This documentary will explore the skateboarding subculture in the North East of England. It will examine whether skateboarding is an art or a sport, look at the lifestyle and habits of skaters, and investigate whether the negative stereotypes of skaters are fair. The documentary will include interviews with skaters, footage of skateboarding tricks and stunts, and vox pops from the public to understand different perspectives. The goal is to represent skateboarding from the point of view of skaters in a realistic, fast-paced style through a mix of interviews, observational footage, and music.

1. Half-Pipe Dreams: tales
from the street

2. The brief
• “You have been commissioned by the Darlington TV to
produce a Documentary to be aired on their Internet TV
station. Your product document anything of interest or
relevance with the North East, but it must be self financed
through advertising. You must produce your show for a
specified audience segment within the 16 to 25 age group.”

3. Client profile
• Northern Echo
• Local target audience – they have a far more caring
relationship with their target audience than national
newspapers
• An organisation under lots of financial pressure –
newspapers sales decreased 5% each year
• The newspapers target audience are going to be much older
–middle class as they have recently changed from
broadsheet to tabloid
• They have very high production and editorial values.
• The Northern Echo is owned by Newsquest

4. Target Audience Outline
• Gender: mostly male
• Socioeconomic group: B – D
• Age: 16 -25
• Tribe: Young alts, skaters

5. Genre Research
• Mixed documentary Other skateboard
style: documentaries have
• fly-on-the-wall been this genre and
• observational have proved successful
and appealing to this
• un-obtrusive target audience.
• interviews
• voxpops
• realistic
• fast-paced

6. Commercial and Audience viability
• Director
• Producer
• Camera personnel
• Editors
• Music production
Overall expenditure = £1170
Total profit = £630

7. Audience Testing
• “a true, real representation of what it’s like
from our point of view”
• “I can’t wait to see the finished product”

8. My Product

9. My documentary
This documentary will take a closer look at the skateboard sub-
culture:
• Is skateboarding an art or a sport? – physically demanding
but also creative, self-expressive
• Exploring the lifestyle and habits of skaters
• Is the typical negative stereotype fair? – skaters are associated
with vandalism, drugs
• It will also look at opinion, art, music and various other factors
that affect the skating scene in the North East
• Why do skaters continue to put themselves in danger to
master new tricks?

10. Establishing shot –
Interview –
location non- Cutaways Cutaways –
presenting
diegetic music Different disruptive
skateboarding as
5 seconds locations - behaviour -
an art
skate park's Montage police etc
Skateshops in
Voxpops would they like Montage of skating
northeast,
skating to be more respected footage – eg
interviews
– public opinions Hartlepool –
sponsors, how
short cutaways skateboarding cutaways of
has skating
locations
survived? etc
Onscreen text –
skating in Interview -
Footage of skate northeast, art or skaters
trucks and stunts sport? ... stereotyped -
(3 seconds) fair?
Introduce
skateboarder Voxpops –
short public opinions
Montage cutaways – Interview –
interviews
skateboarding (10 -15 shots) presenting skating
Loud music as a sport-
Onscreen text introduction competitive etc
begins

11. My Product
• People think that because they hang around in
gangs on the streets that they are causing trouble
when really all they want to do is skate - skaters are
creative people, ‘artists’ involved in their own sub-
culture

12. My product
• Why do skateboarders put themselves in danger to master
new stunts – adrenaline rush? Way of expressing
themselves?
• Would they like skateboarding to be more recognised and
respected as a ‘sport’ – professional? Or an art form?
• Do they compete – when? Where? What happens there?
Can a career be made out of it?
• Serious injuries from skateboarding?

13. My Product
• Montages
• Cutaways
• Voxpops
• Hand-held camera