Statement of Intent, pre-production and filmimg

 

Statement of Intent

Audience

The topic I have chosen for my documentary is "Unrealistic Beauty Standards". The brief mentioned seeking a mainstream family and I am sure that this topic will. Social media is always advancing, as well as young people's access to it, so I feel that it is an important topic to make a documentary on. I plan to target all ages but especially teenage girls.This is because even though the topic might effect everyone, I feel that teenage girls specifically should be informed more about how unrealistic beauty standards are, so that they do not grow up thinking they are not beautiful. The name of the documentary is "Real Vs Ideal"

Media Industries and Digital Convergence

I am hoping to have the documentary broadcasted on Channel 4 because it is well known for its documentaries and also if viewers miss it when it is aired, they would be able to catch up on "4 on Demand Catch-up". Channel 4's public service broadcasting remit is to“promote measures intended to secure that people are well-informed and motivated to participate in society in a variety of ways”. My documentary will fulfil this by informing the viewers about beauty standards and it will motivate teenagers to grow up in society without feeling the pressure of the unrealistic beauty standards. The documentary would be advertised on all social media platforms such as instagram, facebook and many more. An account would be made on all social media to promote the documentary by posting small snippets using hashtags. This would attract more people as people would share it around, leading to more people aware of this new documentary.

Representations  

I plan to present beauty standards as unrealistic and a big weight on many female's shoulders. It is something that should be broken so that many people over the world can finally open their eyes to their beauty. My documentary will challenge stereotypes like:

. Slim is beautiful

. Girls do not look good without surgery

. Being fair is lovely

. Pimples and cellulite are ugly

Gauntlett suggests that things change over time and that there is generational differences. This will be seen in my documentary as it discusses how these beauty standards used to be accepted but not anymore. Also, Van Zoonen believes the media portray images of stereotypical women and this behaviour reinforces societal views.

   

Interviews

I will film an interview with a female in year 9 (as I would say this is the age where a lot of young females are constantly overwhelmed by the world of social media). The interview will be filmed in a classroom so that the mis-en-scene in the background fits the topic. If computers were in the background, it would reinforce the social media theme. The student would wear school uniform but the school logo would be blurred as well as the student's face as she is under 18. I plan to ask many  questions that both teenagers and adults would find eye-opening. 

Filming/Editing

I plan to start the documentary with a short montage of the interviewee. I have shots in mind for the montage like medium shots of the interviewee looking in the mirror, close-ups of her scrolling through instagram and playing around with filters. These are all carefully thought so that it highlights the topic of the documentary. This montage will I will also include a voice over on some shots. When editing, I think cutting on action would be good to add, as well as fast paced editing to create tension, whilst discussing serious topics. When the interviewee says important quotes or when a statistic is mentioned, ( Survey shows that 97 percent of women have negative body image ) I will edit text on screen, so that the quote is memorable.

Print brief

The print brief says to create three posters as part of a marketing campaign for the documentary. One poster would include an image of a young female crying because of not feeling like she is beautiful. This specific poster will cover the mental health aspect of unrealistic beauty standards.

The second poster's purpose will be to inform people more on how to watch the documentary. This poster would include the details of what time and which channel the documentary will air. It will also discuss how to catch up if people miss it when it is aired on TV. The third poster could discuss a celebrity endorsement and I have decided that Amy Schumer would be a perfect fit because she is a celebrity that uses her platform to defy beauty expectations for women. She strives to portray women accurately, rather than through the entertainment industry's lens. She proves women don't have to follow the rules to be beautiful.

Pre Production and Filming

Shooting schedule

I plan to film on the:     . 5th Nov

                                   . 6th Nov

                                   . 12th Nov

Script

. Interview will begin with a montage of the interviewee.

  (Shots of interviewee looking in the mirror, scrolling on her phone, taking pictures with filters)

. First interview will be with a teenager in year 9

. Second interview will be with a female in sixth form.

. Third interview 

Shot list