Social Action & Community Media - Extended Proposal - Rebecca

I was asked to create a social action documentary about a local issue that I believe needs more attention. Therefore the documentary I will create will be around youth unemployment, and the fact that it is rising; I will explore aspects of the issue such as why it's a problem, how to fix it, and the effects that it has on people. The documentary will not be too long as I want to get peoples opinions, and the facts across simply and clearly - it will be approximately 7/8 minutes.

Filming for this project will start on 02/12/2015 and will be completed by 18/12/15,  however the whole project will be completed on 08/01/2016. The filming dates are the following:

• 02/12/2015 
• 03/12/2015
• 09/12/2015
• 10/12/2015
• 16/12/2015
• 17/12/2015

This will all be done around college, however any additional filming during my own time will be in other local areas such as Croydon, Mitcham, and Carshalton. I will mainly be filming in public areas which means that I will not require any permission to film - however if possible I would like to conduct an interview or film some establishing shots within stores, here I may require permission. If I believe that permission is required in an area I want to film in I will ask an employee of the store, who will most likely refer me to a manager, which in turn I will explain what I am doing and hopefully be granted permission.

I am going to be the camera operator along with director, as this is a solo project. This means that I will be holding the camera when filming, asking the questions, choosing the setup of shots, and also editing the film during post-production. Some other people who are key to this project are the public - I want to conduct interviews with local people and ask the questions on the topic as my aim for the documentary is to gather a wide range of opinions and find an overall opinion.

I will be using this film as a somewhat educational film as it will give a lot of factual information about a quite unspoken topic, however it is also being used as a way to raise awareness of youth unemployment and the issues and resolutions from it. My target audience for this documentary would be 15-40 year olds - this is because it mainly is aimed at younger people as they are the ones who are affected by the issue, however I think I could stretch that age group up to 40 year olds, as they may have an opinion on it as not only were they a young adult once, but they may have children or relatives who are affected. The demographic will consist of people who have an interest in the economy as youth unemployment is linked to that quite largely, therefore these people would find it interesting. However I feel like it would be a mass market audience, as everyone is affected by employment as a whole, therefore almost anyone would be able to either relate, or find it interesting regardless.

Aesthetically, I will be keeping the film rather simplistic, as I want my message and factual information to be presented clearly. Therefore, it will consist mostly of interviews with members of the public, employers/employees and young people who are unemployed. Additionally, I will have some establishing shots to break up the film, along with making it look more interesting (ie, shots of people working). When it comes to music, I don't have any specific ideas as to what songs I want to use - if any - however like I said I want it to be simplistic rather than ambient and dramatic. Although, if I do decide to use any music within my documentary when editing, then I will need to make sure it would be copyright cleared. Likewise with music being copyrighted, if I were to use any archived media within my film I would have to make sure it's not copyrighted. However, I do not have any plans on using already captured media, I want everything to be my own original work that will conduct next week.