Locations

My locations will be mainly in households. As I will be doing a lot of interviewing, it will be done at the comfort of their own homes mainly. As two of my participants go to university, I have done scouting of their homes to ensure that they are viable locations and have attached these pictures below to show that they will be aesthetically pleasing on camera:

However, as I will be doing an ‘a week in the life’ type of filming style for segments of the documentary, there will be a lot of on the fly filming in different locations depending on the person’s schedule. So, I will make sure I attain the correct distribution rights from the locations my subject(s) film in, in order to avoid any legal issues. Finally, I will be scouting studio locations for if i decide to have more formal segments.

Why I Chose The Documentary Format.

Initially, I had the idea to create a piece that would have been a narrative surrounding online dating that created strong emotion in the audience. However, I realised that this might not properly reflect the subject matter properly and I wanted to inform viewers best I could, so changing to a documentary would help this greatly.

When creating one of the artefacts in the first half of the module, about power and control, I got to thinking about modern relationships. This lead me to speaking to a few of my friends and asking how they got into the relationships they are/have been in recently. Interestingly, the majority of people I spoke to said they had had relations with a person from a mobile dating app recently. The fact that this is such a high percentage was intriguing to me and it sparked the idea of investigating this trend. I then decided to take this further after conducting research and finding that Tinder is 84% occupied by 16-34 year olds. I wanted to find out what makes it a viable option to the younger generation by asking questions to individuals and doing an “a week in the life” type thing with a couple of individuals to further explore this topic. Having had experiences myself in this topic, it gives me a good starting ground to know what to ask and show in my documentary.

(Globalwebindex.net, 2015)

When I realised that this was my demographic, I started seeing dozens upon dozens of people in this age group always on there phone, perhaps using dating apps or speaking to people they met on dating apps. There would be millions of stories to tell, some good and some bad. For what purpose were they on the apps? How many people have they spoke to? Have they ever dated somebody they met on there? What were their worst memories? This made me set on the idea of telling just a few of these stories and exploring people’s dating lives and this theme to the utmost. I aim to tell both negative and positive sides of these apps and explore the themes as naturally and as intriguing as possible.

References

Globalwebindex.net, (2015). What to Know About Tinder in 5 Charts. [online] Available at: http://www.globalwebindex.net/blog/what-to-know-about-tinder-in-5-charts [Accessed 15 Jan. 2016].

Mobile Dating Articles

Telegraph Article

This is an article about how dating apps like Tinder are destroying romance. They claim that long term romance is being replaced by one night stands and these applications are to blaim. She compares the long grinding romances in Jane Austen novels to bored 21st century singletons who are looking for instant gratification through a few clicks. (Jamieson, 2015) In my documentary, I should look to answer whether this statement is true through asking and observing my contributors.

Catholic News Agency

Like the last article, this one claims a similar message of apps causing the death of romance. However, it should be considered that the article comes from a catholic website and their views will be based on their religious beliefs. The author makes claims that Tinder is a “seriously shallow app that turns people into quickly-judged commodities on a screen”. They then go on to speak to users about their experiences with Tinder. Responses included:

“How is me swiping right on a guy that I find attractive, and swiping left (on those) that I’m not that into any different than someone approaching a guy that I find attractive in a bar? We make snap judgements all the time. Why is it suddenly so much worse if I’m doing it online?” (Catholic News Agency, 2016)

“I think to immediately classify Tinder or any other dating app as a ‘hook-up’ app or as a very bad thing goes against the idea that things are morally neutral,” (Catholic News Agency, 2016)

Again, I should look to confirm or deny these claims through what I present of my contributors.

Business Insider Article

In this article, a man analyses the pros and cons for a range of dating apps from a male’s perspective. These offer a wide range of analysis through a number of apps that can be useful as brief information. (McAlone, 2016) I can use this information when interviewing my male contributors as it will give me the right idea what kind of questioning I should use in terms of what to focus on.

University of Washington Article

In this article it discusses student’s perceptions of dating apps. As I will be targeting my documentary to a younger audience, these documented perceptions are very useful in the creation of my media piece. Inputs include:

“It’s weird where I met him [on Tinder] and I do not tell people where I met him,” (Salgado, 2015)

Showing that perhaps these dating apps are seen as a taboo. I should definitely try and work this into my line of questioning as I feel that this question is very much worth answering and should be interesting for the audience to hear.

BuzzFeed Article

This article speaks about how 5,000 users had their information leaked from a HIV positive dating app. These incidents seem prevalent online, with this incident coming within months of the infamous Ashley Maddison leak. (BuzzFeed, 2016) So, I must consider how security of personal information affects how users interact with their applications by perhaps asking it as part of the questioning.

References

BuzzFeed, (2016). A HIV-Positive Dating App Leaked 5,000 Users’ Data. [online] Available at: http://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemlee/a-dating-app-for-hiv-positive-people-leaked-sensitive-data [Accessed 12 Jan. 2016].

Catholic News Agency, (2016). Dating apps and the death of romance. [online] Available at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/dating-apps-and-the-death-of-romance-71932 [Accessed 12 Jan. 2016].

Jamieson, S. (2015). Dr Lucy Worsley: dating apps like Tinder are destroying the art of romance. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11915040/Dr-Lucy-Worsley-dating-apps-like-Tinder-are-destroying-the-art-of-romance.html [Accessed 12 Jan. 2016].

McAlone, N. (2016). I reviewed every major dating app from a guy’s perspective — here’s what they were like. [online] Business Insider. Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/best-dating-app-for-guys-2015-12?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 12 Jan. 2016].

Salgado, R. (2015). Swiping right: Student perceptions of dating apps. [online] thedailyuw.com. Available at: http://www.dailyuw.com/features/article_b447fbea-b36e-11e5-bb8a-7f7cb7f566e2.html [Accessed 12 Jan. 2016].

Tutorial Record

I have recently had a tutorial about my current progress in the module and my professional development. Throughout the tutorial we discussed the good and bad parts of what I was doing so far. This was vastly helpful in being critical and reflecting on my own progress.

When discussing my personal research, whilst my secondary research is pleasing for this stage, the primary research leaves a lot to be desired. I was told that secondary research is very important, it only gives you an idea of actions to take from others experiences. With primary research you are able to cater the knowledge to fit your own personal needs. So, as a result, I will be trying to undertake more first hand research, like shadowing editors or even just speaking to them personally. It helps that I have already targeted individuals but it’s now a matter of speaking to them. Another aspect to this is to join online networks, whilst it provides a primary research method, it also allows me to build up a professional network. This is something I need to do imperatively. The online networks I have listed I have been told are very worthwhile and it’s just a matter of engaging in them.

Going forward, I will be ensuring I round myself more as a professional, engaging in networks, undertaking more research and speaking to other professionals in my chosen career path.

Update

Since this tutorial I have made a conscious effort to engage in more professional networks, joining those I have listed above and searching for more physical networks I can be a part of. I have also spoken to the majority of the professionals on my list and it has been a great help in furthering my understanding of the profession. Both of these experiences have helped in gaining more first hand experience opportunities.