Unit 27 Assignment 2

Proposal

My factual programme for this assignment will be about Ancient Egypt as it is an interesting subject to talk about, this will be a documentary style video using cutaways to archive footage of ancient structures in Egypt such as the pyramids and temples. I will use this piece to share my knowledge about Ancient Egypt and share information about the subject that some people may not have known; during this documentary, I will also have various forms of research in order to help me if I forget anything.

Target Audience

The Target Audience for this programming will be anyone who is interested in history and is suitable for all ages, which includes children.

Technical Side

When I am filming my factual programme, I will be filming in the TV studio and the Green Screen behind me; JVC Cameras will film me with the proper lighting and sound. I will probably need help from my classmates to help me with the cameras as I will not be able to do both at the same time; I will then do the editing with Final Cut Pro. I will probably need to use an autocue as I have a long script and will be not able to memorise it all at once with mistakes during filming.

Visual Style

During my factual programme; I will stand in front of the cameras with footage and pictures of Egypt playing behind me as I speak to the camera about the subject; I will also cut away to footage of each subject with voiceover, I will also have a backdrop of the Pyramids in Egypt at times.

Use of Footage

In my factual programme; I will use pictures and Stock Footage of Ancient Egypt in order to back up what I am saying, I will also attempt to use movie trailers and footage for films based in Ancient Egypt in order to explain the influence that Ancient Egypt had on film. I will edit this footage into my factual programme during the post production so then the audience will know what I am explaining on screen to the camera.

Script

Hello and welcome to History 101, I’m your host Eoin Godfrey and on today’s episode, I’ll be discussing Ancient Egypt; known by many as the “Land of the Pharaohs”. One of the greatest civilizations in the ancient world; the people of this land built its empire on the banks of the River Nile which provided them with fresh water and fish.[1] The people that lived here built their homes from mudbricks in the villages and in the country; the land was ruled by a king known as a Pharaoh, who were a big deal within the overall hierarchy. In fact; the Egyptians worshipped their kings as gods and held them in high regard, they were buried in magnificent tombs with golden treasures and had statues built in their honour. Egypt remains a big tourist attraction in the present day because of its famous and ancient buildings that still stand. [2]

One of the most famous and well known structures in Egypt are the Pyramids of Giza; including the iconic Great Pyramid of Khufu, which is still standing today. As you can see from this picture; it was built mainly from giant Limestone blocks and took 20 years to build with its construction being completed around 2560BC. A popular misconception seen in media such as film and TV is that the pyramids were built by slaves; that is actually not true, they were in fact built by thousands of labours who were paid for their services and buried near the pyramid if they were killed during the construction. It was also covered by a different stone at the time of its completion; which gave it a shiny, polished look and maybe gave a hundred people simultaneous eyesores. But what we see still standing today is just the pyramid before it was given that polished look that we see in reconstructions of the time.[3] Although there are many other Pyramids in Egypt such as the Bent Pyramid and Step Pyramid, which are much older than the Great Pyramid; these are not as famous as the ones that were built in Giza. Another famous structure found in Giza is the Great Sphinx; which has the head of a man and the body of a lion, this magnificent structure was used to show how powerful the Pharaoh was during his reign and seems to have the purpose of guarding the pyramids that are located behind it. I could just imagine this thing coming to life due to some ancient magic and wreaking havoc on Tomb Robbers who tried to rob the pyramids; that would be the coolest plot of a film based in Ancient Egypt.[4]

Life in the Land of Pharaohs was a lot different to ours; there were no TV or electronics, so a lot of Egyptians worked as farmers to earn a living; as the Nile was normally used to fertilize their crops during the flooding season. They grew things such as Wheat and Barley; the most important crop was grain, which they used to make many different things such as bread, porridge and beer. The Egyptians were also great scribes and medicine men as well; they wrote mainly on a special type of paper called Papyrus, kind of like these ones. (Shows Papyrus) As you can see; these were made up many different strips of paper put together, the Egyptians used it to record their discoveries and day to day life as well as making other things such as reed boats. These Papyrus give us a good insight into what life was like at the time and what their beliefs were; as they believed in life after death. Without these recordings; we would never have had such an in-depth look at Egyptian life and would have to rely simply on archaeological finds; the only other place you will find records like these are on the walls of Egyptian tombs; which were decorated with the Egyptian writing system known as Hieroglyphics, where a series of symbols that stand for different letters of the alphabet. As you can see from this Papyrus, it features the Pharaoh Ramesses II charging into battle on his royal chariot; paintings like these were used to show how powerful and important the Pharaoh was.[5]

The Pyramids and treasures aren’t the only famous things about Egypt and it’s wonders; the idea that the Pharaohs placed curses on their tombs to protect them has been a big part of the popular image of Egypt. This subject has played a big part in films based on Ancient Egypt such as The Mummy Films by Universal and Hammer Horror including the now classic 1932 film starring Boris Karloff as the undead mummy Imhotep[6]; who was later changed for the slower moving Kharis in later films and in the film starring Christopher Lee.[7][8] These films all followed the same idea; archaeologists discover a hidden Pharaoh’s tomb which usually protected by a curse, you can expect that nine times out of ten they ignore warnings about the curse which causes the Mummy to come back to life and wreak havoc on their lives. There are also films that are based on famous stories set in Egypt such as Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra[9] and the story of Moses, which is found in the Book of Exodus.[10]Unlike the Mummy films; which are completely fictional, there is evidence to suggest these stories actually happened. In terms of Egyptology in real life; many discoveries had been made since the famous discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, including more tombs and mysteries about this civilization.

Speaking of mysteries; there are still many mysteries about Ancient Egypt that still remain unsolved even to this day, for example; what’s the Osiris Shaft? For those who don’t know; the Osiris Shaft is a mysterious chamber tomb discovered in Giza in 1999 by Dr Zahi Hawass, one of the leading archaeologists in Egyptology, although it’s still unknown what the purpose of this chamber is. People say it was a swimming hole for Ancient Egyptians to swim around in; but as we all know, it’s not always that simple when it comes to these guys and their interests. The reference to the Egyptian god Osiris seems to suggest that Egyptologists had discovered his physical tomb; although there’s no evidence to support this so far. Also, what happened to our friends over in Heracleion, the sunken Egyptian city? Now that I think about it, I think we’ve found the real lost city of Atlantis; just not in the place we expected to be.[11] We’re also dealing with a few lost tombs as well; I mean, where’s the Tomb of Cleopatra? She’s one of the most famous queens of Egypt; so she has to be buried somewhere in the country; how could we miss one tomb with all the hi-tech equipment we have today? Even after thousands of years; these hidden tombs show us that Ancient Egypt is still one of the brilliant civilizations in the Ancient World.[12]

Since that I mentioned him a few times before; let’s talk about Tutankhamun, the Boy King himself. The proud owner to one of the most famous tombs in Ancient Egypt; this kid lay undisturbed for thousands of years until he was discovered in 1922 by Archaeologist Howard Carter, the tomb instantly became famous as one of the only ones to have been left intact by tomb robbers. Many Egyptologists over the years have studied both King Tut’s mummy and his tomb; most recently finding undiscovered chambers that suggest the tomb is much bigger than originally thought. Originally coming to the throne of Egypt at the age of 9; Tutankhamun ruled his kingdom until he was 18, which was when he died. It’s a famous mystery for a famous king; there’s many different injures on Tut’s body which have all lead to different theories over the years about the Pharaoh’s death; three major theories are about murder, disease or a really bad concussion, though I think personally it could have been all three.[13] His father Akhenaten was a heretic; but we don’t talk about him... Shh!!!! Well; the Egyptians wouldn’t like it if we mentioned him anyway, but I’m going to do it. Let’s hope they don’t curse me to walk this planet for all eternity; Akhenaten wasn’t the most beloved Pharaoh in Egypt, mostly because he did some “questionable” things which included changing the entire religion to worship a sun disk and getting rid of the old gods that have been synonymous with Ancient Egypt. Because of this; Akhenaten’s name was erased from history within the blink of an eye, his name was chiselled out of the official records and all of his statues were destroyed by the people who had to deal with his nonsense for a few years.[14] Despite this and a few other hiccups; the Egyptian civilization lasted for a few good thousand years before being conquered by the Romans; the people of Egypt thought they were well protected by all that sand and the really bad weather in the area. But I guess the Romans got in by using the Nile as a Trojan Horse to get in; this amazing civilization finally came to an end when Marc Antony and Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian; who is also known as Emperor Augustus, but I guess you would know that if you’ve read the Shakespeare play or seen the many film adaptations.[15]

So this has been my analysis of life in Ancient Egypt; in the next episode of History 101, we’ll be taking a look at the legend of Atlantis; the famous sunken city to see if there was any truth behind such an iconic story; until then, this is your host Eoin Godfrey, now off to stop an Ancient Egyptian priest from conquering the world with his undead army.

Props and Equipment

Camera
Tripod
Green Screen
Books on subject
Boom Mic
Lights
Egyptian Papyrus (If possible)

Location

I will film my factual programme in the TV Studio in front of a green screen; which will allow me to drop images and videos into the film behind me during the editing stage of my factual programme.

Budget

I will also have to use a budget for paying for equipment and materials when filming my factual programme. I have worked out a total of £670 when adding up the costs of all the equipment that I will use during the production of the programme.

Research

I will also research various other documentaries on the subject to take impastation from them during the filming and editing stage of my factual programme; I also went online to see if I could get any archive footage of Egypt to put into my documentary. During the filming of this programme; I will also have various forms of research on the subject in order to help me if I need to read about something that I have forgotten.

Codes of Practice and Regulations

We did not need to worry about copyright as we are using the footage for educational purposes only.

MCPS-PRS

We did not infringe on the mechanical copyright protection during the making of our online review as our video will be shown within the college’s classes and media department as the college owns the rights to all the footage and materials that was used in my factual programme we will use the background footage from different documentaries for educational purposes only.

Location Permissions

As our movie will be shot within the TV Studio of the Northern Building of the college, we do not need location permissions.

Risk Assessment

In each of our scenes of Factual programme, we will use two JVC cameras and Tripod with a boom mic; we will film all of the review in the TV studio in the Northern Building, we should not encounter any problems in our location as we will make sure that we follow all the Health and Safety procedures; this includes that all equipment will be erected and disabled in the proper manner, we will also make sure that while filming that all fire exits are clear and that all wires are out of the way so no-one can trip over them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I am happy with the way that my Ancient Egypt Factual Programme turned out; as I was able to share my information and knowledge with the viewers who are watching it; however, the programme went over the desired time limit as I felt that I had a lot of important information that I couldn’t leave out. During the filming; I was able to create a comedic tone by delivering witty comments about the subject so that the programme didn’t seem boring to the viewers, although I stammered a few times and made some mistakes; I was able to use my editing skills to correct those mistakes. During the time that we took to set up the studio for the filming; I learned how to use the Autocue; while filming and then looking back the first take, I noticed that I it was too obvious that I was looking at the Autocue and not focusing on the camera.

This looked wrong; so I had the adjust the position of the camera and the Autocue so that it appeared that I was looking straight at the camera when I was really looking at the Autocue. During the set up stage and doing sound checks; we couldn’t seem to pick up the sound as it was coming through very low, even though all the settings on the camera were correct; we then discovered that we had a pair of faulty earphones that was causing this problem. While this was a problem at first; it taught me to check all the equipment that we had before filming began.

During the editing; I decided to use a voiceover in some parts so that I didn’t appear on screen all the time, I also made sure that I had enough footage to edit into my programme. I had so much footage that it was difficult to find what I needed sometimes; but it was great having this footage as it came from many different sources which can be seen in this finished product. I used an effect on one the pictures that I had to make it look more ancient and authentic; this added to overall effect of the programme. I also added titles in places to identify different people and locations from the time period so that the viewers knew who or what was on screen.

I also broke down the programme into different sections with titles so that the viewers knew what information they were learning next; I also used music to add to the mystery of this ancient civilisation, I also learned how to insert arrows to identify things in Final Cut Pro and this will help me in future if I ever need to identity something that is on screen.

In conclusion; I had fun while filming this factual programme, but if I was ever to film it again, I would try to avoid the problems that we had during filming. It is possible that I could turn this Factual Programme into a series for the Northwest Regional College’s TV Channel; I think this would be great for me as I had fun while creating this programme and hope to do more like this in the future.

[1]Clip from HistoricFilms_VM-29_00.02.36-00.12.05