Commission Unit: Script Version 2

PIX	Sync/Comm
Opening sequence – Introduction L/S of presenter on high street + C/U on a mobile phone screen.	Sync: Presenter, piece-to-camera “With the birth of the noughties came the birth of a new form of communication which is now widely known as text-talk. Not that many people know how to use or read it but it is said to have had an extreme effect on the English language as we know it.
Title sequence – Animated phone sequence.	Title: “The Joy Of Txt”
M/S of presenter in the Maidstone Museum	Sync: Presenter, piece-to-camera “The way people have communicated has changed over thousands of years. It is thought by some that the first form of communication between humans occurred around 32,000 years ago with cave paintings. The first form of writing didn’t come about until this guy (pointing to the mummified remains) was walking the earth and even then they were still writing on walls. But we have come a long way since then with the invention of the Royal Mail, telephones and computers”.
M/S Secondary school teacher in a classroom speaking to the presenter.	Sync: Presenter speaking with Secondary School teacher… Has text-talk filtered into the classroom? How has it affected the use of the English language? Have you had to adapt your way of teaching to be understood? Do you find that text-talk has excluded certain people? Have you had trouble reading work handed in by your students because of the use of text-talk? Do you think text-talk is a new stage of evolution of the English language or a step back?
Youth intro – different phones spell out the title.	Title: “Youth View” with music.
C/U of a teenage boy in his living-room.	Sync: Presenter speaking with teenage boy… Do you prefer to text or call? How often do you use your phone? How much do you spend on your phone credit? Which one do you prefer pay-as-you-go or contract? And why? Do you abbreviate words when texting? Do you use predictive text? Has using text messages meant you find writing /spelling difficult?
M/S of presenter in a library.	Sync: Presenter piece-to-camera “The oldest known writings are Sumerian and are over 4000 years old. It is said that the first proper book to have been written was of course the Bible but that was written in Hebrew. The first writer to establish the English language in the literary sense was Geoffrey Chaucer. He was a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin”.
M/S of the teenage boy breaking down a sentence into text-talk/ rebuilding a sentence.	Sync: Presenter “Could you breakdown/ rebuild this sentence for me?”
C/U of Secondary School teacher breaking down a sentence into text-talk/rebuilding a sentence.	Sync: Presenter “Do you think you could work out what this sentence means?”
M/S of presenter next to Cleopatra’s Needle.	Egyptian hieroglyphs are commonly known form of code with pictures representing words. Some believe that hieroglyphs may have functioned as a way to distinguish 'true Egyptians' from some of the foreign conquerors, such as Alexander The Great.
Middle-aged intro – different forms spelling-out the title.	Title: Middle-age Opinions”
M/S of middle-aged man in kitchen.	Sync: Presenter speaking with middle-aged man… Do you find it irritating how often teenagers and youngsters text? Do you find texting excludes people as it is considered another form of code? Have you yourself used forms of code prior to text-talk being introduced? Do you think the invention of the mobile phone was a good idea? Do you see the invention of the iPhone with all its apps as a good advance in technology or a waste of time?
M/S of presenter in a Phone Booth.	We started communicating electronically back in 1836 with the invention of Morse Code. An American artist Samuel Morse, a physicist Joseph Henry, and Alfred Vail developed an electrical telegraph system. This system sent pulses of electric current along wires which controlled an electromagnet that was located at the receiving end of the telegraph system. This way of sending messages didn’t become popular until the 1910s when it was used by the Americans in the First World War as communication between Navy ships and aircraft. It is thought that the origin of text-talk comes from computer Chat Rooms, people wanted to message each other faster so found ways to abbreviate words so that their friends could understand them and respond in the same manner. With a text message you only have a certain amount of space to get your message across so the abbreviation of words moved from the Chat Rooms to the mobile phone.
Older generation intro – cups of tea/ Werthers original which spell-out title.	Title: “Older is Wiser” with music.
M/S of an older person 50+ in their living-room.	Sync: Presenter speaking to elderly person… Do you use a mobile phone at all? Do you know how to text or do you just stick to calling people? If I asked you what text-talk is would you know? What do you think of the increasing use of mobile phones? Have you kept up to date with technology?
Montage of M/S of the interviewees in their homes.	Sync: Presenter speaking to the interviewees “Would you like to decode this for me?”
M/S of the presenter back on the high street, concluding shot.	Sync: Presenter piece-to-camera “A hundred years ago we were still grasping the idea of the telephone and Morse code. Now, either you love it or you hate it but either way text-talk is here to stay. In another hundred years though will this be the popular form of communicating or will we have found another way to code and exclude our conversations ”