Revising Ideas

As a group we decided to somewhat merge our ideas and make a film about passions across liverpool in general. We want to identify people of different faiths, namely who have started some kind of organisation relevant to their beliefs, and ask them similar questions about how they became that faith, why they practise it and what they think of other faiths in general, as well as about the place where they worship and the church/mosque/temple they are as part of. However, we also want to interview passionate Humanists, people with various obsessions (Star Wars, record collecting, etc) and ask them what they think of both their passion, wether then think it is similar to a religion and what they think of the idea of religion.

Each of us is going to try and make contact with someone who would be interesting to interview. Personally, I have been tasked with finding a representative from each of the major religions, and someone who is a passionate Humanist. A quick google search revealed an organisation called "Skeptics in the pub" who are linked to the wider "Merseyside Skeptics society" who I have emailed along with a Mosque, Synagogue, Hindu Temple, Buddhist Meditation centre and Sikh Temple. In finding a subject to talk about Christianity I have used personal contacts to find a number of people who may or may not be available.

Heres our revised treatment.

Liverpool Passions

Our Liverpool story will look into the faiths and passions of people living in Liverpool. We will tell our story through a number of interviews with people who are passionate about something, be it their faith or just something that interests them, creating comparisons between the different subjects and the things they believe in.

The narrative structure will be formed around the content of the interviews, so we will use the second half of our time to film pickups that may assist the moulding of the narrative formulae. We will then manipulate the structure of both the interviews and pickups in order to orchestrate a thoroughly encompassing piece of documentary cinema.

Quintessentially we will begin the film with two juxtaposing interviews on the subject of religion from someone with no faith and someone working for the church. This will set the tone as being a study of varying religious beliefs however as the documentary progresses we will include a wider variety of beliefs and passions mainly focusing on people of Hindu faith, Buddhism and Islam.

Then we will divert into interviews with people who are not simply passionate about faith or their lack of it but maybe passionate about their business or hobby. With this, we will explore beliefs/passions of groups such as atheists, football fans and comic book enthusiasts. The aim of this will be to compare, not only how similar people of different religions can be in their practices and the way they express their faith, but how people with no distinctive spiritual belief also practice their passions in a way that is similar to that of religious people, ultimately conveying the message that the people of Liverpool, although diverse and colourful in their nature, are all still people and all united by the universal bond of human nature.

Potential subjects will include people of different faiths, passionate humanists/atheists, owners of niche shops and various enthusiasts. We will also perform interviews with the general public and ask them about their beliefs and passions in small vox pops format in order to get a broader view of the grand spread of people across the city. We will attempt to capture locations in the city or other visual elements of Liverpool that reflect the content of the interviews.

Our primary audience would be somewhat cineliterate as it is both a short film and a documentary but our secondary audience will be mainstream audiences as it appeals to a wider variety of individuals due to the range of faiths, beliefs and passions we will be exploring in the documentary. Our target audience will have some interest in faith and/or spirituality and so the questioning nature of this film will give it the potential to be shared to friends of those people who may not have that kind of interest but this film may ignite their curiosity and make them think about their personal beliefs. In this way the film also has a tertiary audience through its potential for virality.