Social

Action
Research
booklet
Contents
Task 1: Brainstorm on social issues
Task 2: Research on other action videos
Task 3: Research on own video
Task 4: contact details and angle for own production
Task 1:
(this should have been done in the idea process you now need to write it down for
example you looked into an issue and didnt like it, or your realized it was too
difficult these ideas need to be noted now)

Your brainstorms should cover:

The issue
The effect the issue has on community
How easy it would be to cover the social issue
What has been done to cover this issue before
Rough idea on who you can interview

Idea 1:

Headway Thames Valley.

Their aim is to help those who have acquired a brain injury to deal with the
consequences of this. The issue has a large impact on those within the community
who suffer brain injury, as well as their friends, family and caregivers. It is also a
relatively unknown social issue, with those in the wider community that arent
affected by it now being aware of the issue, or the number of people it affects.

It would be relatively easy to speak to a number of people affected by the issue,

talking about the support they need and the help they have received from
Headway. However, other things, such as was to illustrate the issue, are much harder
to come by and to find visually interesting footage of.

Previously, I have recorded a number of talking head interviews covering the issue.

People that could be interviewed include the head of Headway, the head of the
Thames Valley branch, and the people that they help.

Idea 2:

Student poverty.

The aim of this social action video would be to highlight the issue of students living in
poverty.

There are many impoverished and disadvantaged students in mainstream education,

and they often blend in. In some ways they are aided, but unfortunately they often
remain comparatively heavily disadvantaged, even while in school.

To cover this issue, it would be easy to talk to teachers, as well as professionals in

mental health, for wider context. It may however be extremely difficult to find poor
students, either current or former, that would be happy to talk to us on camera. It
may be difficult to find such people in the first place.
This issue has been the focal point of a number of government initiatives and
awareness-raising campaigns. It has also been touched upon in reality show
Educating Yorkshire, as well as in television documentaries about education and
social welfare.
Idea 3:

Nomad Henley.

Nomad take action to counteract the issues faced by disadvantaged people and
families. Within Henley, there is the additional issue of people assuming that
everybody there is financially well off, and therefore the problems go unnoticed, and
have very little additional support.

It would be very easy to cover the social issue, as there are very many types of ways
and reasons that Nomad help people, and therefore a great many topics to cover
and people to talk to. There are opportunities to deliver hard hitting moments,

They have a website and a number of posters and flyers in order to publicize and
raise awareness on the issue.

We will be able to talk to and interview on-camera a large number and wide variety
of people. These will include the staff at people, and they patrons, as well as the
people that they help, and any 3rd parties that provide these services for Nomad.

Task 2:
Compare 2 social action video similar to yours
(look at LO2 Brief on website for guidance on what should be covered)

Social Action Video 1

Catch 22 https://youtu.be/igl7oSf1gTI
This social action video is entirely built up of on-screen text and
animations. Because of this, it uses none of the usual conventions such
as interview or found footage.

Its subject matter is a charitable organization that helps people with a

huge number of issues, and helps people of many different ages, with
the end goal of granting them self-sufficiency. In this way, it is extremely
similar to my own Social Action film. However, the way this information
is conveyed is very unusual, clinical and non-emotive, so my finished
product will look very different.

Hard, researched facts and figures are used throughout, as well as brief
and simple statements. The intention is to educate and inform, rather
than to leave the viewer with any strong emotion towards the film itself.
However, as a result of this, it is unlikely that the viewer will retain or be
particularly bothered by the information.

Social Action Video 2

Community Action
https://youtu.be/qBVpMVPziIA

This video deals with a southern American town and its relationship with
large corporations destructive use of their land and natural resources.

This social action video is entirely built up of and structured around

interviews, with use of actuality footage used as cutaways for
illustrative purposes. It uses Tom Udall as its focus, continually returning
to interviews with him, making him into the lead presenter. The
interviewer is never in shot during interviews, instead the subjects
address the camera directly. The style of production tries to make the
audience emote.
The film is mostly designed to be emotive, focusing more on the
emotions of its subjects, and the importance of the central issue to
them, rather than hard facts or figures.

I think that the use of these methods creates a sense of sincerity, that
the documentary is presenting to you the unchanged truth, shown
plainly through opinions and actuality footage, and not distorted by
complex editing.

In my own social action project, I will use these methods, of using

interviews to build up the film, and other footage only as illustrative
cutaways or B-roll.

However I will not copy their use of a central presenter. It made sense
in this film due to the subject matter of a single politician trying to enact
change, but in a broader subject matter, there is no reason to favor or
hone in on a single voice or opinion.

Task 3:
Your research should focus on:

Background on the Social issue itself:

The social issue itself is that there are a lot of disadvantaged people in the country at
large, and locally within the Henley area. This imbalance results in people having
different opportunities in life, or struggling to keep their children clean and fed.

Is there already a social action group to try and prevent the issue? Yes / No

If there is: Who is involved with the group? What effects has the group had on the
community? How has it helped certain individuals? Does it already have an action
video to help its cause? (up load these if there are)

There are already multiple social actions nation-wide intended to help with the issue,
or to curb its effects on individuals and communities.

One that we will be working closely with is called Nomad, and have a branch
specific to Henley.

Are there any famous people involved in trying to prevent the situation?

Some local celebrities and rich people are supporters of the Nomad, Henley charity.
Is there government backing to prevent the situation? Should there be? What could
they do?

The government has its own initiatives and awareness-raising campaigns.

Nomad and Nomad, Henley have some help from the government because of their
status as a charitable organization.

How does the issue effect the community / nation / world?

This is an issue that exists on a local, national and global scale, and effects individuals
within communities.

Look at statistics on the social issue

Nomad, Henley have a large amount of statistics about their work, which is reflective
on them and on the issues they help with.

For example, in a one year period in 2015 and 2016, they made 4775 interventions in
which they helped 485 individuals through schools and 1034 through the local
community.

What can be done to prevent the issue from happening?

The issue of people being disadvantaged cannot be prevented totally in our society,
but initiatives like Nomads are done to prevent or ease the effects of the issue.

Task 4
Contact details and angle

Informative, educational or change of attitude?

Discuss why and how you will achieve this.

The main intention of the film is to inform on the issue, as opposed to being
educational or to cause a change of attitude in the viewer. As I the filmmaker
doesnt know about the issue in great detail, I do not feel that the film will have any
educational application, but my search for information will be evident in the final
product the people talking to the camera will shed light on the topic, creating an
idea in the audiences mind of the subject matter, but not going into comprehensive
depth on all aspects. This will be achieved by the film being built up of interviews,
with illustrative footage and B-roll overlaid upon most of it, with no presenter narration
or any form of anchor personality.

List of found footage you can use and reference where it has come from

1. Home video footage from members of the charity, or those they have helped,
recorded at their internal events etc.
2. Home photographs from members of the charity and those they have helped
3. Promotional footage for Henley, used to illustrate the town and its public image,
sourced from the Henley Observer website, the Henley Royal Regatta website, etc.
4.
5.
6.
7.

What ethical issues will you have to overcome or be careful documenting?

One major thing to always be considering while producing this film will be peoples
willingness to be seen in the documentary, or be involved in any capacity and how
we portray them. It will be important to be considerate of their desires to not be seen
or to remain anonymous, to respect their privacy, and to portray them positively in
the edit of the film.

Another ethical issue is the inclusion of children. This issue, and the one above, will
both be handled by having each of our subjects sign a release form stating that
they give us legal permission to include them or their child in our film.

List of social action groups you could interview. Can you follow a volunteer or
member of the project?

Nomad, Henley

Research on the subject: Research around the subject? Information that you need
to know BEFORE you interview people
 We will need to know as much as we can about the internal working of the
company as we can get from talking to them.

On top of this, also from conversing with members of the charity, we can acquire
statistics and figures illustrating their work and the issue.

What shots / cut a ways / footage will you need to film in order for the social action
video to have impact?

We will need footage of the town, exterior footage of their building, internal
footage of their building, as well as lots and lots of B-roll footage of the events they
hold (for example, they host school-age football games, a large portion of a game
could be filmed from a variety of angles, in order to illustrate a football instructors
description of the event and the reason it is important.)

Interviews
Contact details linus has all of these

Name:

Position:

Involvement in action:

What can they discuss in the video?

Where can they be interviewed?

Phone number:

Email address:

Name:

Position:
Involvement in action:

What can they discuss in the video?

Where can they be interviewed?

Phone number:

Email address:

Name:

Position:

Involvement in action:

What can they discuss in the video?

Where can they be interviewed?

Phone number:

Email address: