Progress report

Unfortunately, despite planning to shoot I still have not been able to. The weather has been bad and it is not possible to free-run whilst its wet, it has also begun to get dark around 4 which creates a time restriction. Gary is now injured so I am trying to organise other people to film, I may possibly be able to film on Sunday.

Progress report

Due to Gary having to film out of London every weekend, I have not been able to organise a time he is free to film. On Monday 9th I organised to meet him on the South Bank at 3pm, however he was not able to contact me to tell me he was late. I was able to record some footage of the South Bank towards my documentary and I have now arranged to film Gary on Thursday 12th. It has been a stressful and rather slow several weeks and I am anxious to film Gary in order to make swift progress as the deadline approaches.

I will scan the mock up's I have created for the newspaper ad and double page TV listings tomorrow.

Filming

Unfortunately, I discovered the battery, which was brand new, was not working properly. This meant that I was unable to film on Saturday, so now filming has been moved to next Saturday.

Interview questions

1. Explain to me what Parkour is.
2. Why is Parkour important to you? Why do you do it?
3. How long have you been training for?
4. How does Parkour make you feel when your training?
5. What is the future for Parkour?
6. Will it ever be as big as other urban sports such as skateboarding?
7. Do you ever feel like Parkour is disaproved/frowned upon by people?
8. How does this make you feel?

Progress

I shall begin filming the actuality footage and perhaps some of the "talking heads" footage on Saturday 17th. I shall also be taking photographs for my TV listings and Newspaper advert. I shall post detailed evidence of my planning on Monday 19th. My editing shall therefore commence on w/b 19th.

Institutional Research

The documentaries I studied as part of my product research were distributed on DVD and/or broad casted by channel 4. As my product will be in a similar format to a longer documentary for example Jump Britain, but lasting 5 minutes, there may be some discretions in regards to broadcasting the documentary.

Channel 4 have said the following in their unique institutional model;

1. "Channel 4's output reflects the enduring values- of quality, innovation, diversity and distinctiveness - embodied in its remit."


2. "Channel 4 does more than any other broadcaster to support independent production across the nations and regions."

Channel 4 readily express their support for independent production and "maintains a strong diversity of genres" (from Channel 4's unique institutional model). Their institutional values support my criteria, as my documentary won't be on a mainstream topic. As a result, I feel that they are the most appropriate Institution to broadcast my documentary.

Product research- Radio Times and Time Out (TV Highlights)

Product Research- Newspaper advert

Product Research- First Magazine

Product research Addition!! - ( r.e five minute extract)

After more research into Parkour and whats been previously made, I found out that Mike Christie directed a sequel to channel 4's Jump London. (A full summary of the film is available on imdb if you click on the picture below.)

I found Jump Britain overall more satisfying to watch than Jump London. It focused largely on the teaching and training of freerunning than the previous title. I particularly liked the topics of discussions being held. As well as conveying the stories behind several of the freerunners from across the U.K and capturing freerunners on a global scale, the documentary's focus remains on what brings the young men together, Parkour.

After watching both Jump London and Jump Britain, I have come the the conclusion that there are so many aspects of Parkour to cover. So, I shall take the format of '3 Minute Wonder', however incoorporate features seen in longer documentary's such as interviews and title sequences.

Product Research - Five minute extract

Parkour isn't as established as other urban sports such as stunt biking and skateboarding. Therefore, I only found one documentary called Jump London that was broad casted on Channel 4 and other low production value documentary on YouTube. (click on link for an example of one.)

Whilst watching Jump London, I observed that the main focus of the documentary seemed to be London itself as a city rather than the emerging extreme urban sport. I also didn't agree with Sebastien Foucan dressing Parkour up to be a 'discipline' rather than a sport. After watching the documentary I decided that the focal point of my own documentary would be informing people of the sport, it will also hopefully challenge perceptions people may already have of the sport.

I liked the use of a voice over in the opening of the documentary I found on YouTube, however the rest of the documentary was poorly constructed. Arguably, this documentary focuses too much on the skills and stunts of Parkour. There is lack of movement during the clip and there appears to be no motive behind the documentary.

As I have stated before, I only found two documentaries on Parkour. However, I looked at Free To Skate a short documentary about skateboarding, part of channel 4's 3 Minute Wonder series. I particularly liked this documentary as it was clear and coherent. There was a clear purpose for the documentary and it remained engaging throughout.

Audience Research

The marjority of people asked preferd to watch investigative documentaries such as Dispatches and Panorama. These results have lead me to use Dispatches as part of my product research in order to study the format used by this programme. The results to this particular question have proved useful in enabling me to narrow down my product research ensuring that I am heading in the right direction with my research and have a clear idea of what to include in my final production.

I was expecting more people to be aware of Parkour, however my documentary is aimed to inform as well as exhibit the actual sport of Parkour. With a good advertising campaign, I feel my documentary will be successful in doing so. This is a demonstration of a gap in the market for this particular sport.

I can conclude from these results that it will be most appropriate to air my documentary on BBC1 or Channel 4. This has given me a direction as to what to research in terms of institution. In general, I have deduced a considerable amount of information from my questionnaire. In addition to the information shown above, I learnt from my questionnaire that the peak time for watching television in the evening was from 7-11. I am now prepared to continue with the remaining of my research and have a clear direction.

Initial Brief

Brief- TV Documentary
Main Product- 5 minute extract
Ancillary Product 1- double page spread from listings magazine
Ancillary Product 2- newspaper advert for documentary
Target Audience- 

Demographics: Aged 15-25, male. 

Psychographics: Will be interested in urban life, likely also to be interested in graffitti and skatebording. 

Lifestyle: Social, young, active, diverse.
Similar Media Products- Jump London
Justification for choice of brief- I have knowledge of constructing documentaries and an understanding of the form. So, I thought, given the conditions it would be the most appropriate brief. I am also interested in Parkour and know, from research, that there is definatley a gap in the market for documentaries on Parkour and free running as very little have been made.
Representational issues- Unfortunaltey as Parkour is very new, it is viewed as disruptive and rebelious. It is another addition to urban sports such as skateboarding and stunt biking, therefore the people being filmed may appear as stereotypical teenagers. However, I feel this will engage other teenagers and at the same time engage other audiences that allow themselves not to stereotype.
Narrative- I will use a non-narrative construction as I feel this is the most appropriate narrative for my documentary. I will not be conveying a story, just informing people of Parkour.
Creativity-
Challenges Anticipated- Organising filming off school grounds and recording the stunts. 
Digital Technology- iMovie, Sony HDV Handycam.