UNIT 1, 2, 3: Documentary Filmmaking - Assignment 3 updated

RESEARCH DIARY 

        2 BOOKS ON BULLYING -


BULLYING IN OUR SOCIETY 

Author of the book - Cara Acred

Volume - 232 

Secondary research

Risks you run if you bully someone else

On page 22 I found some information informing children that if they bully someone it...

• Could lead to the bully getting kicked out of school for bullying and hurting another pupil and if the case involves violence, text messages, phone calls or internet abuse and demands for money then the victim and their parents will make a complaint to the police. This means you can be charged with assault or harassment. This could have serious effect on the bullies future. 
• If you bully someone out school the council or police could give you an ASBO - anti-social behaviour offence. 

And that workplace bullying is more popular than people might think...

• "Apparently 16,517 workers in 53 countries are getting bullied in the workplace and it affects their performance at work. Employers are responsible for the workers health and safety and should make an atmosphere where people can get on with their job." 
• "83% of people claim to be victims of physical or emotional bullying at the work place at some point in their career. "

I found this research relevant to the documentary that I am making because it's adding facts that I can use in my project about the statics of workplace bullying and how it's more popular than people may assume it to be because I think people get the impression that bullying only happens in schools and to children. And that it's just something that everyone goes through during childhood, but it isn't it's happening in all stages in life. Also this book gave me an insight into what bullies have to face if they choose to bully someone and how they have to pay the price, weather it be getting kicked out of school, also ending up with no friends because they're cruel once they've been kicked out and punished also ending up with a criminal record and no positive outlook on the future. - I want to go further into this and find out why bullies become bullies, is it something that happens to them in childhood?

"16 pupils a year kill themselves because of bullying, schools say that they had no idea what was going on. But the bullies knew exactly what was going on and so do their friends."

This makes me think that schools should have more awareness of when bullying is happening, they should monitor the children's behaviour and look out for children not fitting in or if they see bullying actually happening and try to prevent it as much as they can. Because these schools had no idea when someone is close to killing themselves, they should try and make a bound with each pupil so there is a form of trust so hopefully they feel they can confine in their teachers.

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT - attachment, development and intervention 

Author of the book - David Howe

Secondary research

I took this book from the library because it has lots of information about a child's behaviour and development, their mental state as a adaptive and their copying and survival strategy. Also about physical child abuse and to see if this neglect at such a young age can cause a child to become a bully. I want my audience to feel sorry for the bully, even though they aren't doing anything good and their actions can't be justified by this, I want the audience to have an understanding of the child's brain and the things that have drew them to this kind of behaviour, this is how my documentary is going to be different it's not going to be the audience feeling sorry for the bullied but actually the bully. This will hopefully make people realise that they might be having a hard time themselves and that their needs to be awareness that these kids might not be in a suitable home or have responsible parents. 

• "Social and psychological scientists have always been intrigued by the part of early life experiences that might play a part in human growth and behaviour. Early exposure to violence and abuse has raised theories that children who have experienced this are more likely to attack and dismiss their rivals."
• "Infants and toddlers raised in environments of neglect are grumpy, irritable and not easily soothed. They whine, cling, fret and fuss longer than other children. When they get to the age of three or four these children develop attention-seeking behaviours and get exaggerated emotions, there are no half measures, no holding back and no containment. Concentration levels are low, easy distracted."
• "These children during their teenager years are immature, impatient and they begin to get in trouble with teachers (for bullying) and the police. There are constant arguments at home with parents. This is there drive to be recognised and noticed, in order to gain this attention they will clown around, provoke, tease, break rules, sulk, be aggressive, be needy, be seductive and be ill."
• When the parents of this child do not respond to what their children are feeling, children need adults to acknowledge, understand, explore and explain and respond to their mental states. Neglectful parents fail to respond to these behaviours and the child then gives up, sensing that there is no point. 

"When people of any age, learn that their behaviour has no meaning, the human mind shuts down. It ceases to perceive or interpret information. Without thoughts and feelings that can be shared with others, humans become hollow shells. In this vacuum parents do not perceive the occasions that call for action - so they don't act."

-(Crittenden 1999a: 63)

This quote is acknowledging the fact that bullies become hollow and give up on trying to get the attention from their parents that they deserve and need to develop into a sane person, they give up and their mind shuts down because they feel they have no meaning. Also from my bullet points the research that I have found for my documentary shows that because of this lack of attention from their parents they need it from somewhere else, bullying another pupil will make that person feel better about themselves whilst also giving them attention making their peers scared of them which will lead to them getting things they want because of this power that they have over their victims, they also want the attention from the teachers because they need some sort of adult attention that they don't get at home. They don't see the point in trying in school or any kind of aspect of their life because of the neglect they experienced at such a young age.

     2 NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON BULLYING - 


THE DAILY MAIL NEWSPAPER

Author of the article - Mark Duell
Published - 11:48, 14 November 2013 
Title of the newspaper article - "Ginger schoolboy, 14, who dyed his hair brown 'in a bid to stop being bullied' is found hanged in his bedroom by his father"


After reading this article I have summarise this bullying story into 4 bullet points.

• Simon Walters a teenager with ginger hair was discovered hanging in his bedroom by his dad Nigel in the early hours after he had finished work. He went upstairs because Simon's music was loud and the lights were still on and he wanted to tell him to go to sleep but he discovered that his son had committed suicide due to bullying.  
• Simon was a pupil at Heath Park School in Wolverhampton, West Midlands and he got bullied for the colour of his hair and to avoid the bullies he dyed his hair brown but got bullied for trying to cover up his natural hair colour, he got threatening phone calls from his class mates and would beg his dad to  go to school with him to avoid getting bullied.
• Simon became withdrawn from his family near the time of his suicide, he wouldn't talk to anyone and even his gran could tell that he was being bullied because of the way that he was acting. This tells me that victims of bullying often have drastic personality changes.
• Police investigators found that Simon had researched how to commit suicide on the internet, I think that searches like this should be banned from internet searches, a post on a blog or something would have encouraged him into killing himself.

I found this research to be useful towards my documentary because it's a true story of a teenage boy's life ending at such a young age just due to the fact that other teenagers we're bullying him for his hair colour. The pictures that we're shown in the article also made me see that this boy was a happy child before he was a victim of bullying and has made me realise how much this can affect someone.



"The warehouse worker told the inquest that Simon was also physically attacked by his tormenters and had confronted the school about the abuse, which had been going on for over five months."

In my opinion this quote suggests that Simon was not only been bullied verbally but also physically and his dad that he had a lump on his chest because of where the attackers hit him. It also makes me think that this school wouldn't have been doing a very good job to prevent this bullying if people knew it was happening but did nothing to stop it. This is something that I will include in my documentary, people who witness bullying happening, they know what's going on but just choose to ignore it instead of standing up and facing the serious problem that is in front of them. 



BBCS NEWS ARTICLE

Author of the article - Sean Coughlan
Published -  19 August 2013
Title of the newspaper article - "Childhood bullying damages adult life"

This article is very factual stating that "School bullies were also more likely to grow up into adult criminals." 

This article and is very factual, it tells the audience the negative effect it has on the victim and the bully

• It tells us that victims of bullying end up having low self-esteem and don't have very good social skills and find it hard to make friends and peers seem less interested in them. It states that when the victim grows up to become an adult they are more likely to have serious illnesses, smoke regularly plus also become obese and turn food into a way of comforting them, they won't have a lot of qualifications due to not being concentrated at school because of constantly getting bullied. They don't end up having a career they just end up drifting through dead end jobs and are less likely to have any friends. 
• And on the other hand the actual bullies also have negative problems from bullying people, they are more likely to get sacked from their jobs and be in a violent relationship and also be involved in risky or illegal behaviour like taking drugs, fighting and having one night stands with strangers.
• It shows us that in the end though, bullies are more likely to be more successful than the victims in health and wealth, they turn out being strong and healthy and socially capable but this usually due to their manipulative or aggressive behaviour and they are emotionally troubled.

This research really helped my documentary because it's giving me facts to tell my audience who are watching it and will make them see how bullying seriously effects people. It has also drew my attention to focusing my documentary on the actual BULLY and not the VICTIM, because of how they also are terribly troubled and probably have dark problems in their lives and maybe go from a child bullying in the playground up until he is an adult and the things he does to himself like taking drugs and fighting, having one night stands. I think looking at how dark these people are and how they got this way will be an interesting documentary. 

"We cannot continue to dismiss bullying as a harmless, almost inevitable, part of growing up. We need to change this mindset and acknowledge this as a serious problem for both the individual and the country as a whole; the effects are long-lasting and significant," said Prof Dieter Wolke of the University of Warwick.

I found this quote to be very effective and will probably use this in my documentary to say how it's not something to be taken lightly and isn't a joke, everyone should have the opportunity to live a happy life and not live in misery and with these long lasting effects and the serious damage it can do to someone is shocking and I want to interview people and get feedback on how they feel about this huge problem we have in this world.

         2 WEBSITES ON BULLYING

1. http://www.stopbullying.gov/at-risk/effects/

Author of this website -  A federal government website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services


The websites name StopBullying.gov

    THE EFFECTS OF BULLYING

• "Depression and anxiety, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and eating patterns, and loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. These issues may persist into adulthood.
• Health complaints
• Decreased academic achievement—GPA and standardised test scores—and school participation. They are more likely to miss, skip, or drop out of school.

A very small number of bullied children might retaliate through extremely violent measures. In 12 of 15 school shooting cases in the 1990s, the shooters had a history of being bullied."

SUMMARISE 

The "Kids Who are Bullied" sub-heading was useful to me because it informed me on

• I learnt that it effects a child's education and they will skip school to avoid being bullied, some of them even drop out of school because they can't cope.
•   How it effects their mental health and causes them to feel lonely and develop depression, anxiety and loose interest in things they used to enjoy and feel sad and worthless. 
• I also learnt that children that have been bullied can act violently because they feel like they have to stand up for themselves and by hurting people it will make things better, I also learned that the shooters involved in the school shooting had a history of being bullied. 

I found this website to be relevant to what I am researching and I found this website very easy to understand and it really opened my eyes to what kids dealing with bullying have to go through on a daily basis and how it effects them, it was really useful information that I can use for my documentary. 

"Bullying can affect everyone—those who are bullied, those who bully, and those who witness bullying. Bullying is linked to many negative outcomes including impacts on mental health, substance use, and suicide. It is important to talk to kids to determine whether bullying—or something else—is a concern."

This quote is telling me that it doesn't matter who you are, if your rich, poor, skinny or overweight. It can happen for any reason and you can be bullied without the person bullying you having no reason. People getting bullied can bully people themselves because they want to feel better about themselves and people who see bullying happening but don't do anything...it can happen to them as well. It can seriously affect your mental health and leave you feeling depressed, sad and feel like you have no meaning in life, like everything is pointless and that nothing interests you anymore, getting bullied can strip yourself from your personality and who you are and change your views about life and people. Kids getting bullied can also start to believe that everyone is out to get them, that there isn't a person that cares about them and they just think they are going to get hurt if they engage with other people. It can make kids use drugs and alcohol because it makes them feel differently and numbs their pain for awhile and also they may think that their only escape is committing suicide so they don't have to face another day of feeling sad and depressed and constantly getting bullied. This quote then states at the end that it is important to talk to kids to determine whether bulling or something else is a concern. This is what I'm going to be asking teens and kids in my documentary on bullying, because this quote is telling me how important it is to get the views of people my age and who have previously been bullied.


BULLYING STATISTICS

The author of this website is "BeatBullying is part of The BB Group, registered charity no. 1097631"

Website name - Beat Bullying - sharping attitudes, changing behaviours
  http://archive.beatbullying.org/dox/resources/statistics.html

• "69% of children in the UK report being bullied
• 87% of parents report that their child had been bullied in the past 12 months
• 20% report bullying others
• 85% had witnessed bullying
• (admirably, 82% of them tried to intervene).

Bullying is not the same as disputes and squabbles between equals or friends – though these can and do cross the line sometimes. Bullying is an unprovoked, sustained campaign of aggression towards someone in order to hurt them for the sake of it. The consequences:

It is estimated that at least 20 children and adolescents a year commit suicide because of being bullied – this is a conservative estimate based on documented cases known to us. It is likely that the actual number is higher, perhaps much higher. (These figures also do not take into account the numbers of young people who attempt suicide but survive.)"

SUMMARISE 

From looking at the Beat Bullying - sharping attitudes, changing behaviours website and I have learnt that

• More than half of children in the UK are being bullied
• Banter/Disagreements/Arguments with friends are not considered bullying although they can be taken too far at times
• Bullying is hurting someone and you know that you are hurting them and you are doing it for no reason, just because you want to
• Bullying can cause suicide and 20 Kids & Adults kill themselves due to being bullied but that is only statics based on what they have documented, there could be more and that's not including people that have tried to kill themselves but have survived.

 I think that this website was relevant to help my research towards my bullying documentary, it was easy to understand and used bullet points to draw my attention to the statistics of bullying and I find that this website had more secondary research as well as finding out statistics.

"Evaluation and monitoring of our work is absolutely crucial to our effectiveness as a charity. It provides the solid factual basis to ensure that we only roll out programmes that are known and proven to work. Beat Bullying takes rigorous, evidence-based analysis very seriously and has a team of researchers and statisticians dedicated to the evaluation of our work with young people."

This quote means that this website looks at how well they are doing as an anti bullying campaign and they try to prevent bullying as much as they can, it has facts that I can use during my documentary using graphics and also they use things that they know for a fact works. They take their jobs very seriously and really try to help young people, I could maybe email someone who works for this website asking them questions which can be involved in my documentary.

PRIMARY RESEARCH

QUESTIONNAIRE ON BULLYING & DOCUMENTARIES  - some people didn't take these questions seriously

Elliot Dugdale

Do you watch documentaries? -Yes

- IF YES which ones?  - stuff to do with paranormal things I.e. Ghosts, aliens, and myths

What do you like about documentaries? - a good documentary is interesting, keeps you watching, and has stuff in it that you want to find out about

What do you think about bullying? - it's wrong

Why do you think people get bullied? -they might be a little different therefore they're made to feel inferior for it

Do you know the effects of being bullied? - People can do some very extreme things when they get bullied, it can even result in suicide

Have you ever experienced anyone else being bullied? - Yes

If you have seen someone being bullied was you able to tell someone? -Yes

If you ever have been bullied what type of bullying was it? - Verbal

Did you tell anyone? - Yep

If so who did you tell? - Teachers

If you were watching a documentary on bullying who would you like to present it? - Boris Johnson

Do you like human interest documentaries? - Yes




Questionnaire summary 

1. Four out of five people said that they watch documentaries 
2. Everyone said that bullying shouldn't be taking place
3. Everyone said that people get bullied because they have low self esteem and seem weak to the bully. The bully trying to get approval from their peers (peer-pressure) and want people to like them. Being different and not fitting into the popular crowd, the way they dress, their personality or what their interests are. 
4. Four out of five people say that they know the effects of bullying
5. Everyone has said they have seen someone being bullied
6. Three out five people said they told someone about the bullying they had witnessed
7. Three out five people said that they told Teachers. One person said it's better not to tell anyone because the bully will get even more mad, so it's best to support the victim. 
8. Who would you like to present it? Everyone who took it seriously...said that they would want a person who has experienced bullying themselves and know what they are talking about. 
9. Three out of four people said that they had been bullied themselves and it made them feel worthless.

SIMILAR DOCUMENTARY 

WHO KILLED KEVIN?

This documentary is about a man called Kevin who committed suicide due to bullying in the workplace. The film is created from  a film maker called Beverly Peterson, in this documentary she explores bullying and suicide. We find that Beverly is also a victim of bullying in the workplace, I think this is a good way to hook an audience into the documentary because on my questionnaire people who took it seriously and answered without a sense of humour said that they would to someone to present a bullying documentary with someone who has already been through bullying themselves and know the effects it causes. 

The documentary allows the viewer to explore puzzling pieces of the suicide story one clip at a time. With alternative views playing side by side, the viewer can reach their own conclusions aided in part by reading the memos, emails and news reports as they are referenced. It is a brilliant use of technology and shows how complicated human relationships can be when explored in depth. 

Its hooking an audience because it's an interactive experience and the experience is allowing the viewer to explore scenes, documents and interviews with Kevin's family, co-workers, workplace bullying and goes through how we define workplace bullying and how do we define workplace bullying?  This documentary goes all the way back to his childhood pointing out things that could have triggered his suicide choice aswell as workplace bullying. It's hooking the audience also by keeping people guessing on who killed Kevin, from listening to different people's points of view and opinions. 

TREATMENT

Who is your target audience?
-My target audience is for teens and adults, I am going to inform all ages that any type of bullying is wrong because bullying doesn't just happen to children it happens to adults at work aswell. 
My target audience is going to use popular music to hook the teenagers into this documentary, use popular themes that interest teenagers such as Facebook via their mobile phones and cyber bullying that these teens and by also make it interesting for adults. My age range is not for very young children because I don't think they will understand the sympathetic view to the bully aswell as the victim. Everyone who answered my questions are teenagers and they watch documentaries and would like to see someone who has been bullied present it. I can do this and it will draw awareness to anti-bullying about how it's bad and shouldn't be done at all. 

How will my documentary be better than other documentaries? Plot/synopsis: Detailed outline of what will happen in the documentary and what we will learn? 

-My documentary will be better than any other documentary because it will a film/story at the start and then involve real interviews with children that have been bullied and also adults that have been bullied and the effects that it has had on them. I also want to interview adults that were bullies as children and if they regret it and also interview people that have witnessed bullying but haven't done anything or have done something to stop this bullying.

I want to draw my attention towards the bully and not the bully and go into detail on how troubled and dark these people are and that they go from children being cruel to their peers and grow into adults and have negative problems later in life like getting sacked from their jobs, being in violent relationships, being involved in drugs, one night stands with strangers and yet being manipulative to get by in life. Coming across as strong although they are emotionally troubled, it will have facts and statics like a normal documentary but I want them audience to feel sympathetic towards the bully by going into detail in how they turned out to be this person. What happened in their child life? sexual abuse, hard family life etc. 

I want my documentary to have shots of a playground and children being bullied (staged) and also popular music with shots of cities and adults rushing to work. And a voice over talking about not everyone who is bullied is just a child in the playground, people also get bullied as adults going to work. Have interviews with people who have been bullied child/adult and how it effects them and how it's effected them in later life. And then I want to interview a bully, then show a rewind of the child at the start of the documentary getting bullied, then pause on the bully. It will then rewind further and show the bullies home-life and there neglect and abuse they get. Then show a diagram of the brain and show how neglect effects a child's brain and how it eventually leads them to tease children due to their mental state. And these's kids should be afford support from school and counselling. Otherwise if they don't get help they could cause the victims to kill themselves by bullying them to the point the victim gives up on life. And if the school bully doesn't get help they can END UP LIKE THIS...and then show a troubled adult bullying someone in the workplace, taking drugs, being in trouble with police, abusive relationships and how it effects adults getting bullied at work. 

I find Primary Research to be better when working on a documentary because you get real life stories and facts from real people and getting the information yourself is far better than getting it from somebody else and being able to speak to people in a similar situation or have personal stories dealing with the certain subject you are documenting makes the audience feel like the film maker really cares about this subject and it would open up more peoples eyes about what point we are trying to get across.