Group Project - Coming up with the Idea

After each individually researching for our documentary project we called another group discussion to brainstorm our ideas. Before coming up with our final idea we had four other suggestions, although once again they were all a little lacklustre as we had to think of feasible options.

The first idea we discussed was one I had researched myself based around the 'Noah's Ark Zoo' in Bristol. My thoughts were that we could have interviews with staff that work around the zoo giving an insight into their daily lives. It could have been interesting to film and we would have had plenty of various areas that we could film for cutaways and montages. It would have also been somewhat enjoyable getting to film all the different kinds of animals, especially with many of them due to give birth within the possible months of filming. That said, we weren't sure how great a hook this would be and felt it wouldn't be too appealing to an audience. As well as this it seemed to be more of a promotional film then that of a documentary and didn't seem too practical to actually set out and film.

Gerald the Giraffe at Noah's Ark Zoo

Our second idea was very different, based around local crime within Weston and making for a very topical film debate. Our target idea was youth crime and teenage violence as this would interest us and also be quite appropriate considering the recent trouble Weston has had with this matter. This was of particular interest with me as a friend of the family had actually been attacked by a group of youngsters within the last year, allowing a personal degree of significance. We also looked at anti-social behaviour on weekend nights as another possible area we could look into. Whilst a reasonable idea and something both the group and our potential audience could be interested in, we found that it wasn't a workable production. We predicted many issues that could occur if we made this project, including contributor reliability, youth consent (parent's permission) and even getting people to feature in our video. Because of all of this we decided that this wasn't a great idea, at least not for a student project.

Youth Crime and Teenage Violence

The other few ideas we had were admittedly a little dire, with one being a film about Weston-Super-Mare FC's local football team and the other a fans view of one of the upcoming games conventions. The first idea could of had a reasonable hook, since the team was battling regulation at the bottom of their league however because of this the team members themselves probably wouldn't be too keen to feature. The idea about the games convention just didn't seem practical at all, it would have meant travelling outside of Somerset for any of them and having to plan and film for it on a date that was out of our college schedule. Other than that, there would have been the good chance that we would have been a little bit distracted around all the game stands.

A Games Convention In Germany

Finally we came to our final idea; something we all agreed would be interesting, practical and local enough for us to work on. This idea was a documentary for World War 2, in which we could feature memories and past-times from people who survived the war. We felt this was good idea as it could appeal to all ages and would definitely have a hook that all people could be interested in. We realised with the available locations and known relatives and neighbours of some of our group that this would be very accessible and would be a lot more feasible to film and complete than our other ideas. With our idea set in motion we were all set to begin developing the idea.

World War 2