Final Pitch

1. My Final Pitch
By Stefan Mekki

2. Proposed Idea & Purpose of
my documentary.
The main idea behind this documentary is to highlight the fact
that we live in a society where if you put your mind to it and enjoy
it, anything is possible. In addition to this, I think this type of
documentary will allow me to be as creative as one can be. This
is due to the fact that the idea of the documentary is to also allow
me to try and experience different things.
In terms of purpose, I think that its similar to the idea of the
documentary, however it differentiates due to the fact that the
main purpose is to show the world what it actually takes to break
a world record, along with what's the actual procedure to
becoming a record holder.
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
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3. Audience & Market Research
I decided to set up a focus group in
order to conduct some primary
research.
With the focus group, I asked
several questions and this was
some of the feedback that I
received.
Question 1 ‘’ Do you prefer Vox pops or
Interviews?’’
The first question I presented to my focus
group was whether they would rather see Vox
pops or interviews. 4 out of the 5 decided to
choose vox pops. This has put me in a small
predicament as my documentary contains an
interview with the man who inspired me,
Ashrita Furman. However after taking this
feedback into consideration, i have decided to
include vox pops with the public in order to
find out what they/society think in terms of
what characteristics world record holders
need in order to break a world record.
Question 4: ‘’Where would you watch a
documentary?’’
For the fourth question, I received a mixture
of answers, however the most popular were
'at home' and on 'BBC Three'. These
answers are perfect due to the fact that that
my channel choice for my distribution in
BBC Three. In addition to this, BBC Three
can be accessed online and through Apps
on iPhone and android. Which is the type of
mobile phones teenagers tend to have.
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
http://stefanmekki2.wix.com/smekki2

4. Audience & Market Research
As part of my primary
research I have decided to
conduct a questionnaire,
along with the focus group
I prepared a questionnaire
for potential target
audience members to
answer. This included
people who featured in my
focus group. The
questionnaire consisted of
6 questions which varied
from themes to music to
presenter style.
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
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5. Audience & Market Research
I included my second
question in order to find
out what type of world
record I should break. The
primary reason in which I
decided to include the 3
options was due to the
fact that I felt comfortable
with all 3. Prior to
receiving the results I was
edging towards a ‘food
challenge’ because of my
ability to eat food in large
amounts and very quickly.
As the results show, over
90% of people would
rather see a food
challenge over the other
two.
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
http://stefanmekki2.wix.com/smekki2

6. Audience & Market Research
As part of my market research, I done a in depth analysis several
documentaries similar to mine. Although, there weren’t many, I had to dig
deep in order to find some that were similar in terms of audience, content
and structure.
On YouTube there are several videos that
have been uploaded that have a similar
topic to my idea. One channel which
dominates this field is the official Guinness
World Records official YouTube channel.
With over 770,000 subscribers, they upload
depending on when a world record has
been broken. On average they upload 3
new videos a week, which can vary from
World Record attempts, to interviews with
World record holders.
Their target audience is similar to mine as
the majority of their videos are within a time
frame of 2-5 minutes. Furthermore many of
the videos uploaded are weird and wacky
record attempts, this appeals towards the
same audience as mine due to the fact that
many 14-17 year old boys would enjoy
something weird such as 'breaking biscuits
with shoulder blades'.
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
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7. Audience & Market Research
The documentary has several conventions in which
are similar to mine, with one being the music. In 'The
Record Breaker', a lot of the music (e.g. 2:05) used
sounds optimistic due to the upbeat, fast, positive
rhythm. It makes the viewer feel engaged as if
something special is about to happen, therefore
keeping the viewer on their toes and most
importantly interested in the documentary. With the
music I plan to use, I want it to have a similar effect
as it does in 'the Record Breaker'.
Similar to 'The Record Breaker', 'Man vs. Food has
a similar structure and concept to my idea. Several
cutaways of food is used in order to maintain the
focus of the actual challenge. More often than not
the cutaways would be of the food Adam is talking
about. Along with the Cutaways, they often use fast
pace editing (seen in episode 1, season 1 3:26)
which is used as a transition technique. This will get
the audience excited and intrigued due to the fact
that they will have to keep their eyes peeled on
the screen in order not to miss what's happening
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
http://stefanmekki2.wix.com/smekki2

8. Viability of my Proposed Idea
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
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9. Budget & Costs
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10. Budget & Costs
Due to this being a low budget documentary, I feel
that I could make several cut backs in order to save
money.
Key Personnel:
- Camera Director = £3,483 = Hire a university media intern
- Editor = £3,483 = edit myself
- Assistant Editor = £2,488 = Hire a university media intern
Equipment:
- Cameras = £6,967 = Use my own cameras or borrow from school/friend
- Tripods & Dollies = £1,493 = Use own tripods/dollies or borrow from a
friend/school
- Sony Vegas (editing software) = £278 = Already own the software
Additional Costs:
- Graphics = £200 = Hire an A-level or university CAD student
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
http://stefanmekki2.wix.com/smekki2

11. Budgets & Costs
In order to receive extra funding for
my documentary I have decided to
contact several fund companies in
order to help me. One which stood
out was Brit Doc.
Brit doc are mainly a UK based
company in which help small film
makers pursue their dreams by
helping them with funding. The
main reason in which I would apply
to Brit doc is due to the fact that I
am a young aspiring British film
maker. In order to submit to them,
contacting them with an enquiry via
their website about funding would
be the best and quickest way.
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
http://stefanmekki2.wix.com/smekki2

12. Research, Development and Creative Decisions
Throughout this unit, I have been constantly adding to the ‘mapping my idea’
task in order not to only track my progress, but to show how my idea has
changed since conducting several pieces of research.
Here I have gone on to
describe some of the
factor that have
changed due to the
secondary research I
have conducted.
The one that stand out
the most to me is the
third paragraph. This is
because it relates to the
purpose of my
documentary.
‘’ we live in a society
where if you put your
mind to it and enjoy it,
anything is possible.’’
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
http://stefanmekki2.wix.com/smekki2

13. Research, Development and Creative Decisions
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
http://stefanmekki2.wix.com/smekki2

14. Research, Development and Creative Decisions
If I was to fit all my creative decisions into the pitch, we’d be here all day.
So I’ve decided to pick out a one directly from my treatment.
The style of documentary I have chosen to pursue is a participatory
documentary. There are a number of reasons behind this decision, with
one being the documentary events and situations will be influenced and
altered by the presence and actions of the presenter. Take Supersize me
(2004) as an example. Cameramen follow a man who eats McDonalds
constantly for a whole month. A documentary like that is hard to plan in
terms of shot lists and storyboards, however due to the fact that there is
a purpose to the documentary, that's what makes it a participatory
documentary. Another reasons for my choice is my target audience.
From personal experience I enjoy participatory documentaries due to the
fact that I feel that I am following the presenter on a journey. This makes
the viewer feel more engaged with the documentary because nor the
presenter or viewer know what's going to happen next.
For the full extended version to this piece of work visit:
http://stefanmekki2.wix.com/smekki2

15. Thank you for listening
To see the full version of all my work, please
visit:
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