‘The no-show voters’

Brief Booklet
Isla Sykes

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Information on competition

London Cinematic Horizons is a newly established film festival

awards, based in London UK they have various different categories
to enter into, such as a documentary category which i will be
entering this documentary into.

The price to enter- $10 student price

Competition deadline- July 18th 2024

Awards- validation, work to be screened at award show

Outline of final idea

The aim of my documentary is to discover the reasons behind young

people not voting. I will be talking to politicians, locally and
nationally to discover if increasing the number of young people
voting is important to them, what they’re doing to increase young
voting numbers and if they believe their policies reflect the needs of
young people. I will also be looking into the existing education on
voting, both in schools and in the media. I will be talking to young
people to find out what sets those who do care about voting apart
from those who don’t care, such as interviewing members of
different political parties’ youth wings.

Target audience

Due to the main focus of my project being about the lack of young
people voting, my target audience will be 16-25 year olds. Despite

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the legal voting age in the UK being 18, I have decided to appeal to
16 and 17 year olds also, as I think getting the conversation started
about politics before voting age is really beneficial and allows more
time for people to learn about the political parties in advance to
voting. Another reason is the fact that 17 year olds can register to
vote, something lots of teens don’t realise they can do at this age.
I’ll make this appeal to my target
audience age group in many ways:
including useful information about
voting, featuring young people via
interviews and statistics and
showing the narrative from my
perspective. As I am 17, I feel lots
of my target audience could relate
to me as a narrator and connect with the story I will be telling. I’ll
do this by including my thoughts and feelings to the camera after
interviews and my tone/wording in voice overs throughout the
documentary.

Legal and ethical issues

Due to the nature of my documentary, considering ethics and

legalities when producing this documentary is very important. I
know I need to be aware of things such as
bias- I want my audience to create their
own opinions when it comes to the political
parties I am showcasing, so keeping a
neutral stance is important.
When criticising specific politicians, slander
and defamation are things I ought to be wary of. To avoid this, my
research will be vital to ensure anything I imply in the documentary
to be the truth is indeed a fact. I will ensure to regularly check to

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monitor the truth in what I am saying, as well as providing sufficient
bibliographical evidence in my research, as well as providing
sources on screen when referring to statistics. This will also let the
audience have trust in what is being said and add credibility to it.
When gathering background interviewee evidence, I will obtain all
information legally and on trusted websites, and make sure to cross
check sources to not unintentionally mislead the narrative on that
particular individual. When it comes to recording, I will ensure to
notify the subjects if our interactions are being recorded for both
morale and legal reasons.

Production schedule

Week NO. Date Activity Locatio Equipment Crew

n neede
d?

1 Tue 16th Idea generation focus groups classroo N/A

April m

1 Wed 17th Proposal classroo N/A

April m

1 Friday 19th Competition research and creating classroo N/A

April problem solving table weekly blog m

1 Sunday 21st Impromptu focus groups with My N/A

April Labour candidates knocking on housing
doors on my estate estate

2 22nd April Topic Research classroo N/A

m

2 23rd April Topic research classroo N/A

m

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2 24th April Party manifesto analysis classroo N/A
m

2 26th April Emailing interviewees, manifesto classroo N/A

research, codes and conventions, m
weekly blog

3 Mon 29th Finishing codes and conventions, classroo N/A

April analysing more party manifesto m

3 Tue 30th Target audience focus group classroo N/A

April m

3 Wed 1st Practice shoot planning classroo

May m

3 Fri 3rd May Test shoots- 3 point lighting and Classroo

microphone testing m,
outside
on
campus

Problem Solving

Theoretical How to fix Faced ?

Production ends up Research political views from all Yes

biassed parties- interview someone from each
party and research in depth

Documentary doesn’t Complete focus groups to make sure I No

fit my target audience know what young people want to
watch, as well as objectively
evaluating whether my production is
interesting

Weekly blogs aren’t to Regularly take on feedback from Yes

a high standard marking teachers and refer to past
work from high achieving students.

I am falling behind on Plan carefully what I am doing each Yes

work and cannot lesson to avoid this, however if this
complete all tasks in happens, I will prioritise which work is
time most important

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Struggling to order Make a story mountain to order the Yes
the different story segments based on tension and
segments then analyse any links to each
segment

Struggling to create Research similar production types and No

voice over script get inspiration for those and getting
peer feedback. I will watch tutorials to
ensure it is formatted properly

Current affairs change Keep up to date with the news to Yes

my plans adapt my plans

Practical How to fix Faced

Camera battery dies Bring extra battery and ensure battery Yes
is charged

Sound quality is poor Use a shotgun mic for camera, don’t Yes
film in wind or echoey places

Interviewee cancels Try to rearrange, offer a virtual Yes

interview or edit script to fit a new
narrative

I cannot edit an effect Watch youtube tutorials from adobe No

I want

I lose my footage Back up footage to multiple places, No

both physical eg USB and digital eg
icloud, google drive.

Forgetting Carefully plan on my production No

equipment schedule what equipment is needed
and for when. Book any equipment
needed in advance to ensure it is
ready in time

ISO being too high Adjust in post or research which ISO No

setting is best for each location

Poor interview Take pre shoots to work out desired Yes

lighting lighting

Incorrect white Correct in post via colour correcting in No

balance adobe

Being copyrighted Run my final product through a No

copyright checker, not use licensed
music

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As lots of politicians Try to schedule filming in London on No
are based in London, I the same day/ limit the amount of
will need to travel days I will be filming
there lots, which may
get expensive

SD card has no Regularly check the GB remaining, No

storage have a backup SD with me and move
footage to SSD/USB after filming