Combining research ideas

Combining Research ideas

Social Networking
 Pros:

• It appeals to the vast majority as most of us that own a social networking account e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. With 1.06 billion monthly users recorded on Facebook.
• Due to the large audience we can easily pinpoint the dangers, deterring them from actions that may be wrong on social media sites.
• There are a lot of cases that can be linked into it (e.g. the lack of privacy we have, the phone hacking scandals)

Cons:

• It may not cater for an older audience (e.g. the use of technology may be too advanced).
• The lack of privacy and safety on the internet is something that we are all reminded about on a daily basis, therefore a lack of originality may come across. 

Social Isolation
Pros:

• It doesn't affect too many people, in the case of Joyce Vincent the case was extremely covered up in terms of details therefore we would be able to illustrate the problem that social isolation creates.
• The are many extreme cases that are censored by the media; by taking social isolation on board we may also be able to link in the censorship of cases that arguably should be heard of.

Cons:

• It's not hugely focused on, even in the media therefore there may be a lack of interest in these sort of moral panics.
• The background of the individual may be too complex to fit into a trailer - in the sense that Joyce Vincent had problems, health, family, relationship and money wise. 

Drugs

Pros:

• It's a worldwide problem.
• Use of extreme cases can be used as a deterrent for those who do use drugs.
• Too, it's also a moral panic that many people are aware of - due to the widespread use of drugs, it would be easy to look into the lack of control that we seem to have over the selling and use of drugs.

Cons:

• As mentioned in the previous bullet point, drugs as a moral panic has been highly evaluated and we are all aware of the increase of it lately therefore the originality of a trailer focused on drugs may be diminished.
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Crime and Punishment

Pros:

• Again it can make teenagers aware of their actions and the consequences that may follow.
• It can highlight the distinctions between countries as some still permit punishments such as the death penalty (such as some states in the US).
• It would open an opportunity to see crime and punishment through the perception of a teenager (e.g. their thoughts/fears etc).

Cons:

• It's a controversial issue: can create an uproar with the audience (discussion of morality within the death penalty, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth")

Mental Illness
Pros:

• We can see the contrast from what they think is acceptable against what we deem to be acceptable - this could be linked closely with the documentary regarding the mind of a serial killer and their motives.
• Similarly, to social isolation, mental illness is too a case that it likely to be censored as either the antagonists motives may have been beyond their control so the verdict of the case could be extremely controversial.

Cons:

• It also can be seen by some as being controversial as the killer may be unaware of their actions.

CCTV & Privacy

Pros:

• CCTV is everywhere as we are all aware but the fact of us being watched every moment is something that we don't tend to remember half of the time. Therefore the lack of privacy that we don't have may be a shock to some, although we know it's for our protection in most cases.
• We can make teenagers more aware of their duty to behave morally right and take into account their responsibilities as young adults.

Cons:

• Charlie Brooker's White Bear focuses introduces the lack of privacy that we have but it's taken to an extreme, as all bystanders monitor one individual as she is released from prison. Therefore some ideas may have been pitched already through this series.
• It would be hard to not illustrate high authoritative figures (e.g. the police) in a negative light therefore posing some difficulties. 

Overall, our ideas all lean towards a large target audience, with a moral panic of say, mental illness we can open our ideas to a younger audience as well as an older audience as it's a relatable subject. On the other hand, we can choose one target audience and suit our trailer to their tastes such as the moral panic of drugs, similarly, we can always take drugs as a social issue but apply it to an older character subverting viewers' expectations. In terms of a final idea, narrowing our research ideas to an issue that has already been heavily documented on may seem a bit too repetitive, so perhaps choosing an issue that has not been touched on a lot by the media will be a better alternative.