Final documentary

Pre-Production For 9 Minute Factual Programme

Mood Board Idea's:

• Docu-drama - follow teenagers behind the scenes and show what there really like, we'd follow two different people one being and highly educated teen who people have high hopes for and another being a college drop out in a gang.

• Another idea I have is something like watchdog or paranarma and find the media red handed but again this would be really hard to do as we're not professionals.
• To interview people in different professions and young people themselfs and get varied opinions and summerise.
• Follow the riots through the news and the papers to find out the different opinions. We could also interview people with there opinions.

Research

Riots

‘A teenager who set fire to a south London pub during the August riots that swept across England has been sentenced to four years in prison.
The blaze started by the 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, left the Great Harry pub in Woolwich in ruins and caused £3.5m worth of damage.
Police said it was "pure luck" that nobody died.
The teenager had pleaded guilty to arson, being reckless as to whether life is endangered, during a hearing at Inner London Crown Court in September.’

·        Teenagers are often used in newspapers as they sell to a wider audience and it’s usually bad!

·        Journalists use ‘reckless’ teenagers in the news as it sells more news, for example if the headline of a newspaper was something like ‘teenager helps man across the road’ it wouldn’t sell as many as ‘teenager beats old man’ but this shines badly on young people.

Unemployment

·        1 million young people unemployed.

·          A lot of media blame young people for this as we’re the ones unemployed – although a few newspapers/news channels are on young people’s side in saying it’s the economy.

‘Youth unemployment reached 991,000 last month, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992, and experts believe it is inevitable that the politically-sensitive one million mark will be breached today.

Britain's young people face having their lives "blighted" by unemployment, the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has warned.

Mr Clegg said the figures "cannot be ignored" and the country cannot emerge from the economic crisis without tackling the "fundamental problem".’

Former foreign secretary David Miliband admitted that youth unemployment started to become an issue under the previous Labour government from about 2005, but said the problem had snowballed in the past year.

He told The Times: "You do need extraordinary measures if you are going to eat into long-term unemployment.

Gang violence

The words "girl gang" conjure up images from 1950s pulp novels and drive-in movies, where teenage hellions and "lust-cats of the gutter" clawed at each other (sexily) and every now and then someone almost got stabbed. But in today's New York Post , Brad Hamilton writes, "Sister gangs are popping up all over Manhattan, Brooklyn and The Bronx with names such as the Harlem Hiltons, Hood Barbies, Billion Dolla Beauties, Gun Clappin Divas and 2 Gurl Gunnas, police say." This is no sexploitation B-movie; the violence is real and deadly. And in some cases, the internet is where the fights start. The Post also ran a first-person piece from "Kim," a 16-year-old, about her life in a "crew" (headline: "Confessions Of A Switchblade Sister"). Kim says:

After my mom kicked me out, I joined up. If you want to get by, you do. To be a part of the crew, you have to get beat up or cut someone. Then you're protected. They're your family.

I got into some fights. Some girl was talking about me online. She called me a punk and a slut, so I decided to fight her. I was in this building and somebody called and said she was on the block. I thought she would come after me. I ran outside. I pulled out her tracks [hair extensions] and made her body hurt. Everyone said I beat her up. But I was scared - I thought she would come after me.

Like Mean Girls! But so much scarier. Gossip has been around forever, but now, online beef is turning into real-life violence. And there's another layer to the girl-on-girl violence: A former cop and youth mentor tells the paper that guys are to blame. "[Girls] are in this because of the boys… They'll hold a gun for a male gangbanger, but they generally won't shoot."

Inner-city violence isn't new, but it's interesting to think about the effect technology can have on rivalries. I've heard teenage girls in my neighborhood discuss another girl who was "talking shit on Twitter." Unlike talking shit in homeroom, what's posted on the web has the ability to go far and wide (the Amber Cole video, for instance). And as we all know, people will write things on the internet that they would never say in real life. With Facebook, FourSquare check-ins and Twitter, girls are finding new reasons and ways to hurt — and sometimes kill — each other.

·        We’re gangs  a part of the reasons of London riots, Yorkshire post says ‘Police caused summer riots, say analysts - but gangs and poor parenting didn’t help’

·        Are gangs as scary as people think they are?

Synopsis

. . .

This documentary shows the media through young people’s eyes, using interviews from very different people in different professions and different ages, photos and never seen before footage. We will take you through the riots in London, gang violence from different people’s perspectives and personal opinions on the media from a range of different people and ages.

You ask how all this is linked? We will show you in this one part series!

. . .

Interviewees include:

·         Police

·         Journalist

·         Young people themselves

·         Mayor

·         The Public

·         Parents

Outline of how our 9 minute doctumentary will look

1: We will start with an introduction to our documentary that shall start by being presented by the presenter who shall fill in the audience on what the argument in the documentary is about. The presenter will make sure to introduce both sides of the argument to the audience. We shall give some brief detail to give some background information to the audience on both sides of the argument. We will make sure we explain to the audience what the purpose of our documentary is and what we shall be including on it. We shall be mainly including interviews with different varieties of people to find out their opinions on the subject of the documentary. After a certain variety of people have been interviewed we shall then have the presenter summarising what the interviewees said and be backing it up with information we found from news articles and web pages on the internet.

2: After this we will begin by starting our interviews with the young adults (teenagers, students, 15-20). Some of the information we shall find out from them will be as follows.

A)     Do they feel the media portrays young adults with more negatives than positives?

B)     Do you behave the way that media portrays teenagers?

C)     How do the media affect you when it portrays teenagers in a negative way?

3: Here will be information and statistics taken from newspapers about young people – this will be linking back to the previous interview. For the shot there will be newspapers being thrown onto a table during the voice overs – hopefully the newspapers the information is out of.

4: We would then summarize the interview results with the teenagers and compare them with the information we have found from the internet and news channels, paper articles. We would do voice over commentary for this while the video feed showed images/ videos of students taken by journalists for the media.

5: We would then interview the general public which could be a huge variety of people ranging from male, female, middle aged, old, race, parents of children and ect.

6: Here again will be information and statistics taken from newspapers about young people – this will be linking back to the previous interview. For the shot there will be photos being thrown onto a table during the voice overs – hopefully the newspapers the information is out of.

7: We will be having an interview with the police/a community officer here but as she doesn’t want to be filmed we will have a photo of her and a voice over which will read what she has answered.

8: This will link to newspaper articles about how the police handled the riots.

9: We will summarise/ conclude everything that we have gone through during the documentary. We will NOT conclude which side of the argument we agree with instead we shall leave it up to the audience with a rhetorical question for them to decide their selves.

Proposal Form

1.	Topic Young people and the media
2.	Important questions that need an answer (three or more) How young people feel about the media? How elderly people feel about the media? Did the media exaggerate the riots? How bad were they really? Are gangs as bad as we think they are? Would people be as scared of them if it wasn't for the media? How are gangs and riots linked?
3.	Three talking heads (who I will interview formally) Police Young people Journalism
4.	Voice-over narration (what I will say about the topic through a narrator) Our voice-over will give an outline with what is showing on the screen and it will give extra information and statistic on what the interviewer has answered.
5.	On-location footage (what I will show while narrating)
6.	The Twist(something cool to impress audience)
7.	How I plan to “get it done”. We plan to start off by filming the interviews so we can base the extra information and the statistics on the information we have found, we will then film the mini clips, for example shots of news papers, news paper stands, groups of young people and so on. After this we will record the voice-over and the little extras.

Story board

We will start with a introduction - this will be at eye level and will change angles to make it more interesting than just one person stood talking.

We will then move onto interviewing young people and get there take on how the media portrays them! This again will be eye level.

After the interviews we will have newspapers backing up statistics and infomation taken from the interviews. This will be bird's eye view.

This scene will be carrying on with the statistics.

We will then carry on to interview the general public including elderly people, young people and many more. We will be using a two shot for this.

We will interview the police if they will let us as it will be good to get a professional point on view on the subject and one that works with crime, victims and vandals.

Again we will back our findings up with archive footage and newspaper stories.

We will then interview a journalist from the Henley standard to see how they feel young people are portrayed and to get the story from a completely different side of the story.

We will then conclude the documentary but being carful not to take sides and let the viewers deside how they feel about this subject.

Script

Description of location and how interview will take place	Questions for interviewer
Journalist Office or studio if the interviewee feels comfortable with being on camera if not we’ll record the interview and use a photo of her.	1.     As a journalist do you think the media portrays young people in a negative way? 2.     Do you have teenagers/young adults of your own or have you in the past? 3.     Do you think the media can change people’s minds on young people? 4.     Do you think that newspapers/magazines would sell as many copies if young people were portrayed positively? 5.     Do you think people would fear gangs as much as they do if it wasn’t for the stories from the media?
Police Mayor We’re hoping to do this outside the police station hopefully with the outside sign showing. The mayor- we were hoping to do this interview in the town centre.	1.     Working with the community do you find that young people commit the most crimes? 2.     Do you have teenagers/young adults of your own or have you in the past? 3.     How do you think the media portrays young people? a.      Do you think its right? 4.     Although the media portrays the minority of young people right, do you they could write the stories in a way that the majority that isn’t involved isn’t affected? 5.     Do the media change your view on young people? 6.     Do you think that newspapers would sell as many copies if young people were portrayed positively? 7.     Do you think gangs are portrayed right in the media? 8.     Do you think people would fear gangs as much as they do if it wasn’t for the media? 9.     As a professional do you think gangs are as bad as we think they are?
Public Parents We’re going to do these interviews where we can find willing parents/public do interview.	1.     Do you have teenagers/young adults of your own or have you in the past? 2.     How do you think the media portrays young people? a.      Do you think its right? 3.     Although the media portrays the minority of young people right do you they could write the stories in a way that the other majority isn’t affected? 4.     Does the media change your view on young people? 5.     Do you think that newspapers would sell as many copies if young people were portrayed positively? 6.     Do you think gangs are portrayed right in the media? 7.     Do you think people would fear gangs as much as they do if it wasn’t for the media? 8.     Do you think gangs are as bad as we think they are?
Young people – students We will be doing these interviews in and around college.	1.     How do you think the media portrays young people? a.      Do you think its right? 2.     Does the media change your view on young people? 3.     Although the media portrays the minority of young people right do you they could write the stories in a way that the other majority isn’t affected? 4.     Do you think that newspapers would sell as many copies if young people were portrayed positively? 5.     Do you think gangs are portrayed right in the media? 6.     Do you think people would fear gangs as much as they do if it wasn’t for the media? 7.     Do you think gangs are as bad as we think they are?

Crew list

Producer/ director:  Charlotte Hollis

Contact details: 07786461788

Equipment to bring: Storyboard and other documentary layout sheet.

Interviewer: Matt  and Ben

Contact details: 07791539839/ 07769181409

Equipment to bring: Script, possibly mike.

Presenter: Matt

Contact details: 07791539839

Equipment to bring: Script, possibly a mike.

Voiceovers: Charlotte Hollis

Contact details: 07786461788

Equipment to bring: layout of documentary, and script, and possibly mike.

Health and safety: Charlotte Hollis

Contact details: 07786461788

Equipment to bring: health and safety sheet.

Camera man: Ben

Contact details: 07769181409

Equipment to bring: Camera, possibly mike.

Editing: Charlotte Hollis

Contact details: 07786461788

Equipment to bring: Devices with the stored information on. Location must be able to access computer to edit.

Materials list

As we have a simple, yet effective, we don't need much to make our documentary successful.
All we will need is a:

• Camera
• Voice recorder
• Editing software (Adobe Premiere)
• News papers

Risk Assessment

ACTIVITY	HAZARD	RISK H/M/L	PRECAUTIONS	IN PLACE	REVIEW DATE	REVIEWER
Filming for a documentary in Henley and around the college	Roads Cars Talking to strangers	H H L	Look before cross. Look before we cross the roads. Take precautions with who we interview and what questions we ask.	Y Y Y
Please leave this section blank: Risk Assessment checked by:   Name …………………………………………………..        Signed ………………………………………………….     Date ……………………

KEY:      Activity :                Describe the component part of your pursuit.

Hazard :                List the things you anticipate might cause harm or the things associated with your activity that have the potential to cause harm.  Consider the likely harm.    

Risk:                      Assess the risk as either H (High), M (Medium) or L (Low).  When concluding your assessment consider all of the circumstances.

Precautions:        Consider what you could do to minimise / negate the risk.

In Place:                Will the precautionary measures be in place at the time of the activity?

Review Date:      When would it be reasonable to review your assessment?  Remember it might be whilst you are undertaking the activity.

Reviewer:            Name of the person responsible for completing the risk assessment.

A copy of this form should be taken on the activity or visit by the Reviewer.

V9/PALL/sspi/rev

Budget sheet

Production:	Representation of teenagers				Budget Draft Date:
Length:	9 minutes				Shooting Dates:		3-7 January 2012
Location:	Henley on Thames
Account #	Category	Specifics				Cost	w/Tax	Budget	Actual Cost
001	Script & Rights					~
002	Producer					~
003	Director					~
004	Cast					~
					ABOVE THE LINE TOTAL:			$0	$0
005	Travel					£5 p/d			$15
006	Hotel & Lodging					~
007	Food					£10 p/d			$30
008	Camera	Kit, Crew, Expendables				Borrowed
009	Lighting	Kit, Crew, Expendables				N/A
010	Sound	Kit, Crew, Accessories				N/A
011	Locations	Fees & Permits				N/A
012	Art Dept	Props, Wardrobe etc.				N/A
013	Office Expenses	Paper supplies, fax, internet etc.				N/A
014	Petty Cash					£50			$50
015	Film or Tape Stock					hd camera
016	Lab	Developing, dailies, etc.				~
017	Insurance					College
018	Editing					~
019	Shipping					~
020	Still Photos	Photographer, film, developing, etc.				~
021	Contingency	10% of production costs				£9		$0	$10
					PRODUCTION TOTAL:			$0	$90
022	Final Post Online	Conform, Color Correction, etc.				~
023	Final Post Mix	Sound mixing session				~
024	Marketing	Festival fees, screeners, postage				~
					POST PRODUCTION TOTAL:			$0	$0
					GRAND TOTAL ESTIMATE:			$0
					GRAND TOTAL BUDGET:			$0
					ACTUAL GRAND TOTAL:			$90

. . .

This documentary shows the media through young people’s eyes, using interviews from very different people in different professions and different ages, photos and never seen before footage including. We will take you through the riots in London, gang violence from different people’s perspectives and personal opinions on the media from a range of different people and ages.

You ask how all this is linked? We will show you in this one part series! . . .Interviewees include:

·         Police

·         Journalist

·         Young people themselves

·         Mayor

·         The Public

·         Parents








Evaluation

      During filming our documentary, I found most of the pre-production tools very helpful. For example, the outline, this breaks the story down to manageable parts. This outline was used a lot as it was easy and made the process much more understandable. Also it was very detailed which helped a lot with the organisation of what goes where and who’s doing what. Not only did it help with the filming but also with other pieces of the pre-production, such as the story board.

      We didn’t use the story boards, are illustrations of the production these were not used very much as they weren’t as easy or detailed as the outline. None of the crew found these storyboards useful. However they were good to fall back on when and where we couldn’t use the outline.
The contact sheets, which were a list of the crew members and their contact details, came in useful when we needed to meet up for filming. Including where to do so; it also helped to locate one and other when we needed help with a certain part or just support.
We all had copies of the material list which we looked over from time to time just to remind us what we needed to bring. Again none of the crew used these as much as we expected to. This was probably due to the fact that all crew members had a clear image and detailed timetable of when and where we were meeting and what we needed to bring.
Our research concerning the topic took the longest amount of time. The majority of the research came from the internet. This helped a lot with planning our pre-production as we went back and related to it to check the details were accurate. It didn’t help as much with the filming because we incorporated it in the other pre-production pieces.
Our production schedule, which is a plan for carrying out a process, came in helpful so we knew when and where we were filming. The schedule is essential to organise the crew so we could all turn up at the right time and place and work together.
The script, which included the questions which we were asking and introduction to the subject was the second most helpful piece of pre-production after the outline as it helped a lot with the interviews and what we were asking so we didn’t ask different questions to every person as then we wouldn’t get the stats.

      Altogether I feel the final documentary would have taken a lot longer without the pre-production as I would have to plan as I go along and I wouldn’t have had an idea from the beginning. Being in a group helped a lot with the pre-production and also the filming and I feel I would have struggled on my own. Although I did the majority of the editing the rest of my group found clips, footage and news articles to help, and often asked if they could do anything to help.