Nadine's AS Media Studies: September 2023

The development of concepts into the foundational elements for our documentary is the focus of this blog article. These comprise storyboards, potential titles, thumbnails, etc.

Title Ideas: Breaking the Chains Unveiling the Struggles Breaking the Strings Beneath the Skin: Beyond Eating Disorder When Scales go Up Fighting Shadows Off the scales Beneath the Scale WTF (Where’s the Food): (Watch the Food) (What The Food?!!!) <33333 Our title for this documentary is "What The Food"

Final title: Diet or Die

Our ultimate title is "Diet or Die." The name "What the Food" was initially our choice since it sounded good and the capitalization of the word would entice viewers to choose our documentary. When we conducted our survey for thumbnails, WTF was regarded as a documentary about food. The documentary's title and content didn't seem to be related. After careful deliberation, Diet or Die was determined to be the superior choice due to its startling title and the fact that no other health-related documentaries had a title quite like it. We had issues with the WTF title since it sounded too much like WTH (What the Health). Due to the possibility that this would make it more difficult for our documentary to stand out on the market, we ultimately decided on Diet or Die.

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Scenes structure Idea

1st Scenes Structure:

For Your Information - Sharing resources for victim to visit
Role Model Montage -
Statistics and Facts - statistics and facts to highlight the seriousness of the issue.
Personal Stories - Interview victim
Expert Insight - Interview

2nd Scenes Structure:

For Your Information - Sharing resources for victim to visit
Statistics and Facts
Expert Insight - Interview
Societal Pressures - Examine the influence of societal standards of beauty, media portrayals, and cultural expectations on body image and self-esteem.
Breaking Taboos - Explore the stigma surrounding eating disorders and the hurdles individuals face in seeking help.

Reflection: We picked the second scene structure as the basis for our storyboard because it appears more intriguing than the first.

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Synopsis

Draft 1

"What The Food (WTF)" ; Breaking the Strings is a powerful and emotional documentary that delves deep into the lives of individuals who have battled and triumphed over eating disorders. The film aims to shed light on the harsh realities of these disorders, while also offering hope, inspiration, and guidance to those who may be struggling.

Draft 2

“Diet or Die” is a powerful and heartfelt documentary that dives into the world of eating disorders. From its origins to the impact on our youth, this documentary aims to explore the harsh realities within this silent illness.

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Script Voiceover

(Credits: Rania)

1st draft -

Intro - insert Ms. Anita, Mr Bram quick cut

(If you’re dealing with an eating disorder and need someone to talk to, theNational Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.)

When researchers followed a group of 496 adolescent girls for 8 years, until they were 20, they found:

5.2% of the girls met criteria for DSM5 anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder.
When the researchers included nonspecific eating disorder symptoms, a total of 13.2% of the girls had suffered from a DSM-5 eating disorder by age 20.
Source: Stice E, Marti CN, Shaw H, and Jaconis M. (2010). An 8-year longitudinal study of the natural history of threshold, subthreshold, and partial eating disorders from a community sample of adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118(3):587-97. doi: 10.1037/a001648

In contrast to American media, which appears to be increasingly supportive of the body positivity movement but still glorifying thin, idealised bodies, K-pop culture is a welcome shift for some fans who struggle with eating disorders. The thin-centric ethos of the K-pop business is openly displayed. A survey found that South Koreans had the biggest preference for skinny people over people who are overweight out of people from 71 other countries. In fact, it is entirely transparent about the strict beauty standards, especially how bodies are viewed as ideal in South Korea.
(Role model montage) Even though a number of idols have opened up about getting treatment for eating disorders, such as singer IU, who demonstrated in 2013 that she had been on a severe crash diet, igniting the "IU diet challenge," and then revealed in a 2014 talk show appearance which her method had gotten treatment for bulimia, K-pop culture as a whole glorifies extremely restrictive eating habits.
Particularly typical eating disorder diagnoses for males is binge eating disorder (BED). Although people with BED exhibit bingeing behaviours similar to those seen in bulimia nervosa, they refrain from participating in compensatory behaviours following bingeing. 40% of those with BED diagnoses are men, while 36% of men and boys experience BED. -> source: Unknown (2021). Men and eating disorders. National Eating Disorders Association. Retrieved from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/men-eating-disorders.
(Kpop dance montage) The media and K-pop idols frequently portray Korean beauty standards as emphasising certain physical characteristics including slimness, fair skin, and particular facial features. These norms may contribute to concerns with self-esteem and body dissatisfaction, which in turn may have an impact on the emergence of eating disorders. It's crucial to understand that eating disorders can be caused by a variety of variables, including heredity, psychological issues, and social pressures that go beyond aesthetic standards. While Korean beauty standards may have an impact, treating eating disorders calls for a multifaceted strategy that takes into account each person's unique circumstances and mental health issues.
(Mutiara Montage Fashion Show) Much research has documented the extent to which seeing images of these ultra-thin models contributes to body image struggles or eating disorder symptoms in women.
Tragically, many eating disorders cause people to feel out of control and become fixated on food, their bodies, their weight, and their ability to lose weight. Many people who are battling eating disorders weigh themselves several times each day, and they punish themselves based on the results. This preoccupation frequently centres on the scale.
(Alden gym montage) Men frequently feel pressured by society to live up to these standards in order to feel attractive, and as a result, many choose to undergo procedures like excessive dieting, genital enlargement, radical exercise regimes, skin whitening, tanning, and other surgical changes to their bodies.

Conclusion/outro;

As a result, both males and girls experience the condition in different ways, and this video aims to clarify the various aspects of eating disorders in relation to beauty standards. Not just the negative impacts but also the individuals afflicted by eating disorders should be investigated and studied.

Reflection

Problems - The script is too wordy, we felt as though the research was great but it’s too long and might make audiences bored. There’s too much statistics and information being put in that doesn’t need to be in the documentary opening which could’ve been used for later on.

Solution - We plan to improve the script by making it more snappy in the second draft as well as making the wording and voiceover more attention grabbing. By cutting down on the information we would have more room to include interview clips. The second draft will be more concise and less detail-oriented in terms of research.

2nd draft

(If you’re dealing with an eating disorder and need someone to talk to, theNational Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.)

Insert Ms Anita,Mr bram quick cut
In this evolving world comes an increasing amount of problems. Eating disorders being just one. -> Insert Ms. Anita, explaining ED 496 girls, researched until they were 20 found: 5.2% of the girls met criteria for DSM5 anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder. When the researchers included nonspecific eating disorder symptoms, a total of 13.2% of the girls had suffered from a DSM-5 eating disorder by age 20. Source: Stice E, Marti CN, Shaw H, and Jaconis M. (2010). An 8-year longitudinal study of the natural history of threshold, subthreshold, and partial eating disorders from a community sample of adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118(3):587-97. doi: 10.1037/a001648
(Role model montage) American media has become increasingly supportive of the body positivity movement yet the same can’t be said on the other side of the world. To fans of Korea’s K-Pop scene, they welcome the entirely transparent beauty standards, especially how bodies are viewed as ideal in South Korea. With many idols promoting thin bodies, a surge in demand for weight loss pills and cosmetic surgery has brought unrealistic, unattainable body standards even worse than before
The media often portray Korean beauty standards as emphasising certain physical characteristics including slimness, fair skin, and particular facial features. This is also shown in the diets they have exposed to audiences, STARVING means being BEAUTIFUL.
Tiktok has portrayed harmful eating habits and pushes it onto our youth
Insert Ms. Anita interview clip.
(KPOP dance montage) While Korean beauty standards may have an impact, treating eating disorders calls for a multifaceted strategy that takes into account each person's unique circumstances and mental health issues.
Insert Mr. Bram clip
(Mr. Bram voice) montage of people’s bodies/getting ct scan/getting weighed
(Mutiara Montage Fashion Show) Much research has documented the extent to which seeing images of these ultra-thin models contributes to body image struggles or eating disorder symptoms in women.
Insert Muti clip
Tiktok, Youtube footage as Muti talks
Tragically, many eating disorders cause people to feel out of control and become fixated on food, body image, and their ability to lose weight. Many people who are battling eating disorders weigh themselves several times each day, and they punish themselves. This frequently centres on the scale.
(Hanly montage) It is not only women affected by this disease. Men frequently feel pressured by society to live up to these standards in order to feel attractive, and as a result, many choose to undergo procedures like excessive dieting, radical exercise regimes, skin whitening, tanning, and other surgical enhancements to their bodies
-> insert Hanly
Closing- Does this mean we as a society are revolting against eating disorders and being more content with how we look… or are we heading for worse?

Reflection: The script is much better suited for our vision, the style is in closer proximity to the conventions of other health documentary we have researched. With it being less wordy and focus on the dramatics to engage and captivate viewers.

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List of people we will interview + questions

(Credits: Nadine)

Ms. Anita (counselor)

Summary about eating disorder (what is eating disorder, how does it affect the mental health and what caused eating disorder)
Do you think eating problems affect our youth?

Mr. Bram (biology teacher)

How does eating disorder affect our health/body? (including what diseases caused, which organ get affected)

Muti (student - model)

As a model, how do you manage your diet?
Have you ever felt stressed/depressed when you’re eating? How does “food/eating” pressure you?

Alden (student - gym rat)
How do you maintain your diet in order to gain and maintain muscle mass? (keep the fat low but still gain muscle)
Have you ever felt insecure seeing men on social media?

Reflection: Due to last minute changes and clashes in schedule, we were unable to have Alden in our list of interviewees. As a result we decided to employ Hanly, another fitness enthusiast. The questions we chose in the draft above stayed the same.

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Thumbnail research

In this screenshot that i took from Netflix with a search title of “Health” consist of many different documentary series the related to health such as food and of course health. I chose this selection because they are the same as my sub genre. The genre conventions I can see are images of food, the human body, often medical equipment. I think I will subvert it because they seem a little repetitive. I want something that will stand out. I really like the idea of the first documentary in the top left “WHAT THE HEALTH” i really like the concept of the thumbnail of documentary bringing a phrase that people often use as we know the phrase “what the” is a very common phrase that many people use to curse or when they are in shock of something with this concept of thumbnail in the documentary it is very catching when people hear of this phrase. The font that are used in the thumbnail are very simple and all are on caps lock, with all upper case form makes the phrase more serious. The fact that they put a burger patty in the back enhances the meaning of this documentary series and allowing audience to know what are they trying to present to them. The documentary series in the fifth row and two down “mind your manners” i think doesn’t really support or show the topic health from both the title and background and i think it lacks of meaning that support their topic, beside that it also lacks of color for the thumbnail it only have white and black for the color on the other hand “WHAT THE HEALTH” has a lot of color which makes them more pleasant to see and not boring to see.

The way in which we portray eating disorders as the hands that control people—instead of the hands actually playing a role in how a person will act—allows me to relate this image to the subject of my documentary series. Just as the stick figure person below the hands plays a role as the puppet being controlled by the hand, so too does our topic—eating disorders—which can influence how people eat and act in the future and every day.

Thumbnail development