Casting

 Identify the actors/models/interviewees you're going to use in your products.

 

Below were my main candidates for casting in my documentary. The cast members I didnt select as host all had expertise that I will utilise

 

MAIN PRODUCT CONSIDERATIONS

SASHA HAXELL

What Makes This Person Suitable: With their expertise in Politics and their close proximity to my house, they are easily accessible and ideal for a political documentary. She is also very analytical which will ensure the issue of The Generation Gap within voting behaviour is introduced to the greatest level of depth possible. 

What may make this person unsuitable: They are regularly very busy due to school in the weekdays and then cosplay / ice skating over the weekend so booking them for filming and my subsequent photo shoot for the website could pose issues. 

Zeinab (right), Charlie (left)

ZEINAB HUSSAIN

What Makes This Person Suitable: Similar to Sasha, she has a wide array of expertise in Politics and has close proximity to my house. In addition, she is close to the host which as an interviewee subject, is brilliant because it creates a more comfortable environment where proper discussion and information is free and will feel natural. 

What may make this person unsuitable: They can be a little bit quiet and reserved. However, with suitable direction, I highly believe this person can come out of their shell and enhance the final product as they are so well informed and when confident can create a wonderful on screen dynamic.

 

CHARLIE BLACKMORE

What makes this person suitable: This person is articulate, opinionated, smart and an expert in current affairs as well as politics. In addition to being amongst the smartest in my Politics class, his commitment to education, learning and analysis to the highest level will make him a perfect contribution to a high level documentary.

What makes this person unsuitable: This cast member has a strong dedicaation to academic studies which may make him unavaliable for shooting. However, a quick and efficently planned shoot will remedy this easil. In addition, whilst there is a history of white male documentary presenters that could leave females and ethnic minorities feeling under represented, the expertise of the host and the conversations he would have with guest contributors would ensure all views are represented and multiculturalist representation.

WEBSITE CONSIDERATIONS

(My documentary cast is heavy as the website is promoting ... Investigates as a series so I will just put on here my main casting considerations for the episode of my main product and the episode that will be referenced on my linked page: Should Exams Be Cancelled

RUBY BRIGDEN:

What makes this person suitable: Ruby Brigden's humourous, outgoing and confident personality perfectly reflects the values of BBC- educating members of the public with information in an entertaining way. She is also well informed on the relevant topics of the documentary and has an established track record of screen quality- having featured in videos for her local dance club and recordings of school productions. Additionally they live very local so shooting would be easy

What makes this person unsuitable: Whilst she is a clear enthusiast of politics and sociology, it is unclear whether her family will permit filming of themselves and their house but this can be remedied through negotiation.

CHANELLE WILSON FOWLER

What makes this person suitable: Chanelle is ougoing, thoughtful and has strong intellect which makes her perspective on the nature of exams a unique one, beyond that of other student voices in the same category. As we are in the same school bubble with similar timetables, availability is almost certain.

What makes this person unsuitable: This actress is relatively shy and may be apprehensive about filming. In addition, as they are a full time student, shoots outside school hours will be difficult to negotiate. However, I feel with some encouragement, negotiation will become a non issue and she will enjoy the experience of a photo shoot.

LOCATION

INTRO:

In today's task, I'm going to identify the locations I'm going to use for my documentary and lay out a risk assessment for each location. By doing this, I will better identify my mise-en-scene and develop a key understanding of the settings I am going to implement into my final product.

KEY LOCATIONS:

1. LAKESIDE SHOPPING CENTRE

Hazard: Too crowded- it is a public space and will often get overcrowded, creating noise and spacing issues. This also makes social distancing harder

Hazard: Unpredictable weather- it is an outside environment and therefore wind may be an issue

This location is suitable because it establishes the mise-en-scene of Thurrock which is essential for the journey of the narrator. The area of The Quay is also essential in providing a mise-en-scene that is familiar and comforting to the audience as it is a thriving area for shopping WITH natural landscapes. This is essential as it ensures the beginning of the journey into The Generation Gap

 

2. STREET

 

 

Hazard: Cars driving wanting to access their house during filming. Cast and crew will need to move really fast to avoid destruction of property and shots may need to be recaptured if interrupted by cars.

Hazard: Wind, if particularly strong, may come across louder than audio. However, I can easily use voiceover instead if wind is too strong

 What makes this location suitable: It is good for setting up the narratology of the episode as it sets up the first interview subjects. The interview provides a foundational look at generational differences in politics and for most viewers, awareness of politics will be from their parents discussing it at home. This setting helps reflect and then expand their prior knowledge as the host gains more insight into generational differences in Politics.

 

 

REJECTED: Harris Academy Chafford Hundred Field- Outside Conference Centre

 

Hazard: Public space meaning there's potentially going to be no space for social distancing. However, the fact we are filming in November means that THIS IS UNLIKELY

Hazard: Extreme Weather- may lead to damage of property and if individual cast and crew isn't careful, they may experience a minor injury. 

This location is suitable because even though we aren't allowed in the school, it is close enough to the school to promote legitimacy. A neutral perspective from the youth on The Generation Gap in voting behaviour will allow the audience to feel automatically engaged with the issues.

 

UPDATE: THE CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS MADE THIS LOCATION UNSUITABLE FOR FILMING AS THEY HAVE SHUT EARLIER IN ORDER TO MINIMISE SOCIAL CONTACT

Product Profile

 INTRODUCTION

Today, I am going to form a mind map of what I want to happen in my documentary. The importance of planning in the decision making process of creating a documentary is going to be essential to the success of my products. By doing a mind map, I hope to become clearer about the content that I will investigate and how I will use media language. Through undertaking a creative task, this will allow me to clear up my mind and develop a consistent focus.  

 

Upon peer feedback from class discussion, I am going to redraft my mind map to include more details about shots and editing.

TASK 2: INCREASED DETAIL PLAN

0-59

- Titles: Sasha Haxell Investigates: Generation Gap

- MUSIC: Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man

- Tracking shot

- Sasha introduces with a look at examples of how young people, despite stereotypes, are engaged politically and influence politics

60-119

- Cut to wide shots of Lakeside

- MUSIC: EARFQUAKE by Tyler The Creator

- Sasha through voiceover introduces the mise-en-scene of Thurrock

- Around Lakeside (Broadwalk / The Quay) Sasha establishes how YOUNG PEOPLE engage with politics to contrast with OLDER PEOPLE LATER

120-179

- Cut to street

- Natural SFX

- We introduce and position the audience with POLITICS enthusiast and her parent to begin to introduce the political differences between young and old people.

- Use OTS shot when filming answers to questions

AFTER 3 MINUTES ... STOP!!!!!!!!

NEA Planning Part 2: My Gallery

 FIRST TASK

I chose the documentary brief. I am required to produce a 3 minute documentary and a promotional website. 

I need to include a range of camera shots and editing techniques. I need to include a soundtrack, at least two people from different social groups and settings. I also need to include graphics / titles for my show.

The website needs original shots and video as well as working links and typography that links to the graphics of my show.

Based on my survey- my documentary needs to appeal to 16-24 year old female demographic since the majority of respondents that showed interest were female. I need to make a product that is in depth and analytical of the issues, ensuring audience satisfaction. 

SECOND TASK

In this task I'll explore different types of images, fonts and colours to use in my documentary.  I shall be looking at different connotations and how these affect the way my target audience might view my product.  By creating this factual programming themed photo gallery I will also be exploring creative ways of how to present my work. This will help me with visuals and graphics in my product.

THIRD TASK

 The below task demonstrated how documentaries used bold colours, bold sans serif font and medium shots to convey emotion and importance, as well as settings that reflect social realism. As a BBC3 product, I will use a pink and black colour scheme and display similar fonts and shots in order to reflect conventions of documentaries. The prupose of the opening of a documentary is to establish the journey of the narrator so I will be applying Todrov's Narratology through the use of dialogue and music in order to establish essential introductory elements.

NEA Planning Task 1- My Audience

 Today I will sign up to Surveymonkey and create a survey to generate an understanding about my audience's political beliefs, views on parents and their documentary expectations.

 

MY SURVEY:

Note: There was 42 responses but SurveyMonkey only allowed me to see the first 40 for free.

 

Task 2 and Task 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Task 4

My survey was useful because it allowed me to understand what the young adult demographic are looking for, contentwise and style, when it comes to documentaries. I have used this survey to identify the political interests and current affairs that are the most interesting for my assigned demographic so I can create a product that caters for them. This allows me to define my target audience because it allows me to get to grips with the psychographics and interests of my audience. My survey responses surprised me because whilst I was expecting my final product to be light hearted and quick in terms of pace and style, I'm going to rethink this to allow a more investigate approach and in depth style. My house style for my website is going to be reflective of the BBC3 layout and follow conventions of other BBC3 documentaries aimed at the same demographic- so I didn't worry too much about this in my survey. However, it has inspired me to use a more formal, sans serif font and colour scheme in my promotional material.

Task 5 - DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE

Within keeping to my brief, my target audience will be a socially-conscious, 16–25 (teen / young adults), middle to upmarket demographic. So, even though they fall on the C2DE socioeconomic demographic, these will be parents of C1/B members of society. My documentary will mostly be aimed at females who are socially conscious and have interests in current affairs / the world around them. This will be aimed at reformers who want to make political change. In addition, I will be targeting explorers. The journey of my documentary will be trying to understand the generation gap between parents and kids on a variety of issues within the news, as well as trying to establish why such a gap exists. This will appeal to explorers who are interested in trying to understand the reasoning behind the difference in political opinions between the ages.