BY JOE HALL
Introduction
• Introduction to me:
Hello, My name is Joe Hall. I am a producer that has done a lot of research into the
topic of obesity worldwide and the way that it effects people. With all of the
information, evidence, examples and data that I have collected I will approach
channel 4 to negotiate a time slot, duration and airing of a programme that I plan to
make about it. This is a programme that I want to make because I can see how much
of a problem obesity is.
• Introduction to my programme:
• How is it diagnosed?
It is usually clear whether a person is overweight or not just by looking at them as it is something you can see.
Despite this it is difficult to tell whether someone is overweight or obese as you cant see whether they have
crossed over the line. This can be determined by looking at the body mass index of a person. This looks at
your weight relative to your height and determines whether you are healthy or not. The BMI of a person is
then paired with the waist circumference and you can then tell whether someone is obese or not.
Shown at the top of the page are the boundaries that the NHS uses to determine a persons weight class. The
class that someone fits into is called a percentile.
Channel 4
• Average Viewers?
Channel 4 is a television channel in the UK that receives one of the highest viewing figures on average compared to the other
channels. Using www.barb.co.uk I was able to see the figures for the amount of viewers on different channels within a week.
I found that the weekly reach of channel 4 was the fourth highest out of all the channels acquiring 30,026 average viewers per
week which makes up a high percentage of the total viewers for the week.
• What is Channel 4?
On the channel 4 website they describe themselves as a “publicly-owned and commercially-funded UK public service
broadcaster, with a statutory remit to deliver high-quality innovative, alternative content that challenges the status quo.”
The reason that channel 4 will be perfect for this show is the fact that it has a high viewership and the channel was set up with a
model that doesn’t have any “in-house production” therefore they commission content from production companies and
producers like myself.
The Programme
• Title
Obesity: Big Fat Problem
• Target Audience
The show will not necessarily be targeted at any audience because from my research I was able to discover that obesity is a problem
that affects people from many different socio-demographic groups therefore there is no need to target one group more than
others. The show will have a formal tone so it will most likely attract viewers older than 16 more than the younger people as they
won’t find it as interesting.
• Day
Friday – This would be a good day to use because it will have a high viewership as people will have finished from work for the
week and want to relax and watch television.
• Time
19:00 – Because most people will have got back from work and be ready to settle down and watch TV. The programme would be 1
hour long because this would give enough time to get all the points across.
Programme Structure
• Intro Beginning
• Summary of what Obesity is
• Look at someone that has struggled with obesity and
is still struggling
• Advert Break
• The way obesity affects health and mental health
• Facts and figures about the rising problem of obesity
• Advert break #2 Middle
• Look at someone that has struggled with obesity and
overcome it
• Interview a health expert about the problem
• Advert Break #3
• Look at who’s fault it is (and media portrayal)
End
• Look at what can be done to reduce the problem
• Credits
Budget Analysis
• Talent – Louis Theroux = £15,000
• Interviewer – Joe Hall = £3,000
• Staff = £4,000
• Set = £500
• Location = £300 – Locations will usually be free to film in but some of budget dedicated just in case
• Editors = £5,000 for entire show
• Filming equipment (cameras, sound etc.) = £6,000
• Food for workers = £1000 for month
• Permission fees = £1,000
• Transportation (workers and equipment) = £2,000
• Total = £38,800
• Remaining Budget = £1,200
Location
• Interviews
I plan to dedicate a week of production time to getting all of the interviews done. This includes the time spent travelling to
each of the locations for the interview and also writing the questions that will be asked.
• Studio Filming
Again, I plan to give a week of the production time to filming the rest of the show. This will include the time spent filming in
the studio and the other locations. It will also include the time spent travelling to the different locations.
I gave out 10 questionnaires with questions about obesity and I was then
able to take the results and make graphs that show me peoples knowledge
about obesity. There were also some written answers that I was able to use
to get an insight into what people think about the problem.
I also conducted an interview with someone that suffers with obesity and I
was able to get an idea of how it has affected their life and also their
health. This was very useful to get a real image as to what it is like living
with obesity that you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.
Questionnaire Results
• Here are some charts that show the statistical results for some of
the questions asked in the questionnaire. I will also use the results
of other questions in the show.
Do you know anyone that has How many people do you think On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad
suffered with obesity? suffer with obesity? would you say the problem
4 of obesity is?
2 3
2
0
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 1
Yes No
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Secondary Research
I also used some secondary sources when gathering my information to get
data that backs up what I found out using the primary research.
I looked at different newspaper articles that cover obesity. From this I was
able to find out some facts and it also showed me the severity of the
problem. I was also able to see an overview of how the media treats the
issue. When paired with some later research looking into how people have
responded to this media coverage I was able to see that obesity is often
shown in a bad light and the people that suffer from it are treated very
badly.
I also used the internet to find the rest of the information I will need for the
show. I was able to find many different websites that gave fact and figures
about the issue. The information that I got from the internet will be very
useful in the show because it is what the presenter will talk about in the
segments in the studio and around town.
Audience Research
• The reason that I have decided not to have a specific target audience for the show
is the fact that when I was conducting audience research I was able to find out that
obesity is a problem that affects many different people regardless of their socio-
demographic, gender or education.
• There were some attributes that contributed to the obesity rate slightly but they
were not enough to make changing the target audience worth it.
• Despite not using this information to decide the target audience I will include it in
the show because some of the information is useful to show how obesity can affect
anyone.
Market Research
• The market research that I did was very useful and the
information that I gathered will definitely be used in the show.
• Advertising Effectiveness
When I was doing my research I found that there is a link between the advertising done by
fast food outlets and the rate of childhood obesity and also obesity in general. The
information that I got about this is all reliable because it came from a study that was
conducted by a reputable source.
This information will allow me to show people how they are being influenced by
advertising and hopefully make it so that they aren’t as easy to persuade by these
companies.
Evaluation
• What is important to think about
With this show I think it is important that it makes people think about more
than just facts and figures. These things will be useful to support points but the
show overall should make people think about the way that obesity effects
people and give them more of an insight into what its like being obese and also
give them ways to make sure that they don’t become obese themselves.
• Is it a worth-while topic?
Obesity is definitely a worth-while topic due to the fact that it is such a massive
problem and really needs to have more attention drawn to it so we can start to
fight back against it.
Thank you For Listening