Violence – in 41% of ‘contact crime’ the victim said the offender had been drinking. This included 32% of incidents of domestic violence, 17% of muggings, 53% of assaults by a stranger and 45% of assaults by an acquaintance. Violence is now a leading cause of facial injury in Britain with a recent survey estimating that 125,000 people out of a total of half a million, incur the injury in violent circumstances. In 61% of these cases either the victim or assailant had been drinking alcohol. Research undertaken in Cardiff and Bristol A&E departments provides clear evidence of the ‘increased vulnerability of binge drinkers to injury’, particularly to assault.
Poor social behaviour – an HEA survey (1996) found that one in five men admitted to having an argument after drinking in the previous year and more than one third had witnessed a fight between people who had been drinking. Among 16-24 year olds 42% of men and 25% of women said they had had an argument after drinking and almost seven out of ten had witnessed a fight after people had been drinking.
Drunkenness – a Home Office report recorded that in 1995 19,789 people in England and Wales were found guilty of offences of drunkenness, and police formally cautioned a further 22,80928.
Workplace – 8-14 million days are lost each year in the UK as a result of alcohol-related problems. A 1998
Institute of Personnel and Development survey of personnel professions found that 46% of firms experienced problems with alcohol misuse in 1997-1998 (up on 11% on 1996).
Unsafe sex – possibly leading to unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS.
Bagnall and Plant (1991) reported that in a group study of 16-30 year olds 82% of respondents reported drinking prior to engaging in sexual activity. A 1998 HEA survey of 16-24 year olds found that after drinking alcohol:
· one in seven have had unsafe sex (i.e. without using a condom)
· one in 5 had sex they later regretted
· one in ten were unable to remember whether they had sex the night before
· 40% agreed that they would be more likely to have casual sex.
In response to this Greedy Productions proposes to produce a series of short form programmes aimed at young people to raise awareness of the dangers of binge drinking. The series will be aimed at an audience of 16-18 year olds and shall be short, snappy and shocking.
The series will be made of 6 handpicked clips of an interview with someone whose life has been heavily affected by past binge drinking, someone speaking out of experience. The series will contain 6 episodes. It will take place somewhere indoor which is comfortable for the interviewee so they can fully psychologically open up and provide as much information as they can recall.
The series will be accompanied by an opening to the programme which will include an appropriate song and an overwhelming visual scan of alcoholic drinks. The main goal is not to just make the audience more aware but to scare them as well as a sort of wake up call to stop binge drinking or to prevent them from ever starting. This goal shall be reached by adding clips of archive footage exaggerate negative things the interviewee will say, for example if the interviewee were to mention he/she got into fight perhaps a clip of a little riot would be shown. The full interview may be 5-10 minutes, depending on the interviewee.
The programme will be produced on digital format cameras; there will be two cameras active throughout the whole interview for a wider range of shots. It will be edited on Canons High campus in the media suite.
Since everything required is my personal and schools disposal there’s no need to discuss a budget. This production will cost £0. However if I had to pay the interviewee, the cameras, the set, the drinks in the opening and for time in a editing suite we’d be looking at about £600.