Starting to Film Properly

Today we were able to begin filming properly. We got various sixth formers and some that had recently left to give us their thoughts on stereotypes.

We came up with a proper list of questions first thing and printed the pictures ready.

We used the studio to film three interviews. After the first one, we watched it back and analysed how we could improve it.

More documentary planning

Don was in again this morning so we split up into the two groups. Don's group are focusing on those that challenge stereotypes and mine are looking at what the stereotypes are to begin with.

We came up with some ideas for what to film:

1. A montage of key words associated with those stereotypes to begin the documentary, such as 'black, asian, white' for the basics and then groups such as 'chavs, goths, geeks' and derogatory words for some such as 'hoodrat' and 'bimbo'.
2. We discussed doing vox pops but having people grouped with their friends in an environment they are comfortable in so they are more likely to be relaxed and honest and bounce off each other's comments. We thought it would be good to have boys together, then girls separately. Also in different racial or religious groups.
3. We came up with a plan to print off pictures of different types of people and ask the groups to comment on them. For example, have pictures of black boys in hoodies or a girl with skimpy clothes or another who dresses like a boy.

We watched some other documentaries made by amateurs on YouTube for more ideas. One we saw that was quite effective was made by primary school children including a boy who liked to wear pink and a girl who liked to dress like a boy and play sport. This we thought was interesting, to show how gender stereotyping starts very early on. Another one we saw included toys targeted at girls and boys, such as dolls and cooking things. It also featured young children being interviewed about gender roles which was very interesting. We have decided to try and approach a primary school to see if we can film the children.

We noticed that those that included presenters often had them trying to read a script which looked awkward. We have decided a voice-over would be better, as we will have different people filming each segment anyway, so can't have one presenter throughout.

Othert things that were achieved included producing the storyboard, devising questions for interviews, finding the pictures of different types of people and emailing people to see if they will be willing to be filmed.