Key Points

I would like to highlight a couple key points that I think will anchor our approach to making this a film that’s unlike anything that has been done before. All of the decisions we will make together thus forth, I believe, should be in service of these key ideas— so I want to make sure in our follow up call that we are all on the same page with this.

We will create a sincere and incredibly impactful “emotional event” to craft our piece around. (I’ll go into this in detail later). This will happen between when we ask our second question of “Have you asked for help?” and the end of the film. This event needs to not only impact our viewer, but also the veterans we are connecting to on screen. The relationship to each unique audience member’s own personal emotional event will be supported in performance, score, and pacing— But ultimately it is this moment and the way it impacts our veterans on screen that will be integral to the purpose of the piece.

Create a unique look that instantly engages our audience by presenting a filmmaking format that they are conceptually familiar with, but one they haven’t visually seen before. I want to indicate that this piece and the idea behind it are worthy of the audience’s time through those visuals. I have a section dedicated to it later in the deck, but in short— my philosophy is that an elevated, meaningful, and contemporary visual approach signifies elevated, meaningful, and contemporary ideas on screen.

Use our interviewer in a distinctive way that incites and supports our “emotional event”— showing that they are witnessing that change first hand and perhaps even sharing a change in themselves. We need to enable our interviewer to participate in our piece in a way that brings our audience along with them. Deepening our experience in witnessing veterans’ realizations, and in turn further connecting with the message of our film that much further.

Avoiding schmaltziness at all costs— constantly striving for authenticity and emotional resonance in what’s depicted on screen. 😉

As I go farther along in this treatment, all thoughts and decisions should be able to be traced back to these cornerstones.