BBC Three Online ‘Make me think’

Social Media and its effects- short film

Laura Dalaimo

Outline of Production: I will be making a short film to show life from the perspective of a
teenager who is affected by social media, in contrast to another teenager of the same age, who
is not affected. I hope to show the way that teenagers are affected differently, and to what
extent.

Order: My short film will start with a teenager waking up in bed, and immediately picking
up their phone. They will come across a message from another teenager of the same age,
which is not a nice message to receive. Their pictures will have lots of likes and comments.
The camera will then switch, to see the view of the ‘well liked teen’, who is sitting in their
bedroom, taking lots of pictures of themselves. The film will go on to show how the first
teenager is affected by this, and begins to dislike their own looks because of this. They look
through the weight loss adverts online, and change their eating habits to become more like
these people they see online. Midway, we switch back to the second teen, who is shown to be
unhappy, and editing the pictures of themselves before posting it online, this shows that they
try to maintain this perfect life, although things may be far from perfect. At the end of the
production, the two teens will walk past each other in the street, and the first teen will
recognise the other one, and see how she looks different to what she posts online. This shows
that although the second teenager may have a stronger presence online and a bigger
following, they aren’t confident enough to truly be themselves. The first teenager will post a
picture of the real them online, the version of themselves that is well liked, and realises that
there are things more important in life than followers and likes.

The production targets the chosen audience by: (according to research and focus groups)
showing youth that others may feel the same way as them, and that they need to be more
confident in who they are, instead of putting on a façade to get likes and followers online. It
also shows the teens not affected directly, that their actions, cyberbullying in particular, can
affect others negatively. It also highlights what could be going on to parents.

Add your deadlines

Items Date
Stop Motion Friday 27th November
Short Film Friday 18th December

THC Vibe Productions

BBC Three Online ‘Make me think’

THC Vibe Productions