Child Abuse Research

The Stats...

Physical Abuse
• 25% of children experience one or more forms of physical violence during childhood.
• 21% suffer abuse at the hands of there parent or carer.
• The person responsible for violence during childhood was most often the mother (49%) or father (40%).

Neglect
• 6% of children experienced serious absence of care at home during childhood.

Sexual Abuse
• 1% of children under 16 experienced sexual abuse by a parent or carer. 3% by another relative. • 11% of children under 16 experienced sexual abuse by people known or not related.
• More than one third (36%) of rapes recorded by police are committed on children under 16.

Emotional Abuse
• 6% of children experienced frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood.
• 3% of young adults say they were not well cared for during childhood and that their parents showed little affection.

1 Child a week dies from child abuse.

1 in 10 children are sexually abused during childhood.

1 in 1000 under 4’s suffer extreme physical abuse.

Indications of Child Abuse...

Sexual Abuse
• Over average knowledge of sex for age.
• Venereal diseases.
• Extreme reactions – suicide attempts.
• Clingy or insecure.
• Regressing to younger behaviour.
• Lack of trust.

Physical Abuse
• Unexplained injuries (recurrent).
• Excuses or refusal to explain injuries.
• Refusal to undress.
• Fear of medical help.
• Fear of physical contact.
• Fear of suspected abuser being contacted.

Neglect
• Constant hunger.
• Poor personal hygiene.
• Constant tiredness.
• Poor state of clothing.
• Untreated medical problems.
• No social relationships.
• Compulsive scavenging.

Emotional Abuse
• Physical, mental and emotional development lags.
• Sudden speech disorders.
• Continual self-depreciation.
• Overreaction to mistakes.
• Fear of any new situations.
• Inappropriate response to pain.
• Extreme aggression.

Documentary Proposal (The Silent Kids)

For my main task I will produce a five minute long extract from a documentary exploring the major issue of child abuse. The reason why I have chosen child abuse is because I feel that it is an issue which is overlooked by many people who do not know enough information about the subject. My aim is to not only shock my audience into thinking about child abuse, but also provide them with the knowledge to start getting involved with the various charities and organisations whose aim it is to bring child abuse to an end. I am aiming my documentary at young adults (18-30 year olds), this is because this is the age range where you are most likely to have a child.

My documentary will be called ‘The Silent Kids’. I think this is effective because it is truthful in meaning. Most children who have been abused stay silent about their trauma and bottle it all up. The documentary will contain interviews, reconstructions and powerful cutaways. I hope to provoke a big reaction from my audience by using a combination of several techniques.

To start my documentary I want to include a mix of short quotes and messages relating to the issue of child abuse in a short 30 second long introduction. I will use quotes like “I told my mother at about the seventh year of therapy that I had been abused sexually by my father, she hung up the phone on me.” In between the quotes and messages I will show short clips of a child in distress. The introduction will end with a bold title appearing. Most of the clips will be shown using a black and white effect, this will give the impression that the clips are like a flashback or a memory. Hopefully this effect will create more authenticity.

I also want to include 3 interviews in my documentary. I will show two interviews with victims of child abuse, preferably one female and one male. The reason why I will use one person of each gender is to show that girls are not the only children at risk. I will also interview an expert on the issue. I would like to interview a representative of a large organisation. In this interview I will use a tilt shot to give a sense of authority and expertise to the interviewee. I will use 3 cameras so when it comes to editing I can show the emotion on the interviewee’s face whilst also showing the interview generally. Again, I will do this to provoke a sad/angry emotion.

As well as the interview itself I would like to recreate one of the interviewee’s stories by using a reconstruction. I aim to create a fictional story that will seem very real and believable. The reconstruction will feature a little girl who is defenceless against her father who beats her. The reconstruction will be very powerful and emotive. I will use sombre music to add to the overall effect. I will aim to make the reconstruction the highlight of my documentary. Here is a picture of the scene i would be looking to achiece in my reconstruction:

The documentary will also feature many cutaways in-between the interviews, reconstructions and other parts. I have devised a list of possible cutaways which I feel will add to the overall feel of the extract:
•Images of abuse
•Exterior shots of houses
•Crying girl
•A man walking up stairs
•A door being slammed
•Reflection in a mirror of bruised girl
•Girl running away

I think my documentary will be received in a positive way. Why would anyone be for child abuse? Hopefully, my documentary will raise awareness of the issue and help put an end to it.

Codes & Conventions of a Documentary

Interviews:
• Victims
• Witnesses
• Professionals & experts
• Shows point of view
• Used to authenticate the views that are expressed.
• They sometimes disagree with the message although the film maker/narrator disproves them.

Voice over/narrator:
• Informative tone
• Male – crime, serious, facts & figures.
• Female – sensitive, emotional
• Powerful ‘voice of God’ – Believe they have specialist knowledge
• Well spoken, clear, slow.

Reconstructions:
• Different points of view – lots of different camera angles and shots.
• Typical scene – natural
• Sometimes debated as being altered or over-exaggerated.

Cutaways:
• Story telling:
• Image of signs, exterior shots of houses where interviews are taking place, images of characters entering and exiting, shots of cities – tells story without narrator.
• Emotional:
• Photo’s of deceased, hugging, candles – unique power to make you feel a certain way.
• General coverage:
• Watching, cheering, queuing, flags, cars, raceway etc – montage editing – set the scene.

Technicality of realism:
• Real footage – “chill footage”
• CCTV
• Natural lighting
• Diegetic sound
• Non-diegetic – narration, tension building music etc.
• Sounds create meaning
• Documentaries go to great lengths to convince the audience that the footage is real.

Archive footage:
• Historical archives – borrowed footage from the past
• Adds authenticity
• Adds further footage and information which film makers may be unable to obtain.

Titles/texts/captions:
• Usually bottom right hand side (captions)
• Quick and cheap way to give information
• Words on screen explain the narrative
• Audience often believe words without question (facts)

Process footage:
• Behind the scenes footage
• Adds authenticity and evidence.

Year 13

The brief for this year is as follows:

An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with the following:

• A double page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary.
• A newspaper advertisement for the documentary.

Lets get going!