This document outlines the initial plans for a documentary called "Why England?". The documentary will explore why international students choose to study in England for higher education. It will include interviews with 4 international students and an expert from the International Student Office. The narrative structure will start with students' initial reasons for choosing England, then discuss the potential impacts of Brexit, and conclude by reaffirming England as a good choice. The document discusses techniques that will be used such as continuity editing, mid-close up shots, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, and location filming at the university.

1. WHY ENGLAND?
Amy Gillespie, Tom Connolly, Tom
Wolstenholme, Veronika Márová

2. Initial Ideas
 ‘WHY ENGLAND?’
 The focus of this documentary is to discover
why international students choose England as
a place to study for higher education/
university.
 ROLES: We will split up the roles between the
group so that everyone will have the chance to
try everything.

3. Timeline – Narrative Structure
CLIMAX
RISING ACTION
CONCLUSIONBEGINNING
Brexit
• The impact on students
• The changes it has to current and
foreseeable students
• Does this effect them financially?‘Why England’
• Gain a more positive response
• Better future, better education,
lifestyle
• Opportunities, culture FALLING
ACTION
Brexit- Professional Viewpoi
• Interview International
Admissions Officer
• Ask students opinion

4. Interviewees
 INTERVIEWS
 4 international students
 1 expert – International Student Office

5. Film Director – D. A.
Pennebaker
 Born in 1925
 American documentary filmmaker + a pioneer of direct cinema
 Known for Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back and The Way Room
 Usually shot with a hand-held camera – interviews in favor of a
‘simple’ portrayal of events typical of the direct cinema style
 ”It's possible to go to a situation and simply film what you see there,
what happens there, what goes on, and let everybody decide
whether it tells them about any of these things. But you don't have
to label them, you don't have to have the narration to instruct you so
you can be sure and understand that it's good for you to learn."
 His aesthetics and technical breakthroughs have had a large
influence on narrative filmmaking and have influenced some realist
pieces.

6. Film Director – D. A.
Pennebaker
 ‘Don’t look back’ documentary (1967)
 Looks at Bob Dylan
 His personality helps drive the narrative
forward in the interviews
 Along with the use of cut away editing
techniques showing what he does in his
everyday life along with his interviews.
 The close up shots of him cut away to long
shots
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8plaE2qT_gA&spfreload=10 - 2.30 – 3.30

7. Communicating Techniques
 Editing
 Mostly continuity editing – interviews will take place using
mid-close ups of interviewees – cut away shots in a form of
montage portraying what they do in their everyday lives and
roles in the university (that being either going to lectures or
on a wider scale)
 Camerawork
 Mid-close up shot of interviewees – located at the kitchen
table/ living space to make it feel more warm and comfortable
for interviewee – more relaxed.
 Panning and tracking shots of ‘characters’ doing what they do
in their everyday lives (used as cutaways) – For example, a
panning shot of international student in a student rep meeting

8. Communicating Techniques
 Sound
 Diegetic dialogue of the interviewees
 Non-diegetic music – acoustic and quiet to move the action along –
louder when there is a break in the dialogue
 Mise en scene
 Props – books used for interviewees if they are walking to a lecture, etc
 Costume/hair/makeup – What the interviewees would wear on a
normal day to suggest the realism
 Lighting – natural soft lighting to make it more natural and as a
documentary style
 Location – The university – interviewees flats – international student
office

9. Screen Grammar
 Frame
 background of the interviewee’s room
 Rule of Thirds
 focus along the horizontal line in terms of the interviewees eye line- use of pan
shots to correspond with horizontal line- e.g. shot of campus
 180° Rule
 Interviewee on the left side of camera- eye-line and positioned as if audience
speaking to them
 Narrative Devices
 Symbols- Books, Map- symbolic of education and being abroad
 Sounds- Acoustic music, cultural/ oriental music, gets louder in cut away
shots- possibly silence at moments of talking, but could become uncomfortable/
too intimate
 Signifiers- shots of food in canteen that is culturally relevant to person being
interviewed