documentary plan

1. Is Britain in need of
Black History?

2. Conventions & Styles In Documentaries
0-2 Minutes
• Voice over
• Archive footage
• Voxpop
2-4 Minutes
• Cutaway Footage
• Statistics
4-5 minutes
 Summarises
 Concluded Style: Investigative
Both side of the
arguement

3. Target Audience
Gender: Male
Age: 25-30
Ethnicity: Black British
Occupation: Final Years in Education or Teaching
Hobbies & Interests:
• Wider Reading
• Politics
• History
• Archeology
• Astronomy
• Education
Behaviour - Media Use/Consumptions:
• Geographical Channel
• Historical Channel
• Newspapers (Broad Sheets)
• Books
• Ancient/Religious Scriptures
•

4. Secondary Research
• There still remains among some whites, particularly but not
exclusively Southern whites and especially white Republicans, the
view expressed by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney in
the infamous Dred Scott case in 1857. Writing for the majority,
Taney wrote that persons of African descent, whether slave or free,
were not citizens and so not members of the sovereign people who
founded the United States and “were at that time considered a
subordinate and inferior class of beings, who had been subjugated
by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet
remained subject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges
but such as those who held the power and the Government might
choose to grant them.” Hence, it is no aberration that Confederate
memorabilia are flaunted in the face of blacks, or that some states
are aggressively attempting to implement voter suppression laws
aimed at restraining black voter participation, or that affirmative
action programs are under attack and eliminated, or that police
continue to assault black people with violent force all as a warning
of who’s in charge and a threat not to forget their subordination
and place under white dominance.
No Alibis – Educating children about racism
With these questions in mind I wanted to use film to
find out more about what lies behind the dearth of
black professors within Higher Education. Absent
From The Academy attempts to trace and uncover
the impact that the lack of black professors has on
the UK. I won’t go into too much detail here about
my findings, as you can watch the film below. There
were however a number of tangents that I was
unable to include in the film, a few of which I think
would be relevant for us to discuss now.
Founder and Editor
• http://mediadiversified.org/
Absent From The AcademyMedia Diversified

5. Primary research
Response: "....England seems to be improving as they have more in the
curriculum which appeals to different cultures However this remains a issue
in most other countries"
Response: "....They say there are two sides to every story and history is only
being half told from the white side
Question: Do you agree with the statement history is "half told"?
Performance poet Benjamin Zephaniah
says black and Asian pupils are turned
off history because they are told only
"half the story" in British schools.
Response:Yes I would agree because when the only history you're learning
about is from the white prospectiveThe is only one month in the entire year
when black history is taught
Question:Would you agree that black and Asian
children are turned off history?

6. Idea development and monitoring
Feedback
How is history tailored towards one specific
ethnic background? And should we have a
choice of who's history we learn?
Majority vs Minority
Is Britain's in need of black
history?
1 Month or AllYear Round

7. Content, Contacts, Facts and Figures
Blacks have consistently
been the race with the
lowest life expectancy it
currently stand at 74.7
years
• There are now roughly 5,000 events taking place for Black History
Month across the UK every year.
• As well as the US and UK, Black History Month is also celebrated in
Canada.
• There are 1.87 million people living in the UK who identify
themselves as "Black British".
• Black people have lived in Britain since at least the 12th century.
• Populations increased dramatically in the 17th century, when people
were seen as a unit of currency for slavery.
• Slavery was made illegal in the UK in 1772 and was officially
abolished in 1833.
• DuringWWI, a separate black unit was formed within the British
Army called the BritishWest Indies Regiment.
• Throughout the war, 15,204 black men had served in the BritishWest
Indies Regiment. Of these, 185 were killed in combat and 1,071 died
of illnesses.
• Black History Month is recognized by the UK government and is
supported by many MPs across the country.

8. CommercialViability
Releastic
Gap in the market
Current issue
Profitable
Little to nothing spent on budget
Lack of money invested into promotion

9. Placement & Distribution

10. Release Date
BHM 2015
Relevant time of year
A month into the new acedemic year