Formal Proposal for Documentary

TopicThe theme we wish to explore in our documentary is the rising popularity of coffee in the UK; the importance of organisations such as Fairtrade the introduction of more and more large, chain coffee shops to combat the nation’s thirst; and the impact of these companies on the country’s smaller family-run business and, following Starbuck’s recent tax problems, the economy as a whole.

Type Of DocumentaryOur documentary will be filmed in a mixed documentary format combining interviews, archive footage, reconstructions, and narration to present a clear, informative, but entertaining 30 minute film, exploring the topic and showing the audience an exposition which will hopefully enlighten them as to the true extent of this everyday drink.

Style Of DocumentaryWe hope to produce a documentary that is typical of the formal style, using basic editing and not overly complicated graphics. This is the most appropriate way of composing it so it will appeal to our target audience. We will however choose a narrator who has a friendly tone to their voice, to connect with the audience on the same level.

Channel And SchedulingChannel 4 Monday 20:00 – 20:30This block is right after the Channel 4 news in the slot where they normally air a documentary on a Wednesday evening. The reason we choose this slot is so that it fitted with the scheduling of Channel 4 and also so that we could pick up the remaining audience from the Channel 4 news, as typically they are our target audience. This spot has also been dedicated to similar programming over the past few months and will show a Christmas themed ‘Food Unwrapped’ over the Christmas period. This programme looks at the reality of the food we eat, echoing our look at the effects of the coffee industry.

Narrative Structure

- The narrative structure of this documentary is the standard Beginning, Middle and End. o The Beginning

At the start of our documentary we will be posing our question to our audience. This is to engage our audience in our documentary and allow them to understand what the documentary is about.

o The Middle In the middle of our documentary we will introduce our opposition. We

will do this through interviews and VOX pops this is done to keep the documentary interesting and also to allow the audience to pose their own questions.

o The End At the end of our documentary we will summarise all of the points

made throughout the documentary. We will also discuss all what we believe the future is for independent and chain coffee houses.

Outline of Content

- The documentary will be 27 minutes long including interviews with the public, industry professionals from various backgrounds. The people we will be interviewing will be from industry chains and also some local business owners. In Orange user also find out the effects of chains on our small local bands and also why coffee is so popular with in the country. We also would like to cover health care and speak to some healthcare professionals about the effects coffee has on the body. Finally you like to get the publics view on coffee why do you like it so much and what affects they could have on their body.

Resource Requirements

- HD Video Camera - SLR Camera - Microphones

o Pin Mic o Ambient Mic

- Interviewees - Voice Over (Narrator & Radio Advert)

o Script - Storyboard and other Plans- Money

o Coffee Beans o Instant Coffee

- Archive Footage