My Documentary Proposal

My Idea

The documentary that I wish to produce would be focused on the local efforts of sustainability in my area (Glastonbury and more broadly speaking, Somerset). It shall be an observatory and expository documentary, as in it, there will not only be an exploration of the ideas and values of other people, but there shall be an agenda pushed on my audience, one that spurs them on to get involved in doing something good in their community. Ultimately, I would like for the documentary to end with an open-ended question, I want the audience to make their own mind up on how they see smaller and less talked-about efforts at sustainability, which poses the question, "how do you see it?" or "is it worth trying?"

My Target Audience

When it comes to my target audience, I wish to focus on the more environmentally-conscious individuals among us, whilst also finding a gap in the market, more specifically those who are less conscious and may fall under the label of "mainstreamer" when using the "4 C's" method of audience categorisation as I personally tend to find that it is either the much younger or much older generations that have an interest in sustainability and sustainable living, however I do not see much coverage of such a subject being presented by people in adulthood, from the ages of around 21-40. Perhaps this is due to the fact that as younger people in current times, we are warned more about what the future could look like and the concept of living with a smaller carbon footprint is presented to my generation, in the hope that we can at least delay the warming of our globe.

Older generations on the other hand may be perceived to be more dismissive, as climate change is not something that they were taught about at a young age when we are much more impressionable, imaginative and also easier to scare. However, with such age does come an empathy from some older people, who want the new generation to have a good world to grow up in and not suffer the consequences of actions that they have seen take place, which have had a lasting effect on our world. Perhaps seeing the polarity between how much less insects there are, how much less clear the air is and the much less steady and predictable the nature of our weather is in current times, instigates an empathetic response, one which aims to better the future of our younger generations by fighting climate change. This is why I want to go down the middle and find a gap in the market by hitting the majority of people, generally being 21-40 years of age, also those who tend to have the most power in the world and are all of prime working-age. I perceive 21-40 year olds as people who really should be more aware of climate change, I see them as the most financially active, the most able and the most busy, but also the least informed, thus I wish to appeal to this demographic with my documentary.

Research

Taking a look at other documentaries, as well as other documentary styles is a fundamental step to producing a documentary and getting a feel for not only the target audience, but the right approach to take when deducting how the documentary should for example, make the viewer feel, or get its message across. Studying audience types which watch similar types of documentaries to the one that the producer wants to make, helps to reference the audience with the media product and make the connections to succeed in implementing the appropriate conventions and techniques to make the documentary viewer-friendly for your desired audience.

Apart from research to do with producing a documentary, as the producer one must also focus on what is available to showcase, especially in my case where I am looking at local organisations and individuals who are passionate about aiding in the remedying of the climate crisis. Research which involves surveying the local area for organisations, groups and individuals who do their bit to create a more sustainable world is very important and will not only help in supplying facts and information, but line up potential interviews as well.

Production

I plan for my documentary to include interviews, facts, information and statistics, discussions and interviews as well as footage of climate action in action. The structure of the documentary will be inspired by Michael Moore's work, humanising the producer(s) behind the documentary and keeping the whole production grounded, as I want sustainability to feel accessible and close-to-home rather than far away and inaccessible. Everyone can be sustainable in some way or another, even just by putting their litter in the bin and this is what I am wanting to put across to the audience.

I plan to rent out media kit from my college and use it to film everything I have mentioned, as well as use my own editing skills on software such as iMovie and Premiere Pro to compose the footage into a documentary once in its entirety. I also plan to make my own soundtrack for the documentary, like most documentaries, music will not have a huge part to play and will be subtle, with music playing sparsely through the production, however I would still like to implement this skill of mine into the final product.

Evaluation

To conclude and to summarise, I want this documentary to showcase how being sustainable is not always a complete change in one's lifestyle or anything too unfamiliar. Aiming for the "mainstreamer" and the "reformer" I want the documentary to prove that sustainability is nothing threatening and nothing to fear, rather it is the solution to something that we should fear which is climate change. By showcasing the smaller and less-pronounced efforts of sustainability, no matter how thorough or casual, the fact that sustainability can be and more often than not is, simple and easy, can be pushed into the limelight.