Media Studies - Documentary Development

This Blogpost (Written by me, Maxi) features the development of our Documentary; Dave. This blog post contains our statement of intent, name development, thumbnail development, screenplay development, storyboard development, title screen development, as well as more creative decisions and the processes and reasoning behind them.

DAVE

Statement of Intent:

Our documentary, Dave, focusses on 6 school students who find out they all share the titular name, Dave. They then decide that only one of them can have the name, and decide to have a competition to see who ends up being able to keep the name. Our point of interest though is that all Dave's have very different personalities and interests. This builds comedic effect through the juxtaposition of how each Dave is so different despite them all sharing the same name. This also allows us to broaden our target audience as we can cater towards people from different psychographics. Our main demographic however is mainly people from the ages of 16-25, who are active social media users and up to date with Gen-Z "meme culture".

As a mockumentary, we aim to include many comedic moments that our implicitly funny. We aim to add comedic affect through the stupidity/absurdity of the actions/personalities of our characters. We will have multiple interviews that introduce the audience to the characters, as well as footage that follows the documentarians as they argue about the production of their documentary.

We hope to be representative of people in the general high-school population, as well as of all the different types of people you find in this modern generation. E.g, we will have a Dave who loves playing video games, who will represent the "Gamers" of Gen-Z, a Dave who goes to the gym, who will represent the "gym bros" of Gen-Z, a person who makes TikToks and is into social media, who will represent the "influencers" of Gen-Z, etc.

Our documentary will be distributed on Netflix, and YouTube as a YouTube original series, as our target audience are very technologically literate. They will most likely prefer to access our documentary on these platforms, as social media apps like YouTube are very popular among viewers from this generation and allow for sharing of content between audiences, which will lead them to be able to build social relationships with their friends and recommend the documentary to them and talk about what they like.

Character name development and Casting Process:

As mentioned previously, we wanted to have 6 different Dave's that would be shown in the documentary, all of which would have different nicknames. The nicknames for each Dave went along with their personality, but choosing the personalities each Dave would have took quite a while.

We first decided on this list of names: 

• Muscle Dave - Egotistical "Gym bro" that thinks he's cool due to him going to the gym.
• Quiet Dave - Quiet kid that gives everyone a weird vibe. Doesn't talk at all.
• Nerd Dave - Awkward, has little sense of social awareness and only cares about grades.
• Crypto Dave - Loves buying, selling, and spreading the gospel of Cryptocurrency
• Athlete Dave - Is the "cool" kid, loves playings sports and is a jock.
• Happy Dave - Always happy, almost too happy. Tries too hard to bring the group together.

We then updated this list and removed Nerd Dave, Crypto Dave, and Athlete Dave and replaced them with 3 different characters. We also changed "Quiet Dave" to become "Creepy Dave" as we feel like it would be more extreme than him just being a "quiet kid". We decided to remove Nerd Dave because we felt he would be too similar to Creepy Dave, and thus his character would be a bit repetitive and boring. Athlete Dave was removed for the same reason, as we thought he'd be too similar to Muscle Dave. To make him more interesting though we transformed his personality into a womanizing douchebag who thinks all women fall in love with him. We thought that this would end up being more relatable as many people know someone like this in theri actual lives, and would be able to laugh at how stupid they look when portrayed on screen in our documentary. We decided to remove Crypto Dave once we were quite late in the development process, specifically after I had finished writing our screenplay. When we came together to read the screenplay we felt that Crypto Dave's character had far too little comedic impact. We felt that most people would end up not understanding Crypto Dave and wouldn't find his obsession with Crypto funny. So we decided to replace his character with someone that would add more comedic impact on our audience, and replaced him with a character who's name isn't even Dave, which adds an element of surprise to the storyline.

After these changes, 4 characters had changed and became "Softboy Dave", "Player Dave", "Not Dave", and "Creepy Dave".  The final character list was now as follows:

• Muscle Dave 
• Creepy Dave - Same as quiet dave, just under a different name.
• Softboy Dave - Introverted and a bit awkward but tries his best to be nice. Follows conventions of the "Softboy" style that is famous on the social media app "Pinterest"
• Player Dave - Thinks ever girl that sees him falls in love with him, and is a huge womanizer 
• Happy Dave
• Not Dave - A student who's name is actually Kevin, but since he was new everyone in the school grouped him together with the other new students who were named Dave and thus thought he was also named Dave.

For the casting process, we already had a list of actors we thought would fit the roles of our characters perfectly. The list is as follows:

• Sheva Azwar - Muscle Dave
• Baron Rizky - Creepy Dave
• Taka Partha - Softboy Dave
• Davin Kurniawan - Player Dave
• Giann Suwangsa - Happy Dave
• Arjuna Nakao - Not Dave

We first decided on this list of actors as we believe they encapsulate the characters incredibly well. Essentially, we believed all the actors on this list, in real life, are very similar to the personalities of the characters that we wanted them to portray on the screen. For example, Sheva Azwar, who we wanted to play Muscle Dave, is a person who does go to the gym all the time, has a built physique, and also has a very high self esteem/ego. This would mean that he'd be the exact person that Muscle Dave is, and would portray the character perfectly. Same goes for Baron Rizky, who is a very quiet person in real life, Davin Kurniawan, who does go for many girls and is a bit of a player, and Giann Suwangsa, who is a very smiley and carefree person. As you can see, all these casting choices were made with the personalities of the actors and the characters in mind. 

Additionally, since all members of our team are friends with the actors who we wanted to cast in real life, it would make the filming process much easier as it would be very easy to work with them since we are already good friends. However in the end, complications arose which led to us having to change our cast list. Sheva Azwar ended up not being able to participate in the shoot, and thus we replaced him with Han Hyun Woo, another friend of all members of the team. Hyun Woo similarly has a built physique and goes to the gym, but is not as self centric as Azwar. However we still believe that he could play the character of an egotistic person, and thus we casted him in the role. Thus the final list of actors is as follows:

• Han Hyun Woo - Muscle Dave
• Baron Rizky - Creepy Dave
• Taka Partha - Softboy Dave
• Davin Kurniawan - Player Dave
• Giann Suwangsa - Happy Dave
• Arjuna Nakao - Not Dave

Shooting Location:

For the location of our documentary, since all of our characters are high school students, we decided to shoot in a high school. Since all team members and actors go to the same school, Regents Secondary School Bali, we decided that it would be easiest to shoot in our school. This meant that we would not have to travel anywhere else for the duration of the filming process, and could use any other students we needed as extras for the shoot. We could also use the multitude of different classrooms and facilities that our school had and provided for all the different shots that we would end up needing. Thus the only location that we filmed in was:

• Regents School Bali (Classrooms, Hallways, other facilities, etc.)

Possible Documentary Names:

In the development process, we thought of many different names for our documentary before we settled with Dave(s)

• On the Daves
• Dave Club
• the Dave Fight
• Hunger Dave's
• Finding the Best Dave
• Dave War
• Daves
• Dave
• Diggin Dave
• Dave(s)

What was most important to us was how we wanted the name Dave to appear in the title of our documentary, since the characters of the show, and the whole plot of the show would revolve around people with that name. The original idea, if we continued past the opening, would be to have a fight/competition to which all the Dave's would compete in to see who would get to keep the name. This was the idea behind names such as "the Dave Fight", "Finding the Best Dave", and "Hunger Daves", which is a reference to the series of the Hunger Games. However, we felt that this would give away too much of the plot before the reader even started watching, and thus we wanted to go for a simpler and more subtle approach. We ended up choosing the title Dave(s), with the S in brackets as the S shows that it is a plural, therefore more than one Dave exists within the show. But we didn't want to show it normally by having the S come after an apostrophe, instead we put it in brackets as it is more unique and looks more interesting for audiences. They will wonder what it means for the S to be in brackets, compared to if it was written normally with an apostrophe, and provides intrigue for the audience to click on and watch the documentary.

Possible Title Screen Fonts:

For the word "Dave" we decided to settle with the font Lumios Typewriter New as we believe it conveys a sense of mocking seriousness. As our documentary it is a mockumentary, we try to be serious but at the same time funny. This font has been used in other mockumentaries we researched such as the office, and we believe it fits well with our mockumentary. 

For the "s" in brackets, we decided to do it in a hand drawn font as it follows along with the story of the producers of the documentary not knowing there were going to be more than 1 person named dave in their interview. This adds a sense of comedy as it shows audiences that they were unprepared and had to add the details in back later. For the color choice, we decided to have it be drawn in red as we wanted it to stand out compared to the rest of the title. Also, it is a common convention in the media world to have annotations/changes to a script or text be written by using a red pen. Since the S in brackets is a revision to the title, writing it in red pen would make the most sense and follow conventions of the media industry. 

Screenplay Development (Original Draft): 

INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY

TIMO and MAXI argue about the candidates chosen for their interview, while they are secretly being recorded by another crew member.

TIMO

What do you mean you got 6 people??? There's literally only 1 name on the list!

MAXI

(CONFUSED)

Huh? What are you talking about? I told you I got 6 people. They're literally all here waiting right now!

TIMO

Then why the hell is there only 1 name on the list.

MAXI

Give me that!

Maxi GRABS the paper from Timo's hands

MAXI

What? Damnit Nay must've forgotten to add their names from the form! Alright c'mon just follow me, I'll show you myself.

Timo PICKS UP his CAMERA and follows Maxi.

CUT TO:

INT. SCHOOL HALLWAY / CLASSROOM - DAY

Timo and Maxi hastily walk towards the room the interviewees are waiting. Maxi opens the door roughly and yells.

MAXI

VOILA! Told you so. Alright, now which one of you here is...

(CHECKS PAPER)

Dave?

While Maxi looks up from the paper we follow his gaze to reveal:

6 DIFFERENT people STANDING UP in unison as they look around in a daze. They all share the same name; Dave. The 6 Dave's are as follows; Muscle Dave, Crypto Dave, Creepy Dave, Happy Dave, and Player Dave.

The Daves look around IN CONFUSION as we:

CUT TO:

INT. INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY

ROLL MONTAGE of DAVE'S sitting down in their interview chairs.

MAXI (O.S.)

Could you please state your name for the camera?

DAVE'S

(SIMULTANEOUSLY)

Hi, Im Dave.

We PAUSE, after the final dave answers, as we:

CUT TO BLACK.

FADE IN:

INT. INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY

MUSCLE DAVE walks in from the side and SITS DOWN on the interview chair. Timo asks the Dave's about what happened on their first day of school.

MUSCLE DAVE

(FIDDLES AROUND WITH MICROPHONE)

TIMO (O.S.)

Could you please tell us how your first day of school was?

MUSCLE DAVE

(ENTHUSIASTICALLY)

Yeah man it was crazy! My family moves around a lot, so first days of school are no big deal really. And since my names Dave Aardvark, I'm always first name on the list. So my teacher called "Dave Aardvark", and I said "Present!"

CUT TO:

CRYPTO DAVE

And I thought "Woah!" Another dave in the class! So guess I've got 1 friend already.

CUT TO:

PLAYER DAVE

Yeah so by the end of it we had 6 new Dave's in our class! It ended up being so confusing that the class had to give us all nicknames to differentiate between us.

TIMO (O.S.)

So what's the nickname you were given?

CUT TO:

MUSCLE DAVE

(STARES INTO CAMERA, RAISES EYEBROW)

Isn't it obvious?

(FLEXES MUSCLES, WHILE NODDING HEAD)

Muscle Dave.

CUT TO:

ANY DAVE

He's really not that muscly.

CUT TO:

HAPPY DAVE

Well they called me Happy Dave! Its probably cuz I just get along everyone! We became friends like instantly, I love all the Daves!

CUT TO:

PICTURE of Happy Dave's selfie. Happy Dave is posing and joyful, while all the other Daves are visibly disgusted.

CUT TO:

ANY DAVE

We're not friends.

CUT TO:

CRYPTO DAVE

Honestly I don't know why they call me crypto Dave. Like I don't even talk about crypto that much.

CUT TO:

INT. SCHOOL BUILDING - DAY

MONTAGE of Crypto Dave's crypto enthusiasm

--Crypto Dave goes up to multiple people in an attempt to introduce a brand new CRYPTO APP he just got to multiple people.

--Walks up to one person while pointing at his phone, they walk away.

--Asks his friends as they sit at lunch if they've ever heard of "Dogecoin".

--While on his laptop, he calls people to come and look at the exponential growth of a crypto coin.

--More shots can be added if needed.

MONTAGE END

CUT TO:

INT. INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY

PLAYER DAVE

(LAUGHS)

I think everyones just jealous honestly. With my looks and everything I could literally get any girl I want, so they just call me a

(DOES AIR QUOTES MOTION)

"player".

TIMO (O.S.)

Would you care to tell us about what how the girls in your class think about you?

CUT TO:

INT. SCHOOL BUILDING - DAY

MONTAGE of Player Dave attempting to flirt with girls.

--Player Dave goes up to multiple girls in the hallways, in his classroom, etc, as they all brush him off and walk away.

--Player Dave walks up to a girl at her locker, she walks away.

--Player Dave Waves to a girl in the hallway, she gives him a weird look.

--Player Dave tries to sit next to a girl, she scooches over.

Player Dave's voice accompanies the clip as a voice over.

PLAYER DAVE (V.O.)

(CONFIDENTLY)

Yeah the girls love me man! Every single girl i talk to literally can't even resist me. I think I just have this sort of aura that they're just attracted to. You wouldn't get it.

MONTAGE END

CUT TO:

INT. INTERVIEW ROOM - DAY

SOFTBOY DAVE sits in his interview chair wearing a CARDIGAN as he listens to music with his AIRPODS in, unbothered by the fact that he's currently in an interview. Much to the confusion of the interviewer.

TIMO (O.S.)

(CONFUSED)

Hello? Excuse me?

Softboy Dave slowly looks up and takes his airpods out.

SOFTBOY DAVE

(NERVOUSLY)

Oh sorry, didn't know we were starting.

TIMO (O.S)

What were you listening to?

SOFTBOY DAVE

Uhm, Wave to Earth.

TIMO (O.S.)

Right. Would you mind sharing your most used social media app?

SOFTBOY DAVE

Let me check...

(CHECKS PHONE, LOOKS BACK UP)

Pinterest.

CUT TO:

TIMO (O.S.)

So, we've been told they call you Quiet Dave.

QUIET DAVE

(STARES BLANKLY INTO THE CAMERA)

...

TIMO (O.S.)

Alright.

CUT TO:

MONTAGE OF DAVES.

--Cut between 2-3 second shots of the Daves in their interviews

--Goes from Dave 1, to Dave 2, etc, until done.

--Montage is accompanied by voiceover by Muscle Dave and Timo.

MUSCLE DAVE (V.O.)

Well when you have so many different clashing personalities in a single group, things are bound to get a little wild y'know.

          TIMO (V.O.)

So then what happens next?

MONTAGE ENDS (When Timo says the final line), when we:

CUT TO BLACK.

BLACK SCREEN

SUPER: "Dave(s)"

Screenplay Revisions:

During the filming process, some lines were added and changed. This was done as some lines felt a bit unnatural to be said by the actors, and we decided that it'd be better to add lines, and edit them a bit. We also decided to scrap the character of Crypto Dave as a whole and instead replaced him with "Not Dave", a character who isn't called Dave but was a new student on the day so was grouped in together with them anyways. We decided to do this because we believe that it would add more comedic effect than if we included Crypto Dave as the team believed his scenes would be quite boring and repetitive. We believe including a character thats not called Dave would diversify the story even more and create a more unique story.

Here is the main part of the screenplay that we changed: 

NOT DAVE

I'm not even called Dave man, my real names Kevin. People just grouped me in with them cuz I was a new student.

CUT TO:

INT. SCHOOL BUILDING - DAY

MONTAGE of NOT DAVE (Kevin) being called Dave and getting approached by other students.

--Kevin is sitting down on his phone as students come up to him and ask him if he's the new kid, Dave.

--While at his locker, students pass by him as they shout, "Hey Dave!".

--While at the urinal, another students takes the one next to him, looks towards Kevin and nonchalantly says "Hey Dave".

--While walking in the hallway, Kevin gets approached and hugged by another student who says "Hey Dave! Nice to meet you man!".

--Kevin then screams, "MY NAMES KEVIN!!".

MONTAGE END

Self Reflection:

I feel like through creating this screenplay I was able to further learn more about the proper way of formatting different elements of a media text, like a montage, and furthermore how to write something that is comedic, as previously I've only ever written screenplays that focus on serious plotlines, and never had any experience writing something that attempts to be funny/comedic. This experience definitely exposed me to writing different genres of texts, and allowed me to practice my writing skills and improve overall as well.

Storyboard Development: 

Here we can see the storyboard of our documentary. This was made and drawn by Sharon.

This storyboard helped us in the process of creating the visual sense of what our documentary would look like from scene to scene. By using the screenplay, I helped describe to the storyboard artist (Sharon) what I had in mind for most of the shots. In the filming process however, we didn't really rely on what was drawn in the storyboard as we had developed new and different ideas for the scenes after the storyboard was created. Thus many of the shots were made solely by using what was written in the screenplay, with the visual elements of the scene being left in the hands of our Director (Timo).

Thumbnail Development: 

These are some possible thumbnails for our documentary. They were drawn by Sharon, but in the end we decided on the final one together.

Again, as with our documentary name, to chose the thumbnail we had to consider the impression we want to make on our target audience and how they will think about the documentary as a whole. Some of our ideas like the name tag thumbnail (top left) show that the name "Dave' will play a big part in the documentary. The thumbnail on the middle left pays homage to a poster of the 1999 film "Fight Club", that had a similar style. This may have attracted fans of the movie to come and watch our documentary, but we decided that our target audiences may not understand the reference. Our final choice, the thumbnail in the top right, shows an image of all the members of the cast in a line against a monotonous background. This is meant to exemplify all their different personalities, with the title of the documentary "Dave(s)" in text above them all. This shows audiences that the name Dave is an important part of the story, but also that there are multiple people in the show with the same name, and that they all have different personalities due to the expressions and actions of the characters in the picture.

Here we can see the different forms of our final thumbnail that we tried out. We ended up using the image in slide 12 as our final thumbnail.

We decided to go with this thumbnail due to it having a white background and has it as our characters shown in a normal color tone as we believe it is the most natural image for audiences to see when they're scrolling through their netflix home page trying to find documentaries to watch. We did not want to have something too colorful, packed, or edited, as we believe it doesn't conform to standard documentary conventions, and seems a bit childish. This may deter our audiences from wanting to watch our documentary.

Post Production Changes:

In our first final draft, we followed the screenplay and included the argument scene between Me and Timo. However, once it was finished, we realized that it was 20 seconds over the time limit. Thus we decided to get rid of our argument scene and have the opening scene be me going into the room and asking who is named Dave. Other than that, we had received feedback from our teacher Mr. Nick on details that we should change. We originally had a sound effect of typewriter clanking for the text that appeared on screen and a voiceover for the questions that were asked to the characters in the interview. Mr. Nick told us that it would make it more natural if we removed these and just used the original recorded audio from the microphone in the room. We agreed and changed these immediately. We also increased the duration of the shots for where we see all the Dave's sitting down in the beginning of the documentary. Originally some of the shots didn't last long enough that they showed the actors' faces when they sat down, we then changed this to make it so that all the shots lasted longer and showcased all the actors' faces.

As mentioned above, with all scenes like this, we removed the typewriter sound effect and used diegetic sound for the question instead of replacing it with re-recorded non-diegetic sound.

Self Reflection:

Overall, I feel like documenting the development process allowed me to track the process of our documentary better and keep up with all the things we'd done throughout the production and development process.