This proposal outlines a documentary project about the daily lives of autistic adolescents at Breckenbrough School. Research was conducted on the target 16-50 year old audience for documentaries, which tends to be mostly working and middle class. Skills in camerawork, editing, and Photoshop were developed from previous film projects and will be applied. References and influences from other documentaries on special needs were analyzed. The 8 week production schedule includes filming at the school, interviews, editing, and poster/trailer creation. Work will be evaluated based on quality and adherence to the original plans.

1. Proposal
1
Working Title:
Breckenbrough: A strange life to live.
Audience:
Based on research surveys, the age range of my audience ranges from 16-50 year olds, this is
because documentaries as a whole have a very wide interest base. around a third of this audience
is male, while the rest is female, this is probably due to males typically having a larger interest in
fantasy films than females, as well as the fact that women typically show a greater interest in
exploring the psychology of the subjects involved in any given work. The most common social
status that showed interest in my product was those of working and middle class. This is because
my documentary focuses on an aspect of that, which viewers can relate to. The product appeals to
this audience mostly because of the common interest in the lives of people living an obscure
lifestyle, which is often the focus of popular documentaries.
Rationale:
This year I have acquired a lot more skill than I had otherwise with camera work and keeping shots
in focus, as well as colour correction, which will be extremely helpful when I am filming my
documentary. I have also learned a lot about PremierePro and how to edit footage down, which
will help me to cut the footage down to an acceptable running time if I produce too much. I have
also learned far, far more than I originally knew about Photoshop and techniques used on the
application, which I can use when creating my poster.
Of all the subjects I have studied this year, I feel I learned and was most successful with the film
rotation, during which I learned a lot about filmmaking and camera techniques from and felt the
most satisfied with the work I had produced. This is why I chose to do a documentary for my final
project.
I have extensively studied the tropes and methods used in several different documentaries and
reality TV shows in order to understand how this kind of project is usually put together. Camera
work, lighting, footage included etc. I will take influence from all of this research heavily as I piece
together my own final product.
Project Concept:
I have decided that for my final project; I am going to make an expository/reflexive documentary on
the school life of autistic young adolescents. The documentary will feature interviews with both the
staff and the students, as well as a general overview on autism and how the school treats the boys
differently from mainstream education. There will also be a brief section on the history of the
building and the life of the boys who board at the school. The main focus of the documentary will
be on how the boys go about their daily routine, how their autism might affect their learning and
what it is that Breckenbrough School does for them moving towards their independence.
For this project, I have researched several different documentaries and trailers, as well as some of
the posters affiliated with them. I also did some research on reality television, mostly featuring
people with special needs, to see how they are most often represented in media, and how this
affects their reputation. I did this so that I would be able to show the effects of autism in a more
positive light than negative. This was so I could accurately represent the various techniques and
expectations of documentaries made common in modern media; i.e. how it is framed, presented,
filmed etc.
Evaluation:
I plan to evaluate the work I produce based on how much it resembles my original plans and
whether it is better or worse than what I had envisioned. I will do a weekly reflection on how I think
the project is going and if I could be doing better. I will also analyse the overall quality based on
other popular documentaries and how my own work compares held up to the. It would also be a
good idea to seek feedback from both; patrons of the School and outside demographics.

2. Proposal
2
Schedule
WEEK OVERALL PLAN SPECIFIC TASKS
1 Initial Response +
Proposal
 Record initial
response
 Brainstorm ideas for
FMP
 Research
demographics for
proposal.
2 Product + Audience
Research
 Survey the popular
demographic and the
interest in
documentaries.
 Interview audience.
3 Production Experiments  Experiment with
editing.
 Experiment with
Photoshop.
 Experiment with
filming.
4 Pre-Production and
Planning
 Fill out contingency
and H+S forms.
 Plan layout of poster
 Create style sheets
 Write script for
documentary
 Write proposal and
schedule
5 Production  Begin filming exterior
shots of building
 Film first interviews
6 Production  Film classroom shots
 Film night time shots
 Film presenter shots
7 Production  Finish filming.
 Record dialogue for
narration
 Begin editing
 Begin poster
production
 Begin trailer
production
8 Production  Finish editing film
 Finish poster
 Finish trailer
9 Evaluation  Evaluate work based
on quality, and
resemblance to
original plans.
 Finish production
reflection.
10 Development +
Contingency
 Ensure that all work is
done and satisfactory

3. Proposal
3
Bibliography
At least 7 sources total and should include books, videos/films/video games, magazines and
newspaper articles etc.
1. Rhys Sadler-Scott (2018) Target Audience Research Survey (conducted on 11/4/18)
2. Sam Schoettner(2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on 13/4/18)
3. Simran Jabbal (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on 14/4/18)
4. Anon.(2018). Hypodermic needle model. Available:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodermic_needle_model. Last accessed 12th April 2018.
5. BBC. (2017). BBC One - Blue Planet 2. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04tjbtx. Last
accessed 12th April 2018.
6. Bettany Hughes.(2009). The Roman Invasion of Britain. Available:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roman_Invasion_of_Britain. Last accessed 11th April 2018.
7. Channel 4. (2011). Educating Essex | Starts 22nd September | Channel 4. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxK3_hihHis. Last accessed 11 April 2018.
8. Channel 4. (2016). TRAILER: The Undateables Series 5 | Catch Up On All 4. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqz8NGcmva4. Last accessed 17th April 2018.
9. Christopher Campbell . (2016). The 20 Best Documentary Trailers of the Last 20 Years. Available:
https://nonfics.com/the-20-best-documentary-trailers-of-the-last-20-years-7078d0b4446a. Last
accessed 12th April 2018.
10. Luc Jacquet . (2005). March of the Penguins. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428803/. Last
accessed 13th April 2018.
11. Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing. (2017). School Life - Official Trailer . Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl_eP39tXW0. Last accessed 12th April 2018.
12. N/A. (2018). People who like Autism Initiatives UK. Available:
https://yougov.co.uk/profileslite#/Autism_Initiatives_UK/demographics. Last accessed 1st May 2018.