Detailed Proposal

I don't think I'm quite ready to fill this out yet but I thought I'd see what I could answer and then that would give me a better idea of what I should focus on in the week before half term.

1. Topic Area
Crime and the Media

2. Proposed title, question, hypothesis
Is there such a thing as copycat crime?

3. Teacher approval granted, in principal?
Yes

4. Principle texts (if text based study)
The Jamie Bulger Case
A school shooting case, either Columbine or Virginia Tech

5. Reason for choice
After completing the film censorship unit, which covered many of the same areas of theory, for example the hypodermic needle model as well as just the overall concept of copycat crime, I knew I was very interested in this topic and have a good level of background knowledge to work from. The theory is understandable as well as interesting, and I think I would be able to cover it in more depth . There is a good amount of research and resources to help me, yet it is not an area that has already been done so much that there is nowhere further to go.

6. Academic context for this study (similar research, relevant theory, named theorists)
Many research studies done in this area
Focus on David Buckinghams research which involved holding focus groups with children and asking them what they thought
Also Bandura and the Bobo Doll Study, which is widely known as being 'proof' of the for side of the media effects debate

Relevant theory will include:
- Cause and effect debate
- Hypodermic needle model
- Just in Case argument
- Passive and Active viewing theories

7. Institutional context for this study (industry focus, other texts for comparison, named practitioners, relevant theory, issues, questions)

Industry perspective on the debate, including the opinions of filmmakers such as Ken Russell and Roman Polanski
This section needs work...

8. Identify the audience context for this study (audience profile, access to audience, potential sample)
Audience profile is very wide, almost copletely unlimited as everyone will have their own views on the power that the media has to influence opinions. Key groups will be children (aged between 8 and 16) and adults ages between around 40 and 50, as I think it would be interesting to see whether different generations have different views.
However I will ask a wide range of people, of all ages and both genders and see what patterns I will identify.
Audience research will be conducted mainly using one-to-one interviews, as this allows more detailed answers, and as this issue is quite complex, I think it would be hard to acheive useful material in a group situation.

9. How will the 4 key concepts be relevant to your study (audience, institution, forms and conventions, representation)?
Audience: Audience is key to this study, as everyone consumes media texts and has views on the issue of media effects. It is the general public that reads newspapers, watches films and listens to the radio, and so asking audience opinions is something I will draw many of my conclusions from.

Industry: Industry is also important, as they present almost the other side of the debate. The majority of filmmakers believe in freedom of expression, which comes into the debate of how important censorship is in minimising media effect.

Forms and conventions: ???

Representation: Representation comes into my study in different ways. It could be discussed in the way that how violence, sexual violence or imitable techniques are represented on screen changes the effect it has on the consumer. Equally it could be looked at by researching how media is represented in newspapers etc - ie, it is said to have a negative effect, and is overexaggerated at times, creating moral panics.

10 Potential research sources (secondary): secondary academic books and websites, secondary industry books and websites, secondary popular criticism. Please identify specific examples you have come across.
Books
'Crime And Law In Media Culture' - Sheila Brown
'Film Censorship' - Guy Phelps
'Classified! A Teachers Guide To Film Censorship And Classification' - Richard Falcon
'Crime And The Media' - David Kidd-Hewitt and Richard Osborne

Websites:
To be added

11. Potential research sources (primary): audience reception research, your own content/textual analysis etc
Audience research collected, in the form of questionnaires as well as notes from interviews
Content analysis of sequences from Childs Play 3, in relation to the Jamie Bulger case

12. Modifications agreed with your lead teacher
tbc

13. Potential limits/obstacles/problems?
none that I can think of at the moment

14. Teacher concerns
tbc

15. Teacher approval
tbc

After completing this, it seems the main areas I need to work on are the industry context, as well as relating my study to forms and conventions. I also need to start adding websites and other primary and secondary sources to my lists.