Formal Proposal

By Jake, Tom and Elisa

Topic• Our chosen topic for our documentary is fast-food,

more specifically the making of the product itself and the nutritional values of the food, because this was what our target audience wanted according to our questionnaire. We’ll discuss topics such as which fast-food restaurants are the healthiest and which are the unhealthiest. We have chosen this topic because it is very relevant in today’s society and because it’s present in almost everybody’s lives. 64% of our target audience considered it to be a big a problem in the UK, so we believe that this should be documented. Due to the popularity of fast-food it has made it a highly discussed topic.

Type of documentary• The type of documentary we’re producing is a

mixed documentary because it’s the most common and popular type of documentary aired on television. It’s the type of documentary that will make our audience the most entertained because it contains both archive footage and observational footage so it will cover a lot of areas.

Style of documentary• We aim to do our documentary in a formal style,

with elements of informality which is educational to provide factual and intellectual information about fast-food because this was the most popular option chosen by our target audience in the questionnaire. We also want it to be entertaining and to do so we’ll use music, montages, graphics and various other things to keep the documentary interesting and entertaining.

Channel and Scheduling• The channel we have chosen to show our documentary on is Channel 4. We decided

to use Channel 4 as it often has documentaries on it. Also they show a wide range of documentaries and documentary styles which attract a wide target audience e.g. Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, My Tattoo Addiction, One Born Every Minute, Bouncers, 24hours in A&E, Terror in the Skies and many more. Also Channel 4 contains advertising which could profit the documentary as well as advertise the documentary. We have decided to put our documentary on at 8pm on a Tuesday night. We chose the time 8pm because a lot of our target audience will probably have jobs or be at university or college, we believe that the majority of them will have got home and settled by this point. It is also timed so that it is after their dinner since most people tend to want to relax and watch television after. We decided to have it on a Tuesday because the audience shouldn't have as many distractions or reasons not to watch/miss the documentary. For example, on Friday and Saturday nights they will most likely want to go out and enjoy themselves. Also there is a lot of competition between programmes on Saturdays and Sundays since a lot of popular programmes are aired on those evenings e.g. X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, Downtown Abbey, Top Gear. We didn't want to show the documentary on a Wednesday either because many people could want to go the cinema with the popular Orange Wednesday offer with Orange mobile. The show before our documentary at 7pm is The Channel 4 News, and afterwards at 9pm is another documentary.

Target audience• Our target audience is both men and women between the ages of 16-

55. We have chosen this as our target audience as almost everyone eats or has eaten fast food and these are the people who are most likely to go to fast food restaurants and buy the food themselves. Also this target audience is most likely to watch a documentary as they are young adults/mature adults. Since fast food is found in most people's lives we believe they would be interested to watch a documentary about fast food and find out more about it. From our questionnaire we gathered that our target audience’s favourite colours were blue, red and green. Also, that the most popular genre of music was pop music and that most ate fast food once a month or less. The most popular fast food restaurant within our target audience was McDonalds and the least popular was Burger King. The most popular channel for watching a documentary was Channel 4. Our target audience most wanted to find out about the making of fast food and the nutritional value, with 31% wanting to be educated as well as being entertained (21%). Finally, 64% of those asked believe that fast food is a big problem in the UK.

Primary research needed

• The primary research that we require is facts and figures about fast food. We’ll gain primary research from going too fast food restaurants and use statistic from our questionnaire. Also we will find interviewee’s and film them in the correct location for the best mise en scene, such as filming in front of fast food establishments. Primary research will also include props such as fast food items from the menu. In our interviews we’ll ask them questions about the fast food industry, what they expect from fast food, why it’s so popular and their overall opinions. From gathering this primary research it will make our documentary more reliable and valid to our target audience.

Secondary research needed

• We will need to find archive material such as fast food adverts, extracts from films, videos, television and radio. As well as still photos, pop music, relevant documents e.g.; official reports or surveys, newspapers and magazines. From gathering this secondary research we’ll be able to present a factual and informative documentary. We’ll gain secondary research from the internet such as articles and videos.

Narrative structure• Beginning: At the beginning of the documentary we will have title sequence

and montage of observational footage and still images of people eating fast food and working in the establishments of a fast food restaurant. We will discuss the history and beginning of fast food. We will also have a few interviews that introduce the topic and give an overview of opinions on fast food for example; whether or not they think fast food is a big problem in the UK. Throughout the introduction there will be the Fast Food Rockers - Fast Food Song and we will fit it in between narration and interviews. We will add in some of the fast food slogans.

• Middle: The middle will include various interviews from fast food workers and fast food eaters that are relevant to our target audience. As well as that we’ll include background information about the restaurants, the facts about health issues and fast-foods impact on it and fast food mascots and their impact upon sales. We’ll include various types of archive footage, including other fast-food related documentaries such as Supersize Me.

• End: We’ll summarise all of our key points that we discussed throughout the documentary, as well as discussing the future fast-food and the impact that it may have.

Outline of content• Observational footage of people eating fast food, people getting served etc.• Interviews with fast food eaters that are members of the general public• Pop music played in the background (Fast Food Rockers - Fast Food Song)• Still images of a range of products available on some fast food menus• Archive footage of historic events like openings etc. from fast food restaurants • Facts and figures regarding fast food establishments (e.g. nutrition and

making of the products)• Interviews with fast-food employees• Montages of different fast foods• Background information about the restaurants and history• The prices of fast-food and speed of service • Information about obesity and fast foods contribution to that• Infamous fast food adverts and slogans/jungles• The mascots of fast food e.g. Ronald McDonald• Sales comparison around England, UK, Europe and the rest of the world• Other documentaries about fast food (e.g. Supersize Me)• How/why it’s so popular

Resources required• Camera equipment• Microphones• Tripod• Fast-food props• Archive footage sources (YouTube)• Internet access• A script, plan or storyboard• Bag• Money• Interviewees• Voice over narrator• Computers and editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro)