Sunday, 20 January 2013

Our Journey

This blog documents our journey in creating a documentary about the effects that gang violence has on the victims family.


 Production Challenge

Medium Involved
Opal media will be to creating a Television Documentary with dramatic reconstructions.

Synopsis
The text will be a twenty minute documentary which is a culmination of both emotive interviews and dramatic reconstructions which explore the after effects that gang culture and violence can have on the victim’s family.

Workforce
The group will consist of three members Latoya Wilson, Adele Robinson & Katie Allen.

Target Audience
The Primary target audience for the documentary is young people aged 13- 25 as they are the most likely to engage in gang activity. The programme aims to be a deterrent for these people. A secondary audience can be determined which is adults aged 25 and over as the documentary can be watched by anyone who has an interest in gang violence.

Locations and production costs
The programme is not specific to West Midlands as gang violence is a universal subject. However to provide focus, we have decided to centre our efforts in the West Midlands area which in turn utilises the best resources that are made readily available to us.
 The intention is to film the footage using recording cameras such as the Sony JVC from the university. Production costs will be minimal as all of the equipment will be hired from the technician’s office and we will source the most cost effective modes of transport. The contributors will also be voluntary which helps to minimise costs.

Critical Evaluation of professional contexts
It will be a success in the current media environment as there is not a programme in the market like this. It will be a stylised programme that looks at the violence from a new perspective – the victim’s family members.

We feel that the subject matter is not heavily featured in the media. A comparable text is the 2011 ITV documentary into Stephan Lawrence’s murder, which looks into the inquiry of the unprovoked racial attack by a gang of men. The style of this documentary is inspirational, with the use of evidence, engaging interviews and the stylistic nature of the documentary as it incorporated the use of dramatic reconstructions which we will draw inspiration on. However the documentary’s focus was on the police cover-up and not on the effects of the victim’s family. We feel that our documentary will be equally engaging as it will be shot through the perspective of the victim’s family member which pushes it from being just an informative text to one that actively engages the audience by showing the world through the victim’s family’s eyes.
However there are implications when filming such sensitive areas in the contributor’s lives. We have to avoid any ethical issues by gaining informed consent. We must ensure that we build a rapport with the contributors and remain respectful in their wishes, if they do not want some of the footage to be used.

Treatment
The aim is to create an engaging and educational documentary that brings awareness to young people about gang violence and crime. The documentary explores gang violence and the after effects of this violence, which we feel is an innovative and intriguing approach to take on this controversial subject area. It will act as a deterrent for young people who may feel that committing crimes and joining a gang is an appropriate way of life. The text will be a documentary with dramatic reconstructions. It will feature a number of interviews and a dramatized piece that will be separated by each interview to create interest. The most appropriate contributors to be sourced will include the West Midlands police, a former gang member, a victim’s family member and also actors for the drama.

Evidence of skills (Prerequisite Modules)
·         MED5049 Television Studies
·         MED5026 Television Drama
·         MED5024 Television Documentaries and Features
·         MED5030 Music Television and Promotions
·         First year Production Event
·         First year Television Production skills

The wide variety of modules that we have undertaken will be of great benefit to the smooth running of the production process. The first and second year modules have provided the background knowledge and experience to creating a television programme. we have become multi-skilled and been trained to work in both location and studio settings and we have a full understanding into the contexts and working practises that are required in creating the text – ranging from how to work with contributors to managing projects to editing footage together. 

Production Plan
The production process is a lengthy process that will require time management and organisation. It must take up 300 hours of allotted time.  The chart below illustrates the various tasks that the team members will have to complete throughout the production process that should fill this time but are subject to change.

Work completed so far- A script has been written for the drama and a solid knowledge of a production plan, research and assignment of roles has been achieved.

What we will submit- we will submit a DVD and a production portfolio pack

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