Jennifer Finnigan has been commissioned by BBC Three and BBC England to create a 10-15 minute documentary on "Culture of the digital age" targeting 16-25 year olds. Her idea is to explore how social media can influence serial killers and murders by examining past cases and interviewing experts on the topic. She conducted research on serial killers and psychology and surveyed audiences to identify preferences. Her documentary will use symbolic codes like acting, color schemes, and reenactments to set a dark and mysterious tone that draws in audiences. It will focus on how social media impacts criminal minds rather than profiling a specific killer.

1. Culture of the digital
age: Pitch
By Jennifer Finnigan

2. Index
• About the project
• Research
• My targeted audience
• Research
• My ideas
• My main idea
• Codes and conventions
• USP
• Meeting the client's needs
• Appealing to the audience

3. About the project
• For this project, I have been told to create a short documentary based on ' Culture of the digital
age', by the BBC three and BBC England. The purpose of these broadcasting companies is to
attract the younger audiences specifically in the UK by supplying a mixed-genre schedule of
innovative UK content featuring new UK talent. BBC Three are working on a project based on
expressing the northern voices through culture of the younger generation specifically ages between
15–25-year-olds. The short documentary should consist of at 10 minutes and maximum of 15
minutes.

4. Research
• For my research, I went online and looked through a bunch of articles about murders, the minds of
serial killers and the traumas of these experiences. Plus, I researched psychology as this plays a
huge part in this specific topic, as psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. I
found that social media has a huge impact on these killers as they either influence their actions or
they have publicized these cases so much to the point that some people look up to them or they
have had bad childhood traumas. For my audience research, I created a survey to find my target
audience where I asked various of questions about their preferences of documentaries; what they
like, dislike, what makes a documentary, age , gender etc... By doing this, I have recognised what
my audiences needs and wants are, and this will benefit me to create a documentary that will meet
their standards.

5. My target audience
• My targeted audience is between the age range of 16-to-25-year old's, that are specifically
interested in true crime documentaries and possibly in some sort of education; last year of
secondary, college, university or apprenticeship, possibly a job. As my initial idea is inside the minds
of a serial killer, this would be perfect for psychology major students or people that have a passion
or interest within this topic. Demographically, this documentary would be more suited to females as
my results from my survey proved that 53.8% of my audience are females. However, it can be for
males as well as females as it is not specifically aimed at one gender. Religion isn't a factor that is
needed for my documentary as it is not about certain religious topic, therefore this can be for
anyone no matter what religion or background or ethnicity etc... My documentary is the type of
product that my audience would not have to buy to watch therefore there is no specific income level
that my audience would need.

6. My ideas
• Social media- the reason for why I would use this as one of my themed ideas for the culture of the
digital age project because social media has a huge impact on how we are on a day-to-day
basis and how it is vastly developing
• Serial killers- the reason for why I would use this as an idea for this project mainly because I am
fascinated by the mind of serial killers and there are so many cases in the Northeast. This can link
to social media as this can have violent outcomes
• Films- how films have changed over the years and how more recently some directors and
producers are using mobile phone to record footage. Also, how the fan base can be toxic and how
they have a huge impact on the industry due to social media.

7. My main idea for the documentary
• My main idea for this documentary 'Culture of the Digital Age' is how social media can have a massive
impact on murderers/ serial killers and the minds of these murderers. The reason for why I have chosen
this idea is mainly because it fascinates me how much power social media has on the violence that
happens in the world and how someone can turn to murder over social media. Another reason for why I
chose this theme is because past serial killers (Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, The Night Stalker etc...) have
been publicised so much that is believed that most murders now are inspired by their doings.
• I want to investigate how media can influence people and how it can sometimes drive them to kill. This
could happen because of cyber bullying, violent footage which could make children think that is normal to
act a certain way, or how media is a gateway to draw innocent people towards the killers through
catfishing. The reason for why I have chosen this theme is because I find this remarkably interesting to
watch and learn about. Since I am within the target age range, I think this would be a perfect theme to
document as I am able to relate to the audience's interest.

8. Codes and conventions
• Codes and conventions are the building blocks of a media product that is made. It is like the pieces of a
puzzle that makes a masterpiece. The codes and conventions that I will need are the symbolic codes,
technical codes and written codes.
• Symbolic codes: the symbolic codes that will be used in this documentary is the acting, colour and mise-
en-scene. Acting will be serious as it is about serial killers; it’s a serious topic. I will also include re-
enactments of past scenes such as the murder itself, conversations etc... Interviews will be included
however some of my actors will be blurred out as they don’t want their faces in it. The colour theory for
my project is dark; for example, dark backgrounds, shadows, lights etc... By doing this, it will create a
mysterious and horrific atmosphere to the documentary which will make it more intriguing to the audience
and intensely. Mise en scene is included as it is mainly props, costume, staging and composition and set
design. For clothes, my actors will be wearing just ordinary clothes however they would have to be
neutral or dark. For props, I will need a murder weapon that is fake, tables, chairs etc... This will make the
scene more believable and intriguing as it will draw my audience in more. For the interviews, I will need
my actor or actress to sit in a room on a chair which will be dark to give it that down to earth type of
atmosphere and that they are telling the story.

9. USP (Unique Selling Point)
When having a serial killer-based topic for documentaries, they are normally about a specific serial
killers' story. However ,for my project, I am basing it off how they their minds work and how social
media can impact them/ their behaviour to then lead to these horrific actions. Furthermore, I will be
interviewing people on their opinions of how social media can impact these events and their opinions
of these killers etc...

10. Meeting my client's needs and appealing to
them
• When meeting my client's needs, my main priority is making sure that my client are satisfied with
the product. Which in this case, they enjoy my short documentary; Culture of the digital age project.
I will be following the brief to meet BBC's standards and will be including my primary research; the
survey I made and sent to many people to find out their likes, needs and preference about
documentaries.

11. Thank you