Propsal

I prose to write, direct and shoot a 5 minute documentary addressing the social issue of homless people in Sunderland. My documentary will follow one main character, Molly, as she explains how she became homeless and shows us what her life is like, adressing issues such as how she eats, where she sleeps, and her attitude towards homeless people and the society we live in. I plan to include facts and figures gathered from offical websites, such as; crisis.org.uk, sunderland.gov.uk, and homelessuk.org. Other characters within my documentary will include a youth I will interview, asking their thoughts on homeless people in Sunderland, and a campaigner.

Example of acillary task research: existing products.

Evidence of ancillary task preparation.

I have taken my lectureres points into account and plan to include an interview with the main character, the director of the documentary and an official representative of Homless.org.

I have taken my lecturers points into account. Whilst my advert will be similar to Channel 4, it will be completley my own design.

Textual Analysis of a newspaper advertisment.

Forms and Conventions of a Media Documentary

What is a TV Documentary?

What is a TV Documentary?

A TV documentary is a form of film. However its style differs from both feature film and short film with a series of conventions. A documentary follows a theme or subject, for example, Word War 2. A documentary on World War 2 would focus on this era and bring to light a matters related to this subject. It also aims to be either informative, educational, or simply reflective. Common conventions of documentaries include voice overs, graphic elements, incidental music and interviews with people related to the subject of the documentary, for example professors or people with an opinion. The story is generally told using a range of camera shots, including mid shots for interviews and long shots to set locations. Audiences that documentary’s are aimed at differ depending on what the subject matter is. However it is generally an older audience who are interested in gaining new information on a subject, rather than the younger generation who would see watching a documentary as too education for their free time. However, they can be made appealing to a younger audience by their ‘shock factor’, such as Channel 4’s Super Size Vs. Super Skinny.

I have reaserched into existing products for one of of my ancillary tasks which is a newspaper advertisment. On the right are two adverts I have chosen for my insperational texts. I have chosen these particular two because both relate to media products. Also, the first one advertises a program which will fit with my own product more than a film advert would.

With the first, all of the text is centre aligned. This

Research on the Social Realism Genre

What is social realism?

Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic.

^{(Source: Wikipedia)}

Who Took Your Pension? | Dispatches | Channel 4

I chose Social Relism as the genre of my documentary as I wanted it to be very serious and hard-hitting for my audience. The nature of my documentary deals with homeless people in the North-East, and this I felt fitted with the Social Relist genre as it is a social problem that everyone has an individual opinion on. Another convention of social relisim is to represent people who are not unually represented truthfully in the media, and there is a stigma atatched to homeless people that has been created by popular culture.

Trading Places - Eddie Murphy Bum/Racist Old Men

In this clip and many others like it, homeless people are portrayed as scammers, theives, and people to be avoided at any cost. They are usually minor characters, whos backgrounds are not explained. In my documentrary I aim to inform and enlighted my audience into the true lives of a homeless person (who will be played by an actor) by allowing them to speak to the camera and tell their story. My character will have a name that will often be refered back to, allowing the audience to form a relationship with them.



Homeless people in the North-East

(Source: homeless.org.uk)

I could use this information within my documentary as I can trust it to be official. This will allow my documentary to be as accurate and informative as possible.