DT Multimedia Blog

Simulated Project Proposal

Introduction
The purpose of this proposal is to outline my plans and ideas for my simulated client project which I shall be working on over the next 6 weeks. I have chosen to create a short film which could be used to support a sexual health public information campaign.

Sexually transmitted diseases have become increasingly common in the UK over the past 10 years, the figures having more than doubled since 1998. However more recently there has been particular concern over the spread of Chlamydia in young people with studies suggesting 1-in-10 people in the UK aged under 25 carry it. It is only recently that the government has begun to publicise the Chlamydia infection and its consequences, which although easily treatable, it is usually symptomless meaning that it is often left untreated and can lead to infertility in men and women as well as other health problems.
The spread of this infection has been tackled in other countries by use of sex education programmes in school, test kits for the infection being more widely available, and by use of high profile public education campaigns.

In my view many of the sexual health public education campaigns/TV advertisements I have seen take a far too light approach on the subject (e.g. a recent NHS TV advertisement for Chlamydia) without really highlighting the consequences of catching an STD, the visual style of the adverts seem to make catching one seem sexy or humorous rather than boldly showing people the more serious consequences. The public education advertisements that I recall having the greatest impact on me are the more brutal and graphic ones involving road safety (e.g. the ‘Always wear your seatbelt’ one), which although being very unsettling and possibly “inappropriate for children”, these will definitely be most effective. If people could graphically see the possible outcomes of their actions then people may start to take them more seriously.

I have therefore decided to produce an audiovisual television advertisement about sexually transmitted diseases which teenagers can relate to which also graphically displays the more serious consequences of having unprotected sex.

NHS Advert for Chlamydia

Think! Always wear a seatbelt advert

Treatment
The visual and technical style for this film will take much influence from the ingenius music video for Guilty Conscience by Eminem and Dr. Dre which depicts three separate stories of three different men trying to make the difficult decisions as whether to carry out an armed robbery, have sex with an underage girl and whether to kill a cheating wife and her lover. Each story is frozen while Eminem and Dr. Dre (acting as the good and bad consciences of the mind) rap about the various consequences of the men’s actions before they make a decision on whether their actions are really worth the possible consequences.
However I also want teenagers in the UK to be able to really relate to the film and take note, therefore I have decided to also derive influence from the recent British made films Kidulthood and it’s sequel Adulthood (written and directed by Menhaj Huda and Noel Clarke) which depicts a fairly typical day in the life of a group of teenagers living in ‘inner-city’ London. The films highlight many of the typical scenarios and possible outcomes which are not uncommon in much of today’s youth, including violence, promiscuous unprotected sex, drugs and prison. All the characters in these films are very realistic and I find you can easily relate to them, as are the locations and the bleak style in which it is filmed. The blunt realism of these films make for extremely powerful viewing and I think many teenagers (from poor and wealthy backgrounds) can learn something from them.

Therefore I plan to combine the camera techniques and style of story telling of the Guilty Conscience music video with the realistic characters and imagery of the UK from Kidulthood to produce a sexual health awareness advertisement for television which will really make people take notice.

I have numerous ideas for different scenarios depicting the effects of STD’s which I need to think about and finalise but my first idea for the film will begin with a smooth well dressed man in his 20s called Dave prancing around a club flirting with numerous women before stopping and gazing at a beautiful girl in her 20s named Heather (a romantic love song plays in the background with voiceover). They engage in conversation and it is evidently love at first site. They go for a drink, bowling, dinner and dancing together. They kiss and eventually end up in a bedroom; the girl lies on the bed and the man picks up a packet of condoms. The film freezes at this point with the couple smiling.

The story then skips forward 20 years and the couple are married with two beautiful children, a boy and a girl aged 18 and 13. They live in a large house, go on numerous family outings, have the perfect children and the perfect life; all this displayed through a montage of different clips.

The story then cuts back to the frozen scene from 20 years before. The man opens looks in the box of condoms to find its empty, he smiles and shrugs his shoulders and chucks the box over his shoulder before taking off his top and falling to the bed.

Story skips forward 2 years. Heather is screaming at Dave, she slaps him in the face and carries a suitcase out of his flat crying (a voice over tells us how Dave has infected Heather with Chlamydia making her incapable of conceiving children). Dave is a depressed worn out shadow of his former self, he has no children, has lost the love his life and his appearance is very unkempt. He takes a swig of vodka, smashes the bottle on the floor, puts his head in his hands and sobs.