Wikileaks Documentary

This week, a Wikileaks documentary was shown on BBC's Panorama. I watched this documentary in order to see some of the techniques that had been used for a documentary using the same topic as ours.

The link to this documentary can be seen below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00yl1ng/Panorama_WikiLeaks_The_Secret_Story/

Storyboard for our documentary

Here is the storyboard for our documentary:

Background Information on Wikileaks

Here is some research that I have done in relation to Wikileaks and the government's control over the internet:

Media: The Internet lost control? Wikileaks

Julian Assange – History
• Founder, spokesperson and editor and chief of wikileaks
• In his youth hacked under the name of ‘Mendax’
• Believes in Freedom of press, censorship and investigative journalism
• US considered charges to do with the leaks however were told it would be hard to prosecute him
• Arrested on 7th December 2010 for alleged sexual offences

Wikileaks Story
• Founded in 2006
• Documents leaked onto the site include: extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the African coast, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike video
• Approximately 251 000 American cables only 1295 released
• Temporary suspension of the site after information was released

Twitter
• Subpoena received by Twitter to effectively entailed the collection for criminal prosecution of the personal identifying information of over 600 000 followers of Wikileaks


Sexual Assault allegations
• In June 2010 pentagon officials were looking for Assange because what he was about to release could "puts his well-being, his physical life, in some danger now."
• 20th August 2010 Swedish police open investigation about Assange alleged sexual offences against two women aged 31 and 26
• Daily telegraph report: Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks website, could be sent to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp or even executed in the US if he is extradited to Sweden, his lawyers have warned.
• Stockholm's chief prosecutor Eva Finne reviewed the case and dropped the rape investigation, saying there was insufficient evidence to suggest rape
• On 6 December 2010 European arrest warrant is released
• 7th December handed himself in to met police
• Granted bail on 16th and placed under house arrest with bail set at £240 000
• No charges against him have been filed by Swedish authories… yet!


Julian Assange death penalties – many people in America have implied that Julian Assange should face the death penalty for releasing American government information. Footage of this would be good to use as part of our archive footage.

Global Warming Introduction

This is some of the opening scene of our Global Warming documentary. We filmed me introducing the documentary whilst walking in a circle. To make this more interesting we wanted to have the seasons change as I walk around showing fog, as seen above, as well as snow rain and sun. This directly relates to global warming as it shows the changing weather as well as creating a more interesting introduction that engages the audience more.

New Idea

Before coming up with the idea of The Internet and Wikileaks Calum, George and myself had decided on a documentary on Phobias. At first I agreed with this idea, however, as we discussed our ideas for it in more depth I saw that Calum and George were leaning towards more of a mockumentary style which is one that I was keen to avoid. Our group didn't see eye to eye and the lack of unity with the idea put pressure on us. For this reason we decided to come up with an idea that we could all work with and agree on; the Internet and Wikileaks.

George



George's main focus was a documentary that wasn't boring to the audience. He wanted a topic that would engage the audience and for this reason leaned towards something that would make the audience laugh.

Calum



Calum's main focus was a documentary that was slightly less conventional. He wanted a style that would make the documentary stand out from others in order to engage the audience.

Me



My main focus was a documentary that dealt with a strong, up to date issue. I wanted a topic that would be serious and hard hitting as well as coming from a story that was current in the news at the time. I felt that this would be most engaging for the audience as it dealt with up to date issues.

When we sat down together and discussed what we all wanted from the documentary we were able to come up with the Internet and Wikileaks. This fitted into everyone's main focus as the topic chosen interested all three of us and, filmed in the right way, could potentially gain interest from all types of audiences; the topic allowed us to use unconventional editing techniques in order to create an original style of documentary that would engage the audience; finally, it is an up to date topic that has been all over the news in recent weeks, which means it is a topic that would naturally provoke a lot of interest within the audience.

New Documentary Idea

Today Calum, George and myself decided to change our project again. We feel that we have finally come to a decision that we all agree on and that will produce and interesting and engaging documentary.

Interview Techniques

Calum, George and I have been looking at different types of interviewing techniques. We have filmed ourselves interviewing each other and doing some 'undercover' camera work to see what these shots would look like. This will help us when we make our main project as we can see which shots fit into our chosen documentary style.

The link for this video can be found below:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GCNMedia#p/u/1/17ygkhkR_5c

The shots that I thought were most successful in this video were the silhouette interview shot and the undercover interviews. I felt that these were the most interesting and engaging for me as an audience member and could fit into a more original and upbeat for of documentary style.