Commissions Unit- "My Hero" Idea 3 (Single Parents)

After we were asked to use a backup idea instead of "Unsung Heroes" myself and Ilianna had a meeting to decide what we would instead focus on. We decided that we wanted to develop one of the ideas that Ilianna had thought of to do with single parents. What initially seemed like a fairly standard idea soon became much more interesting when we realised just how much we can focus on in regards to their role in society. It also holds some deep meaning for Ilianna as she has noted on her blog:

"I grew up with both parents present till about the age of 13, when at that age my father died after having a heart surgery to replace his valves. What I, as a teenage girl, experienced was dreadful and I absolutely praise my mum for staying so strong and raising me as a single parent with no help till now. I went through a lot, but to be honest, I wouldn't survive the loss without the support of my mother, or she without mine. So yes, she is my hero, she's one of the most important people in my life that lifted my mood when I felt like my life had ended, and so I want to dedicate this "hero" project to all those single parents that are heroes for their own children. Saying that, through this film we don't only want to dedicate this to single mothers, but to single fathers too, as their role in general has been underrated by the society we live in." 
(http://iliannainuca.blogspot.co.uk)

This idea also holds meaning for me, i've been raised by my Mum since I was about two and although i've also had someone in my life who I could regard as a step-father for the most part it's been my Mum looking after me. This had a great experience in effecting me as I grew up as an only child. However I have to say that she always supported me and I feel that she dealt really well against the challenges that single parents have to face. So Illy's right when she says this project is for all the single parents out their that have the task of raising their kids in a family centric world.

Here is the pitch presentation we decided to use for this idea:

IDEA 3: Single Parents

Title: “My Hero”

Producer: Ilianna Ntouvli

Director: Ilianna Ntouvli, Sam Mckeown

Introduction:

In life we believe that our society, has not been fair to the heroes around us, mainly to the single parents facing everyday challenges of raising a child alone.
The main conflict is within the families and when single parents are exposed to this rather challenging role to raise a child alone in a critical world: they would have to focus on their duty as a new parent and face the challenges/package that comes with it.

Ultimately we want the audience to feel like they’ve engaged and related themselves to the stories exposed through our documentary film and be sympathetic with each character.
Also to understand that the credit given to those “heroes” is underestimated as we, as a population, should not criticize the way in which these parents have voluntarily chosen or not have had a choice, to experience.

This is the idea we want to pass to our audience and the society we live in. From ages 16-34, I want this film to be an example of a way to show the consequences of raising a child alone.

People Included:
-Single Mothers/Fathers

-Grand-parents (of children)

-Possibly children

-Doctors? (showing statistics/studies related to topic)

Location/environment:

-Home of single parent or grandparent of child

-office of doctor

-playground.

Target Group:

Part of doing a documentary film for BBC 3, is that the target group is mainly ages from 16- 34, which is exactly the group we're targeting for. This is due to through those ages we can explain this situation and have a great impact on it, as the age group we’re targeting for is the ‘new generation’/ the millennial generation and we can in some way make a change in this situation.

Possible Time Aired:

-19:00-20:00.
-It’s usually the time slot when they air ‘Hotel of Mum and Dad’, again, similar to our film.

-It’s also the first time slot meaning that it’s a time when usually families sit together to watch television. Or when most parents come back from work to relax and watch something entertaining but rather educational.

-It is also when all the other channels like E4, Channel 4 & 5, ITV, etc. are usually airing American television series.

In preparation for the "Single Parents" Documentary idea I started researching into any information that I felt would be helpful for our idea.

One of the first things I found was this website which has some very interesting statistics on it about single parents:

http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/content/365/Statistics