People and Places: Documentary Idea

                                         

Anachronos /əˈnakrəˌnɪ(ə)/
a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, especially a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned.

The Story

The documentary, based in the city of Peshawar, in the North-West Frontier Province, is about my maternal great-great grandfather, Roohullah Khan Orakzai. The documentary focuses on his life and how his love for photography passed down through the generations. The story will narrate life, the influence he had on the family members that knew him when he was still alive, his time as the inspector general of Alwar State in pre-partition India. It will then continue to the story of his sons and so forth.

The documentary aims to uncover his extra-ordinary life as the inspector general of police Alwar state in pre-partition India and then further of his time as the Head of Games for the Viceroy of India as well as his hobbies that seem ordinary to us now but were very different from what others focused on during that era, he was fond of taking pictures and built a dark room in the 1920's to develop them himself so that the Pashtun practice of Pardah (seclusion of women for religious or social reasons) was not breached. The documentary will include his photography of pre-partition India, the viceroy and other various images dated to the early 1900s.

The focus of the documentary will be about love for photography. It will touch upon how long the process was, back in the 1930s, Images that were taken by the main characters of the story, places that passed the tests of time and exist in my ancestor's lifetime as well as mine. It will touch the topic of genealogy and whether the love for certain hobbies can be passed down and finally the documentary aims to depict the beauty of Peshawar with narration in the background as the story progresses.                                                

Why I am uniquely positioned to tell this story

I believe that I am uniquely positioned to tell this story, simply by the fact that it is completely based around the history of my family and because I grew up in Peshawar, meaning I know the city like the back of my hand, to the extent that I can imagine almost every shot I have planned for the entire film in the back of my head. I have the original pictures that were taken by my great-great-grandfather and the necessary resources to get accurate information on the subjects. In short, I believe I am one of the only people that has the entire vision for the film planned out in my mind.

The Topic

The reason this topic is important to me is because I feel that most of Pakistan's history is the basic information learn about in schools about politics and partitions. For the international audience, mainly the acts of terrorism they see on the news, but the more rich and interesting history are the undocumented gems that we only know about through our elders, a lot of our local history is all passed down verbally so I would like a chance to document it before even more small bits and pieces get lost in the sands of time. It will definitely be informative and my main goal is to invoke some sort of feeling in the hearts of the viewers, to create a piece of art that is one-hundred percent me but resonates with all those who have grown up with their grandparents stories of their elders and for those who never got to experience, I hope the documentary will be sufficient enough to simulate the feelings. Through the cinematography I hope to show the world the city I grew up in is full of beauty and despite the years taking its toll on it, the old city has aged gracefully and fit into the era that is currently surrounding it.

    

The Story

The documentary style will mainly have a mix of characteristics, not just one main focus. So far I have concluded that it will be distinctly Expository and Reflexive.

It will include the use of a lot of images and will focus more on footage than on the face of the narrator.

It will include bits of archival footage and recordings with close up shots of images that were taken by the subjects.

Certain scenes from the footage will not be directly relative to the story, such as the shots of historical buildings as one of the main goals is to show Peshawar's beauty and how the buildings of that era that have survived make it feel as if I am wading through time and to make the viewers feel as if the documentary is set in that era.

Aesthetic

My artistic approach to the film is a little tricky to explain, to put it in very simple words, since the documentary narration focuses on someone who lived in the early 1900s, I hope to show the pieces of architecture that existed back then as well as now. To simulate the world they lived in. I have scouted about 12 locations so far and am confident I will be able to find more if I feel the need to add more shots. So far, I have only planned a couple of aerial shots and wide shots for the film, the rest will be decided after the location recce. I plan to colour grade the film to make the background slightly dark and gloomy, as if it were shot on a dark cloudy day with hints of teal or dark blue so the rest of the colours in the film stand out against the background, I'm going to incorporate rich tones of shades like Mustard, Green, Red and many more. I aim to use many metaphorical shots that correlate to the narration as I feel that it will pull the film together as well as yellow subtitles at the bottom with a drop shadow to complete the aesthetic. Once the mood is set through the colour-grading and editing, I will decide on the music and fit it accordingly for impact.

(note: all pictures included are the photography of the main subject of the documentary, Roohullah Khan Orakzai)