Keswick VS Bikers (working title)

TOBIAS PENNY
Treatment
5-10 Minute local issue based documentary from "bikers" perspective.

My Final Major Project proposal is for a topical documentary about
prejudice against motorcyclists. When looking online I found this area
appears to have mostly gone untouched by the media so far. There is a
largely negative stigma against "bikers" and there has been for a long time
and there is little or no oppositional view apart from the odd internet meme
and a home-made documentary I found on Youtube (While well made this
documentary was filmed in America and less relatable/ relevant for my
audience)
In the documentary I would like to voice the biker's point of view and show
what it's like to be on the receiving end of hate for is just their hobby and
discuss motorcycle clubs negative representation in films/ tv.
I would suggest doing this through interviews with bike enthusiasts where
they tell stories about incidents of discrimination and hate they've
experienced themselves. I would also largely cover the current ongoing
fight over the Filling Station cafe in Keswick.
The initial plan for the documentary will be for a 5-10 minute video
discussing the debate over the filling stations battle with locals and the
national trust including interview with staff and customers at the cafe, and if
they are willing to be filmed we could question the opposition on their exact
reasons for being so against the restaurant. And also some of the locals/
"bystanders" to see what they think.
However if we manage to collect enough stories and other content from
interviews I would like to make it less focused on the Filling Station and
cover more of biker discrimination in general in which the Filling Station
would feature as an example of a currently ongoing situation. If it could be
arranged this would also hopefully involve a couple of us travelling out with
some bikers on a rally day and showing the experiences and nature of
biking as a hobby while collecting some interviews "on site". The aim being
to really just show the community and lighter fun side of biking as a hobby.

Target audience:

My target audience is people people living in Keswick/ the Lake District as
well as bikers all across the North of England.
According to data collected from the last National census more than half of
Keswick's population are over 45. So over 45's living in Keswick will be the
demographic Ill aim to meet.
My intention with this documentary is to change the opinions of people who
are against bikers and also they people who previously took no side in the
argument.
One good way to have the film reach these people within my targeted age
demographic would be to show it on BBC 2 for several reasons. As young
people aged 0-34 years old have CBBC and BBC Three aimed at them this
means BBC 2 is targeted more towards the older generations (Like my
documentary) and has a schedule full of shows to appeal to this age group
such as Ian Hislop's Olden Days and Great British Railway Journeys. The
programme will perfectly meet their commission brief as it is aiming to
"build knowledge; support learning; and take a more challenging approach"
It is also "distinctive" and will help the BBC complete it's target of producing
"a mix of content" and "exploring a broad range of UK issues" making it an
appropriate programme that would fit in well. Also according to the BBC's
audience research three quarters (77%) of the audience who watch factual
or documentary programmes watch them on BBC 2. Which makes it much
more suitable than BBC 1 whose audience mostly watches news and soap
operas.
Alternatively/(realistically) I will upload the video to the internet and submit
it to the Keswick film festival. Both of these will receive a sufficient amount
of attention as people in Keswick would certainly watch it just because it
has Keswick in it. I would also promote it
through the Keswick reminder which many
locals read and also on the Filling Station Caf
Facebook page which would make sure it
reaches the biker audience who would be
interes

Skills and resources:

The main reason for the idea behind this project is all the resources at my
disposal. I not only live in Keswick really nearby to the Filling Station where
all the drama is taking place. But I actually work there now and therefore
have connections to be used to my advantage. I have already had a chat
with the owner and though he is not willing to feature in the video himself
he is willing to help us out in any way he can. Mainly by putting me in
contact with other bikers who would be willing to be interviewed and giving
behind the scenes information on the cafe's ongoing issues with locals and
the national trust.

As well as this I know a couple in Abbey town who are bikers. With all of
these people I know I can meet them in advance to talk about the
documentary and figure out in advance what to ask them and what content
we need to look for to complete the film (such as cutaways etc)

As for skills everyone on our course took part in producing the Tracy Levine
documentary so whoever is on the crew will have definitely already have
experience with interviewing and collecting content for a documentary.
As well as this I have produced 3 film shoots in Keswick this year and am
confident in saying I can organise this one.