Proposal and treatment-
Proposal:
The concept of my documentary stems from my upbringing as a Roman Catholic and how that has shaped my thoughts and actions everyday. For example, there was a constant fear of an eternity in hell that always loomed in the back of my mind when it came down to make a moral decision, big or small. Apart from the fear that my religious identity had brought me, I still want to address the positive aspects that I’ve learned that I believe Catholicism made more concrete for me. An example of these traits would be humbleness and, contrary to popular beliefs of Catholic ideology, acceptance and love for all people.
The whole documentary will be tied to the historical event of Pope Francis being elected as the Pope in 2013. I had not known at the time, but his role as the Pope would greatly help me sort my own beliefs and ideas. He showed me more about what my religion means than any religious education teacher taught me during my whole childhood.
Treatment:
The video will begin with images of my religious pieces in my house as well as my church, then I will begin to talk about my childhood growing up Catholic and how it’s influenced me.
“In the spring of 1997, my parents, godparents, and the whole church stood around and watched as the priest poured holy water on my forehead. It was in the moment before that my parents and godparents swore to raise me Catholic.”
Then I will lead my story into the interviews with my family that I conducted to allow the audience a better understanding of my family and religion.
After this point, I will address my historical event: the 2013 election of Pope Francis. I plan to insert clips of his election, while I speak about that time in my life.
“In 2013, Pope Francis was elected as the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic church. At the time, this meant nothing to me because I had denounced the idea of a Pope. I thought of greed and ego when I thought of that position. This was due to the underlying resentment of my religion. I felt like I was trapped behind a set of rules that controlled my life, like I was on a short leash.
Months passed and I paid no mind to the new head of the church. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon an article over the internet one day that quoted the Pope. The title grabbed my attention, its words blaring out at me, “Pope Francis: There is no hell fire”. I remember the article talked about how the pope was denying the existence of hell. It wasn’t quite like the weight being lifted off my back, but it felt like finally someone was helping me carry it. My religion began to make sense to me again.”
Once that section of the story is complete, I will come back to the second half of the interviews where I asked my family about their opinions of Pope Francis.
After I have the interviews together, I will end it with myself talking about my religious journey. I will talk about what I’ve learned and what I have accepted as true and right. I will talk about how I am still learning to deal with the aftermath of a fear driven religion, but reassure the audience that I am not as afraid as I once was.
