JOURNALISM WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT - PLAN

BRIEF: Research and produce a story as a piece of community journalism. You

will be assessed on community contextualization, interest, relevance, and
whether you select the appropriate style to the form of community media
chosen. Subject student life as a community.

MY TOPIC: Difference in living costs between students who go to University in
the North of England and students who go to University in the South of England.

PLAN:
Structure
Introduce: state that the North is cheaper than the South, show survey
results
Interview: Interview 2 people, ask what they pay and why there is a big
difference between North / South
Finish by asking the viewers what they think ask them to comment and
join the conversation.

Shots
Video of me talking to the camera (see script below) with cutaways over
the top of what Im talking about (e.g. University of Brighton sign)
2 videos of interviewees being asked questions by me
Cutaways to go over the top of interviews (e.g. bus prices)
Shot of student houses to act as a background for the survey results

Interview Questions
So youre at Uni in the North / South of England, how would you describe
your financial situation? Would you say youre tight for money, for
example? Are you able to do all the things you want to do?
Have you visited University towns in the North / South of England? If yes,
have you noticed a difference between costs?
If yes, what sort of things cost more / less?
Why do you think the South is more expensive / North is cheaper?
Do you think this is a big problem for students? What effect does this have
on people making their university choices?

Survey
I am going to conduct a survey amongst an equal amount of my friends from the
North and from the South. I will ask them how much rent they are paying per
week and find out what the average is for the North and what the average is for
the South. I will include these figures in my video and also what the difference is
between the two.

Survey Results
North:
1. 78 a week
2. 78 a week
3. 73 a week
4. 65 a week
5. 65 a week
6. 89 a week
7. 74 a week

Average: 75 a week

South:
1. 115 a week
2. 115 a week
3. 110 a week
4. 110 a week
5. 106 a week
6. 105 a week
7. 105 a week

Average: 109 a week

Script
As a student at the University of Brighton, with friends studying at Universities
in different parts of the UK, I have observed that there is a noticeable difference
between living costs in the North of England and the South of England.

I conducted a survey amongst my friends, some who study up North, and some
studying down South. It showed that the cost of rent for student accommodation
is 39 cheaper a week up North.

Not only this, my experiences when visiting my friends at Northern Universities
have shown that the cost of food, drinks, travel, leisure activities, and even the
costs of nights out, are noticeably less than what we Brighton students are
paying. I interviewed two students, one studying in Brighton and one studying in
Sheffield, to get a fresh perspective.

ASK INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

I want to hear what you have to say. Does this cost difference effect you
personally? How? Leave a comment below and let me know. Thank you for
watching.

Script Update
After trial recordings and beginning to edit, I have realised that the script is too
long, so I will cut some parts out. I also did not follow the script word for word, I
said what came naturally to me and what I felt made the most sense as I was
talking.