Formal Proposel

Formal Proposal For Documentary

Topic - Laughter

Type of documentary – Mixed

Style of documentary – Informal and informative, fully narrated

Channel and scheduling – Channel 4 – 8:30 Thursday night

Target Audience- young adults/teenagers 15-20

Primary research needed -

· Laughter clinic women

· Psychology Teacher

· Vox Pop, What’s your favourite joke? Filming their reaction to a joke.

· Comedian?

· Locations for filming

· Interview with person who has attended comedy event

· Props for mise-en-scene

Secondary research needed –

· Schadenfreude

· Archive footage : clips of peoples misfortune, comedy events, magazine articles and reviews – Frankie Boyle controversy, music relevant to topic, radio extracts,

· History of jokes

· Jokes within different social groups / cultures e.g racism, Chris rock, yo momma jokes, immature sense of humour vs intellectual comedy

Narrative structure – Single strand, Linear?, Open

Outline of content-

Different peoples + different social groups sense of humours and how they vary

Origins of jokes,

Worst + Best jokes,

Laughter therapy,

Laughter clinic + interview with person who runs it,

Laughing at others misfortune,

Taboo subjects – shouldn’t be laughed at,

Relieve stress,

VOXPOP – favourite jokes + reaction to jokes,

How humour differs within different cultures,

Interview with psychologist/psychology teacher,

Interview with professional comedian,

stand up comedy show,

Edinburgh comedy festival,

Comedy as a mass event,

Footage of people lughing,

How laughter affects people emotionally, mentally and physically,

Fake laughter + nervous laughter,

How laughter can affect relationships.

Resource requirements –

· Digital video camera

· Microphone

· Tripod

· PC with adobe premier pro software

· Tape