Tuesday 25th September 2018
The original idea for my major multimedia project (MMP) was to analyse the nature and history of Thai boxing focusing primarily on Thailand and England. I wanted to produce a seven-minute visual documentary for BBC 3 but, I soon discovered that BBC Three had already created a collection of documentaries centralizing on Thai boxing or MMA. The most recent being “The Weight Cut: Extreme weight loss” which was aired on the 22nd of October 2017. They aimed to shed some light on the dark kept training secrets of MMA athletes.
Due to the realisation that my idea was not as original as I imagined, I was faced with the harsh reality of starting afresh. As I pondered and prayed for an indication of my MMP topic, I decided to take a step back to allow the idea to come to me. In the words of Garrison Keillor “Bad things don’t happen to writers; it’s all material".
Dementia has and always will be in my partner's life as his grandmother passed from it nearly 3 years ago. Throughout the years we thoroughly discussed it to point where I felt nothing but frustration for the social stigma surrounding it. The harsh reality is everyone knows or has someone in the family with dementia but, some of us still don't know that dementia is not another word for Alzheimer's but an umbrella term it falls under.
I have seen first-hand the effects dementia has on families so for this reason, I have chosen to investigate the progression of combating dementia. My primary aim is to increase awareness about dementia, whilst informing the audience on the diseases to help in the recognition of symptoms early. For all the medical information, I plan on interviewing a GP or junior doctor so my facts are accurate. Secondly, discussing the cutting costs government changes have had on the N.H.S are vital for the background of this project, and again I do plan on gaining this from my GP or junior doctor interview. Even though I want my documentary to be as insightful and informative as possible, I want it to give my listeners just a small glimpse of how families manage. I am working towards finding someone who is willing to share their story and help me create the character as I believe my documentary will need to make it a journey.
At the current moment, I have a million ideas and am working on how I can narrow it down to make it as informative but entertaining. I am constantly reminding myself to go back the basics of journalism. Remember the 5 W's and the H, my ethical considerations and keep researching. Overall I happy with my choice of project and look forward to creating my MMP.