Unit 4 lo1

Unit 4 LO1

Brainstorms

My first idea for my documentary is to create a fly on the wall documentary about the bucket list. In my documentary I want activities on my personal bucket list to be completed so that I can show my audience what exactly a ‘bucket list’ is, the idea of the documentary is to show the audience what the bucket list is and why they should also take part in making bucket lists. My documentary will be shot in various locations; the locations will be dependent on where the activities take place. The ideas I have chosen to complete and include in my documentary from my ‘bucket list’ are, a tour around Wembley stadium, Power boating, Zorbing, Road trip to the beach, Canoeing, Indoor skydiving, Scuba diving, Afternoon tea, watch the sunset, meet a celebrity, fire walking, winery and brewery tour, paintballing and animal feeding. Within the documentary a group of people including myself will complete things off our buckets including most the ideas above, by doing this I am able to show what a bucket list is to my audience and by using my friends and myself I am relating to my target audience which is females and males between the age of 17-25. The reason I have chosen the target audience of 17-25 is because I feel that they will be able to connect with the people involved in the video and will encourage them to start making and completing their bucket lists. The reason I have chosen these ideas is because it is a verity of different activities that different people in my target audience can relate to, some of my ideas had to be cut out due to budget.

Analysis of idea 1

My second idea is a documentary based on interviews of the public, asking them questions such as, have you ever experienced the bucket list?, what do you like about the idea?, what do you dislike about the idea?, what is on your bucket list?. The idea comes from the interest of finding out how many people on average make bucket list and what are the most common things on the bucket list. Within the documentary I would use archive footage to show what people do in their bucket lists and would conduct several interviews to find out what is the top bucket list ideas in the south of England. Although I think that this documentary idea could be interesting I am looking to direct it at the age group 17-25, however I think that this idea would be aimed more at the age group 28+. The reason I chose not to go forward with this idea is because I think it is more boring than idea one and would not gain a high viewing.

Analysis for idea 2

I have chosen to make idea one for my documentary. This documentary is a fly on the wall production that will follow a group of young adults including myself completing items off our bucket lists, within the documentary we are hoping to complete 10-12 items including, scuba diving, power boating, zorbing and meeting celebrities. The reason I have chosen to do idea one and not idea two is because I think that idea one is more related to my target audience of 17-25 whereas idea two would be aimed more at 27+, I also think that idea one shows the point of the documentary more directly whereas idea two has no story it is just interviews and archive footage.

Selection and justification

Mood board of idea 1

Mood board of idea 2

Mock up of idea

What are your first impressions of my documentary?

Very expensive.Good idea. 

Exciting but challenging.

Creative but expensive

Interesting and exciting but time consuming.

Fun, I look forward to seeing the final outcome.

What could I do to improve?

Find cheaper things that others can then recreate for their bucket list

Make sure everything is planned out and look into cheaper events.

Make sure you planned what’s happening where and when.

Make it reasonably priced events

Use interesting interviews and relevant facts.

Do you think it would approach the target audience of 17-25 year olds?

Yes Definitely Yes Yes Yes

How could I adapt it to make it more suitable for my target audience 

Use relevant music.Choose events that they can then recreate.

Make interviews enjoyable to watch so people don’t get bored easy.

Make it price able

Make it interesting to the audience

Use interesting footage

Do you think it would work as a short documentary?

Yes Yes Yes yes yes

Do you think it can work in the industry?

Yes Yeaaaah Yes yes yes

Survey and peer feedback

After completing the feedback above from my peers I found that the idea for my documentary would fit well into the industry as a short documentary for the target audience of 17-25. The first impressions of my documentary overall where that it is exciting and creative however would be expensive and time consuming, to improve the documentary I was advised to choose cheaper activities to complete and use interesting and exciting interviews and facts. To make it contactable with my target audience I will use relevant and interesting interviews, and choose activities they may be able to add to their bucket list, I will also use creative and fun music to keep the audience focused.

My original idea was to make a short documentary on the bucket list, within this I would have the meaning of the bucket list telling my audience what it is and I would explain why people do it, I would also include footage of me completing activity’s off my personal bucket list including things such as sky diving, power boating and celebrity spotting. I feel that by including footage of activities being completed by myself it shows the audience that in fact it is possible to complete such activities and I hope to encourage people to create and complete their bucket lists.

After receiving feedback from my peers I looked into what I can change or improve to make my documentary idea better and make it fit better to my target audience. After taking a survey I realised that to make my documentary within the industry I will have to add things such as interviews with a verity of people from youngsters who have never experienced or made a bucket list to youngsters who have and the older generation who have made a bucket list but are yet to complete it or have already completed it to the older generation who have not created a bucket list, when conducting these interviews I will find out if they know what a bucket list is, whether they have made a bucket list, whether they have completed a bucket list and/or whether they would want to make and complete one. In my documentary I will also change some of the activities that are deemed expensive so that the audience can see what it’s like and perhaps add to their bucket list and with some things be creative in the way that I do them, for example on my bucket list I have sky dive however this is not only expensive but unreasonable to film so therefor I will indoor skydive so that I still able to do but feel comfortable too.

Analysis of idea development after feedback

Age and gender

My target audience is both male and females aged 17-25. I have chosen to aim my production at this age and gender because I think that both males and females will enjoy the production as it is not aimed at either gender, it has activities that could interest both males and females for example although celebrity spotting my entice female audience more things such as sky diving or power boating are more likely to interest the males. The reason I have chosen to aim my production at the ages 17-25 is because I think they will be interested in finding out what the bucket list is and will be at the age where they are likely to create their own bucket lists.

Audience Research

Socio-economic

Socio-economic is a status you are given depending on your family or individual income, education and occupation. They are usually split into three different categories, high SES, middle SES, low SES. Income refers to wages, salaries, profits and rents of either your individual outcome or your family. Education links to the income, median earnings increase with education. Occupation contains the information from both income and education.

When looking at the graph (right) which describes

the different groups and gives a clear description

of what they look for, I can say that my

documentary is aimed at C1, I would aimed it at

them because they are most likely to be students

or young adults who may be interested in the idea

Audience Research

Demographics

Demographics is the statistical characteristics of the population, it looks at the occupation and the age combined to identify the market that the product will be sold to. The demographics looks into your audience finding out their age, gender, occupation and other useful information so that they can see or make a space in the market for the type of product that you are selling, it is also able to find out how you should market your product including packaging and advertising.

Audience Research

Interviews

I went out to the public and asked them the following questions…

Are you (male/female)

How old are you?(15 and under/16-25/26-35/36-45/45 or older)

How often do you watch a Documentary’s? (Once a week/More than once a week/Once a fortnight/Once a month/More than once a month/One or more times a year/Never)

How long would a documentary ideally be for you to stay interested? (Less than one hour/One hour/More than one hour/Other.

What do you like about documentaries?

What do you dislike about documentaries?

What do you look for during advertisement of a documentary?

Primary content research

Questionnaires

What do you look for in a documentary?

What do you think should be including considering my target audience of 17-25?

Do you think for my target audience of 17-25 the documentary would work better if it was short rather than long?

How do you think we can get the audience interested?

What do you think should be included to make it interesting to my target audience?

Primary content research

In the UK the main channels that show documentaries aimed at the same target audience as me are; BBC Three, Channel 4, Channel 5 and MTV.

BBC Three- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH0Bml6K1BU

Channel 4- http://www.channel4.com/programmes/what-happens-in-kavos/video/series-1/episode-1/s1-ep1-im-sexy-and-i-know-it

Channel 5- http://www.channel5.com/shows/jodie-marsh-bullied/episodes/episode-2-509

MTV- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DQ3wPCkxXE

Most of the documentaries made and shown on these channels are independent film makers, they are usually created about body issues, holidays or recent events in the news.

This has shown me that there is a high possibility of my production doing well in the industry because there is not many production with the same ethic for my target audience.

Research into competitors

When looking into the competition in the documentary categories, I have realised that the top five documentaries of 2012 and 2013 where, Raiding the lost ark, dispatches: Iraq’s secret war files, The conspiracy road trip: creationism, National geographic: CIA secret experiments, 40 years on track. None of the top five documentaries where aimed directly at the same target audience as my production.

This shows that the most watched documentaries on television are aimed at people 28+, this has shown me that my target audience are not the usual type to watch a television documentary and therefor when advertising my product I would have to make sure it is aimed correctly and clearly indicated towards my target audience.

I found my target audience was 17-25 when I interviewed the general public and found that the people who were most people who were interested and said they would watch it where in this age range.

Research into market

When making my documentary I will need a verity of products, I will need a handy camera for on point vlogs, a tripod for activities to be filmed, in some situations I may need suitable and protective clothing.

The majority of my production is filmed in various locations and products/props will be supplied by the companies.

When filming introductions and interviews I will need to have the correct microphone so that the audience can hear clearly what is being said.

When editing my production I will need to make sure I have the correct equipment monitor, mixer, speakers.

All information found in the book ‘the documentary moviemaking course’ chapter 11, page 42.

Identify a range of materials you need to use

Time management- I am able to write up and keep to a schedule. This is very important when filming a documentary. Within the making of my documentary I will have to keep to dates of activities. Activities will be given a certain date.

Camera- It is important I am able to not only use the camera properly but it is also important that I know how to skilfully use the camera to get the right shots and use equipment such as a tripod so that the camera can still be used to capture the activities taking place.

Editing- When I edit my documentary it is important that the editing is sharp and all footage is merged carefully with title sequences and credits so that the documentary looks professional and will look creative for the target audience.

Studio/lighting – Although I am unlikely to use the studio a high amount I will need to know how to use it when appropriate. When in the studio I will need to also understand the lighting. I will also need to understand the lighting when shooting outside as it will be important to not catch high lights such as the sun.

Management/organisation – When I am creating the production I will need to be organised and have a high management skill to insure that filming will not have to have a number of takes and that my participants know where they need to be what they need to bring and there outfits.

Identify the skills you have to carry out this project

As the creator of the production I must be able to control my team including understanding the problems that may occur and helping to fix them. I must also be prepared to organise the ‘bucket list’ activities and gather the participants using my time management skills. I must be able to control the camera and be prepared for several takes when filming, I must be able to use my camera skills to be able to get the correct footage and use my editing skills to make the footage into a short documentary.

Production Management requirements

For my target audience of 17-25 year olds to be interested in my production I must make sure I address it to their interests, for example if I was to promote my documentary with slow music and a selection of interviews my target audience may not be attracted as it me be seen as boring, however if I was to advertise it with relevant and upbeat music that they can relate to and show sneak peak clips in the trailer with a range of different activities included they may be slightly more interested and it excited to see the final outcome.

I found that I needed to include this by questioning people in the target audience age

Research into appropriate content base for your TA

Time Management- When filming my production I need to make sure that I stick to a schedule, my production is coordinated around different activities and when they are organised for. The participants are also going to have to stick to a schedule so that filming can be completed.

Filming techniques- I will have to make sure that the techniques I use to film are organised and well presented as some activities can only be completed once.

Editing techniques- When editing I will have to make sure all important information is included and that the editing is sharp but informative.

Research into production techniques needed to complete production

Legal and ethical

The legal and ethical codes and constraints look into the morality of the content, asking what is right and wrong. Issues that the media industry look into when dealing with ethical and legal codes and constraints are exploitation, offensive material, privacy of people involved.

They may also have to deal with representational rights which looks into the rights of peoples, facts, opinions and events.

Potential codes and constraints

Codes of practise

The code is an agreement between her majesty’s secretary of state for culture, media and sport and the BBC, it sets the principles which are applied when the BBC is connected with the public television services.

The code is agreed between the BBC and OFCOM.

The code recognizes that:

It must be in the audiences interest and understand that there is a competitive independent market.

relations between independent producers and BBC are conducted on a fair and transparent basis.

Potential codes and constraints

Copyright

Media copyright law is there to protect music, films, literature and paintings. If in the case that you want to use others work you must under copyright laws get written permission from them. The Copyright infringement lasts for 50 years after the creators death.

Potential codes and constraints

Negative constraints

Money- I have a small budget, although looking at the cost of the final production it may have to be risen.

Time- I only have a short amount of time to complete the project therefore I am going to have to work hard and keep to a time schedule.

Skills- I am working at a students level of skills and therefore have limited knowledge.

Resources- I have only window software instead of a high editing equipment, and have only got handy cameras not high quality.

Identify ways to address constraints