Programme Proposal - Documentary

Director

THAHEEMA
KHATUN

Date

Programme
Subject
Provisional Title

Mental Illness
What do the mad think of the
sane

Rationale
Target audience:
Age
Gender
Lifestyle Grouping
Social Class

Overall theme:
What is the basic
underlying message?

What does it need to say

about?
People
Situations
The world we live in

The age range of my target audience is 16-25-yearold because I believe that younger people have
more of an understanding of whats right and wrong.
As it is more to do with there personal feeling
towards a subject like Mental Illness. This is because
the majority will perceive the elders (more likely the
parents) as they are sometimes prejudice towards
anything thats new. Therefore, this is more likely for
the younger generation not to make the same
mistakes. Never the less when they get older theyll
be more exposed to different opinions and this
means theyll be more likely to see the intellectual,
moral sides to things and if these are social trends.
This is because the younger generations are more
likely to question the things that theyre doing.
Even though this documentary will have more
women than men I will make this gender natural
with facts about men and women.
I wont be looking at the lifestyle grouping as much
because the research that I have done shows that it
doesnt matter if you have nothing or something
mental illness will affect you one way or another.
The social class that I want really tackle in this
documentary is the working class as they are more
exposed to stress with a job as well as trying to get
benefit for their child or themselves.
(IVE GONE IN MORE DEATIAL ABOUT MY TARGET
AUDIENCE ON PREZI).
The underlying message of my documentary will be
about how a person with a mental illness view the
world and how easy or hard it is to do the simple
task that a normal person wouldnt have a
problem. I want to emphasis that a person with a
mental illness can come out in the other end better
an average person.
This documentary will highlight the people in this
documentary as being normal and people with the
mental illness would almost be mad. This is
because I want to make this documentary about
how a person with a mental illness view the world,
almost putting myself in their shoes.

How long will it last:

How will the programme be
seen:
On television
On the internet
On DVD

What research did you do?

To help you understand
the subject area and
identify narrative
opportunities

Constraints:
Legal
Ethical
Representation

This will show also demonstrate how other people

recognize the illness and how people with the
profession help the person who are suffering in their
head.
This documentary is to remove the stigma around
mental illness as it has been glamorized in the
society because it what we think and not anything
physical. The aim is to destroy the stigma around
the mental illness. Also, show how the world is more
accepting and more helpful to people with this type
of mental illness. The help.
5-7 minutes
Due to my target audience, this will be shown on
the internet as social media is dominating the world
and it more acceptably to everyone. This is because
they would be able to watch it whenever they want
and not be tied down to one time and one day that
this documentary is going to be shown. Therefore,
this documentary will be on YouTube as it is easier
for my audience to access it. There will be
promotions on other social network such as,
Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
The research that I conduct is that I did a lot of
qualitative research to help my understanding of
how a documentary is made. For example, I
analyzed multiple of documentary and saw what
they key elements that they had that I could inspire
from. I looked on how I can be objective, subjective
and impartial whilst doing the presenting part of my
documentaries by looking how new report is
reported. This is because BBC news are always
objective and never have a prejudice way of
explaining the news. The other research that I did
was I looked at the codes and conventions of
documentary. I also did some survey about what the
public thinks about my idea and that I got some
feedback from them as well. Lastly, I went on
websites such as NSH and Charites that help in the
area so I could have more of an understanding.
The legal aspect of my documentary is that the I will
ask and give credit to anything that I have used that
I did not create. Such as music and any editing
effect that I have used. The ethical aspect of this
documentary is that I will be always asking these
questions: How to portray the subjects of the film?
What to shoot and what not to shoot? How to edit
so that the film is true to its topic and subjects, yet
also works as a compelling story for the audiences?
To make sure that I dont disturb any ethical issues.
Lastly, the representation of how I portray a person

will dont be manipulated to make my documentary

more interesting, since, I will be using the clip as
they come.

Treatment
Synopsis:
What is the overall story?
What happens in each
segment?
How are segments tied
together

Setting:
Location/Environment the
film is being recorded in

Narrative structure:
Linear or non-linear
Single or multi strand
Open or closed narrative
Documentary Genre:
Reality
Fly on the wall
Investigative Journalism
Dramatic Reconstruction
Animated/Graphics led

Tone:

The overall story of my documentary is explaining

what a person with a mental illness does in their
everyday life, following the around on what they
find challenging. Also, to get their view point on
what they felt like during the points when they
werent diagnosed with their mental illness and how
that affected them. I will be following their story and
using that to take me to finish the documentary.
In each segment, there will be 3 sets of interviews,
which will be talking heads. Within that there will be
cut away of scenes to tie the segment together and
to make it flow naturally. There will be one or two
reconstruction of a mood/event that happened. I will
be trying recreate that. Lastly, I want to have a tour
of the experts facility such as the charity.
The environment where the documentaries will be
filmed in is in their homes. This is because the
audience can get a sense of connection and see
how well or bad they are doing in their lives. This
gives the sense of they are opening the world into
the conversation. This is one main thing that I want
to desperately get across is that this is a
conversation and the audience is being apart of it.
The narrative structure of the documentary will be
linear type of documentary. With at least two
cameras involved this is because I want more than
one shot of an angle so it gives it more of dimension
to the documentary and give the audience to see it
in all angle as if the audience was there.
The aim of this documentary is to show the reality of
a mental illness and educate the audience about
what it is actually like having a mental illness (giving
them an insight). The people in the documentary
are not aware of the camera will do this so like the
audience are the fly on the wall. This is because it
showing an everyday person whom the audience
wouldnt know that they had some sort of health
problem. Also this is going to have an Investigative
Journalism feel to It because the journalist will be
asking question and trying to understand their point
of view because Ill be trying to get that point of
view across.
During the interviews, I do want it to be a serious
tone as it is a serious topic, which in this society

Serious
Light Hearted

Narration:
Presenter in vision
Presenter as voice over
Participant commentary
Pace:
Fast - to build excitement
Slow - to provide depth
Camera work:
Use a Tripod
Hand Held
How will you use camera
moves?
What kind of camera
angles will you use
Look:
Colour
Black & White
High or Low
Resolution
Studio
On location
Montage
Found footage
How you will use lighting:
Available Light
Brightly lit
Mood lit
Sound:
Sync-sound
Voiceover/music mix
Music
Sound effects
Scene Transitions:
Cut between scenes
Cross-fade scenes
Fade to black
Use captions

over looked. Therefore, I want to bring back to

reality of this topic. However, when the presenter
(me) is talking to the camera or directing them
around the facility and places it will have a lighter
approach to it. This because I do not want to make it
intense and dramatic to watch.
The presenter will be in vision because she/he will
be expressing their views as well as the interviewee.
To give the difference of an opinion. The presenter
will also be in the voice over as well as the other
people in the documentary.
Slow because this is a serious topic that needs
people to be educated on so the information will
slowly build up when the documentary progress. So,
it doesnt seem like there is a lot of information
hitting the audience at once.
For the interviews, I will be using a tripod, as it is a
sit down talking head.
When Im walking around and talking directly to the
camera itd be hand held because it be more
personal.

The documentary will be in colour because it wants

the visuals to look very clean and so people can
recognize the places. The depending on the shot the
resolution will be different but for the most parts of
the documentary I want the resolution to be high.
The filming of my documentary will be on the
location because I feel like this will help the
audience connect with the people in the
documentary. There will also be found footages as it
go towards the cutaways.
The lighting that I will use is the built-up light in the
camera and I will also use any available light that
there is but it depends on the lighting of the
locations.
The sounds that I will be using in my documentary
are the voice over and the use music underneath
the voice over and the diegetic sound. These is
because using music underneath the diegetic
sounds because it breaks it up a bit and make it a
bit more less intense.
The scene transition is going to be cut between
scenes because it would more to the visual so there
isnt just talking head in them.

Misc:
Any factors not covered
above

N/A

Resources Required
Production
Factor
Locations

Item

Source

Cost

Clarence Arcade 31
Stamford street

Thaheema Khatun
and Amber
Winspear will be
making there own
way there as it is
very close to
Clarendon Six
Form College and
this is where
everyone would
meet to leave.
This is where the
majority of the
interview would
be shot.

109 Stamford
drive,
Stalybridge,
Cheshire
51 Tower Street,
Hyde, Cheshire
Performers

Emma Reedy
Victoria Collier
Melissa Collier

Crew

Amber Winspear
Amber Garland
Melissa Collier
Thaheema
Khatun
DSLR Camera
600d Canon
Camera X2
Tripod X2

Equipment

Costume

There are no
costume required
because the
actors and
interviewees are
going to be

Returned

Gathere
d
2

providing it
themselves.

Props

Note book
Pen

Production Schedule
Stage

Done By

Script First Draft

Script Final Draft
Recce Reports

15/11/2016
15/11/2016
22/11/2016, 24/11/2016, 2/12/16, and
5/12/16
17 October 2016
27/11/2016
06/12/2016
05/12/2016
06/12/2016

Storyboarding
Shot List
Casting
Permissions
Recording
Schedule
Recording
Rough Cut Edit
Fine Cut Edit
Presentation

22/11/2016, 24/11/2016, 2/12/16, and

5/12/16
7/12/2016
8/12/2016
16/12/2016

Client Sign Off

Date
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016
16/12/2016