Brainstorm of content of documentary

1. The dangers of the violent content of
video games – what affects do they
have on society, especially young
children who are vulnerable and still
growing. The media is a way of
influencing them but how much
influence can the violence have on
their actions and thoughts?
In terms of expert interviews, it would be interesting to talk to teachers
at college who are experienced in media studies so possibly our
teacher, Nick Waring, and my AS Media Studies teacher, Mike Green. I
could also ask a psychology teacher on their thoughts about the how a
child develops moral and behaviours. I know that there are counsellors
at the college too who deal with a lot of students so it would be a good
idea to contact them asking on their personal experiences with students
our age. It might be a good idea to filmthe psychology department
notice board as I found it interesting that it included topics about crime
and by showing this before an expert interview it connects the
psychological aspects of crime to video games to crime, which has been
a controversial part of the effects of video games on youngsters.
Background footage for when we are introducing
the college and expert interviews could be
exterior shots at the start of the five-minute clip
for example the ‘Sixth Form College Solihull’ pan
sign but this seems to have been used a lot when
I have looked at other student examples so to
make our documentary different we could have
instead a tilt up of our main building. We could
also filmfor example, a corridor with lockers as
the lockers are a key part of the setting which is
associated with the schools and colleges.
To make sure that our documentary is covering
something that is modern, interesting and
concerns today’s problems, I think it would be a
good idea to include background footage of social
media such as Facebook comments, tweets or
YouTube videos and comments. This is important
to make sure that our audience know that what
they are watching is not something they have
already heard but something that is new.
I think it is important to ask the
expert interviewee’s and vox-pops
(the students) the topic question
of what exactly do they think are
the effects of violent contents in
video games? Do they have an
impact? Do they think that there is
too much violence or is it
moderate? Do they see a problem
with it or is not just normal for
them?
We could talk specifically about incidents
in real life that the media has connected
to video games. We could explain specific
details of the incidents and the causalities
involved but it is also important to show a
balanced view of video games and not just
show negative connections. We could ask
our interviewee’s what they think of the
positive aspects such as sports.
Video games
For the vox-pops we can ask students
of the college in both years on two
aspects: their opinions of video games
and whether they play them. If they
do play them it would be interesting
to see if what games they play in order
to assess how many violent games
they play as well as knowing which
popular games to mention in the
script. Also, we want to know what
students think themselves about the
effects on people their age.
For facts and statistics, we could
look at the number of gamers in
the UK or even the world as well
as what is the most popular
game/s that is associated with
violence. It would be interesting
to also see how much money is
spent on video games and
possibly what sort of games are
bought the most e.g. sport or
first person shooting games.