Structure of inspirational documentary

Reggie Yates – Teen Gang Violence

Basic Structure

·        Intro – we are introduced to Reggie yates walking down a London high street (action shot)

·        Dialogue – he begins by speaking about Riots in London, teenage gangs, his beliefs to why they choose gang life (establishing shots of London and gangs)

·        Tells his own story

·        Introduces gang background (voice over)

I was thinking that we could start  of by introducing the presenter, as she describes gang violence in the Midlands and about her own story (boyfriend part of a gang). We could also use establishing shots of Birmingham and places around Perry Barr to give it that crime look. It is important to give a brief synopsis of what her aim is to find out throughout the documentary in which we will introduce the contributors. We can also look at the location where her boyfriend was murdered, where the drive by took place.

·        A specific set of questions to ask each contributor, open questions so it leaves more room for discussion, keep it casual.

·        Lots of establishing and action shots.

Here we can use the establishing shots and actions shots to show a brief insight into the contriubutors lifestyle. We can get shots of Joe Jackson’s counselling meeting, follow the policemen etc. with this I think it would be good to use voiceovers as well as on camera presenter appearance.

·        Reggie Yates would explain how he felt and what he found out after every visit with a contributor.

·        Footage of counselling with the person who offers support groups to pre and ex gangs members

One of the scenes between an interview with Reggie and one of the counsellors  they spoke about how a lot og young gang members explained a reason to why they involve themselves with gang violence is because it has been passed down between generations from their elders. I think this is something important that we can go in to and look at.

·        Archive footage of the London riots – maybe we could see if there is any archive footage of gang crime in Birmingham which we can include.

·        Reggie ends his journey speaking about what he has learnt.

Intertwined with the drama I think the basic structure of how we should present our documentary is in the beginning explaining our reason for the documentary, followed by the journey throughout to find out how it affects the families, how the police and counsellors offer support, we can use both the presenter and voice overs the conclude.