Formal Proposal

Topic



Body Image/Appearance


Type of documentary


Mixed


Style of documentary:


Informal/informative/entertaining/ short sequenced fast paced.


Channel:


Channel 4


Scheduling:


Tuesday, 8pm


Target Audience:


Young Adults: 17-24 years old


Primary research:


Questionnaires

Interviews: Person who has had a gastric band, Nail technician, Sun bed technician , Hair Dresser, Drag Queen, make-up counter person, Gym person, Doctors surgery, Male obsessed with fake tan.

Vox Pops:

Which celebrity has your ideal body shape? - this will be filmed by New Look in Liverpool One

Do you think plus size women are still beautiful? - this will be filmed by the fountains in Liverpool

Would you get plastic surgery? What would you get done? - this will be filmed by the Metquarter

Would you say the person in this picture (Pete Burns) is beautiful? - this will be filmed by Primark

What would be your ideal features to make an ideal person? - this will be filmed by Topshop

Locations for filming:
Hair dressers, Salon, Liverpool One, Shops – Debenhams/New Look/H&M/Dorothy Perkins/River Island/Topman/G Star Raw/Evans/Republic, Make-up counter – Debenhams, Doctors, Gym-Total Fitness, Office Building, Mac Donald’s, Tesco, MAC, Technique Hairdressers, Drag Queen room.

Props/make up items.


Secondary research:


Magazines, Newspapers, Internet research, relevant TV programmes, still photographs, music, and official statistics.


Narrative structure:


Open, single strand and non-linear


Outline of content:


- Vox Pop – which celebrity has your ideal body shape? – Liverpool One


- Interview with a nutritionist over weight and healthy eating


- Interview with a plastic surgeon on the procedures young people are getting


- Interview with a person who works in a sunbed shop to see the types of people who come in


- Interview with a beautician to see what people want done and why and if it makes them feel better on their way out


- Interview with someone who has had a gastric band and why she felt the need to change her appearance dramatically


- Interview with: Pete Burns, Beth Ditto, Christina Hendricks, and Cheryl Cole as to how it feels to be in the public eye and why they’ve changed their appearance


- Interview a young person on how they view beauty and body appearance today and then contrast it with an old person on how beauty used to be defined


- People putting make up on or having it done in a department store


- Extracts from TV programmes: “Gok Wan: How to look good naked”, “Supersize vs. Superskinny”, “10 years younger”, “You are what you eat”.


- Film a boy band getting ready for a concert and contrast it with a girl band e.g. The Saturdays and JLS


- Film the different types of celebrity diet plans e.g. the baby food diet, or the apple diet or people trying them


- History of male and female body types and how they have changed in time and through place


- Film people going in and out of shops


- Montage shop names


- Film a cosmetic aisle in Boots or Superdrug


- Film a make up counter in MAC


- Magazine articles on celebrity diets fluctuating such as Natalie Cassidy


- Extracts from fashion week to see the size of the models, any plus size models?


- Contrast a male and female pin up calendar to compare the stereotypes of an “ideal” body image


- Discuss why there are only ever women on page 3, does it pressurise girls to look a certain way?


Resource requirements:


Tripod, digital video camera, microphone, computer with Adobe Premier and Photoshop