Documentary Proposal

For my documentary, I want to show how generations have changed using the perspective of childhood. How are children different now than they were ten years ago, twenty years ago, so on and so forth. I plan to interview a few people from each age group. From kids to elderly, all giving their perspectives on childhood and how they lived, or living as a child. There are three different types questionnaire, the first being for the kids (ages 5-12) asking them what they do now, and what they think kids from a decade ago did, and what they think their parents did as a child. The second questionnaire is for the adults (13+) asking them what they did as a child and what they think is different about children today from when they were a child. The age of the second questionnaire is still debatable, since teenagers are still kids themselves and are not yet adult, but this documentary is focused more on primary childhood age. A third questionnaire made for teenagers, combining questions from the two is a possibility.

A few examples of the questions (from both questionnaires) I will ask are:

1.     What is fun to you?

2.     What is boring?

3.     What is dangerous?

4.     What is good?

5.     What is bad?

6.     What is disrespectful?

7.     How much time do you spend (spent) playing outside?

8.     How much time do you spend (spent) inside? (watching tv/video games/computer/etc.

9.     What do you think kids were ten years ago?

10 What do you think your parents did when they were your age?

11 What are different about kids today than when you were a kid?

12 What’s the same?

13 What do you think about kids today? (Pros/cons)

14 What do you want to be when you grow up?

15 What did you want to be when you grew up?

16 What is (was) your favorite toy?

17 What is (was) your favorite show?

18 What kind of music do (did) you listen to? (favorite artist/band)

I plan on filming the interviewers as they answer the question, and get footage of kids and what they do on daily basis (playing on a playground, watching tv, playing games, running around etc.) And possibly what teenagers/adults do on a daily basis (homework, work, hanging out with friends, social interaction) And maybe showing pictures of when adults were children and children holding/playing with their favorite toy.