Here is an improved version of my original Statement of Intent draft.
Product 1:
I want my documentary to interest and appeal to my target demographic of socially conscious 16-25 year olds. To do this I need to take into account the areas of media theoretical framework including language, audience, industry and representation when creating my products as well as covering areas interesting to them. As this documentary is for BBC 3 I also need to remember their remit, which is is to inform, educate, and entertain. I can definitely incorporate the first two into my documentary video in terms of facts and expanding the audiences knowledge. My documentary is going to be focused on mental health and sports together, and how physical activity can help someone if they're struggling. Mental Health is a subject that I believe to be very important and should be spoken about more often, and I feel that this age group could take interest in this. The reason for this is because of the growing awareness that it is taking over social medias, and recent generations in particular showing they want to help. In recent years stereotypes are continuously being challenged and so many people are willing to talk about it, and even their own personal struggles. An example of this could be the hashtag started around a year ago #werehereforyou, holding 24.3k posts on Instagram, 150.8k on TikTok, and more across other platforms like Twitter. Mental Health problems are most likely to effect everyone in some way, whether it's themselves or someone close to them. Linking to Stuart Halls Reception Theory, my preferred reading for this documentary would be for people to gain a wider understanding that participating in sports, doesnt just benefit you physically, but also mentally and emotionally. I plan to include a wide range of shot types and locations within my documentary as through my research I found that most documentaries do this. Jesy Nelsons Odd One Out used a wide range of both shot types and locations throughout even just the first few minutes of watching, and it can become really powerful in emphasising certain moments. For example, wide scene shots with voice over, or extreme close ups at times of emotional climax. Then having different locations can help to tell a story and match up with narration almost like 'throwbacks'. I think that my younger audience will be interested also because the main 'subject/talent' of the documentary is young too. This may give them more to relate too when watching.
Product 2:
I think that having a website as a second product allows me to include more conventions and encourage more interaction with the audience. From my research, I realised that not many documentaries have accompanying websites, but not only does this make my website unique, it also can allow me to use it differently - and focus it largely on educating. Even though there aren't many documentary websites, I have found from my audience research that the 16-25 year old target audience spend a lot of time online, and a large amount of their information is found from the internet. Therefore, this gives me an opportunity to make it something that they would be likely to engage with. From my focus group, which all fit in the same age category - the most used social media platform was Instagram, so I can provide links to social medias like the people featured in the documentary, as well as for sports accounts and mental health platforms linking to the focus of the documentary itself. Another thing that I could do is create a hashtag as this could stretch across multiple platforms - like the previously mentioned #werehereforyou. Including social media accounts on the website is current and necessary for the young target audience as they are most likely to use those platforms regularly, and would be more likely to engage in that. The website can be used to promote the 'star' of the documentary and their own platform, but I aim for it to for the most part be focusing on mental health and raising awareness on that. I think that a way to add on the interaction could be allowing audiences to 'submit' their own stories, or questions, or something similar to this that can be shared with everyone. Providing audience interaction fulfils part of the BBC 3 remit which is to 'entertain' their audience, and this also links to Henry Jenkins theory by encouraging audience interaction and participation. Even though this documentary has a serious topic, I want the website to be more light hearted and welcoming for anyone. Lastly, intertextuality is something that I am going to include within the website. An example of something that I could do for this would be linking the main stars Spotify playlist, or her favourite uplifting podcasts that she listened to.
I also need to link each of my products together. Way I will do this are by keeping the same typography and colour palette throughout. This is similar to what BBC 3 do by having a pink colour palette on all of their web pages - including for seperate documentaries. Although there won't be much text on the documentary, it can be kept the same for the main title when it appears in the opening sequence, and on the website. I will also include images on the website from places filmed at in the documentary, and may even have a gallery of photos. Also the audio visual could be filmed in a place that was also used in the documentary, to continue a link of the two together. Another thing that I could do is make extensive use of logos, hashtags, etc, to remind the audience that they are both one.
