A2 Media Studies | Documentary Planning: Synopsis

The documentary which me and Tom intend on making is an overview into the reality of school life and what it's about. Initially the documentary was sought to cater towards an older demographic such as parents though however upon several responses to surveys which me and Tom created we found that our audience/demographic is mostly identified as digital, free-spirited and creative. Whilst it may target parents who can relate to this identification of our audience, it's mostly targeted towards a younger demographic which covered ages ranging 15-20 years.

A total of 13 people responded to a survey that me and Tom created which highlighted our demographic and both of us have discussed the possibility of including the following in our documentary:

• Provision of information with use of voice overs and editing (text showing up on screen) - Most people reflected on information and learning when answering a question linking to Blumler and Katz's 'Uses and Gratifications' theory.
• Interviews with different types of people throughout the school e.g. teachers, staff, students etc.
• Fly on the wall footage (CCTV styled footage, a high angle shot of everything that's going on in the setting). This in particular could highlight what will occur within one of the interviews, for example an interview with a teacher, it could highlight students misbehaving throughout the school or how students overall are doing in the school because it would provide more information for the tribe wired and fun/atics demographic which me and Tom perceive that we have for our documentary, based on the questionnaire feedback.
• A variety of camera shots - Shows more of the school and allows for people to reflect on information and learning as they'll get to know what a secondary school in the United Kingdom looks like.
• Different settings such as a corridor in the school, a teacher's office and during a lesson - More locations were put into consideration during the location recce. (Reflected on a survey which received 4 responses at most)
• Different music for the documentary - Whilst the music for the mock up documentary fits well, me and Tom discussed the possibility of finding any other songs which fit well with the scenes in the documentary.

Some of these considerations were picked from answers which were picked most throughout the survey and there's a lot of content which me and Tom could add to the documentary from this. The documentary will not only show the life of people in school in the United Kingdom though however it will show what the school looks like and how people work and act in a busy working environment.