Addicted to Gaming?

VIDEO GAME ADDICTION

• Technological advances have contributed greatly to the popularity of gaming. In 2010, 63 million console

and PC games were sold in the UK, with games with violent content among the most popular. As gaming

increases particularly among children and adolescents, so have concerns over the games’ content,

influence and excessive use.

• As a result of this, there has been an increase in the number of research studies on the issue, researchers

have now been able to identify the consequences of excessive video game use, factors associated with

video game addiction and the treatments of video game addiction.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

• As part of secondary research I researched articles relating to my documentary topic and similar documentaries out there on the market. This enabled me to see what issues I would like to raise in my documentary as well as to see what issues have been spoken about already so that I can make my documentary unique.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

• I conducted various types of primary research such as: interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. This research enabled me to gain a better understanding as to what my target audience would like to see in a documentary on video game addiction.

• What I found out from this form of research was that both my primary and secondary target audience are not fully aware of the consequences video games can have.

MAPPING THE DEVELOPMENT OF MY IDEA

• My documentary idea came about after studying addiction in psychology, I was learning about why people become addicted to video games, gambling and drugs. I decided to pursue the idea of video game addiction because I believe there is not a lot of awareness raised around this issue. As I began to further research the issue by looking at articles and similar documentaries, my idea then developed around this research and according to what my target audience wanted to see.

STRUCTURE/OVERVIEW OF MY DOCUMENTARY

Introduction

What VGA is?

Cutaway footage

shown and more

information on the

growing concern of

video games

Introduction into video game

addict//interview with him describing

what it feels like and what impact it

has had on him//cutaway footage in-

between

Interview with addict’s

parent// cutaway footage

in-between

Cutaway

footage//introduction to

psychologist

Interview with

psychologist/explains

implication video game

addiction can have and

advice to parents

TARGET AUDIENCE

• My primary target audience are parents, this is because my documentary will inform and educate them on video game addiction and the effects it can have on their children. Parents are usually oblivious to this knowledge as shown from my primary research. The documentary will also be relevant to this audience as they may have children who may play video games as the majority of children do.

• My secondary target audience are young people aged between 12-18 years old.

AIM

• The aim of this documentary is inform and educate the audience, providing

them with an insight into the issue of gaming and the effects it can have, in a

short and concise documentary.

COST AND BUDGETS

The total cost for my documentary is £26,226.36. I have calculated this my making a

detailed table on all the expenses for the documentary. This ensures that I know

where I need to spend and what for and avoids me exceeding my budget. My total

budget of £26,226.36 is unrealistic and too much, therefore, I have found alternative

options to reduce the cost. For example, I will set in as both the producer and director,

enabling me to save £6300.

FUNDING

• To gain funding for my documentary I will contact different organisations and promote my documentary idea to them, so that they may want to fund thedocumentary.

• Some of these organsations include: BFI and Catapult Film Fund

• To gain fundings from such companies I will need to submit and onlice applicationand if I am successful I will need to pitch my documentary idea to their company.

VIABILITY

• My documentary will be viable as it will be filling in a gap in the market and I

have found this out by researching into current outputs.

• I will be filling in the gap in the market because:

- My documentary focuses on the implications excess video games can have,

something which is not explored in other documentaries

- My target audience is aimed at parents, while other documentaries are aimed

at young people

- Not many documentaries on video game addiction have been aired on BBC

One

DISTRIBUTION

• My documentary ‘Addicted to Gaming?’ will be aired on BBC One. This mainstream channel is BBC’s most popular mixed-genre television service across the UK, offering a wide range of high quality programmes.

• The reason I would like to air my documentary on BBC One is because BBC One air ‘popular access documentaries’ that ‘gives a real insight into modern Britain’, something which my documentary provides, in that video game addiction is a current issue with estimations of 18.8 million people between 6-64 playing games in the UK. Therefore, the content of my documentary will appeal to the target audience of the mainstream British audience on the channel BBC One.

• There are many other reasons I would like to air my documentary on this channel. These include:

• The channel appeals to a wide audience and not a niche audience. For example, on average 97% of UK adults (47 million people) consume at least 15 minutes of a BBC service in an average every week, and they spend 19 hours a week on average with the BBC. Due to the fact that many people watch BBC One, it means that a wide variety of people as well as my primary and secondary target audience can watch the documentary and learn about the issue of video game addiction.

• My documentary fits into the ethos of the channel. The ethos of BBC One include ‘promoting education and learning’ through a wide range of programming on the channel. BBC One state that their mission is ‘to enrich people’s lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain’. Therefore, my documentary fits into this ethos as it informs my target audience of what video game addiction is and the effects it can have on the individual, and by portraying this in the documentary I will be educating the audience too.

MARKETING

• I will be using 3 marketing techniques to promote my documentary. These include: Promotion, distribution and advertising. All of these methods raise awareness and publicity for my documentary, which means more people will watch it. I have aimed my marketing towards my target audience to ensure that they will watch it. For example, I will have a newspaper article on my documentary o The Metro, thousands of people read this newspaper, especially adults travelling to work and thus it may be read by my target audience on their journey to work.

LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES

I have conducted thorough research into legal and ethical

issues regarding my documentary to ensure that I do not

breach the law when in the production stage.

I have identified the legal and ethical issues and identified

how this can effect my work but also what I can do to

avoid these problems.

For example, a legal issue to consider is copyright of

content music and this will effect my work as it will limit

the choice of music that is available. To avoid any

copyright issues I will use royalty free music.

Furthermore, I have created release forms which I will be

signed before I start filming. For example, I will ensure

that location release forms are signed by the owner of the

property, so that I have written permission to film within

the property.

THANK YOU

For more information about documentary please visit my wix page:

http://uddinsamiha14.wixsite.com/samiha