Planning

Ideas for the documentary

We did a class brain storm of possible topics for our documentary; here is the list of what we came up with:

In our groups of three we came up with a spider diagram of the things that we associate with fashion, this was so that we could start thinking of the content of the programme and also the title.

We then decided that the documentary would be called ‘Shabby Chic’ and that it would be broadcast on Channel 4 at half past 8 on a Wednesday. We decided that the target audience for our programme should be predominantly women aged 15-30.

Audience Profile

This is Hannah Simpson an example of a member of my target audience. She is 18 years old and is interested in fashion. Her hobbies are dancing, singing and musical theatre. She often buys ‘Look’, ‘Hello’ and ‘Vogue’ magazine. Her favourite television programmes are ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Gok Wan’s Fashion Fix’.

Questionnaire

As a group we came up with a questionnaire so that we could collate the results and make a list of possible content that we could produce that our target audience would find interesting and entertaining. Here is a copy of the questionnaire that we produced and used for our survey:

1.) Are you male or female?

2.) How old are you?
10-20 □ 21-30 □ 31-40 □ 41-50 □ 60+ □

3.) What is your occupation?


4.) What is your favourite colour?

5.) What type of music do you listen to?
Indie □
Alternative □
Pop □
Rock □
Electro □
Other □ please specify

6.) Would you ever consider buying clothes from a charity shop?

If so Why?
Good value for money □
Originality □
Other □ please specify

7.) Approximately how much do you spend on clothes a month?
£10- £30 □ £30- £60 □ £60-£90 □ £90-£120 □ £120+ □

8.) Do you prefer clothes from the high street or designer? Why?



9.) Do any celebrities influence the way you dress? If so who and why?



10.) Are there any fashion trends that you dislike? If so what are they?




11.) What are your favourite shops?

Here are the results of our questionnaire

Questionnaire Results

Are you male of female?
Male- 11
Female- 19

This shows that our survey is slightly bias, however our target audience is more likely to be women, therefore the results will be more efficient in our decision making, for the content.

How old are you?

This shows that most of the people questioned were in the age group of 10-20 and fit into our target audience range.

What is your occupation?

This shows that most of the people in the survey were students. Therefore our results will be helpful, because we will be able to make decisions that reflect the target audience.


What is your favourite colour?

This shows that most people like the colour blue therefore we will use this colour in our graphics and opening title sequence to appeal to the audience.


What type of music do you listen to?

This shows that most people listen to pop and rock music, this will influence our decisions about what music to have in the background and also whether sub-genres such as ‘goths’ and ‘indies’ clothes are influenced by the music that they listen to.

Would you ever consider buying clothes from a charity shop?
Yes- 17 No- 13

This shows that the majority of people would consider buying clothes from a charity shop. Therefore we will include a vox pop to see if people would wear clothes on a model that have come from a charity shop and record their reactions when they find out where the clothes are from. This will reflect our overall message of whether you have to spend lots of money to look good and whether you have to conform to society’s idea about fashion.

This signifies that most people would buy charity shop clothes for originality. We could potentially refer to these results in our vox pop or in the script for the voice over.

Approximately how much do you spend on clothes a month?

This shows that most people spend £10- £30 on clothes a month. This gives us an indication of whether they prefer to shop for high street clothes or whether they buy more expensive designer wear. From these results I can assume that most people prefer to shop in high street shops.

Do you prefer clothes from the high street or designer?

These results re-enforce the previous results, they show that most people prefer to shop on the high street. We may include these results in the programme to display our views.

9.) Do any celebrities influence the way you dress?
Yes- 13 No- 16

This shows that many people are not influenced by celebrities, however many people do look at celebrities as style icons. Therefore we will include interviews with celebrities about the fashion ranges and the pressures that they face in the lime light to look fashionable and attractive.
The graph below shows the celebrities which people admire and aspire to own their clothes. Therefore we will interview them in the programme.

10.) Are there any fashion trends that you dislike?

This graph shows that people dislike a lot of fashions, therefore everyone’s taste in fashion are different. We may use this information in the programme to reflect the issues about looking good, regarding the style and make of the clothes that people wear. This information will contribute to the underlying theme of pressures within society.


11.) What are your favourite shops?

This shows that most people like River Island, Topshop and Newlook which are all high street shops. This information could be used in the programme and we will also include footage inside these shops and possibly have interviews with the staff and managers about their store.

‘Shabby Chic’

We came up with a list of possible content that we could use in the whole documentary, so that we could begin to create our running order and then decide what we were going to film for the first 5 minutes of the documentary.
· Tummy tuck underwear
· Different types of jeans
· Origins of prints used on clothes e.g. Aztec
· Heels- how people feel they need to wear them when they go clubbing
· Trainers- whether people feel they have to have designer makes
· Winter Wear
· Interview with Vivienne Westwood, Gok Wan
· Jewellery- making your own
· Watches- different styles, colours etc
· Nail varnish
· People from third world countries producing clothes for the high street e.g. Primark.
· Shoulder pads- make women feel masculine? More confident? In control?
· Size zero
· Pressure within society to wear the latest trends and to have designer makes rather than copies
· Iconic fashion- e.g. Marilyn Monroe’s dress, Breakfast at Tiffany’s dress
· Interview with Trinny and Susanna
· How celebrities reinvent their image- Madonna
· Montage of shop logos/ labels
· Middle aged men and fashion- trying to retain youth
· Fashion blunders- sandals and socks
· Maternity clothing
· Shoes
· Counter fit clothing
· Special occasions- fashion rules- wearing hats to weddings
· Sub cultures and fashion- Indie, Goth, Punk etc
· Wardrobe essentials
· Little Black dress- must have item of clothes for a woman, makes women feel sexy
· Celebrity fashion- influence on society
· Celebrity fashion ranges/ perfume
· Do men care as much about their appearance?
· Vox pop about whether people would buy charity shop clothes
· Interviews with high street and designer stores managers
· Fashion websites- shopping online
· Achieve- cat walks, music videos, news reports, adverts etc
· Cutaways- cat walks, magazines, shop logos, still images of celebrities.
· Songs-
Kraftwerk- Model
Lady Gaga- Fashion/ Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
Fergie- Glamorous
Scissor Sisters- Filthy Gorgeous
Madonna- Vogue
David Bowie- Fashion
Fall Out Boy- Tiffany Blews (Little Black Dress- chorus)

Formal Proposal

Title: - ‘Shabby Chic’
Topic: - Fashion- high street vs. designer and the pressure within society to look good.
Type of Documentary: - Mixed

Style of Documentary: - entertaining, informative yet informal, variety of content, quite fast moving, some slang used, fashion themed music used throughout.

Channel and Scheduling: - Channel 4, Saturday at 8:30- 9:00 pm

Target Audience: - 15- 30 years old, mostly women interested in fashion.

Primary Research needed: - locations for filming, interviews, music.

Secondary Research needed: - Magazines, Newspapers, internet research, relevant TV programmes.

Narrative Structure: - Single strand, none linear, open.

Outline of Content:
Little Black Dress- Should every woman own one?

Vox Pop- Liverpool about whether people would wear charity shop clothes.
Interviews with Primark/ Topshop about the quality of their items and status.
Interview with designers (e.g. Vivienne Westwood) – Cavern Walks
Footage in charity shops of the goods and to show contrast of how many people shop in them.
Montage of high street shop logos.
Size Zero- the issues with the models and how they influence young people/ whether people feel that they have to be slim to be considered attractive (pressures within society).
Interview with size zero fashion icons- Mary- Kate and Ashley Olsen, Nicole Richie.
Celebrity clothes ranges, Katie Price underwear, Fearne Cotton, Coleen Rooney. Kate Moss for Topshop, Gwen Stefani- L.A.M.B.
Resource Requirements: - Music Videos, cat walks, websites, still images, magazine photos.
Microphones, digital camera video and still, tripod, PC, Adobe Premiere.

Running Order

Documentary: ‘Shabby Chic’
Channel: Channel 4
Scheduling: Saturday at 8:00pm- 8:30pm
Duration: 27 minutes (including advert break)

Montage of clothes shop logos gradually getting faster - 20 secs.

Suddenly stops, opening titles - 10 secs.

Voiceover introduces the topic, explaining that in a questionnaire people preferred high street clothing to designer and asking the question why this is whilst tracking shot through Liverpool town centre showing high street and designer shops - 1 minute.

Vox pop “whether you would wear clothes from charity shops” Girl standing with us looking stylish with charity clothes on – 1 minute 30 secs.

Interview with a worker at Topshop explaining whether they think people have to spend a lot of money to look good and whether you have to wear designer to look good – 1 minute.

5 MINUTES

Montage of magazine cuttings: high street clothes vs. designer, ‘Vogue’ by Madonna playing – 20 secs.

Slow zoom out from extreme close up to reveal a size zero model. Voiceover explaining how a lot of people have become obsessed with weight and that they think they have to be super skinny to look beautiful – 20 secs.

Interview with Vivienne Westwood about what she thinks about the size zero situation and if she would consider using over size 12 to model her clothes – 1 minute.

Archive footage of Fashion Label catwalks such as Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Gucci and Burberry showing skinny models modelling them – 30 secs.

Our own version of a catwalk using models of different sizes wearing high street and charity shop clothes showing that they look good too - 1 minute.

Interview with Mary- Kate and Ashley Olsen (size zero fashion icons) talking about whether they think the media effects their weight and if they feel responsible for girls who look up to them and also talking about their own clothing range – 1 minute.

Interview with Kate Moss about her own label at Topshop and whether she shops more at high street or designer and which she prefers - 1 minute.

Montage of models in LBD’s, voiceover discussing ‘Does every woman have to own a little black dress and does it matter if its high street or designer?’ - 1 minute.

Big close up of programme title made out of clothes, jewellery and shoes etc – 5 secs.

ADVERT BREAK

Big close up of programme title made out of clothes, jewellery and shoes etc – 5 secs.

Interview with Anna Wintour and what she thinks about charity clothes. ‘Vogue’ by Madonna in background – 1 minute.

How magazines influence fashion

Story board

Then we made a story board of our opening title sequence so that we would now each frame for filming. For the opening titles I decided that I would produce a stop motion video using my Digital camera to take pictures of a sequence of clothes forming the words 'Shabby Chic'.