Analysing the Competition

1) High Altitude

High Altitude is a programme derived from the original show Ski Sunday when it was found that although there was a fanbase for the big adventures there was also a call for more racing events to be shown. This split meant that the racing fans could watch Ski Sunday and get to watch the races and results which may have not been on any mainstream sports channel and the people more interested in the large, over the top adventures the prersenters took part in could watch the new prgramme High Altitude.
It was first broadcast on BBC2 on Sunday 1st March but information from BARB found that on the 19:50 showing the next day 1.97 million people watched the programme.
Both this and my idea will centre around winter sports providing information on the topic, also both programmes have at least one presenter, theirs with 2 and mine with a narrator/presenter throughout. Another similarity is that both shows will display both skiing and snowboarding increasing its appeal to a relativly niche audience.
Mine will differ from High Altitude as it will not last as long due to the fact that my project is a documentary where as High Altitude is a magazine show. Also my documentary will focus one one part of skiing, the sefety element of helmets, where as their show has multiple topics and so doesn't always go into enough detail. Another way they differ is that as my presenter and some of my interviewees will be roughly the same age as my target audience it will increase its appeal.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fYPpmrE9r0
http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing/weekly-top-30

2) Winter Olympics 2010

The last Winter Olympics in Vancouver first aired on a british broadcast on the 12th February at 9:30pm which was a training session for the mens downhill. The final broadcast was the closing ceremony on the 12th on February at 2:00am. There were no defined scheduling hours for this programme as many of the events were on at the same time or took place very early in the morning and so were not shown until later in the day on the BBC.
Both my programme and this one show a variety of winter sport disciplines if in a slightly different way. Also both are quite factual as mine is a documentary and the olympics is a sporting event and so apart from some opinion from commentators/presenters it focuses on objective information like times and scores, again both programmes will have a minimum of one presenter or commentator.
Mine will differ from the olympics as I will only cover the relevant sports like skiing and snowboarding and will not go into more specialise events such as th Skeleton run. I think mine will appeal to a younger audience as some people may find certain events uninteresting  where as my topic directly applies to the younger members of the audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LZz5YQr-pg
http://winterolympics.external.bbc.co.uk/event-results-schedules/index.html

3) Winter X Games 2012

The 16th annual Winter X Games started on Thursday 26th January with the Men's Ski Slopestyle at 12:30pm on ESPN, and the final broadcast was on the fourth day of the event with the Men's Snowboard Superpipe Final at 9:45pm on ESPN. As with the olympics the scheduling for this programme was quite vague as it depended on when one event finished which could have been much quicker than planned if one or more competitors fell or did not take part in the event. Also as the event was taking place on the west coast of the US many of the events were only shown on british television very early in the morning. My programme will be similar to this in the fact that they will both show clips of some of the best winter sports men in the world and will also have feature interviews with experts in the field. 
The main way in which mine will differ will be that where as the X Games is a completely score based programming event mine will be more about informing the audience about the specific role of helmet usage when skiing or boarding. I think mine will appeal to much of the same audience as the X Games but with a smaller size as not all people interested in winter sports will be interested in the safety aspect of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8tdz-SII_Q
http://espn.go.com/action/xgames/winter/2012/

Constraints

Possible Vox pops questions:

Do you wear a helmet when skiing?

Do you think it should be mandatory?

(If yes what should the age limit be)

Should this mandatory law be implimented to resorts across the world or more select locations?

Do you think children should have to wear one?


Possible Interview Questions:
(1st interview)
Did you wear a helmet when you started skiing or not?

Have you noticed an increase in the amount of helmets worn on peiste?

Can you explain the accident you had & how your helmet helped you?

What could have happened if you weren't wearing one?

Would you encourage people to wear helmets?

(2nd interview)
Do you think that helmets should be compulsory for children?

What age do you think it should become their choice?

Do you find it difficult with the difference in laws between Europe and the US?

Do you feel better knowing they are protected on peiste?

(3rd interview)
Do you think helmets are a hinderance or helpful?

Can you explain how these helmets work please?

Have you noticed any changes in the technology?

Do you think function will ever lose out to form?

Have you noticed an increase in helmet sales recently?

Is this due to new skiers starting out or experienced skiers feeling the need for a helmet?

Do you think there is enough public knowledge about the importance of helmets?

Final Proposal

My final idea is to produce a documentary covering the issue of ski helmets becoming mandatory in ski resorts around the world and how this impacts different groups of people.

Aims

The Aims of my documentary are to find out whether the people who will be directly effected feel that changes to legisloation are justified and to what point these changes should extend, for example should it just be all skiers and boarders or just those under 18 or even younger? I hope to get the target audiences view on this subject as well as the opinions of experts as well as information backed up by research studies and tests.

Content

I will include interviews with ski proffesionals such as instructors, ski fitters from the retail sector as well as representatives from ski clubs and possibly the British Ski Association. I will use vox-pops of people the same age as the target audience, both skiers & snowboarders, to gain their perspective on the changes. Also I will include some actuality footage for use as cut-away shots and fillers which I have shot myself whilst on a trip to Banff, Canada. The Point Of View shot will help to maintain the audiences attention as it mkaes the audience feel as though they are part of the experience. I will have a voice over throughout the documentary and at certain points the narrater may appear on screen in a presenting role to make it more informal in order to help it relate tothe younger members of the target audience.

Target Audience

My target audience for this project is 16 - 24 year olds, i feel that my topic will suit this demographic well as the issue being discussed is one which will effect people within this age group directly. Also because at the lower to middle stages of this age range the individuals are old enough to begin taking some resposiblity for them selves but are stil restrained by laws in some cases such as with the proposed manditory ski helmet law for all under 18's. Getting their point of view on this through the vox-pops will give my documetnary more appeal as they will be able to relate to the people being interviewed as they are the same age.

Format

I will produce a Documentary in an Expository mode but with an element of Participatory as I want to have a presenter for some sections of the film in order to prevent the voice over becoming to over-bearing or monotonous for the younger section of my target audience. I chose this mode because it is the most recognisable format and so the audience will be able to concentrate on the content and not have to think about the way in which they are being shown this information.

Initial Contact List

Neil: Snow + Rock Ski Salesman
Phone No. 017xx xxxxxx
email: xxxxx.romford@snowandrock.com

Liz Allum: Mother of young skier
Phone No. 0208 xxx xxxx

John: Experienced skier
Phone No. 0208 xxx xxxx
email: xxxxxx67@live.co.uk

Jamie O'sullivan: Trainee ski instructor
Phone No. 078 xxxxxx
email: xxxxxxxsullivan@gmail.com

Ben: Level 1 ski instructor
Phone No. 074 xxxxxxxx

Alsion Redford: Premier of Alberta, Canada 
Phone No. 7804272711

Rick Cook: Level 4 ski instructor
email: xxxxxx@snowproab.com

Lake Louise ski resort office
Phone No. 403 522 3555
email: info@skilouise.com

Mount Norquay ski resort office
Phone No. 403 762 4421
email: admin@banffnorquay.com

Sunshine Village ski resort office
Phone No. 403 762 8421

Lynn Bowers: Calgary Ski Club President
Phone No. 403 282 4122
email: president@calgaryskiclub.org

Tim Carter: Head Instructor at High Wycombe Snow Dome
Email: timcarter@thesnowdome.co.uk

Steve: Owner of Brentwood Dry Slope
Phone No. 01277211994

Secondary Research for my Final Idea

I have chosen to produce my documentary about the dangers of skiing and what measures are being taken to change this, such as changes in legislation in order to enforce the wearing of helmets for all skiers. I will also look at how technology has effected the development of equipment and the sport in general.

1) What changes in the law about wearing helmets when skiing have occured in recent years?

The most recent changes have been the introduction of mandatory helmet laws in countries across the world. These laws involve making it compulsory for skiers under a certain age to wear a helmet whist skiing on any resort in that country or region, the set age differs from country to country although in those which have adopted this law the general feeling seems to be aimed at protecting children the most with the lowest age in western Europe being 14 in Italy. As these are laws in some countries it means that the ski resort gets penalised by the government if skiers are found without helmets in those areas and so the resorts have begun to introduce penalties themselves for skiers found to be breaking the law.

http://www.skiholidayextras.com/ski-equipment/helmet.php

2) Where are these laws concerning skiing implemented?

In most of western Europe these types of rules have already been introduced in countries around the Alps such as Italy and Austria and some states in the U.S such as New Jersey and California but other states such as Colorado are under pressure to implement similar laws aswell, also the province of  Nova Scotia in Canada has set these laws. Some other countries have introduced alternative safety regulations such as a speed limits this has been done for a section of the pieste in the ski resort of Grindelwald, Switzerland.

http://www.skiholidayextras.com/ski-equipment/helmet.php

http://www.ehow.com/list_7240227_ski-helmet-regulations.html
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_15968389

3) Why are these rules being introduced to ski resorts?

These rules are being introduced to ski resorts around the world as studies have shown that wearing a helmet during an incident involving a collision with the head can significantly reduce the amount of damage done to the brain. In order to reduce the amount of injuries requiring professional intervention on the mountain such as blows to the head resulting in loss of consciousness or severe back/leg injuries, it also makes it safer for both individuals if there is a collision between two skiers. One study showed that when wearing an approved helmet the difference in deceleration of the brain when involved in a collision compared with no helmet, showed that the amount of G force exerted on the brain as it slowed was significantly less and so there is less chance of severe brain damage.
http://www.wildsnow.com/4713/ski-helmets-backcountry/

4) Are these rules making it safer for skiers and boarders?

Studies have shown that wearing a helmet during a collision can reduce the amount of damage to the brain but there are counter arguments stating that helmets can reduce the amount of peripheral vision an individual has whilst skiing. Also some people have mentioned that individuals wearing helmets may feel more inclined to ski dangerously as they feel they are fully protected, thus resulting in more accidents then would have previously happened.

5) Who would be effected by these changes in the law?

New laws are being implimented across Europe and the United States making it manditory for children to wear helmets, Josef Schmid from the Austrian Skiing Federation has shown his support for the manditory wearing of helmets for people of all ages and has been quoted as saying "It's not just young children - adults also need protection. With the new carving skis, people tend to ski faster and overestimate their abilities. The slopes are very busy; it's safer for everyone if you wear a helmet".

ITALY:
In Italy it is compulsary for all children under the age of 14 to wear a helmet at all times when skiing/snowboarding. Failure to adhere to this can result in a fine of up to 150 euros, parents are responsible for children under their care.

AUSTRIA:
Authorites are set to make it manditory for children under the age of 15 to wear a helmet, although each province makes its own decision. At this time only the province of Lower Austria has introduced this rule.

CANADA:
There are no country-wide rules rgulation the wearing of helmets although the province of Nova Scotia has recently brought in and going into effect on in November 2012 will force people of all ages to wear helmets or incure a fine of $250.

UNITED STATES:
The states of New Jersey and California are set to introduce law requireding all those under the age of 18 to wear a helmet whilst skiing or snowboarding, with New Jersey implementing a $25 - $100 fine for people found flauting this law and California starting with a $25 fine.

http://www.skiholidayextras.com/ski-equipment/helmet.php

http://www.international-academy.com/News/being-a-ski-instructor/lifting-the-lid-on-ski-helmets-in-canada.aspx

My Rationale

Open publication - Free publishing - More ideas

Initial Ideas & Feedback