Formal Proposal

For our documentary we decided to choose the topic of colours, this was because it is a wide reaching topic and appeals to any audience and it will show the difference in opinions of the influence of colour when considering different individuals. Colour is used in many ways to persuade people to buy something or to attract them to a certain film or song for example. Furthermore, with the digital switchover having taken place recently, we thought it would be relevant and interesting to research the change of black and white TV to colour.

After doing research on different types of documentaries, we decided that our documentary is going to be mixed, this is because it will involve interviews, narration and archive material. This breaks up the interview, keeping it interesting throughout, appealing to a wide audience.

The style of the documentary is going to be informal based, this is to keep the audience interested as if it was too formal, the light hearted topic of colours would no longer be entertaining to the audience. In addition to this, by the documentary being informal, it makes the viewer more comfortable watching the documentary and they feel like they can relate to the narration without feeling like it is too serious. The documentary will also be fast paced, this adding to the idea of keeping the audience entertained throughout.

When taking into account the terrestrial channel that the documentary will be aired on, the target audience of each channel has to be considered. As our topic is targeted at any audience, ITV1 is the terrestrial channel aimed to entertain everyone of a working class, this appealing to a wider range of people. However after doing further research by doing the questionaire, most of the people asked were from the ages 16-30, this showing a younger generation, mainly of the student age, therefore the terriestrial channel suitable would be channel 4 as it is aimed at students.
As the schedule for each day on the terrestrial channels is split into segments, the particular segment we decided to screen our documentary would be prime time; this being that it is aimed that the programmes shown then would be to entertain everyone

After deciding on our idea for the documentary, research needed to be done to outline the different ways we could approach the documentary and the different factors we could include throughout. This is known as primary research. We began by creating a questionnaire consisting of 20 questions based on people’s personal view on the importance of colour and how they are influenced in different ways. This we found beneficial as we then knew what things to include in the documentary and what things didn’t matter to the majority of people asked. These results would then show us what are the most popular views on the influence of colour and suggested what possible interviews and archive footage that could then be included.

After gaining the knowledge on what certain individuals think about the topic, secondary research was then done to further our understanding of the idea. This is the idea of researching the topic on the Internet for example, this showing a secondary resource of information as it has come from someone else. After the questionnaire, we felt it was necessary to research the influence of colour within the media and also with reference to the change of colour TV. We also looked at different websites showing how colour can be so important to people, this including a website we found about a ‘Colour Museum’ which educates people about the different colours however with fun things to look at. Furthermore, we also looked at different artists who use colour as a key theme in their paintings, this influencing us to use the idea of art and the use of colour in one of our interviews.

The narrative structure of the documentary is going to begin with fast pace editing. This is done to attract the audience at an early stage making them want to view further on into the documentary and see what is it about. The beginning will include narration introducing the documentary with cut away shots relevant to what is being said. Also, small clips of the interviews used throughout will used, this giving the audience an insight to what they are going to see and the types of things they are going to discover throughout. The beginning of the documentary will mainly talk about the influence of colour and how important it is in today's society without even realising it. This will be the basis of introducing the things going to be talked about within the rest of the documentary. The beginning will also talk about the history of the use of colour within the media, this showing relevance to the idea of colour TV being introduced and how it affected people.
The middle of the documentary will then go on to develop the ideas of the influence of colour, this however being more based on art, media, advertisements and music. This is where interviewees would be introduced, these being of an art teacher and an art advisor fits in well with the theme and allows the documentary to expand in its audience as people will become more interested as it includes people with knowledge and experience rather than just secondary research being done and archive material used throughout. The middle of the documentary will also raise an unsolved question. This being a typical code and convention of a documentary, after doing more research on documentaries we thought it would be interesting to the audience to make them think during their viewing of the documentary. This unsolved question will be based around the negatives surrounding colour and whether stereotypes of colours e.g pink for girls and blue for boys causes controversial views. In addition, the main conflict would be due to the colour connotations of football teams, this causing people to cause problems of people wearing the colour of their rival team. This we looked into during our research through our questionnaire finding out that a lot of people would not wear the colour of their rival team, this showing how important colour is in today's society.
Towards the end of the documentary, a change in the mood would occur talking about the positives of the importance of colour and showing the audience how influential and useful colour actually is. The audience at the end would go away feeling something new about the topic and maybe not take something so simple for granted and not realising actually how important it is. This being the aim of the documentary altogether.

The content going to be used within the documentary consists of different interviews, archive material and Vox Pops. Cut away shots will also be used throughout, this breaking up the documentary and showing shots relevant to the narration and what is being said. The interviews will entail different views on the influence on colour in that particular persons life. For example a young girl with bright coloured clothes and hair will be interviewed, this supporting the idea of the range of target audience as younger people will be interested in what she has to say. In addition, interviews with an art teacher and an art advisor will be included, this showing the more formal side to the interview as this will include more factual information rather than opinion. These interviews will take place infront of a relevant background, for example the art teacher in an art room infront of colurful paints, and the art advisor in an art gallery infront of colourful paintings. Vox Pops
will be shown throughout, this further breaking up the footage with the fast pace editing.
Archive material is going to be used within the documentary, this will support the narration and explain to the audience how influential colour is within the media. Material such as music vidoes, advertisements and footage from football matches will be included. This being used as evidence to what is being said.
The cut away shots are going to be of people walking in the street with colourful clothes on, this showing how colours are important in a persons day to day life. Furthermore, cut away shots of colourful objects will be included to break up the action, however still having relevance.

When taking into account the resource requirements needed when filming would include a camera, a tripod to keep the camera steady and microphone which will be clipped to the person being interviewed. The only props included in the documentary will be those that the interviewees could possibly use, this being different paints or coloured materials from the art teacher or a painting from the art advisor.