Lo1- Short First proposal

Short Film Proposal:

Overview of product:

For our short film, we plan to create a documentary-style film, which highlights the crimes that local serial killer Beverley Allitt committed between the months of February and April 1991. As well as talking about the crimes that Allitt committed, we also intend to visit the hospital that they were committed and the institution where she is currently held. This will mean that the audience becomes more visually informed about the convict in general. To summarise the draft contents, the opening will be text which will include any disclaimers that the audience may need to be aware of and the title of the documentary. Then, the main information, alongside the location visual will be presented and to finish we will inform the audience where Beverley is now.  

Purpose, Form, Genre:

We are working on a short film that will be between five to ten minutes long, which will be documenting the crimes committed by the UK serial killer Beverly Allitt. Due to the limited duration that the documentary needs to abide by, a story-board will need to be created as part of pre-production, so the film remains within the specific time period. Within the documentary, we are aiming to solely educate and inform our audience about the criminal, the crimes she committed and where she is today. Additionally, this documentary will create awareness surrounding the crimes that were committed, so the audience are familiar with the events that took place and we will also show respect to the victims that were targeted. Lastly, the final objective of our product is to entertain fans of true crime stories as they are our main audience demographic due to the subject that is being discussed. Basic conventions of a documentary will be featured within the product, in order for the genre of the short film to be clear to our audience. This will also entail that direct quotes will be included, locations where the event took place will be visited and specific data will be explored. Resulting in the audience gaining a detailed insight on Allitt’s criminal life and allows them to recognise her crimes from the locations and data discussed.  

Target audience:

The generic target audience would be fans of true crime documentaries. Additionally, we plan on having an inclusive ethnic and gendered target audience, which will mean that the use of language that some people find offensive will be limited. Adding onto that point a disclaimer will be featured at the beginning of the short film, so the audience are aware of the fatalities and talks of murder is featured within the product. When doing research on documentaries, which have a mirrored genre and discuss similar events, we have found that the overall age rating is 15+. This is due to the topics on murder and violence is told throughout. Meaning that the age rating we are going to target is ages 15+, even though we will not feature excessive detail, the topics are still of the same nature and the rating of 15+ will allow us to respect the guidelines. In terms of social class, this documentary will be ranging within the A-E social grade as anyone is able to watch the product at any given time. This will ensure that the documentary receives a higher viewing rate from all different social graded groups. This will also mean that there is less of a chance that one specific ethnic group will view the product. 

Proposed content:

When organising a draft of what will be included in the project, we also discussed the content that will be featured and the order the information will be given. For this unit, we have been given a time frame of between 5-10 minutes, so we will need to condense the information we have, whilst still keeping the vital/relevant detail in the documentary. To begin, we will introduce the subject (Beverley Allitt) and explain where she is now and what sentences she received, followed by her young life with her family. We don't plan on talking about this subject excessively due to the limited time we have, however we feel like her back story is necessary to the documentary because it gives the audience information to why she committed the crime and what lead up to the crimes. We will then list her victims and explain what happened during the time she committed the murders, paying tribute to her victims. Finally we will inform our audience about the trial and what the consequences she faced.

Resources and personnel:

Most of the resources we need will be equipment so that we can shoot on location. This consists of items such as:

• Camera - This will be used to film on location as well as anywhere else.

• Tripod - This will be used to create different angles as well as keeping the camera stable during filming so the final product looks more professional.

• Headphones - This will be used to listen to the backing that will be featured on the documentary, for instance music and voice-overs.

• Video editing software - This will be used to create the video and put all the different clips together as well as add effects such as introduction text.

• Interchangeable lenses - These will be used to create wide angle and macro angles, so the product maintains audience interest.

• Batteries - These will be used so that the equipment wont lose power whilst in different locations. However we plan to charge the equipment before going off site.

• Lighting Kit - This will be used so that when using the camera in darkness the audience will be able to see the subject.

The first piece of equipment that we will use is a camera which will be used to film all of the scenes. We will also be using the cameras on location as not all the scenes are filmed in the same place. The next piece of equipment is a Tripod, which is going to be used to keep the camera steady whilst we are exposed to the elements. We will also be using some headphones so that we can choose the backing sound as well as making sure that the audio transitions flawlessly between the different clips. To edit the documentary we will be using software such as Premiere pro as this will allow us to put all the clips together as well as adding the different audios such as a voiceover and music. Along with the camera we are also going to use interchangeable lenses so that we can use different zooms as well as being used to create wide and macro angles. We will also need to use batteries in case the equipment loses power. Finally the last piece of equipment we will use is a lighting kit to make sure that we will be able to see what we are filming as well as having the scenes look good

For personnel we will split up the work, however we will help each other out so that not one person is doing too much work. One or two of our group will feature in the documentary and will probably voice over what is happening on the screen at a given time. As well as that there will be someone who films the scenes. They will be responsible for getting the different angles and using the different lenses so that the scene looks the best that it possibly can. All of the group however could help set up all of the equipment so that one person isn't having to set it all up individually. Also when carrying the equipment to location we all will help distribute the load so it isn't too much for one person. Finally the final person will be the director and will coordinate where the actors should stand as well as where the camera should film the scenes from. 

Inspiration:

Our inspiration to create a documentary about Beverly Allit came from watching other documentaries, which were made around different events, for example one was about world war 1, which focused on the young that were forced to join the army. In this documentary they then interviewed a group of people, who would have been the same age (16-20), as those forced to go to war and asked for their thoughts. It focuses on important parts of the war like the fact that the people sent to fight were very young and didn't have a choice whether to fight or not and then shows a reenactment to give an idea of what it would've been like to actually have fought at such a young age. The idea that we can use from this short film is that when we make our documentary we can interview people who remember the crimes of Beverly Allitt and we can focus on the most important parts of her life. 

Another short film that we got inspiration from is called The Accidental Sea. The inspiration from this is that the short film uses real clips to show the sea that they're talking about. This can help us as it gives us the idea to be able to go to the location and get original footage of where Beverly Allitt committed her crimes. 

Distribution and Marketing:

Once the documentary is complete we will distribute it to numerous film festivals as well as festivals of like minded people. This will hopefully help to get the documentary out there. Once we have done this we will then publish it to youtube. The reason we will be doing this is because it is an easy, cost free way of getting the documentary out there without paying for it to be uploaded. By putting the documentary on youtube, this will provide a hassle free way for people to watch our documentary without having to pay for it, as everyone can access it on their devices. Another way that we could distribute the product is by direct emailing to specific people who would have an interest in serial killer documentaries.