Formal Proposal

Topic-
The topic we have chosen to research and create our documentary on is fears and phobias, the subject widely affects the public and this is therefore something that many can relate to. Phobias and fears is an intriguing topic that will interest and involve the audience. Interviews with professionals will also be easy to gain as there are many professionals who work in this field and have a real insight into the affects that phobias and fears have on people. Those who suffer from a phobia can also be interviewed and accessed relatively easily allowing empathy to be created between the sufferer and the audience.

Type-
The type of documentary we have chosen is a Mixed Documentary. It will contain a voice over that will inform the audience and anchor what is being shown on screen, Vox pops will also be used as cutaways that will speed up the documentaries pace and get the public involved with the subject. Interviews will also create a professional opinion and also the public’s opinion will be relevant. Archive footage and reconstructions will add drama and interest to the documentary adding to the audience’s experiences. This is all relevant as it creates more entertaining documentaries and can lure the audience in from the programme before, using quick editing from all these options.

Style-
The documentary will be informal allowing those being interviewed to be relaxed and help the audience easily relate to the documentary. The style of documentary was decided based upon the results that came from the questionnaires, the average age range was 17 and this therefore allowed us as a group to relate the documentary to what they would be interested to see. The fast pace of the documentary will keep the audience interested with the exception of the interviews that will be quite slow paced to enable those talking to engage with the audience. This allows the documentary to be easily understood and prevents the audience from being confused and bored.

Channel/Scheduling-
From the audience research and our own point of view, we decided to use Channel 4. This was most popular in our questionnaire and would suit the style of documentary we have chosen. The time we are going to use will be 9:30 to 10:00 as this was also most popular in our audience.

Target audience-
Our target audience will be from the ages 16-40; this fits in well with the channel that we chose as the audience research showed that this channel appeals most to this age group. This information was collated from our graphs from the audience research, both an equal number of males and females were asked in order to let the documentary relate and interest both genders.

Primary research-
We will use Vox pops in the town centre, to show how fears and phobias affect a range of people. We will interview professionals in their practice to show that they are well educated and are there if somebody needs support. When interviewing some people who have phobias, we will film them in their most comfortable environment which will create a more relaxed and informal atmosphere. We will also interview a psychology teacher in his teaching classroom to make him look professional; this will give us the information on why people are scared.


Secondary research-
We will use newspaper articles as archive footage to show how phobias occur following traumas, or after reading something horrific in the news. Reconstructions will be used, for example, to show how somebody reacts when faced with their fear. We will use facts and figures about how many people it effects in the U.K through our voice over. After reviewing our questionnaires and finding out what film is the scariest to our target audience, we will incorporate short extracts from those films into our documentary.

Narrative structure-
Beginning- Introduction to the topic and the Vox pop’s which will outline all the different phobias and fears in society. Interviews with both professionals and sufferers with cutaways that are relevant to what the person is saying. We will also use a reconstruction to elaborate on how serious peoples phobias actually are.
Middle- Archive footage of plane crash, to show bad news can effect people and the way they feel about a certain situation, like flying. Interview with somebody who is afraid of flying, close up of swinging pendant with the voice over to explain how people go and see hypnotists to overcome their fear, and then an interview with a hypnotist explaining how they try and help- also about cynic’s. Exploring about the fear of the dark and how you develop this from childhood.
End- Film extracts, with a voice over, explaining how people can still be scared of the ‘make believe’. Interview with film maker and an audience member to see the different perspectives on the film s. Talking about stereotypes- way somebody looks, dresses, acts, different interviews and reconstructions. Montage of everything that people are scared of with voice over concluding and recapping on why people have fears and phobias, and what help can be received. Closing credits.

Outline of Content
The documentary consists of many of the conventions named above. First we will run the vox pops from warrington town center, where the question was asked ' What are you scared of?' then there will be a montage of images related to the topic of phobias such as spiders, snakes, blood, aeroplanes, clowns, needles, global warming, and so on, whilst these are being shown the voice over will be explaining the topic. We will be having interviews with professionals and people with phobias, so the audience will recieve enough information from both sides of the phobia related subject. Archive footage will link into what people in the interviews have said or to what the voice over is saying.

Equipment-
Camera.
Jib.
Microphone.
Head phones.
Tripod.
Steady cam.