Key Assessment

Title of Project: Social Action and Community Media Documentary

Short Summary of film: my documentary is mainly about mobile phone overuse and the harmful effects in different aspects. people spend way too much time and money either in social media apps or mobile games. my documentary will be based on nomophobia and support this point with factual information. There will be interviews from my friend talking about mobile addictions and hopefully get a teacher to talk about it as well. I am aiming to raise the awareness of the dangerousness of overusing mobiles and motivates their desires to control the time they spend on mobiles.


Length of film: 10 minutes

Film Completion date: 18 December 2015

Specific filming dates with location : daytime, mainly indoor both in class and home

locations : get permission from teacher to use a spare classroom , and studio space

production team, key people, places, objects that you want within your film : I will be the camera operator, editor and director of my film, get my friend to talk about it in a spare classroom. I would also try to record my experience by myself. I will use a dark environment when interviewing people with warm lighting, tripod and film editing software.

Key messages, stories and points that you wish to communicate: The key messages I wish to communicate is that overuse mobile phone is very harm to people both in mental and physical. I wish people to be more self-controlled.

how you intend to use your film (promotional, educational , brand awareness):
I intend to use my film in educational purposes.

Target audience : my target audience will be 15+ local teenagers because these are people who likely to stick with their phones all day in social and entertainment purposes.

Music what general feel ambience of music would you use?
I want to use instrumental music as background music, but I have no idea yet what specific song I would like to use.

Archive: There is some people already made documentaries about this issue, and some of them has inspired me in terms of use of music and sound.

Ethic considerations

During my research, I ensured the quality and integrity my of research result because I tried to get people from different age groups to fill out my questionnaires. I kept a mind up on not harm to my participant by design the questions thoughtfully, not to upsetting anyone. Also I’ve asked them to complete my questionnaire to just give their experience and opinions also make sure they participate in my questionnaire voluntarily. I respected the confidentiality of my responders.

Understanding and Interpreting a Brief

Working to a brief for a website in the creative media sector is very vital because people who are looking on the website need to have a knowledge of what type the brief it is also understand the requirement for the job role within the creative media sector.  There are several different types of brief, some are formal and some are not and some are much more descriptive than others. You have to meet the requirements on the brief and if possible, some brief are able to adjust things to help both you and your client to the best.

 For example, a contractual brief is very detailed that is set by the client to specific guidelines, which you must follow. If you fail to do exactly what the client states within brief, you can be result in a breech of contract and your company could face legal actions in a high chance. You will have to sign a contractual brief. This type of brief might not be suitable for a website in the creative media sector because if you think that there are issues within the brief and there is a chance you misunderstood it which could end up with you are producing a product that does not meet the standards set by the client within the brief, they will have the right to take legal actions.

If your client may not know exactly what they want or very open to ideas, a negotiated brief might well fit in this situation because is very open and you are able to discuss with any information you are not quite sure or you would like to go over during the negotiations with the client but you might feel that there is not enough information within the brief. The disadvantages of this type of brief is that it cannot always legally binding could bring up issues such as financial problems or breech of contract.

If you are in the media company which the client has established relationship with, a commission brief might be give to you, this type of brief can save time on looking for potential employees and just go straight away with the your company’s choice.

Another type of brief you might work on is competition brief which is opened to the public, it allows for a wide range of people and the client will have a wealth of different ideas to choose from. 

The important factor of working to a brief would be to stick with the guidelines given by the brief and make sure you produce the product by the deadline given with a standard. Also make sure you are able to update any necessary adjustment or improvement during the process. Having an idea that how long you have to meet the deadline and what’s required on the brief, and seek out is there any special requirement stated within the brief. It’s also important to negotiate with client because all brief are negotiable to an extent.  There are many opportunities to be found within a brief on top of money making aspect, you are able learn and develop new skills and challenge yourself in multi skilling. You will get a wealth of experience as well as you improve your communication skills. There’re great opportunities to meet important people in industry.

Understand The Purpose And Impact Of Social Action And Community Media Production Work

Social action and community media is to use media objects like digital video, newsletters, magazines and websites as creative tools to advertise a specific topic, which is usually not a well-known subject or a potential problem, to increase public awareness. The purpose of Social action and Community media is to address audience of current problem and encourage them to take action in response to the specific issues they have seen. The impact of Social action could include raising awareness, impact on voting behaviour and change of attitude.

Local Change is current issues in the community that people may concern about. In order to make a positive outcome, people could carry out surveys and workshops or community party.  This is an example local social action documentary film about racism in Croydon called ‘Is Croydon Racist’.  This campaign aims to bring about local change, and change attitudes, also it’s trying to create and strengthen community ties.  This documentary has used few fact and statistics to give information like charts, also series of videos of interviewing people from different age groups and occupations. I have chosen this video because I think it’s a serious topic and people still get quite sensitive about this topic, which means it still happens around. This Video is telling us about the general views of public of racism. The use of background music is likely to relaxing the topic a bit so it doesn't sound too plain and there's no sound effects added within the documentary so it's more realistic and formal. factual information and interviews are the main elements of this documentary and give audience what people's opinion and what is happening gradually in croydon in general.  

IS CROYDON RACIST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSBqO9_wQps

National Change is change within country, where issues are addressed to the people within the country so they can help and make a positive outcome. This campaign ‘Maisie’ is a short film about a real story of a family when a child is hit by severe mental health problems and been forcedly sent to Sheffield. This documentary is raising the awareness of the seriousness of mental illness, giving information and aiming to bring about national change. This documentary is trying to tell us the situation of poor mental health service.  I have chosen this video is because it makes feel sorry for those teenagers/children who suffered from badly mental illness and treated unfairly by government, I think more people should know what is the situation is like, and see if they can help with it.

MAISIE

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/video/maisie-film-the-vice-guide-to-mental-health-006

Global Change targets change around the world on certain issues that a lot of people might have strong feeling about this. This is a documentary introduces audience to a not known disease ALS, it tells us about how people are suffered from this disease by telling their life stories and providing us with fact information of how horrifying it progresses really fast and it’s incurable. This documentary is raising the awareness of the seriousness of ALS disease and bringing global change, the impact of this documentary is the globally spread of ice bucket challenge. Lots of celebrities had joined in the challenge and make it spread wider and wider. It’s a very successful campaign, which covered most countries of the world Includes western countries the UK, the USA and eastern countries China, North Korea and so on. I have chosen this documentary because it worked really well and I have actual idea how popular the ice bucket challenge has been because almost all the people are talking about it at that time. 

Breadth of hope : ALS Documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEYuG3vdufM

ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCoKB_tU9ng

9 October Homework

Strengths/Skills:

• Designing skills
• Good quality work
• IT skills
• Editing
• Able to gather information
• Creative

Weakness:

• lack of experience on web designing
• Not good at promoting in front of people

In order to complete this project,  I need to develop web design skills and basic coding skills so I get a better understand what the outcome would the client expected to see, also to get a better outcome. I also need to work on promotion process because I don't like talk in front of people.

The point needed to be negotiate is deadline of this project.

I think the missing part of this brief is the skill requirement and dates.

Unit 5 Working to a Brief

Contractual Brief

• You will have to sign it 
• It's descriptive

Negotiated Brief

• It's almost entirely up to the employee (client is open to ideas)
• get to use more of your creative vision

Formal Brief

• outlines the specifications of product or service
• well set out and structured in orderly manner
• formal language
• thoroughly explained
• may have the clients logo on it

Informal 

• doesn't have to be written 
• can just be a verbal agreement
• short piece of text
• often seen when dealing with friends 
• informal language

Commission Brief

• a client commissions a company to fulfill a brief
• ONLY given to a company who the client has relations with
• save time on looking for potential employees

Competition Brief

• opened to the public
• less money is spent on a product 
• get lots of ideas from wide range of people

Tender

• Similar to a competition brief
• open to outside COMPANIES
• 
  

Initial idea- Mobile Phone Overuse

Social Issue : Mobile phone addiction
Awareness of the issue

• Nomophobia (feel extremely hard without smartphones)
• Having their mobile devices with them most of the day
• Rely on mobile phone 

How it affects the community 

• Digital deadwalker -  put people on risk 
• The addicts are getting younger

Social Action documentary

Age range

Under 12                   13-16             17-21             22 and over

Gender

Male                Female

Do you have a smartphone?

Yes/no

If yes, what phone is it? (IPhone, Samsung, BlackBerrys etc.)

Do you have any idea that how long you’ve spent your time on it? (Per day)

1-2hrs                        3-4hrs                        5-6hrs                        7hrs and over

Can you try to not to using it on the next three days?

Yes

No (please state the reason)

Will you still use it if there’s NO remaining credit and NO Wi-Fi?

No

Yes (What will you use it for?

Summary of Final idea

What is your topic?

My documentary is going to be about mobile phone addiction, the reason I choose to focusing on this
topic because it impacts people in all ages' life in both mental and physical aspects. People have spent way too much time/money on mobiles to socialising with friends, playing mobile games or just wanted to get a good expensive smart phone and do whatever they want.

What do you aim to achieve with your documentary?

I am aiming to raise the awareness of the dangerousness of overusing mobiles and motivates their desires to control the time they spend on mobiles.

Initial Research

Mobile phone addiction

Why you interested in the topic?

• I am interested in this topic because it happens everyday in my life and I can see people use mobile phone almost everywhere. 

Why are some of the key issues relating to the topic?

• Cannot be concentrated on study or work
• Cause of laziness
• Mental problems : dependence syndrome
• Affect physical health 

Identify 5 groups people and/or organisation that could be interviewed for the documentary

• Teenagers,
• Children,
• Parents, 
• Teachers, 

Teenage Gangs

Why you interested in the topic?

• I am interested in this topic because there are so many cases you can found on the news, I have a strong willing to change it because I am very annoyed by them. 

Why are some of the key issues relating to the topic?

• Crime
• Robbery
• Public facilities damages
• Noises

Identify 5 groups people and/or organisation that could be interviewed for the documentary

• Neighbours
• School Teachers
• Business owners around the area
• School students
• Parents

NOTES

• looking for new ways to reach audience 
• action plans
• clear, immediate and effective options

Case study 2: KONY 2012 PART II

The purpose of Kony 2012 part 2 is to raise awareness of that Kony was still out there with his army. Also to bring about global changes and strengthen community ties. It provides us information that the result of their action. It's a very persuasive documentary.
This campaign was quite good, but it is not as effective as the first KONY film. There's a lot of factual information has been given in this film, which is quite convincing. I think it lack of detailed real life stories, and it doesn't sound persuasive. The content of film was a bit of repetitive, it's more likely a report then a documentary. It's quite suggestive, they are trying to get people get into actions but I am not sure it's going to work well because I personally don't feel very persuaded by it.
When I first watched this film. I was quite excited at the beginning then I kind of got bored of it. In the middle part of this film I felt sorry for those kids who were abducted.

18/09/2015- The purpose of Social Action and Community Media

The purpose

1. To bring about local, national and global change
2. To change attitudes
3. To raise awareness
4. To create access to media production to non traditional groups
5. To challenge dominant representations and agendas
6. To create and strengthen community ties
7. To provide information
8. To campaign (work in an organised and active towards a goal 
9. To change voting behaviour 
10. To infiltrate mainstream media
11. To build relationship with subject

1. Homelessness

Which of the list of purpose apply?

To raise awareness of homeless, to change attitudes to homeless and to provide information

To strenghten community ties

What is this media form trying to tell us/make us do?

it is persuading us to help homelessness

what emotional techniques do you think they have used and why?

using fact and statistics, images of the situation that homeless people are facing/images of homeless people  and real life stories of homelessness and music

2. Food for thought 
Which of the list of purpose apply?

To change attitude,  to bring about local change and to build relationship with subject 

What is this media form trying to tell us/make us do?

It is trying to tell us not to be greedy.

what emotional techniques do you think they have used and why?

The background music 

3. The Controller
Which of the list of purpose apply?

to raise awareness, to change attitude, to challenge dominant representations and agendas.

What is this media form trying to tell us/make us do?

It's trying to tell us that you are the controller of your own life 

what emotional techniques do you think they have used and why?

the music and set in real life situation , to appealing a thought

4. 
Which of the list of purpose apply?

What is this media form trying to tell us/make us do?

what emotional techniques do you think they have used and why?

Case study: KONY 2012

The purpose of Kony 2012 video is to raise the awareness of Joseph Kony's Crime and promote the Charity 'Invisible Children' and to encourage young people to be brave to take action to what they want to do and what they can do with those children suffering under Kony's LRA on the other side of world :Uganda.
I think this campaign is very effective as a social action documentary. The video is very persuasive, the evidence has given in the video and emotions shows through the whole video. The real life stories of Jacob do affect the video and the way the creator described how his own life linked to Kony, and made young people feel involved by showing their powerful voices. In addition, They've also made people do believe that they can change things and things already get changed, by showing the timelines, letters from Barrack Obama, it just give us the encouragement to try our best and to join them.
When I first watched this video, I was shocked and feel sorry for these children because I just know about this campaign and I got the idea of 'Invisible Children', there are lots of people like me who still not know about who is Kony and what he did. I was also pleased that at least there was someone who discovered this and trying to get the message across globally. I would like to help this charity because they evidence they've showed us is saying it's worth to join them.