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Rachel Eaton
Apr 29, 202410 min read

FMP Pre-production and planning

Updated: Jun 6, 2024

Ideas

  • Documentary 

  • The fight to get female drivers in f1 

  • Talk about f1 academy

  • New initiatives (super licence points in f1, discover your drive, being on the f1 stage)

  • The first and only female driver to score points in f1, Michele mouton?

  • Then say what we can expect with new initiatives and what needs to happen to see a woman in f1 again

  • Hopefully get b-roll and interviews at Donnington British F4 race, 4 female drivers in British F4, Abbi Pulling is in F1 Academy currently a proposed championship contender, who is leading the championship currently 12/03/2024 after one round of 7 and Chloe Chong a former F1 Academy driver. Contact British F4, Donnington and the drivers if I get tickets, and maybe at the same time get some other driver interviews for social media

  • Maybe get some footage in a car museum 

  • Can request footage from f1 academy of races

  • Contact F1 Academy drivers for interviews, especially Hamda and Amna Al Quibaisi, Nerea Marti, maybe Lia Block, Bianca Bustamente, Maya Weug and Doriane Pin. 

  • Contact f1 content creators with influence to help spread the word about my documentary and

  • Also investigate the lack of funding and coverage for female drivers, the discrepancy and how it is leaving female drivers stranded at the first steps

  • Use a range of different shots and lighting, learn through YouTube and research, and also have symbolism and storytelling in the documentary 

  • Make a documentary treatment and send that to potential interviewees and locations to film, and persist 

  • Add music, graphics and text in editing, learn how to do that 

  • W series went bankrupt, there is money to fund female series, but F1 chose not to with w series, different story with F1 Academy 

  • Maybe go to a karting track and get footage of people karting hopefully young women interview them 

  • Have some aspects of multimedia in it, photography counts

  • Your product/process should have at least two key human sources, you will fail if not!

  • Two sources you need: someone who is experiencing the subject you are dealing with and someone who has a good professional/academic overview of this subject 

Subject? The fight to get female drivers into F1 

Medium? Documentary, visual 

Audience? Motorsport fans, possible fans and young women

Angle? Getting female drivers into F1, the challenges they face and what's being done to change that

Scope? Female drivers in single seaters, F1 feeder series

Inspo? Watching F1 Academy and learning about the new initiatives for 2024, and seeing that not many are talking about F1 Academy, but there seems to be a demand, from the about of engagement I got on social media when it came to F1 Academy

Why? (apply news values, have a call to action, a summary) Getting women into the top categories, especially f1, there are so many talented drivers, but because they are women, they don’t get recognition, it's all about exposure and support.

  • Record 1 to 1s with tutors and add to website 

  • Release forms research this because its professional practice, for a documentary 

  • https://www.team-sport.co.uk/dyd#opendays 

  • Use ai as a tool to work with, not as a supplement to you working

  • Ensure you are familiar with the college policy of ai on student net 

  • Reference the use of ai throughout!: it is a benefit if we can see how you work and apply tools, unreferenced work is detectable and can be seen as plagiarism

  • Be aware of limitations of ai, chat gpt is only trained up to a certain date around 2022

  • Reference use of wikipedia

  • Maybe create a storyboard for the documentary so i can visualise it

  • Explain why i’m doing a documentary in the pitch

  • Research a shotlist and make one

  • Research more about how to make a documentary

  • Research more about the actual subject and find why its relevant, important and find a story in it

  • Research lighting and shots, see what i need to buy to help with lighting

  • Female karter?

  • Look at motorsport words and see if i could get inspiration for a name

  • Lore meaning

  • Maybe find quotes from female drivers to include in the documentary, or use for inspiration

Features I want in the documentary:

  • On track action of British F4

  • F1 Academy footage 

  • Maybe some rough footage from F4 Donington, that is like a home movie style, maybe a vlog ptc style as I watch them

  • Interviews with F1 Academy drivers

  • Ambitious: Susie Wolff, Sophia Floersch 

  • Some footage of karting 

  • Potentially go to silverstone museum and film a ptc and b-roll there (or save that for when i’m famous lol)

  • Ptc about facts and interesting stuff

  • Graphics for facts and images

  • Maybe an anecdote from myself about how i never saw a female driver on my screen growing up but now i see many, but there still needs to be more

  • Maybe if i’m stuck for b-roll, go to a library or museum that has something about female drivers

  • Vox pops at donnington? 

  • Touch a little bit on donnington itself as the opener for british f4, and maybe do a shot where I open the circuit book I have and zoom into donnington, then transitioning to being at the track


For b-roll go based on what they say in interviews 

Need to try and film some original b-roll myself

My 3 questions I want to answer:

Why aren’t there any female drivers in F1?

Is enough being done to help women progress?

What can we do to see a woman in F1 again?

Will we see a female racing driver in F1 soon?

The documentary will have 3 separate section, the questions will be implicit though.

The production can change based on interviews, and the format and aim can also change.

Why should women drivers be in the top levels of motorsport?

In reaction to the brief, I started idea generation, thinking about the interests I had and how I could apply them to the project, but also making sure it was achievable whilst being ambitious and challenging, so I decided to do a documentary as it would challenge my technical skills with shooting and editing and do the documentary about female drivers aiming to get into F1 as it would be ambitious but still achievable. 

To improve my knowledge of how to generate ideas for a documentary and plan it, I went onto YouTube to watch some videos about this as part of my secondary research. 

The challenges:

  • unique challenges 

  • gender biases in motorsports

  • pressures of sponsorship acquisition and financial backing required to progress through the feeder series

  • lack of representation and visibility within the feeder series compared to their male counterparts

  • regulations and technical requirements impact the participation and success of female drivers


Positives:

  • teams support and promote female drivers 

  • advancements in technology and training programs helped female racing drivers bridge the gap in performance and competitiveness

  • initiatives or programs exist specifically aimed at encouraging and nurturing young female talent 

  • the role mentors and role models play in the development and success 

  • success stories of female drivers who have successfully transitioned from feeder series to F1 and what can be learned from their journeys


People I want to contact: 

Example Email/Contact form/DM:

Dear…

Hello, I am Rachel, a training journalist and am in the process of making a documentary about the fight to get female drivers into F1, progressing through the feeder series. I would love to interview you as part of this to hear your experience. For more information email me at tracksiderachel@gmail.com and thank you for taking the time to read this.

Kindest regards,

Rachel Eaton


Hello, I am Rachel a training journalist from England. I am in the process of making a documentary about the aim to get female racers into F1, progressing through the feeder series. 

I would love to interview you as part of this to hear your experience as the champion of the inaugural season of F1 Academy and now progressing onto FRECA. 

For more information, email me at racheleatonjournalism@gmail.com and thank you for taking the time to read this. 

Kindest regards,

Rachel Eaton


Hello, I am Rachel, a training journalist from England. I am in the process of making a documentary about the aim to get female racers into F1.

I would love to interview you as part of my documentary as part of F1 Academy and British F4.

For more information, email me at racheleatonjournalism@gmail.com, and thank you for taking the time to read this.

Kindest regards,

Rachel Eaton.


Hello, I am Rachel, a training journalist from England. I am in the process of making a documentary about the aim to get female racing drivers into F1, through the feeder series.

I would love to interview Bianca Bustamente as part of this project as she is a driver in F1 Academy.

My website is https://2942241.wixsite.com/racheleatonblog,  a hub for my work, from Radio Check Podcast, Middle of The Grid, and my social media content at Trackside Rachel on Tiktok.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, hope to hear from you soon.

Kindest regards,

Rachel Eaton


Hello, I am Rachel, a training journalist from England. I recently sent you an email enquiring about a possible interview for a documentary project I am working on which will showcase the aim to see female racing drivers in F1. I would love to interview Marta Garcia as part of this.

Hope to hear from you soon

Kindest regards, 

Rachel Eaton.


PTCs and Archive footage I need:

  • Want to introduce F1 Academy with clips from past races and a video that describes what it is, could maybe use someone’s tiktok video explaining

  • Mention W series and get some footage for that

  • Footage for Lella Lombardi with a little explanation

  • Footage relating to each of the extra challenges female drivers face


Finding drivers: 

Possibly contact a content creator on tiktok that talks about female drivers for an interview


Some ideas: 

  • Maybe in the intro of the doco there is a montage of all/most of female drivers with some role in F1 (official drivers, entrants, test and development drivers), and then it shows a montage of drivers/people I’m interviewing 

  • That all ends with a quote, either just a quote on the screen or something an interviewee says

  • ‘If there is one message that you take away from this documentary, let it be this…’ (outro to doco?)

  • Show each driver’s journey to where they are now, would like to focus on F1 Academy this season and last, where some drivers went from F1A


Documentary Treatment Ver 1:

DOCUMENTARY FILM TREATMENT

The working title of your documentary. 


Logline. 

The fight to get a female driver into F1.

Participatory, performative, poetic 

Explanation of act one. 

It starts off with a quote from a female driver that raced in F1, maybe Lella Lombardi, and then some archive footage of female drivers from single seaters to rally, and then a timeline graphic going from a certain point in history to now. there is the the title of the documentary and then a quick explanation of how the modern f1 feeder series works using graphics, and an introduction to F1 academy with clips from the races and promotional videos, explaining what it is, why it was made, what has happened in the series so far and touching on the 2024 season and the new changes. We are then introduced into the interviewees, with names and roles. Also include some social media content of people talking about F1 Academy.

Explanation of act two.

There are clips from interviews and b-roll t9o show what they are talking about. There will be three main talking points. At this point we will take a look at the history and how the female drivers in F1 were discriminated against, one was refused to enter a race because she was a woman, discuss this with someone who knows a lot about that. Then look at the w series and talk about what happened with it, but how it went bankrupt. Then talk about the struggles female racing drivers face from karting to single seaters, with underfunding, discrimination and a lack of exposure.

Explanation of act three.

Then talk about karting, and ask the interviewees about their journey to where they are now, and talk to a range of drivers at different stages. See what hope there is, especially with F1 Academy supported by F1 teams and top sponsors and the new initiatives of super licence points and wild card entries, aswell as their races being alongside F1 and broadcasted live. 

Final wrap-up. Where do we leave the ‘characters’?

What needs to happen to see women back in F1, what we as the audience can do by watching, interacting and helping the drivers get exposure. Some nice comments from the interviewees and a final ending quote that is motivational, maybe about breaking barriers, persevering and just trying. Then there will be credits and maybe a post credit scene of me watching the next F1 Academy race, more informal, and looking to the future.


Documentary Treatment Ver 2:

DOCUMENTARY FILM TREATMENT

The working title of your documentary.

Road to F1

Logline. 

The fight to get a female driver into F1.

Participatory

Explanation of act one. 

It starts with a clip of Lella Lombardi on track in F1 and then a clip from an interview she did. Any other footage of female F1 drivers is in this montage, a montage of other female racing drivers involved in F1 some way or a feeder series. there is then a quote and then a title screen. The interviewees are introduced and a little bit of information about them is given, maybe an introduction to them. Then I talk about the 5 women who have entered F1, giving a short introduction, first introducing that women can enter F1 and that is the beauty of motorsports that women and men can race together at the same level together and compete. Talk about the reasons that women aren’t in F1, the unique challenges they face identified by More Than Equal. Then start introducing initiatives that are designed to help female racing drivers progress. 

Explanation of act two.

Talk about W series and give a brief recap, and then lead onto F1 Academy, briefly talk about what it is, give some clips from interviews about F1 Academy. Talk about where female racing drivers are right now, F4 level, and mention how F1 Academy is different from W series and helps women progress. 

Explanation of act three.

Some social media post about the possibility of women racing in F1. Maybe some vox pops and thoughts from some interviewees about having women race in F1 and what needs to be done about it. My leaving thoughts and any final things from interviewees. Talking about the possibilities in the future and F1 Academy in the next few years. 

Final wrap-up. Where do we leave the ‘characters’?

“If there is one thing that you take away from this film, let it be this…”



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