TREATMENT

Water is a natural resource. Our documentary will explore the exploitation by Nestle in the columbia river gorge. The driving story behind this documentary is the conflict over the use of public water. While we are choosing to keep the narrative flexible, there is a clear distinction between the positive and negative force behind the controversy. The native tribes of Oregon oppose the bottling of water and encourage local voters to keep corporations like Nestle out of water resources. We will be using footage from past decades.

The producer will be using interviews with NGOs, such as Food and Water Watch, based out of Portland, The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and representatives of the Nestle Corporation. A character we will be interviewing is named Anna Mae Leonard, an activist who has been involved in five-day fasts and active protests. Close-ups on her face will show emotion and effectively convey the passion that drives many of the movements. We will begin the documentary with visuals of water, close-ups of droplets and a beautification of the natural resource as a way to draw the audience in.

Furthermore, we will be getting people to drink samples of natural water and bottled water and proceed to film their reactions as a way to compare the argument that one tastes better than the other. This will also set the tone for the documentary as a commentary on the capitalist agenda behind many of these companies that do not align with their business objectives.
We want to focus on the tribes and what their thoughts and actions have been towards Nestle. We want to give ample opportunity to the Nestle company to talk about their side. However, if they do not agree to talk to us, we plan on ending the documentary by providing further details on why they refused or a recording of a phone conversation with the company.

The B-roll will revolve around the actual protests and what activists are doing. We also want one of the characters to take us to a river in the Columbia Gorge, which will involve handheld footage in the car, and towards the cleanest point of the river.
With the information we have so far, we can see a story arc of right vs. wrong and the argument of economy and sustainability coming together. The table below shows some of the groups, individuals and organizations we will be interviewing, although our list is not limited to the following.