Ideas for Social action documentary

A social issue I could investigate would be do video games cause violence. The purpose behind this is to see if people feel there is a link between the two. It's often thought that they are linked and that due to people being exposed to this may cause them to become violent and sometimes murderous individuals. I hope that the documentary will do many things some of these being to raise awareness on the subject and also to provide information. I hope this will have a strong impact on everyone who's apart of it this being me who's making it, the people who I interview and also on the audience who watch it. People I may interview about this would be those who feel games have a negative affect on people and those who feel that they have no affect on people.

Another issue I could work on would be violent films as well as they are also considered to cause violence within people as well. People have been thinking this for a long time an example of this would be the columbine massacre as some had felt that they were influenced by violent films. I hope that this documentary will show people the different opinions on the subject. Making this I hope to impact people by providing information on the subject.

Facts about violence and video games.

Secondary Research:

Facts

This is a pdf about the sales within the game industry and also some of the habits and opinions of people who play games during 2015

http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/Essential-Facts-2016.pdf

A debate with facts and with research to whether games are good for people

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/is-video-gaming-bad-for-you-the-science-for-and-against/

A report on violent video games throughout the years

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/09/do-video-games-make-children-violent-nobody-knows-and-this-is-why

News storys

A news story about how serious some people may take video games

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7771505/Video-game-fanatic-hunts-down-and-stabs-rival-player-who-killed-character-online.html

A story about a former senator who campaigned against video games while importing guns

http://www.polygon.com/2016/2/24/11105232/leland-yee-sentenced

The story of Jack Thompson

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/09/15/the-rise-and-fall-of-video-gamings-most-vocal-enemy

If this film was to be distributed a good place to do this would be youtube as youtube already contains a lot of videos of violent games such as it's most successful creator posts videos of games. It would be interesting that when posted people would be easy to see what these people are playing and make a quick comparison. Another place where the film could be distributed could be cinemas as one of the other places people throughout cause violence was films and it wouldn't be a bad place to again make comparisons.

Someone who could fund the film could be the BFI as apart from having a large amount of records they also like to support smaller films. I feel that I would be able to use their help that way I would be able to give more accurate information and at the same time more information at the same time.

Primary Research:

Recently I had made a survey comprised of 8 questions about the topic. It has been out for about a week and I have received at least 10 responses.

1) Do you agree with the statement "Violent games make violent people?"

2) 48 games have only sold at least 15 million copies apart form that being a large amount what amount of these are rated 15 and 18+?

3) Sort these into what you thin makes the most money? (Avatar:2009, Titanic:1997, Star Wars the Forced Awakens:2015, Grand Theft Auto 5:2013 and World of Warcraft:2004)

4) What's your opinion on children playing games they aren't old enough for?

5) Do you think that companies who make these violent games are responsible for the violence these people do?

6) As games aren't the only form of media out there which of the other media forms do you think cause violence?

7) Do you feel that some of these games are teaching people to kill people in real life?

8) If these video games companies aren't to blame for the violence within people the what else could it be?

The results of the questioner told me that. The vast majority of people who done the questioner feel that violent games don't make violent people. This tells me that there will always be people who feel that games will cause others to be violent. When asked how many of the games had been apart of the top 48 games of all time were rated 15 and 18+ most people had answered correctly with the majority of them being rated this high with none of the people thinking that none of the most successful games were all rated 15 and 18+.  When asking what had more between films and games the one that people had assumed had made the most money was the film Avatar (2009), while in reality it was World of Warcraft (2004) which was tied with Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) telling me that people feel films still make more than films. When asked about how they feel about children playing games they aren't old enough for the response was mixed with some being against while others saying if their mature enough it's fine, I take this with an overall feeling that they still shouldn't be if they aren't mature enough.

When asked are the companies who make these games are responsible for the violence they cause people had said mostly no while a small majority felt they are, just like the first question it shows a small amount of people will think they cause violence. When asked if they feel that other media sources may cause violence films had been most voted while being closely followed by online videos and television with books being the least likely, this shows me that people feel that when they are shown how to do these acts it can make them more violent. After that I asked if they considered these games are teaching people how to kill while the majority again said no more had however said yes to them teaching people how to kill. Following that I asked if they felt there could have been something else what could lead to these people causing violence the feedback I have received is vastly for parenting, metal health issues and a combination of two causes however these are most likely parenting and mental health issues. This tells me that people feel very strongly that other issues can come into play as no one had selected the option of video games are the only cause.

When it comes to making the documentary I feel that my target audience would be people who have strong views with violence within people. I hope that it would be able to make show people with these views arguments from both sides of the spectrum as I believe it 's good to understand other people's opinions. When I make it I will probably make it presenter lead with allot of interviews from people who have differing opinions so I could see how they feel then cut it to an opposing it'll be similar to having a debate in the film.