2. Relevant Practitioners: their work and it's
influences.
Mahi Iftikhar and 24 Hours in A&E
Mahi Iftikhar has produced and directed work for the BBC and Channel 4. They have worked on many episodes for
these companies on the shows, DNA Family Secrets, Life Stripped Bare, and 24 Hours in A&E from 2016-2021 so far.
One piece of their directing work that I found myself to enjoy was an episode of 24 Hours in A&E called Never Let Me
Go in 2020. For the interviews in the episode a shallow focus is used which I think works great for drawing the viewers'
attention to the person and the interviews also speak about good things that come from the bad such as families and
friends coming together which planted that into the viewers heads making the episode a little more light-hearted. Some
of the interviews were with family members of the injured person and the main clips of the injured person made the
episode feel more personal and also more real. The episode also contained only simple editing which I believe is
because it is filled with serious topics.
All of these details I believe worked really well and played a part in the overall impact and feel to the episode along
with many others however these are the few that I am considering using in my own production as I believe they would
be beneficial to the overall quality of the end result.
MDTVS. (N/A). 24 Hours in A&E S21E03. Available: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x88cj80. Last accessed 28th Feb 2022.
N/A. (N/A). https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11177859/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr21. Available: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm11177859/?ref_=ttfc_fc_dr21. Last accessed 28th Feb 2022.
3. Jess Stevenson and Back On The Psych Ward.
Jess Stevenson is a freelance director that has worked with many different companies such as the BBC, Channel
4, and ITV as well as a couple of commercials.
When looking through her work I took notice of an episode for the BBC which she was the director of photography
for, Stacey Dooley's Back On The Psych Ward. When watching a section of this episode I took a liking to the
interviews in particular.
They were filmed with a shallow focus however in some cases you could see that the interview was taking place in
a natural work environment, adding to the realism of the topic. Many of the interviews also had a range of shot
types which I found interesting as the close ups of hands and eyes showed more of the persons emotions. A lot of
existing footage was also used such as video footage from a patient which again added to the realism, and I also
believe this type of footage could be almost comforting to those who relate as they can see they are not alone in
that situation.
I believe that these type of camera shots, backgrounds, and footage can really change the way a production looks
as to me this was higher quality production based on those few aspects alone therefore, I plan to try and
incorporate these into my own production.
Relevant Practitioners: their work and it's
influences.
N/A. (2021). Stacey Dooley Back on the Psych Ward. Available: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p094jg5m/stacey-dooley-back-on-the-psych-ward. Last accessed 28th Feb 2022.
4. Relevant Theory and its Impact on my
Production
The Hypodermic Needle Model
The hypodermic needle theory suggests
that messages from media go directly into the
brains of a passive audience. It suggests that
we all respond to media in the same way
without thinking about any actual facts and if it
is true or false.
Although this isn't a modern theory and new
theories suggest that an audience is more
aware of the media they consume, I do believe
there is still a lot of truth in this theory. Due to
this, I will need to be 100% correct with the
information put out in my video as any wrong
information would likely be taken as correct
information and immediately believed which
would not be a good look for an informational
medical video.
Brett Lamb. (n/a). The Hypodermic Needle Theory. Available: https://lessonbucket.com/media-in-minutes/the-hypodermic-needle-theory/. Last accessed 28th Feb 2022.
5. Project Introduction
For this project I want to create an informative short documentary
style video with some personal aspects to it. The documentary will be
based around Type 1 Diabetes, covering what the autoimmune
disease is and the effects it has on those with it both physically and
mentally, possibly even touching on how it effects the families of
those diagnosed too. The documentary will be aimed at teenagers
who are newly diagnosed which is why I believe including my own
personal experiences or someone else's in this age range will be
beneficial as it can be a reminder that they are not alone in this scary
situation. I will be using my own knowledge of the subject along with
using trusted UK Type 1 Diabetes websites to get my facts and plan
to try and speak to professionals such as doctors and nurses that
specialise in the disease. I may also make some graphics which I
would use to visually show the facts that are being spoken about as
visual graphic elements are liked by my target age range. The
documentary will also be beneficial to the family of the viewer and
also the general public if it came to reach that point as it will educate
any viewer on what the disease is and the difficulties that come with
it.
6. Why Am I Making This Project?
I am making this project because it is heavily personal to me. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes
when I was 12 and have been surrounded by it my whole life before that as my Dad also has Type 1
Diabetes. When I was diagnosed, I was told about what it was and had been given some leaflets that
told me this information to along with some extra to give to friends. Looking back on it now, I would
have loved a video that showed all of this - that told me exactly what it was as well as what people
have personally gone through so I would then feel less alone in how I was emotionally and physically
feeling in the coming weeks post diagnosis. Luckily, my parents knew all about it due to my Dad
having it too, but if they had no idea what it was then I know this type of video would be beneficial to
teaching them as well. Overall, I just never felt like I had enough information like this to support me at
the time and would like to create a piece that would achieve this. If it were to be used externally it
would be to educate the general public on the subject as it is commonly misunderstood.
7. Research Goals
For my future research I aim to look at existing medical documentaries/films which I will take notes on the techniques they use in
both filming and editing, the tone they put across and how they do that, the way they conduct interviews and how they get their
information across. Some that I have found which seem interesting and worth a watch are My Beautiful Broken Brain, The C
Word and Afflicted. I will also be using trusted websites such as:
• https://www.diabetes.org.uk/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAjJOQBhCkARIsAEKMtO17Pu4guuQck6--
1_4JjnkbSnKL3QDjqImVlwwJmr8KEWfW3zreBAEaAmuJEALw_wcB - The official Diabetes UK website – to gather relevant
information such as symptoms, what it is etc. It is a trusted website so the information will be correct.
• https://jdrf.org.uk/ - The official Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation website – to gather other relevant information such as
symptoms and statistics. The foundation is aimed at younger people which is the target audience for my own production.
I also plan on looking at graphic pieces for medical statistics and facts which I will use to look at style and layout for if/when I make
my own. For example, I will look at this type of graphic:
I will also be conducting audience research in the form of a survey. I will ask questions to do with what people think T1D is to see
how much people know/ the public's perception of it. I'll ask how they think it is caused along with if they know anyone with T1D as
this fact usually plays a huge part in people's knowledge.
8. My Past Experiences and Their Influences –
inside and outside of college.
For the past 6 years of living with Type 1 Diabetes I have experienced many encounters with people
not knowing anything about the disease at all and making comments based on the wrong idea that the
world has on it. The fact that not that many people, who have no relation to diabetes through family or
friends, generally know how serious T1D is and what it actually is has always been something that
really bothers me. I have seen comments made to others with T1D on social media saying things like
"it's JUST diabetes" as if it isn’t a life-threatening disease that causes you to fight to keep yourself
alive on a daily basis. These type of experiences made me want to create something that would
educate people on what T1D actually is and make them aware of its seriousness this then led on to
my FMP idea. Throughout my life I have always been interested in some type of video production. I
would always find myself filming and editing random videos just for fun and this then extended to me
studying creative media for GCSE and then here in college. During these two years at college, I have
enjoyed my video projects the most feel this is the area I still love. As I have made multiple video
projects during this time, I feel the most confident in this sector from the beginning of the project with
the research, planning and pre-production to the end final piece. This is why I decided to go down the
documentary style route, I haven't work in this specific style before, and I wanted to challenge myself
in some way within the video production sector.
9. Strengths and Limitations
• I have a clear plan for my research – Research helps to build the initial foundations of a project so already having the
majority of what I will be looking into planned out is perfect. It will allow me to get my research done faster as I won't be
wasting any time looking for things.
• Filming in a hospital – As this is a medical based video, I would like to aim for filming in a hospital setting and possibly
speaking to professionals, this could be a bit tricky to do as I am sure getting permission may be hard and finding
professionals with free time in their day while working to interview them will most likely be difficult as well.
• My knowledge on the topic - I have adequate knowledge on my topic of Type 1 Diabetes already as well as personal
experience and I know others with the condition that I could speak to which gives me a head start however I need
to check that my knowledge is factually correct as things are constantly changing.
• Editing – I have had a lot of practice with editing videos in the past so I can use and improve my skills during this
project. I would say I am quite good at the simple edits which I believe is beneficial for this project as my video is more
serious and will need to be kept more basic for that reason.
• Camera Work – I need to do more research into filming techniques and also put them into practice as I only know of a
few basic things, I believe it would also be beneficial to practice using a camera as I haven't had much time using one.
Trying to learn during the production would slow everything down and cause issues so tackling this earlier on would be
better.
• Planning - I have planned many video productions over the 2 years so I know exactly what I need to successfully plan a
video project. This means that for this project I don't have to think about it all too much allowing me to plan faster, and I
know I have covered everything I possibly can.
10. What Do I Want To Achieve From This Project
The main objective I have with this project is to produce a high-quality piece of work that is better then
everything I have made so far on my journey through this course. I hope that I can improve but also refine
my skills in all areas; research, planning, pre-production, and the production with both filming and editing. I
am also aiming for my production to be used on a larger scale, not just for college, possibly within the
hospital or elsewhere on a diabetes site or social media page for anyone to view. This project is really
important and meaningful to me so I would like to have made people more aware of Type 1 Diabetes in all
aspects as I know it is very misunderstood to the public. This video is something I would have loved to have
had when I was diagnosed so I hope to also have a positive impact on those who are recently diagnosed
(and their families), making them feel less alone and more reassured with stronger knowledge during such
a hard time.
