TGJ4M

Mini-Documentary Project Proposal Outline

Project
Title:
The Concept
Provide a brief
summary of the
theme and
purpose of the
video.

Kenneth Ma and Ananya Mohan

The documentary will show how in this generation of todays society,
people tend to spend more time creating and enhancing their online
presence on social media platforms, rather than working on face-to-face
interaction. For instance, people prefer texting over face-to-face
interaction, or even calling over the phone.
The purpose of this video is to show that through the means of growing
technology, face-to-face interaction is dying. Ones image and
communication through social media is given more importance to, rather
than verbal interaction.
Our target audience is teenagers and the upcoming generation as they
are the most users of technology and social media. Through this video,
we hope for our target audience to gain awareness and spend more time
socially, talking face-to-face.

Scene description
Briefly describe
the action for
each scene.

Proposal

Here is a list of possible scenes:

1. MTR: Shots of people on their phones, browsing social
media apps
2. Shopping mall: Shots of people on their phones, browsing
social media apps
3. An Interview with Ms. deCastro
4. 3 images
5. 2 videos about growing use of technology online/ overuse
of technology
6. Kids playing in the playground without the use of
technology- to show that there is still hope

The average Facebook user has around 338 friends. On the contrary, on average, people really have up to 5
close friends that they claim to have some sort of face-to-face interaction with. Communicating is no longer
left for the mouth and vocal chords to do, but rather, it is done by the fingertips.
Clearly, digital growth has changed the way people interact. People tend to spend more time creating and
enhancing their online presence on social media platforms rather than interacting with people in real life.
People prefer texting to talking and even phone-calling. Although social media platforms do come with their
benefits, they are killing face-to-face communication between humans.
This documentary will be a means of communication to show the world, specially the upcoming generation
of teenagers on how accustomed we have become to our digital lives rather than our real lives. The purpose
of this video is to show that through the means of growing technology, face-to-face interaction is dying.
Ones image and communication through social media is given more importance to, rather than verbal
interaction.
The documentary will comprise of clips and shots from public places where people are shown to be
consumed on their phone screens. Along with this, it will contain eye-opening statistics on the changing face
of communication and its harms, as well interviews from professionals.
Our approach on this would be mostly observational. The scenes and shots used would be mainly of people
on their devices. This will include a wide variety of shots such as close-ups on peoples faces and devices,
long shots of crowds walking in time lapse, etc.
The narration would be mainly comprised of off-camera voice-overs, rather than on-camera narration
because this way, along with the voice, information footage can be shown and utilized rather than the face
of the narrator.
In terms of music style, we will be using purely instrumental and serious music which would be effective as
there will be focus on the images rather than on the words of the songs.
For video effects, a few black and white shots are considered to be incorporated as they help create a
serious atmosphere. As for transition effects, our thought is to keep it simple by using cutting angles.
The length of the documentary will be approximately ten minutes long.
Our target audience is teenagers and the upcoming generation as they are the most users of technology and
social media. Through this video, we hope for our target audience to gain awareness and spend more time
socially, talking face-to-face. We want people to realize that although technology is helping connecting
people through social media, people are slowly losing that emotional connection.
This project will be directed by Kenneth Ma and Ananya Mohan.

Scene Description
Here is a list of possible scenes:
1. MTR: Various shots of people on their phones, browsing social media apps

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Shopping mall: Shots of people on their phones, browsing social media apps
An Interview with Ms. deCastro
3 images
2 videos about growing use of technology online/ overuse of technology
Kids playing in the playground without the use of technology- to show that there is still hope

Schedule
Date

Work

December 3

Proposal, Interview Questions, Consent Form

December 4

Interview with Ms. deCastro, MTR Shots 1-5

December 5

Treatment

December 6

Playground shots, Storyboard

December 7, Monday

Find videos/ informational footage online

December 9

Find images online

December 10, Tuesday

Shopping mall, people on phones shots

December 11, Wednesday

Ask people questions about their social media

friends (Street Interviews)

December 12, Thursday

Write narration

December 13, Friday

Write narration

December 14, Saturday

Record narration

December 15, Sunday

Editing videos

December 16, Monday

Editing videos, putting things together

December 17, Tuesday

Editing video (sound & music), rendering video

Interview Questions from Participants | Ms. deCastro

1. How has communication changed in front of your eyes through these years (compared to how
it was in your childhood vs. now)?
2. How is social media sabotaging real communication?
3. If we keep using technology to communicate at this rate, how would the next generation be
like?
4. How have your relationships and interaction with people suffered because of technology and
social media?

Street/ People Interview (5-7 people)

1. How many friends do you have on Facebook?
2. Out of all, how many of them do you actually know and interact with?
3. How many close friends do you have?

4 Key Questions

Before you start planning the details of your film, your group needs to answer four key questions.
1. What do you want people to know?
The purpose of this video is to show that through the means of growing technology, face-to-face interaction
is dying. Ones image and communication through social media is given more importance to rather than
verbal interaction.
2. What do you want people to feel?
We want people to feel worried and eye-opened. We want to make people aware on how technology is
killing communication and interaction, a very vital aspect to socializing.
3. What do you want people to think?
We want the people to realize how technology is influencing communication and interaction- it is killing it.
We want people to think that technology can be scary since it has several drawbacks to it. Hence, it
shouldnt be used excessively.We also want people to realize that although technology is connecting people
from across the world, people are slowly using that emotional connection.
4. What do you want people to do?
We want people use social media and technology wisely when using it as a means of communication. We do
not want people to abuse it or use it excessively. It should only be used to a certain extent, otherwise, it
would go on to kill face-to-face interaction (a vital part of socializing), which would lead to several
drawbacks related to the functioning of the brain.