Factual
Programme
production
booklet
Name: Georgia McCornick
Title of Production: Come Clean Caffeine
Section one: Genre (Please tick your chosen genre)
Genre
News
Documentary
X
Section Two: Development of ideas
The effects of caffeine, why it is so
Programme concept
Develop ideas
popular and the health risks its
causes
Teenagers to young adults
Target audience
Development techniques
Eg; Creation of narrative,
scenario, synopsis, research
process, interview questions
a. What is the concept of your programme? Outline of production and is it set
to Inform, educate, entertain, persuade or stir emotion
The concept of our programme is to inform, educate and entertain
b. Who is your target audience and why?
Teenagers/young adults ages 15-25 to show them the effect that caffeine has
on them and to educate them on what it does and how there body reacts to it.
The language of our documentary will be fairly informal and the interviewees
are mainly college students and teenagers so the audience can relate to
them.
c. Show development of ideas:
Our first idea was a panorama on fad dieting such as the juice diet but we
were unable to find someone to try the diet because of the health risks.
We then developed the idea to the idea of healthy eating but couldn’t find a
good enough angle to be able to make the idea strong enough for a good
factual documentary. Finally we came up with the idea of caffeine because
everyone in our class was going on about how dependent they are on it where
as I (Georgia) don’t drink it so to see the effects of caffeine she is going to do
a week drinking it and seeing the effects it has on her and Saira is going to go
a week without caffeine and see what happens.
Research: List of web pages and screen prints you have looked at, names
of those spoken to and list of books read. (Extra pages will be required here)
Primary sources; Eg; contacts, interviews
Secondary sources; Eg; broadcasts, reviews, internet, archives; checking information
Primary Research:
Jane McCornick interview (science degree)
Secondary Research:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxPMgTPfzT0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRVbojITlD0
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/caffeine.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_caffeine
http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-caffeine-enhances-long-term-memorytoo-1950054
(concentration issues)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/advice/factfile_az/caffeine
http://www.caffeineinformer.com/caffeine-withdrawal-symptoms-top-ten
List of Interview questions for each interviewee (use extra sheets if required)
Name: Sports students (Friday 17th Jan)
Why being interviewed: They have learnt a lot about caffeine being in sport as
they have to be on top of their fitness and know what is healthy and how to be
in top condition
Questions:
(Interview carried out like a general chat)
 How much caffeine do you drink?
 What times do you drink caffeine?
 What form do you take caffeine? eg Coffee, tea or energy drinks
 Do you feel as though you have more energy with caffeine?
 Does caffeine make you feel any more alert in the mornings?
 As a sport student do you drink caffeine while training?
 Have you ever suffered from any side effects of caffeine?
 Are you aware of any problems caffeine can cause?
What we obtained: Information on caffeine in sport, weather they drink it
during games or if they don’t go near it at all. From martin we found out some
information on an Olympic programme used to stop athletes drinking coffee
and how as a sports teacher he doesn’t think caffeine should be drank.
Name: Jane McCornick (Monday 20th Jan)
Why being interviewed: has a science degree and a frequent caffeine drinker
Questions:
 How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?
 What are the side effects of caffeine?
 Is caffeine bad for you?


Why does caffeine become addictive?
Is there any health risks related with caffeine?
What we obtained: From Jane we found out a lot about the scientific
side of caffeine and it being a drug. More technical information that
helped with facts and figures towards the subject
Name: Shamaila Khan (phone interview)
Why being interviewed: to find out about caffeine intake at university
Questions:
 Being at Uni do you find you drink more caffeine then you did before
you went?
 How much caffeine would you say you drink in a day?
 Do you find caffeine helps you with energy throughout the day?
 Do you ever go through periods like over exams where you drink more
or less?
What we obtained: Information on why students feel it necessary to
drink caffeine and how they feel they need it to get through the day
Name: General Public (Street interviews)
Why being interviewed: To get a general opinion
Questions:
 Do you drink a lot of caffeine and if yes how much would you say in a
normal day?
 Why do you drink caffeine?
Creation of Narrative (script of voiceover / PTC in studio / location broadcast)
Presenter – Introduction, part 1. ‘Caffeine…do you know the effects?’ –
After this is said then the introduction to the documentary will begin, in
the beginning part music will be played along with our choice of editing
for the introduction. The presenter will then go on to say – ‘In this
documentary we will be presenting to you the effects of caffeine, this
documentary will inform you on things that you might not know, and
make you understand why there is such a huge influx of people who
drink caffeine on a regular basis.
Part 2 – Research
‘Caffeine is one of the most widely consumed drugs that people intake
on a regular basis. Caffeine is in all types of forms for example you
would find caffeine in energy drinks such as Red Bull or Monster,
caffeine is in different types of tea, however teas such as green tea
have a much lower concentrate of caffeine, usually none, and
obviously caffeine is in coffee, known as the devils cup, a drink that has
become addictive to a lot of people around the world. So how does
caffeine work then? Well caffeine will reduce the body’s impulse into
feeling tired in 2 main ways. The first way that caffeine will do this is it
will copy a natural chemical called adenosine; the caffeine will bind
itself to the brains adenosine’s receptors and receptors in other organs
of the body. Receptors are then blocked by the caffeine which stops
the adenosines from binding to the receptors. Adenosine’s part in the
brain is to slow down nerve impulses and cause tiredness, caffeine in
the body system inhabits this reaction and increases alertness and
responsiveness, when nerve cells are stimulated they release a
hormone epinephrine, (adrenaline). Adrenaline boosts the heart rate
and blood pressure, it increases blood flow to muscles, declines blood
flow to the skin and organs, and it sends a message to the liver to
release glucose. The second thing that caffeine does is it boosts
dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine is a natural chemical existing
and responsible for feelings, well – being and happiness.
Consequently, caffeine will improve moods. For this reason
supposedly, this is what has made society ‘addicted’ to caffeine.
Part 3
Now many people associate caffeine as being a drug, and yes it
essentially is, because it becomes addictive to the system, your body
craves the caffeine and so people become reliant on it. Students in
particular are the drinkers of caffeine, pulling up all nighters to get
through their work, revising for exams, you name it. Students rely on
coffee’s and energy drinks to help get their systems out the tired state
that they are in and get them hyped up to do their work. We
interviewed a university student, who studies in Coventry and is
studying Automotive Design, the course that she is studying is very
challenging and demanding in all different aspects. We have arranged
a phone interview with her as she is still at university, asking a variety
of questions to find out if she relies on caffeine and why?
Part 4 – We decided that we wanted to experiment what effects
caffeine has, so we came up with an experiment where it involves one
regular caffeine drinker who must give up caffeine for the week and
see the effects and one non caffeine drinker who must drink caffeine
every day and then see the results. As the documentary makers we
thought we would get involved and volunteer ourselves as taking on
the challenge.
Show 1st video diaries
Part 5 – A lot of people tend to drink a lot energy drinks these, from the
leading brands like Monster or Red Bull and Relentless. Energy drinks
are known to have a higher content of caffeine in them, which is why so
many people like them, because it makes them feel a lot more awake
and ready to concentrate on whatever it is they need to do. The
amount of caffeine which is in an energy drink can mostly vary from
having 75mg to over 200mg per serving. Some dangers of energy
drinks are that they can boost the heart rate and blood pressure,
dehydrate the body, and like other caffeine stimulants, prevent you
from sleeping. Researchers have said to try and avoid energy drinks if
you can because they are not good for your health.
Part 6 – In sports there is a lot of controversy about the use/misuse of
caffeine, a lot of sports players like footballers or rugby players or
runners have been known to take some form caffeine supplement
before a game; many believe that it will enhance a player’s
performance on the field. Not just long ago, in the news there have
been reports where players have been disqualified for taking some
form of caffeine supplement before a game, it was believed that their
performance would be deemed as fake as their performance may have
been enhanced. We went and interviewed some students who played
Rugby and football and also interviewed a member of staff to what his
opinions were on the subject. You will always get a varied mix of
opinions when it comes to a topic such as this one, as we have, it’s
interesting to compare the views of a teacher to students, because on
one hand the rugby students required caffeine, as they said caffeine is
a regular routine of their day and that they do feel as though it boosts
their performances out on field. In comparison to the teacher he felt
that it was wrong all together really.
Part 7 – Let’s see how our challenge is going…
Part 8 – Sum up of video diaries and the whole week.
Part 9 – Conclude everything in the documentary.
Section Three: Legal considerations
Legal and ethical considerations
Filming in public
Are you filming in
public? What
precautions will you
need to take? Will you
need to ask
permission, inform
police?
Clearances and
permissions
Do you need to get
permission to film
anywhere or interview
anyone (under 16)
Privacy
Are you secretly
filming on location?
Does the person
being interviewed
know what it is for?
Libel and defamation
What will you do to
prevent being taken to
court?
We will be filming in public and we will have to
make sure we have permission to talk to
anyone we include in our documentary but if we
film in a public area we won’t need permission
We will need to get permission to interview
some of the students
We are not secretly interviewing anyone and
yes all our interviewees will know what it is for.
Make sure all our facts are correct and
accurate, we have permission to film in
locations and from our interviewees and make
sure that we do not slander any businesses or
anything that can cause a bad reputation to
somewhere or something.
Interviewee
Jane McCornick
Date and time
Monday 20th 19:00
Sports students and
teacher
Louis Jordan
Public Interviews
Monday 20th 10:00
Shamaila Khan
Tuesday 21st 13:00
Tuesday 21st during
day
Moday 20th 20:00
location
51 Heath End Road
Flackwell heath
R203a
Outside college
Around Henley town
Phone interview