Documentary Commission Unit: Project Update

This is my finalized pitch

Death on the High Street - Pitch

Since the Internet became accessible to the public in 1991 technology itself has boomed. Not much happened in the 1990s apart from turning cassette tapes into Compact Discs but since 2000 there has been a conscious effort to change the computing world. In the space of ten years computers have gone from being the size of a room to being able to fit in your pocket. It might not seem much but this advance in technology has had a major knock-on effect on the typical high street.

This documentary is part of the channel Yesterday series “The Noughties” and will examine the idea that to be part of the ever-expanding Internet, in The Noughties internationally known stores decided to go “online” after the success of Amazon’s launch in 1995 and eBay’s launch 1996. This has lead to an increase of online shoppers and a decrease of shoppers on the high street. In a survey of over 1000 consumers – 14% of the people said they shopped online at least once a week, 80% of which said it was because it was more convenient than having to frantically look for shops that are open in their area.

It can also be considered that due to the recession in 2008 many shops converted to online so as to not lose customers. In this documentary we will be looking at whether the birth of online shopping has caused the death of the high street or whether it was the recession, or a meld of the two.

We will use HMV and Woolworths to help support both sides of the argument. HMV is an example of a high street shop that was struggling before the recession but found a way of rebooting its shop sales but has also been an online store since 2005. Woolworths is an example of a high street shop that was so severely affected by the recession that all the stores closed in January 2009 but in February 2009 saw the launch of its online store. For both examples we will be speaking to the Managers of the stores to find out how successful the online stores are and what they think the future holds for them, both online and on the street.

Back in February 2011, it was reported in The Sun newspaper that Margate is Britain’s top “Ghost Town” due to 37% of shops being vacant. We will use Margate as a prime example of a town that was economically devastated by the recession and will speak to the Mayor of Margate about the opening of the Turner Contemporary Gallery and minor boutiques and to see if the regeneration of the Old Town is helping Margate to get back on its feet.

Current documentaries have yet to focus on the idea that the death of the high street could have been caused by two different things whereas this documentary will be covering both aspects with interviews from both the shop owners and the shoppers themselves.

Unfortunately my was not chosen to be commissioned, instead I'm in Dans group with Matt looking at Text Talk on the phone and how it affects our language. I'm researching ancient codes such as Egyptian Hieroglyphics.