Commission Documentary

For the final project of the year, we have been asked to work in groups of 3 or 4 to create a 10 minute Documentary piece. I am in a group with Ellen and Laura which I think will make a good team as we are good friends on the course and should be able to communicate ideas effectively and share creative ideas to make good decisions. The brief we have been given for the unit is 'Doorstep Wilderness'. We must make it appropriate for the target audience so that it could be broadcast on the wildlife channel called 'Eden' at 8pm so before the watershed. This is a very broad topic which covers a wide variety of aspects including animals and the environment which leaves plenty of opportunities for creative ideas. In our groups we must individually come up with an idea and pitch it to Helen. Once we have decided on a final idea, we will be pitching these to Helen, Simon and Laura so they can assess whether the idea is suitable for the project.
There are several different types of documentary including observational which includes very minimal human intervention, participatory which includes some intervention and educational where every aspect will be set up to inform and instruct the audience. As well as capturing action, we are expected to interview someone who is an expert in the field. However, after watching some previous students work, we were told that interviews should only be a small proportion of the documentary otherwise it becomes very difficult and taxing to watch. We were also told to set up what the documentary will be about within the first minute of the video so the audience knows what to expect and will feel engaged in the subject matter straight away.