Links

Below I have included a few links to clips of documentaries which I have looked at when considering what to use in my documentary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bornsurvivors/minisodes/series1_kizzy.shtml Kizzy - Mum at 14 minisode.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00b0krn - Cherry has a baby clip.

Initial Script Ideas

Start with interviewer (a woman) walking through busy street(?) – realism.

Interviewer: Speaking facts and figures (number of teenage pregnancies in UK this year, the government’s plan to halve the rate by 2010, age brackets with most pregnancies)

Cutaway of the exterior of a house

Shot moves into location 1 (Home of TP)

TP: Explain what feelings are toward pregnancy, how you felt when you found out you were pregnant; shock; fear (telling parents/father/friends); excitement; worry (loss of freedom, missing out on education, etc); anticipation (for baby).

Interviewer: Ask how TP’s parents/father of baby reacted when she gave the news.

TP: Parents – shock, anger (at first), support (as pregnancy progressed). Father of baby – disbelief, worry (reputation/telling own parents), guilt (getting her pregnant in first place), then acceptance (wants to be part of baby’s life)

Cutaway of contraceptives, etc (pregnancy test on table?) and then hands holding (or maybe feet at the end of a bed to symbolise sex/relationships) – text over the top of images with quotes about Sex Education (not enough time given to it in schools – which would then bring us to next speaker [teacher])

Shot now in teacher’s office – Sexual Education teacher or school nurse

Interviewer: How do you feel about the amount of time given to sexual education in this school? Do you think that it is working or successful? What do you think about government plans to begin teaching Sex Ed to young children?

Teacher/Nurse: More time needed in school – though cannot force teens to use contraceptives. Thinks more time is needed for Sex Ed in schools – hardly any time given currently (students brush it off as ineffective or a ‘doss’ lesson). Approves of plan to begin Sex Ed at a young age – will raise awareness for children and teens about the implications of sex, what can happen if you’re not S.A.F.E and how to say ‘NO’ if you’re not ready.

Principal Positions and Perspectives

Supportive parent or sibling of the expecting teen:

• FOR the pregnancy
• It is the young person’s own decision – they will make their own mistakes
• Cannot make someone not have sex/give up their child
• May have been a teenage parent themselves – respects teen’s decision to face up to what they’ve done
• Prepared to offer support and help, positive toward pregnancy (grandchild)

Negative parent of expecting teen:

• AGAINST
• Sex Ed should’ve been taught better in the school
• Thinks it is a stupid mistake
• Jeopardises education – teen will struggle continuing in education if she decides to at all (if doesn’t go back into education, may limit job opportunities as less qualifications – if any)
• Teen isn’t prepared – parent doesn’t want to have to be the one to look after the child when the teen can’t cope (it’s their responsibility)
• Teenager will miss out on life and youth – won’t be able to go out as much once they have the child, and they may not realise that
• Doesn’t want child to become ‘another statistic’

Sexual Education teacher:

• MUTUAL or AGAINST
• Disapproves of pregnancies in teens, but will not pass judgement – their own decision?
• Should’ve used contraception – it is offered to them from schools, GP’s etc.
• Perhaps the teacher themselves does not believe enough time is given to Sex Ed in schools – not enough awareness
• Thinks that more effort should be put in by government (i.e. more campaigns) to raise awareness among young people as to what can happen if you have sex when you’re not ready or unprepared
• Thinks that the ‘legal consenting age’ isn’t very affective – has known very young people to ask for contraceptives, perhaps – something needs to be done about it.
• Not so much disapproval of the pregnancy itself (though doesn’t believe it’s healthy to have a child at a young age) but more-so disapproves of the way in which sex is portrayed in the media (i.e. young people having sex ‘willy-nilly’ on television)

 Nurse/Midwife:

• NEITHER – has seen good and bad outcomes
• Believes that if the parent is willing to look after the child, then there shouldn’t be too many problems
• Has some concerns about financial stability of young parents, however – will they be able to afford to look after the child
• Personally believes that it is always best to wait until you’re certain you’re ready – has seen some teenage mothers who turn out to be better parents than aged ones (it all depends on your circumstances and your initial attitude toward the pregnancy)
• Doesn’t believe in abortion – there will always be someone out there who will be prepared to look after the child – pregnancy is a miracle? All the women out there who cannot have children would be grateful for the child.

List of Possible Cutaways

• A busy street – people passing by, maybe teen parents in shot

• Holding hands – symbolic of sex and relationships (or perhaps to convey emotion, i.e. supportive parents?)

• A home – as my documentary aims to challenge the ‘unstable’ stereotype of teenage mothers, perhaps a shot of a stable-looking environment would go toward expressing my view

• Teenage girls/boys grouped in conversation? – could be shown with statistics like ‘1 in 5’ (could be any of them?) Or, on the flipside it could be used to show how young these people are still – are they really ready to give up their childhood to care for one of their own?

• Maybe a school – represents education and learning, something which (if argued for the ‘negative’ side) could show what the teen parents will be missing out on – for example, GCSE’s or A-Levels. HOWEVER, the school could perhaps be used when there is mention of how many teenage parents go back into education after having a child

• A hospital/clinic – obviously to represent the birth, or perhaps could also be used with abortion figures?

• Contraceptives – used with negative side of argument (as a documentary should convey both sides of a story) or could possibly be used with figures for number of people who get pregnant using condoms? (they aren’t 100% safe)

• School could also be used with brief mention of Sexual Education – when I looked at discussion boards and news articles on the subject, many people complained that Sex Ed was either not thorough enough, or not given enough school time

• Feet at the end of a bed – as with hands, this could represent people being sexually active and relationships, which is very relevant to the topic

List of Possible Speakers

• Parent or other close family member of a pregnant youth – they will be the people most affected by a teenage pregnancy (other than the teen mum herself) and it would be interesting to see the different reactions to the pregnancy – maybe a shocked, disgusted(?) parent, or on the contrast a supportive parent. Maybe the parent of the teen was a teen parent themselves – if so, how did they react, did they think they’d made the right decision to have a baby at that age?

• A nurse or a midwife – they come into contact with pregnant teenagers daily, and they see the struggle that they go through in the first few days – perhaps they could say some of the teenage pregnancy figures (as it would be coming from an authority figure, the audience would be more likely to believe them). Could also mention teenage abortion or adoption rates – how many teen mums actually keep their babies?

• A teenage dad(?) – many documentaries don’t feature teen dads, and it would give a different opinion on the pregnancy – maybe the male would be the father of my ‘featured teen’s baby – does he want the child? Will he stick by the mother through the pregnancy? How does he feel about becoming a father at his age, and most importantly, is he ready for a child?

• A teacher/headmaster – could talk about how teenage pregnancy affects grades and schooling; maybe mention how many teenage parents go back into education after their child is born?

• The mum-to-be – how does she feel about the pregnancy? What were her reactions to finding out she was pregnant? What does she intend to do with the child – will she keep it, or give it up for adoption. As my documentary aims to look past the stereotype, but still give two sides to the argument, maybe I could have two teen mums – one who wants to keep her child, another who does not.

Teenage Pregnancy - Facts and Figures

 Information obtained from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8531227.stm

• A total of 41,325 women under 18 fell pregnant in 2008, down 3.9% from 42,988 in 2007
• Of these young women 49% had an abortion, compared with 50% in 2007.
• The ONS data shows for every 1,000 girls aged between 15 and 17 in England and Wales; there were just over 40 pregnancies.
• The North East had the highest under-18 conception rate in 2008; with 49 per 1,000 women age 15-17 falling pregnant.
• The East of England had the lowest rate with 31.4 per 1,000 young women getting pregnant.
• The number of girls aged 13 to 15 getting pregnant fell by 6% in 2008, with 7.8 conceptions per 1,000 girls compared with 8.3 in 2007.
• Since 2002 the number of teenage girls falling pregnant in England and Wales has been steadily falling, despite a slight rise in 2007.
• The ONS statistics show there were an estimated 887,800 conceptions among women of all age groups in England and Wales in 2008, a decrease of 0.9% on the 2007 figure of 895,900.
• 41,325 girls under 18 in England and Wales fell pregnant in 2008, a drop of 13%, but the government target was 50%

o        Ministers committed to halve pregnancies among 15-to-17-year olds in England from the 1998 rate of 46.6 conceptions per 1,000 girls.

o        Just under half of pregnancies among 15-to-18 year-olds led to an abortion.

o        "It was a really ambitious target - it was a 50% fall. I think it was right to set an ambitious target and it is going to be really hard to make that amount of fall." Ed Balls.

Interviews:

• Victims
• Witnesses
• Professionals/experts
• Used to show a point of view
• Used to authenticate the views (of the documentary)
• They may disagree with the view or message of the documentary

Voice-over/Narrator:

• Informative tone
• Male - crime, serious facts/figures
• Female - sensitive, emotional
• Powerful - 'voice of God'(?)
• Specialist knowledge
• Well spoken, usually. Clear, slow voice
• 'Right' opinions - Ruling class (Marxism)

Reconstructions:

• Different points of view - lots of different camera angles and shots
• 'Typical' scene - natural, realistic. Though, perhaps the reconstruction is not 'real' i.e. over or under exaggeration.
• May confirm a certain stereotype

Cutaways:

• Three basic cutaways;

1. Story-telling; images of signs, exterior shots of houses where interviews are taking place, images of characters entering/exiting, shots of cities - used to tell a story without the narrator
2. Emotional; photo of the deceased, a man alone, hugging, a candle, couple walking hand-in-hand - unique power to make the audience feel what you want them to feel about your documentary
3. General Coverage; (for example, at a race) watching, cheering, lining up to get in, tearing ticket stubs, flags, cars, raceway (montage editing) - sets scene

Technicality of Realism:

• Real footage - "chill"
• CCTV
• Natural lighting
• Diagetic sound
• Non-diagetic - narration, tension building music, used as a bridge between scenes
• Sounds create meanings
• Documentaries go to great lengths to convince us that the footage is real

Archive footage/stills:

• Historical archives, borrow footage from the past (research)
• Aids authenticity
• Adds further information which film-makers may be able to obtain

Titles/Text/Captions:

• Usually bottom right (rule of thirds?)
• Quick and cheap way to give info
• Words on screen explain the narrative/tell us who is speaking
• Audience believe without question, generally

A2 Advanced Portfolio

Now that the AS course has been completed, I'm going to start posting my A2 Advanced Portfolio work. This year we have been asked to produce a five minute doumentary, a double page spread and newspaper advertisement.
Hopefully this year the filming will be more successful, considering I had to resit my AS coursework; at least now I've had some practice with print, too.