What is your USP?
Our idea is interesting and it isn’t a topic people usually focus on, making it unique. Also our documentary has a positive message, which is unusual since most documentaries have negative tones.
Our idea is interesting and it isn’t a topic people usually focus on, making it unique. Also our documentary has a positive message, which is unusual since most documentaries have negative tones.
What type of documentary is it?
Expository: We are attempting to expose the truth about skateboarders and to stop the negative stereotypes they are often unfairly labelled with.
What documentaries inspired you?
Scratch: the way the documentary mixed the narration with the images of people performing their music. We want to use a similar technique, overlaying the skateboarder’s stories with their skating, to emphasise the creative side of skateboarding.
Is it viable? Prove it. How will it be managed/filmed?
It is viable. The members of our group are interested in our topic and Luke has access to skateboarders who are willing to talk to us and the rest of the group also have people we can interview about this issue. We will be mostly filming outside so we will have a lot of access to our chosen locations. Also we will be filming during weekends which will be easier to organise.
What locations will you use? Who have you approached for interviews? What other interviews remain?
We will be filming mostly in skate parks and locations familiar and comfortable to the interviewee, this will create a sense of intimacy between the audience and the interviewee. We have approached several skaters for our documentary, since we don’t know whether they will be able to do the interview, we have several back ups including some casual skaters and those who only skate for a hobby rather than a lifestyle. We have some people who, because of their dislike for the skater community, could showcase a different perspective and make our documentary one free from bias. We also have access to members of authority to which we could pose the question: “are skaters really anti-establishment?”
What further research will be required in order to be well informed?
We will have to look on news websites to see if there have been any incidents involving skaters or any violent attacks on people because they are skateboarders. We will also make and distribute a survey asking the reader about their opinions of skaters, which, when collaborated, we may use in our documentary.
How will the five minute extract fit into a longer whole?
It could be a segment on a documentary focussing on the positive side of modern youths, dispelling common misconceptions, not only about skaters, but also hoodies, chavs, groups of young people who could be seen as a gang. Showing the creative and overall good side of the youth which is often hidden beneath all the negative stereotypes.
Who is your target audience? Include initial audience research?
People who may be ignorant about skateboarding: making it accessible to people who otherwise wouldn’t have had any knowledge on skateboarding before, hopefully educating them on the entertaining side of skateboarding. We will need to do a survey seeing which age groups are more interested in skateboarding, although we can assume that the younger generation will be most interested in skateboarding.
Why would C4 or another channel want to commission this documentary? Is there a global market for your documentary?
We think that our topic would be commissioned for television, mainly because our idea is unique and it is celebrating the good side of the youth, in a time where most documentaries about the youth show that they are dangerous and violent. There may not be a global market because skateboarding is more prominent in different countries and also has a different emphasis, so in some countries skateboarding is seen as a healthy sport and in some countries it’s seen as a form of rebellion.
Sorcha and Shona.
Expository: We are attempting to expose the truth about skateboarders and to stop the negative stereotypes they are often unfairly labelled with.
What documentaries inspired you?
Scratch: the way the documentary mixed the narration with the images of people performing their music. We want to use a similar technique, overlaying the skateboarder’s stories with their skating, to emphasise the creative side of skateboarding.
Is it viable? Prove it. How will it be managed/filmed?
It is viable. The members of our group are interested in our topic and Luke has access to skateboarders who are willing to talk to us and the rest of the group also have people we can interview about this issue. We will be mostly filming outside so we will have a lot of access to our chosen locations. Also we will be filming during weekends which will be easier to organise.
What locations will you use? Who have you approached for interviews? What other interviews remain?
We will be filming mostly in skate parks and locations familiar and comfortable to the interviewee, this will create a sense of intimacy between the audience and the interviewee. We have approached several skaters for our documentary, since we don’t know whether they will be able to do the interview, we have several back ups including some casual skaters and those who only skate for a hobby rather than a lifestyle. We have some people who, because of their dislike for the skater community, could showcase a different perspective and make our documentary one free from bias. We also have access to members of authority to which we could pose the question: “are skaters really anti-establishment?”
What further research will be required in order to be well informed?
We will have to look on news websites to see if there have been any incidents involving skaters or any violent attacks on people because they are skateboarders. We will also make and distribute a survey asking the reader about their opinions of skaters, which, when collaborated, we may use in our documentary.
How will the five minute extract fit into a longer whole?
It could be a segment on a documentary focussing on the positive side of modern youths, dispelling common misconceptions, not only about skaters, but also hoodies, chavs, groups of young people who could be seen as a gang. Showing the creative and overall good side of the youth which is often hidden beneath all the negative stereotypes.
Who is your target audience? Include initial audience research?
People who may be ignorant about skateboarding: making it accessible to people who otherwise wouldn’t have had any knowledge on skateboarding before, hopefully educating them on the entertaining side of skateboarding. We will need to do a survey seeing which age groups are more interested in skateboarding, although we can assume that the younger generation will be most interested in skateboarding.
Why would C4 or another channel want to commission this documentary? Is there a global market for your documentary?
We think that our topic would be commissioned for television, mainly because our idea is unique and it is celebrating the good side of the youth, in a time where most documentaries about the youth show that they are dangerous and violent. There may not be a global market because skateboarding is more prominent in different countries and also has a different emphasis, so in some countries skateboarding is seen as a healthy sport and in some countries it’s seen as a form of rebellion.
Sorcha and Shona.
