Use your knowledge and understanding to draw up a research proposal in preparation for your documentary project outlining the methods and forms of research you will use to gather information for a documentary film

IDEAS FOR A DOCUMENTARY FILM

I have a number of ideas for a documentary film.  For example: suicide, youth representation, Cambridge, social media and YouTubers.  I do really like the idea of doing suicide and through out the documentary I will explain why people commit and also why it is more common in men than woman.  Youth representation might be interesting to develop on because as a youth myself I find it interesting that the older generation have a lot of hate against us and also there are a lot of stereotypes about youths now-a-days.  I thought about doing a documentary on Cambridge due me living there and it is the city where the one of the most famous universities in the world is.  Social media and YouTubers I felt like because they both use the Internet and also a lot of people use social media to get to find out about people.

METHODS

Practical:

For the documentary project I think I will do some interviews (an example of practical method) people to gather information due to them giving me facts I wouldn’t know, and also I find interviews very personal – sometimes the people I am asking questions to might tell us a story about the chosen project.  Another example of practical method is surveys so by doing a survey I can figure out a lot of people’s answers about a certain project and what their opinions of it are. 

Theoretical:

Another way of getting information on a subject of your choice is to use public libraries – libraries will have a lot of books/sources on the subject, which will be very beneficial to research facts.  Also academic journals could help finding out facts or diary entries from people who knew about the subject.

  

FORMS:

Primary – I would use this form of research because it makes it more personal due to myself gathering the information myself and also I feel that it I have more control of what information I gather.  Examples of primary research I will use to gather information for the documentary film is having interviews with people and also making questionnaires. 

Secondary – This research might be slightly more helpful as it is using information other people have written which may be more reliable.  An example of a very good secondary source I will be using a lot is reading books.