Devising a Documentary Project

Devising a Documentary Project
PART 1 
1.
I would like to make a documentary about working in a busy movie theater. It will show what it is like for employees working behind the scenes of the movie-going experience: from the people running the projections booths, to the concessionists serving popcorn and cold drinks, to the ushers cleaning up after patrons when the movie is over. The documentary will highlight the more humorous sequences and areas that result from working in the service-related area and often being invisible to the public.
2.
This mode will be a combination of direct cinema and aesthetic/experiential. I do not plan on doing voice over: I want the scenes to speak for themselves, but I also want the scenes to be real and authentic, so there will be a lot of following of the crew around before shooting begins.
3
N
4.
Y
A: I will follow the crew of the movie theater around for two weeks. No, I only need one cameraperson
B: I know the people I will be following and can obtain permission from management so long as I am out of the way of service.
5
I will not appear on camera.
6
I will not be using voiceover narration.
Part 2
The goals of this documentary are to: 1) record, reveal and preserve, and also 2) to analyze and interrogate (indirectly), and 3) to express. It may true that underlying these aims there is a goal to promote the average person working in the service industry and to get the public to think more about what they do.
For this documentary I want to intermingle the romanticism and attraction to fantasy that is involved in going to the movies for the public with the reality and grittiness and humble humor that is involved in serving these patrons. The combination of these two elements will allow for all of these tendencies to emerge beautifully. First, the goal is to reveal this secret world of the movie theater worker—to see what they are seeing; to see the movie going experience from their eyes, as they deal with the rushes, the crowds, the spills, the messes, and then to see them in their down time when all the patrons are safely packed away in their movie theaters. It will be revealing and humorous for movie patrons to be watching a movie on the big screen about what the movie theater workers are doing just outside the doors.
There is also the element of interrogation involved in this documentary. What goes on behind the scenes? How is a theater cleaned out? How does a theater function? What goes on in the projection booth or when big bags of popcorn seed are delivered along with boxes of syrups and candy? Who puts it all away? What is the life of these teens like who are working there?
Then there is also the area of this documentary that will focus on expression. The film will want to express something poetic about this intermingling of reality and fantasy that is the world of the movie theater. It will allow the workers to express themselves just not to the camera. The film should have the feel of being observed by a ghost whom no one working sees. So they will not be saying anything to the camera or looking at the camera. The intention is capture their lives but also to allow them to express themselves as they normally would were they not being watched.
If there is an element of persuasion to this, it is that the documentary aims to persuade the audience to be more appreciative of those who wait on them and clean up after them—and also to see the humor of life and of the world of going to the movies.