Documentary Proposal Form.

Student Name: Darius Midcalf

Working Title: What is the Impact of Depression on Young People?
Synopsis of the My documentary will be looking at how depression is effecting our teenagers
documentary: and how its been getting worse over the years. We will discover why teenagers
are getting depressed, does it link to the ever growing suicide rate in teenagers
and ways we can combat this mental illness.
Genre How would you categorise your documentary (i.e. on current issues,
celebrities, nature, health/science, human interest, experimental, etc.)
The genre of the documentary is current issues because depression in teenagers
has been in the news a lot recently since the Netflixs show 13 Reasons Why
came out. The other genre this subject relates to is health/science because this
is a mental illness and does effect Teenagers health.
Your beliefs My personal belief about the subject is that:
and bias on I feel like people need to know more about this subject (even myself), cause a
the topic: lot of people (mainly adults), dont understand how there kids are feeling and
this documentary could really enlighten them.
My film will show the following points of view:
A college councillor.
A Parent
A person who has over come depression (Teenagers point of view)
Local MP
The main conflict is between the following points of view (if there is one):
There are to conflicting points of view I can explore in my documentary. One is
how parents feel about teenage depression (How much/how little they
understand it) and the second one I can explore is a political issue talking about
how underfunded the NHS is to deal with young people with mental health
issues.
Ultimately I want the audience to feel and understand:
My goal for this documentary is for the audience to understand depression
better and for them to understand how it effects teens the most. I want them to
feel for the teenagers and there struggle with combating this mental illness.
What background information does the audience need to understand the
topic of your film?
The only/main background information I will need in my documentary is an
understanding for what depression is (A definition). Now, this is important
because some people who watch the documentary might not know about this
mental illness.
Characters Who are the characters in our documentary and what is their role or purpose?
Is there a particular point of view they are meant to get across?
The person who has overcome depression is a key part of the documentary
because with there point of view we can see what its like being a teenager with
depression and how you can overcome it and come out on top. This person is
important because they will relate with the teenagers who are watching the
documentary and currently going through it themselves, but also this person
can relate with the teenagers themselves even if they arent going through
depression.
 The local MP is in this documentary because the NHS is not getting enough
funding to deal with teenagers and mental illness. This has lead to a lot of cases
of Teenagers not being treated for there mental illness.

I want to interview a college councillor because I want to see how they feel
about the subject, how they feel about the NHS not getting enough funding,
how they help the people that ask for help and how someone can get the help
needed to support them through there depression.

I want to interview a parent because I want to know does it effect them, do they
know much about the mental illness, do they even care! Questions like this will
build a picture on how people perceive depression.
How do you intend to represent these characters?
I intend to represent these people I am interviewing fairly, giving them a fair
chance to voice their opinion. For example, I wont be representing depressed
Teens as stereotypes because I want to take peoples pre-conceived ideas and
hopefully prove them wrong and by making all the people I am interviewing into
stereotypes would be wrong.
Will there be any conflict between characters with opposing points of view? If
so, how will you show this in your film?
There might be different points of view when I ask people Is the NHS
underfunded to combat the rising mental health rates in young people.
Because the MP could say no its not (maybe a few others, but thats just an
example) and someone else could say yes it is. Thats one of the main talking
points of my documentary, I want to find out how people react to depression in
Teenagers/Young People.
Bias of The audience of your documentary might have preconceptions or fixed beliefs
Audience about your topic that you would like to change. What might these be?
The main fixed belief I reckon people will have is stereotyping young people
cause some people (not all, but some) think that depression is just a phase and
young people will grow out of it. So, in my documentary I want to break the
stereotype and really push for people to have a better understanding about
what this mental illness is.
What evidence will you show to get the audience to see things differently?
My evidence for my documentary is going to be:
1. Stats Stats are an amazing way to make people see a different point of
view because until people see the numbers, most people arent really
convinced and people like looking at statistics.
2. Interviews (by professionals) By having interviews with professionals,
it really can back up the stats and facts and, the news stories.
3. New Stories Just like stats, news stories (especially tragic once), wake
people up and it also for some people make it personal. This can be a
very effective way of convincing people to look at it from both sides.
All of these together can make a very effective documentary and really make
people see things from not only both sides, but maybe even the world around
them and how they treat others.
 What codes and conventions of documentary filmmaking will you include and
why?
The codes and conventions that would be in my documentary would be
performative mode because I want the documentary to be more personal. I
want it to have a really connection with the audience and if the film maker is
there, he can take in all the information with the audience.

In what ways will your documentary be realistic or unrealistic? Certain

parts may contain aspects of verisimilitude, whereas others may possess
aspects of actuality.
One of the key issues I face is that my documentary can be
quite controversial if not done in a serious and caring way.
So, to resolve this I will make sure that all the information I
put into this documentary is carefully selected and delivered
with the greatest amount of care possible.

If the interviewee is not comfortable being identified to keep

my documentary authentic I will carefully film and edit cut
aways to make it more real. But, I will also be filming this
at her house to make her feel more at ease, make her feel
less threatened when talking about a serious issue like
mental health. This will also give me a more authentic feel.
Production Identify any key imagery or metaphors you would like to include:
Style Forest Why I think our presenter should be in a forest is because a forest is a
calm place. Where some people go to think and find piece in a sense.

Do you intend to use a particular shooting, editing or narrative style to help

get your message across?
Yes, I intend to keep my documentary at a slow, but steady pace to give it more
of an emotional feel to it. I will do this by slowly fading between shots,
interviews etc.

How do you intend to handle the passage of time in the film?

By cross-dissolving between shots, to show the passage of time in a calm and
suitable manner.