Brief

Some People Are Gay?

Why?

Viibe Productions
By Harry Durkan
The Henley College
Client

For my final major project I thought a good company to commission my production for
would be BBC Three, they are a long standing broadcast company that have curated
thousands of factual programmes that have been successful and educating. BBC Three is
the branch of the BBC that is targeted for younger audiences, they create their
productions with the idea of tackling issues of today head on. They create documentaries
that are important or relevant to young people today and I believe my idea conveys with
there modus operandi. My idea is targeted towards younger people as more young
people than ever are identifying as queer, so my idea is also relevant to them and it
would be a production they would enjoy watching. Being queer for a majority of queer
people hasn't been the easiest, a majority of British gay people have experienced an
anti-lgbt event, whether it be verbal attacks or physical. So my documentary would
provoke a lot of powerful emotions for my production as I will be challenging people who
hold anti-lgbt views and talking people who are Lgbt themselves and their experiences.

These are the commissioning outlines set by the BBC for programmes on BBC Three, they
have published them for other content creators to create a production that can
converge with these outlines and potentially be broadcast by them. I believe my initial
ideas and the plan I have for my production is convergent with these outlines and would
be a production enjoyed by the target audience the BBC Three focus on, which is 16-34
year olds. My idea is relevant, especially to young people to who have the highest rates
of being LGBT amongst the British population. My idea has an interesting perspective and
approach that will get young people speaking about the topic. Anti-lgbt attitudes are on
the rise again, in 2017 reports of attacks have increased by 80%. The perspective I’m
coming at I think will spark a conversation I will include my personal experiences and
beliefs but I am also talking about the biological development which creates homosexual
tendencies in humans. Homosexuality is going to be around forever so the conversation
around it will never cease. Because there are thousands of documentaries discussing the
topic of sexuality I wanted mine to have some variety, I thought not a lot of people would
know about the actual biological process that makes people gay.
Idea
Idea Generation: Initially I knew I wanted to do a production that was
focused on being gay or other LGBT related issues, from that first basic idea I
developed it into three different productions of different styles and genres.
To narrow down to one idea I had to ask a survey of people who would give
me critiques and appraisals, sent my three ideas out on survey monkey and
distributed them on my personal Facebook and my creative media social
media pages.

These are the responses from my survey, a majority of them have responded
that they would like to see the documentary on why some people are gay.
This was my preferred idea so I’m happy that my survey responded with this is
what they would like to see. I have also gotten very positive feedback on my
idea, so I know what I could develop further to create a better quality
production. I have also got some critiques on my idea so I know what to add
to make it a better production. One critique in particular I brought up with
my teacher to discuss if it would benefit my production.
Originally I was going to create the production as an unpartisan and
unbiased production that would show the facts surrounding homosexuality
as well as other people’s opinions on the subject. I wasn’t going to include
my own experiences with being gay as I thought it would come off as I
would have a bias. But I discussed the idea with my teacher and they said it
would be a great idea as it would make it more personal to me, and would
add another perspective to the debate I am tackling in my documentary.
Outline: why are some people gay? From conception or environmental
circumstances? Hear from both sides and what science says causes it.
Idea description in detail: For my final major project I will be producing a
factual documentary that will discuss and explore the question “Why are
some people gay?” I want to discuss how homosexuality is viewed today in
Britain, and why changing attitudes will show an increase in people
identifying as LGBT. I want to investigate what science says causes
homosexuality and what other organised groups like the Catholic Church
cause homosexuality. I will use my own primary research like surveys and
interviews, and secondary research from trusted LGBT sources like The LGBT
Foundation to create a production that answers the question in a
nonpartisan unbiased way but with a more pro-LGBT message with my own
personal experience. The main focus of documentary will be homosexuality is
natural and the hate directed towards is unnatural. I want to interview
people who are gay themselves and people who don't agree with
homosexuality, this will make my production as unbiased as I can. I will go to
popular gay places in Britain, like Soho in London, and ask people on street
what they think about homosexuality. I am also going to include my own
personal experience with being gay, what I believe and my coming out
story. As I am a gay man this will be my own journey through the topic of my
own sexuality, I will present the facts on the subject but also discuss my own
truth. How I want to structure the production is first a brief history of
homosexuality in human society and my own experience with homosexuality
coming out at fourteen to my family and fifteen at school. I will use voice
over and video style blogs when I include my own perspective. What LGBT
people and people who agree with homosexuality say causes it, I’ll go on
the streets of Soho and Birmingham's Gay Village to ask people what they
believe. Then I want to ask people who don't agree with homosexuality what
they think causes it, I think this will give my production an unbiased and
nonpartisan view point as I want it to be respectable and have both
perspectives. I will contain real facts and opinions on both sides I will be
including my own personal opinion and what I believe, so while I will be
presenting both sides the production will be more pro-LGBT. Finally I want to
ask a scientist or someone respectable and would come across impartial to
my audience regardless whether they agree or not. I will end with a
conclusion, in which I will evaluate my research and let my audience make
their own decision on what they think starts homosexuality and give my
conclusion with the thoughts I have. I will be targeting my production
towards people in the age range of 15-25 years old, this because I am also in
this age range and would be able to create a production they would
interested and engaged with.

Why my product should be made

I want to study broadcast journalism at university so I think it’s important to
show that I can create a factual based production. This is good chance to
show my research and investigative skills to the best potential. It will give me
a good chance to display my interview set up skills and other practical
expertise I have learned from the course. My editing skills would also benefit
from creating the whole production, I have edited a documentary before on
this course but this will be the first time I produce one with complete creative
control. Researching the topic of homosexuality and what causes it will
require intense and thorough research that has to be completed in a short
amount of time; this will improve my research skills and force me to work
quicker and condense the relevant information onto my Weebly page. I will
need to plan shoots to go to Soho in London and interviews with people that
might be outside of Reading. So I will need to plan before hand when I will
conduct these interviews and what I will ask them. My planning skills have let
me down in previous units so in this unit I will put extra pressure on myself to
get dates and times booked with my interviewees. Conducting the
interviews and setting them up properly will definitely benefit my practical
skills as they are also something that have let me down on previous units. So I
will make sure to use all equipment necessary to better my production and
ask for help when I am not sure on how something should be practically set
up. I’ll be editing the documentary on my own so I will make sure to look at
codes and conventions of documentaries similar to mine and apply to the
editing so it is easier for my audience to register the tone and understand
what kind of documentary they are watching, while also enjoying it too.
While there are plenty of documentaries on homosexuality and the varying
themes that sprang off the subject. My documentary will try and include a
mixture of opinions from LGBT people/ allies and people who disagree with
homosexuality, while also including opinions from an unbiased
biologist/scientist/scholar, and my own personal experiences and opinion. I
am creating my production for people in the age range of 15-25, I am in this
age range so I believe I can create a documentary that can appeal to my
target audience and meet my personal aims of education and
understanding from my production. I want my documentary to be visually
dynamic and energetic so my younger audience aren’t bored watching it.
Documentaries have a tendency to be mundane and lose the attention of
audiences, so my documentary will be fast paced to always keep my
audience watching and paying attention. I am also going to present my
documentary from a unique perspective, I am gay myself and have been
out to friends and family for four years. So while I have a personal connection
to the subject at hand, I am also a strong believer in the right of free speech
and strongly believe everyone is entitled to their opinion; even if it
inadvertently or directly goes against me. I am a person of practical and
pragmatic beliefs, so I am able to approach the subject of homophobia with
a cool head and will be able to focus on creating a documentary that fairly
showcases both sides.

Target audience
BBC Threes target demographic is between the ages of 16-34 which is
actually very similar to my original target audience which was 15-25. So there
aren’t many ideas I would have to change now that I am commissioning my
production for BBC Three. I myself am in this age grouping so I believe I am
able to produce a production that would be enjoyable to people in my
target audience age range.