyrannosaurus still
runs in circles. Camerawoman begins humming the Benny Hill show theme while this continues,
but Ratinaburrough snaps, “Shut it, or I’ll feed you to the Raptors.”
o An Ankylosaurus hitting its own head with its tail club, and being knocked out; resulting in
Ratinaburrough grabbing the camera and smashing it on the ground; cutting to snow.

9. END:
• The final gag:
o Velociraptor vs. adolescent Apatosaurus – initially appears like a major battle to
death, but as Velociraptor makes final leap towards Apatosaurus, it misses and
comically crashes into tree; the Apatosaurus runs away as the Velociraptor falls to
the ground unconscious.
o Ratinaburrough has had the final straw, and begins going on a rampage; shouting and
swearing (which shall be censored) at the top of his lungs, and even punching the
crew member nearest to him. Shouting into the camera that Dinosaurs are actually
useless and idiotic; anyone who likes them is an idiot, and other such immature
insults and statements.
o However, while he rages on, the Velociraptor awakens and stalks slowly towards
Ratinaburrough. The crew attempts to tell him, but he ignores them and continues
ranting. However, too late, he turns around and sees the Velociraptor, which leaps
towards him, as he produces a comically high-pitched scream.
o Initially cuts to snow, but then cuts to transmission, which consists of an ironic still
image of Barney the Dinosaur, while upbeat music plays. This is a parody of
transmissions that consist of friendly imagery to calm the audience after an intense
moment. However, it soon cuts to a dark interior where Ratinaburrough is hiding
from the Velociraptors; crying and cowering in fear, and praying. The crew question
him what they should do; which he responds with ‘just cut to the break’, which they
do.

10. One of the products similar to my planned
documentary is the nature documentary, Chased
by Dinosaurs, a two-part spin-off miniseries to
the more popular BBC nature documentary
miniseries, Walking with Dinosaurs.
Unlike its predecessor, it consisted of a
narrative and form that was a lot more similar
to nature documentaries set in modern times in
countries like Africa; in which presenter, Nigel
Marven, encounters various dinosaurs in the
wildlife; interacting with them and feeding the
audience information about the various species.
These elements I may use similarly in my
documentary, except in a much more comedic
tone, as presented in the previous slides.