Title: A memories worth a thousand pictures
Tag line: Here’s my favorite photo. What’s yours?
Synopsis: A documentary about people and there favourite photograph.
I wanted to make a documentary about people and there favourite photos. It doesn’t necessarily have to be film it could be photos and sound. It inspired by some of my favourite photographs. This project has come right the way through my summer research. I had the idea in the summer holidays and have begun to develop it in research.
Inspiration
My inspiration for this project mostly came from my favourite photos and the story behind those photos. I also took alot of my inspiration from Jonathan Lees Maritime project. This is the project where Jonathan Lee got to know people in Birmingham that have a love of the coast. This is interesting because Birmingham is the most land locked city in the UK.
I took inspiration from this idea because I liked the way that he presented it, in pictures and in sound. I’m not sure yet as to whether I would present my work in pictures and sound or whether I would present it in a video format.
I also took his idea of putting out leaflets to try and get a different age range of people. I would ask at my church and also in other places to see if I could get different age ranges of people. I think that it is important to get a different age range to see what age range like each which kind of photos. I also think that this makes for more interesting viewing.
Research
I wanted to look at some of the facts behind this:
Facebook: The networking site facebook has over 14 million pictures uploaded everyday.
Statistics from: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/facebook5.htm, Author: Jonathan Strickland, site visited: 09/12/08 14.43.
I wanted to look up this factor because so many people upload pictures into facebook there must be something to photograph. I think that there may be people on facebook that wish to share that favourite photograph through facebook. Sites like facebook are great for people sharing photos that they love. I also think that it is a good place to start when looking for a favourite photo. There must be something to photograph if all these people are taking photos of things. The difference between facebook and other photo sharing sites is that there is no limit to the amount of photos that people can upload and that is why people like uploading their pictures onto this site.
I also thought that I should research other documentaries of a similar time frame and nature. Seeing as I was looking at BBC 2 for my documentary I thought I would look at documentaries that have been on this channel and what makes them different.
Stephen Fry’s HIV and Me
A documentary that was shown on BBC 2 exploring the past and looking into how HIV and AIDS affect us today. It is Stephen Fry looking at how today’s modern practices on sexual behaviour affect the way we as a modern culture look at these diseases. This modern documentary use the form of celebrity to get people to be intrested in it.
This documentary like many others on BBC 2 has presenter and has someone throughout the programme that people can relate to. I do not believe that my documentary has that, therefore it may not fit into this time slot.
Looking at my film compared to docuementaries like this one, I don’t think it does fit into that time slot. It does not have anyone to relate to through this piece and therefore may not be peoples first choice of docuementary. It is not the sort of documentary that would go well on the television. It is much more likely to be an exhibition piece.
I then went onto look at 4 Docs to see if this would be a more relevant and useful way of getting my work shown.
4 Docs
(http://blogs.channel4.com/fourdocs/ website visited: 17:36 15/01/2009) I wanted to look at some of the documentaries that appear on this channel to see if this would better fit my style of documentary. The three minitue wonder does make more sense for a docuementary with no narrator as without anyone to narrot it the documentary could seem long and boring and therefore would not need to be any longer then 3 minutes.
The only problem that I would have with this is the lack of time for people to share the stories. Therefore I am not sure that 3 minutes would be enough. I am not sure that there would really be enough time to present it in the way I would like in just 3 minutes.
Pitch
My final project is a documentary piece on people and their favourite photos and the story behind those photos.
- Finance. I don’t think budget for this will be very big as we can get all the equipment we need from the media loan shop, whether it be digital SLR cameras or whether it be Sony PD170 cameras. There may be a small cost for advertising and printing leaflets. We may also need to compensate people for mileage and any travel expenses occurred etc.
- Logistics. The logistics may not be that difficult either although it may involve getting equipment to peoples houses which may prove difficult depending on how far away there houses are. The group should be able to carry out all things that need to be done and this will mean less cost as we wont have to pay anyone to come in and do it for us.
- Technical Resources. I think all that the technical equipment that we need we should be able to get out of the loan shop. The only thing that may course us difficulties is a digital SLR camera. This is because the ones that we the loan shop has are not the best quality and we may need one for longer then the loan shop can offer it to us.
- Human Resources. I will need people to be my crew, I will probably need a camera man and a person to do sound, I can do the interviews and the photography myself. I will also need to find the people that I am going to interview this will require me sending out leaflets. I will also need someone to edit as I am unable to do this myself.
- Experiance and ability of the crew. I am hoping that the crew will know how to use the equipment. I am hoping that people will wish to join me in making this project as I would rather not do it alone.
- Time. It will be possible to produce this work in the given timescale. It should not require alot of time if we get on finding people to interview straight away.
- Output. The final project may be displayed at exhibitions and other event such as film festivals. I would also like to do the photography piece so that I can display it in an exhibition.
Target audience
My target audience for this project are the age range that watch documentaries or attend exhibitions. The target audience is older then most. ranging from about 25- 44. This is the target audience for BBC 2 documentaries. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/network/genres/docs.shtml Website viewed: 10:49 15/01/2009) My documentary would be on BBC 2 probably between the times of 9 and 10 on a weekday night. Either this or it would be on BBC 4 where they find challenging documentaries to put on. (see link above) I think it will appeal to audiences on BBC 2 because it is not cutting edge enough to make BBC 1 but it would appeal to that audience the BBC said is their main target audience for BBC 2.
I started to look at the kind of audience that would watch something on BBC 2 at the time of day that I stated. I think that my piece is much more likely to be a exhibition piece instead of a television piece, as it does not fit into the usual conventions of this type of programme. My programme could come under the Channel 4 3 minute wonder section though as they do not always have narrators running all throughout them. (http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/F/fourdocs/about.html website viewed: 17:14 15/01/09) This is an explanation about what a 4 Doc is. I think that it could be a good opportunity to get my worked aired where it wouldn’t normally be.
Change of idea
I have decided to change my idea from a film piece to a radio piece. I think that I can make a good piece sort of like Desert island disks which would invovle guest coming into the studio and talking about there photos on air. This could be an interesting challenge as obviously they would have to describe what is going on in the picture. It would also challenge my skills as an interviewer. I could distribute it on you tube along with a set of pictures that show the pictures so the sound would go over the pictures. It could also be distributed as an enhanced podcast. So that people could see the pictures as well as having the audio experiance. I will look at relvant things including enhanced podcasts I know about and other radio 4 shows that I find relevant to the programme also other programmes that I believe that I can take an intrest in.
Radio Plans
I have now changed my idea completly we were thinking about doing Kids Radio. The idea that We had was to create a kids Radio programme that could come on to the radio between 8 and 9 in the morning when the children are on there way to school. The original plan was to have it running for the whole hour but at second thought we now think that this is too long. We also decided that we could split the Hour into 10 or 5 mins segements so that we could keep there interest, we also decided that each segement would be split up by having 90 second travel news so that the parents listening can get what you want from the hour of kids shows. Most parents listen to the radio on the way to school to find out the travel news and also the national news we could fill the gaps between segements with what the adults want.
Provisional Timing
The idea would be that there is a segement would run for 10 minitues and the you would have travel so the timing would look like this:
8 O’ Clock- 9 minitues segement
News and travel news- 2 mins
8.11- 8 Mins segement
News and travel news- 2 mins
8. 21- 8 Mins Segement
News and travel news- 2 mins
8.31- 8 Mins segement
News and travel news- 2 mins
8.41- 8 Mins segement
News and travel news- 2 mins
8.51- 8 Mins segement
News and travel news- 2 mins
this is only provisional timing and will be changed as the programme is developed.
Final Project pitch
Project idea
Project Title: Kids Radio (working title)
Pitch
Craft in a few sentences the essence of your proposal for the project
A breakfast time radio show for 4-6 year olds. To entertain and inform young children during the commute to school or nursery, and to be played by nurseries for fun as the children arrive. The show will include nursery rhymes, songs, stories and interactive features. It will be broadcast between 8 and 9 o’clock Monday through to Friday. An ideal outlet would be radio four as most cars have access to this station. An alternative would be radio seven as the show could follow its already existing children’s slot. The show will be split into ten minute slots so the audience can dip in and out without feeling out of the loop.
Needs/Audience
What user need does your proposal meet (even if this need not yet recognised by the user)? What itch does it scratch and why is that itch important? Who is it targeted at?
The need that this programme meets is that of a radio show designed to listen to on the way to school. It was designed to fill a gap that we felt we had in our lives when we were little that on the way to school we would listen to the radio to on the way to school to get the travel news or to get the news about school openings but everything other then that on the radio was boring. We felt that there would be a market for a programme that educates and entertains kids on the way to school as well as informing the parents of any potential problems. We also felt that it might keep the kids entertained in the car and relive some stress of the parents.
Approach
How do you propose to address these needs creatively, technically; in terms of communication, community; and otherwise? How will you make a significant impact?
We are looking at doing different segments; we have looked at the segments that would be appropriate for that age range. We have looked at possibly doing a nursery rhyme segment as they have no copyright. We have also looked at going into schools and getting the pupils to tell some jokes to get them more involved in the process of making there own radio show. We have looked at doing travel sections at the begging and end of each segment as well so that the radio for fills the purpose that the adults wish it to fill. The whole thing would be combined into one show that would be broadcast from the studio and although a lot of the programme would come from elsewhere it would all be combined in the studio. We are also trying to make that the show slightly educational so that the adults know that the kids are also getting something out of it. Possibly including some sort of counting game.
Research
What have you been inspired by, what has influenced you? How is your project going to different and better?
We have looked at possible outputs for this type of show focusing on BBC radio 4 and BBC radio 7 as these are really the only two radio stations that do this sort of thing and also they are the only outputs of Kids radio. We also are looking into the history of radio. This really inspired us to do a radio project. The research has helped us to better understand what we want to do for the project and why we want to do it. It also helped us to look at the market for this type of programme for kids. Currently there is no programme like this on the BBC however there are bedtime story programmes which we have looked into. These programmes are particularly on BBC radio 7. There is defiantly a market for this type of programme the parents that we have asked about it already seem to agree that it would be good for there children.
Resources: Give an indication of the type of resources that you will need: Human, technical and budget.
The human resource will not be that great as we will probably only need myself and Louise to record most of the segments and we can both help out in the studio. The technical resource is a bit more difficult as we will need the radio studio on a regular basis to practice and then to record the actual project itself. We will also need to do some travelling with marantz because the school we are planning to go to for some of the segments will be in Bristol. We are looking at a possible budget of about £100 each with travel expenses etc
Radio Research
A history of radio
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday was the begging of radio during his life in the late 1700 and early 1800. Without his work on electricity we would not have the radio today as we know it. He discovered a seires of electro magnetic pulses. He only started these experiments and they were not finished before he died in 1867. But this was the begging of radio as we know it. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/faraday_michael.shtml Site Visited: 01 Febuary 2009 13:04)
James Clark Maxwell
James Clark Maxwell carried on the work of Faraday after his death.
Radio Programme
Logo Design
This logo is designed to represent fun to the children. Obivously this is only a provisional logo and will require some more research into kids logos before it can be approved. I think that this logo will work well because it is colourful and exciting. I also like that font that it is in. I want to put the kids behind the logo but this proved hard to do as I don’t have photoshop on my computer at home. I will try to do some editing on this pitcure later when I have access to Photoshop.
