Documentary Unit - Ideas and How To Find Them - Zoe

- Have to come up with ideas - lots of them every week 

- Write them up and reinforce your message

- Deal with rejection because it will happen

- It will evolve multiple times before the final idea is complete.

"The school that turned Chinese"

Make sure you keep the attention, they know that you will generally lose concentration after 10mins.

Make sure you have strong characters, they are what people are interested in, if they are boring then people will turn off.

The show had an end result, which was an impact.

It went "Viral" in China because they found it interesting.

Curiosity - Follow up on things that fascinate you.

Anniversaries are a good starting point.

"Dreams of a Life" is a good idea because it the worry that something like that would happen to you. People are afraid of being alone and this show might only heighten those fears. 

Sources - Contacts, it's easier to do something you have knowledge of and have possible contacts.

Other Media - Look in papers and listen to the radio because there are possible ideas in there.

Behind the scenes - Scoop up all the key interviews about a seminal moment.

Look at what people are reading & Watching - What is the hot topic list of what people are talking about right now?

Brainstorming with energetic people - say what you really think

Interesting locations - Interesting location, generate an idea or film through that.

Investigative - Go to the main, original story. 

Proceed with caution - you need to make sure that it's genuine and the people are authentic. 

Amazing footage - user generated or archive footage to emphasise a point. There is a huge range of content tools online which can help find what you want to find. 

A good title or a well worn format.

Ideas don't come from sitting in front of a computer, relax and something will come more likely.

Have a Big Question:

Is it going to leave the audience in anticipation?

What is it that they find out and see resolved?

Make sure the beginning of it is great because that is what gives the viewer an idea of what is to come (getting the viewer hooked)

Relatable themes are good because it all affects us - Does the story happy / sad or play on our fears