Speeches (new brief)

The Brief (general description of the course work requirements)

BBC channels are increasingly cross promoting their programme content and for this assignment you will be producing a TV trailer for a series of radio programmes on Radio 4 called ‘Speeches’, about a selection of great speeches of the 20^th Century.  

Radio 4 will be running this series of programmes, each focusing on an individual speech from the following list:-

• Franklin D Roosevelt:  The only thing we have to fear is fear itself
• Winston Churchill:  We shall fight them on the beaches
• Harold Macmillan: The wind of change
• Nelson Mandela: An ideal for which I’m prepared to die
• Jawahharal Nahru: A tryst with destiny
• John F Kennedy: Ask not what your country can do for you
• Martin Luther King: I have a dream
• Margaret Thatcher: The lady’s not for turning
• Earl Spencer: The most hunted person of the modern age

The TV trailers will act as ‘teasers’ about the speeches by creating short films which use a combination of an excerpt of the speech accompanied by atmospheric, original footage and text graphics.  These films need to be 1 minute long (with a 5 second leeway in each direction).  You are not searching for original footage of the speech being delivered, and nor are you trying to film literal interpretations of what is being said, but rather you will devise, shoot edit and post produce a sequence of shots which add visual accompaniment to the words being spoken. This film will also feature text elements which are used to highlight words being spoken in the speech.  You can also use music and/or sound effects in your film.  

You must use research to find out more about these speeches, their importance and historical context, and a useful starting point is http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/series/greatspeeches.  You also need to look at and analyse films which will help inspire you.  Use this research to devise your ideas, develop sketches and/or photographs to help you choose styles and locations.  Fully storyboard your sequence, then keep a log of your progress on shooting, editing and post-production in your blog.  

The film must be finished by crit, then you can make any suggested changes between crit and submission.  Crit and an evaluation must be written up in your blog.  

So I have been commissioned to create a Tv trailer for the BBC that is about a series of speeches that will be of broadcast on radio 4. The Trailer needs to be between 55 and 65 seconds and feature non- literal video elements that i have personally shot and accompany it with audio effect and/or backing track.

First Impression
My first impression of this project is that it will be fun to do, the guidelines set do not limit me to a specific style, theme etc; for me its quite a broad area in which I can devise my own look and feel to the trailer.
Looking through the list of speeches there are some that i want to look at in more detail, the ones that most interest me are:

John F Kennedy: Ask not what your country can do for you
Franklin D Roosevelt: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself

Both these presidents were at an influential time in history based around war with WW2 and the cold war,  this topic is what interests me most.

Aim & Demographic
The aim of this video is to show a teaser to what you can expect on radio 4, therefore the video has got to grab the audiences attention, quick edits, exciting footage comes to mind. Although I have yet to choose a speech looking and hearing the two above as well as a quick look at radio 4's demographic:

Age: 15-24 (4%) 25-34 (9%) 35-44 (14%) 45-54 (20%) 55-64 (23%) 65+ (30%)

It is clear that most interest lies upon the 45-64+ age group, looking at this I'm thinking that I need to grab this audiences attention, the thing that I have seen best do this (looking at my parents, friends) is old things that they used to have/use. An example of this James Mays top toys series and programs originating around old things, this type of programme really engages the audience by supplying one thing: Items from the past the audience may have had/used in the past. This brings me to the conclusion that I should use items from the past in my video that would both suit the demographic age group of radio 4 which will engage my audience. I also presume that the trailer would be shown early evening 6-7pm although i will not take as solid, i will design my piece to fit/ be suitable for any time.

TV
As this will be going on Tv I would like to ass much as possible stick to the guidelines:

Title safe
Video safe
Aspect ratio
Pixel dimensions
Frame rate

Another consideration is the time in which the trailer will be shown on Tv, as a basis I want to be able to have my trailer displayed at any time, so I must think about the clips I use so that would effect this, no blood, violence etc portrayed in the trailer.