Children's Media: Final

We the Little Engines 

Short Documentary




Link to presentation slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KyraQou1xyoRgAaejSbvti1Dxeu9lzCyZizoMHyqPTc/edit?usp=sharing

We the Little Engines Proposal
Treatment:
When I was a child, one of my favorite books was The Little Engine That Could (1930) by Watty Piper. For one reason, the little engine was blue and I loved anything that was blue I feel like. For another reason, the principle of believing in yourself that you can do hard things rang true to me and gave me hope as a child. My father loved this story just as much as us kids. As children, my father hated when we said the word “can’t” when we were having a hard time at being successful in what we were trying to do. For example, playing baseball as a kid, I remember saying that I can’t hit a home run, there is no way. My dad took me aside and looked right into my eyes and told me to not say that. He made say I can hit a homerun out loud many times. I remember doing the same thing with my siblings. He would remind us to believe and every time we say we can’t then the hope of actually doing it is killed.
Why I chose this book to be my film adaption is because I want to share that same message but in a nonfiction way. There have been fiction films that have adapted this story but to my knowledge there haven’t been specific adaptations done in the documentary world. I am currently in TMA 273 with Brad Barber. I believe sharing this theme and story in a documentary will be a different way to show viewers that believing in yourself happens in a real way with children.
The idea is to interview ten children, diversity of gender and race, and from ages four to nine, about times where they thought they couldn’t do something but then they realized they actually could do it with a little hope and action. I want to share these kid’s experiences in how they believed in themselves and thought they could do it similar to the little engine. By having a variety of ages, gender, and race, the experiences that are shared will be different and will let the viewer see no matter what age or gender you are, hard tasks or difficult responsibilities can be overcome with positivity and hard work. There is much negativity in the world today and this short documentary will remind people that one can take it step by step and remember the power that people have regarding their attitude and choices. 

Short Documentary, We the Little Engines
-This short is almost 4 minutes long but the desired running time would be 10 minutes.
-Talking heads and B roll
-Interviews: talk about the hard task, what was it like, how did you come against it, what helped you think that you could get through it, what examples in your life that you have had with believing in yourself, how did you feel after you did the thing, have you done the same thing since then, is it still hard or does it feel easier (the task)
-B roll: film the child struggling with the task or preparing for what the task will be like riding a bike for the first time, wide shots of children playing, close ups on the child as they are performing the task
-Idea to include in the B roll: Having one child play with the little engine that could toy and have him travel on the sidewalk and then up a hill



Visual References:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/childrens-bible-videos?lang=eng
-       I would love to film the interviews of the children in a similar way in that the kids have sit down interviews. I would ask them questions about what was the hard task that was presented before them and how did they accomplish the task or thing they needed to do. I love the variety of gender and ages in these interviews. I would love to even have more diversity than 80% white children.

http://fitforthekingdom.byu.edu/
- The home video style interests me and I believe this would be a great visual reference for the shooting style as well for this short documentary. I want the children to feel comfortable and want them to feel that we are truly having a two way conversation. I love the genuine answers the subjects give in the shorts from Fit for the Kingdom. I would hope for the same with this documentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1nmU77Tybo

            - The smooth camera movement helps the viewer feel that they are right next to the kids as they interact with each other. I would love to shoot the B roll for the children’s interviews in a similar way. If one child talks about that he didn’t think he could hit a baseball with a bat then I would love to shoot the boy playing with the baseball hat on a steadicam or glidecam.

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