Actually, it's a bit of a mis-normer to say that the script-writing ended and then we began the pre-production on any documentary.
The story of THE CAREGIVERS was no different.
The people I had originally wanted to film had passed away by the time I was preparing for the filming. In any case my vision of the documentary had grown since then, so I could afford to make the documentary without them.
I returned to Meerut in July, put together a team and began to look for 'characters' for my documentary. The key here is balance, you need to know how the characters will play against each other and actively find 'characters' that will balance each other out.
Let me look at the family part of the documentary: I knew that I needed one 'regular' family with multiple generations under one roof, another family where caregiving needs had changed the very content of what is a family, and a third one where a person lived on their own, without any conflict in the family. The other consideration was the allied characters, who else was around, what could be asked of them, how would they respond.
After I had a short list of families ready, each duly photographed along with their living environments, my students and I wrote out a list of the characters in each family and the questions to be asked of them. So we were ready for this sector, though I did film more families than what finally appears on-screen.
The old age homes were simpler to find, though I opted to take one with a religious orientation and another with a purely 'commercial' approach. Step two was to find 'characters' in the old age homes. In one it was pretty simple, with the help of the management, we identified three characters. In the other home we couldn't find any, finally the manager lined up two people who he felt could talk without breaking apart. Again, photographs taken, questions written down with my students and we were set.
I could not find the doctors till the last minute, for the psychiatrist I finally found a student of my mother's, with multiple connections to my family. The medical doctor was actually found by a local TV Channel host, who is himself a medical doctor by profession. The medical doctor prepared extremely hard for his interview, and finally gave me so much extra information that I could find the ending to the documentary from his interview.
I did interview several destitute elderly too, but somehow it did not work in the edit.
Certain things changed- for example, I had originally thought of this documentary as a local one raising international issues. But then, I cut out the local city references totally and somehow it became a more universal film.
I thought of adding more 'diversity' to the characters, sort of balance it out in terms of population make up of our filming area. But finally the lack of access (which I've discussed elsewhere) and the desire to tap into more universal issues prevailed.
You can now see the 'form' or the basic structure of the documentary coming together.
The story of THE CAREGIVERS was no different.
The people I had originally wanted to film had passed away by the time I was preparing for the filming. In any case my vision of the documentary had grown since then, so I could afford to make the documentary without them.
I returned to Meerut in July, put together a team and began to look for 'characters' for my documentary. The key here is balance, you need to know how the characters will play against each other and actively find 'characters' that will balance each other out.
Let me look at the family part of the documentary: I knew that I needed one 'regular' family with multiple generations under one roof, another family where caregiving needs had changed the very content of what is a family, and a third one where a person lived on their own, without any conflict in the family. The other consideration was the allied characters, who else was around, what could be asked of them, how would they respond.
After I had a short list of families ready, each duly photographed along with their living environments, my students and I wrote out a list of the characters in each family and the questions to be asked of them. So we were ready for this sector, though I did film more families than what finally appears on-screen.
The old age homes were simpler to find, though I opted to take one with a religious orientation and another with a purely 'commercial' approach. Step two was to find 'characters' in the old age homes. In one it was pretty simple, with the help of the management, we identified three characters. In the other home we couldn't find any, finally the manager lined up two people who he felt could talk without breaking apart. Again, photographs taken, questions written down with my students and we were set.
I could not find the doctors till the last minute, for the psychiatrist I finally found a student of my mother's, with multiple connections to my family. The medical doctor was actually found by a local TV Channel host, who is himself a medical doctor by profession. The medical doctor prepared extremely hard for his interview, and finally gave me so much extra information that I could find the ending to the documentary from his interview.
I did interview several destitute elderly too, but somehow it did not work in the edit.
Certain things changed- for example, I had originally thought of this documentary as a local one raising international issues. But then, I cut out the local city references totally and somehow it became a more universal film.
I thought of adding more 'diversity' to the characters, sort of balance it out in terms of population make up of our filming area. But finally the lack of access (which I've discussed elsewhere) and the desire to tap into more universal issues prevailed.
You can now see the 'form' or the basic structure of the documentary coming together.
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