The route I'm following for constructing my convincing fiction is to take a potential future / alternate present where research into low-yield science has been cut to almost nil resulting in scientists forming an underground network of projects driven simply by natural human curiosity and a drive for knowledge.
The project will be presented in the format of a documentary about one of these scientists, performing a continued dark matter observance experiment on a minimum budget in an urban basement (left).Essentially presented as someone I came across while researching dark matter, the presentation will rely on myself lightly setting the context for the documentary which will allow the story to flow into that mental space.
Technically, the piece will take place between a bar and pub where we chat and then an impromptu visit to his lab, resulting in the bleak truth of dark matter science in it's current state and a confessional tirade at the tyranny of the financial forces forcing the hand of science.