The Print Advert:
The Radio Advert:
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Evaluation
Evaluation
Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
These screen grabs from our documentary and a profesional documentary of The 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster shows how I have kept to the codes and conventions as the Interviewee here is looking directly at the interviewer and not at the camera. Framing on our interviews was very important and we followed the rule of thirds as the interviewee's eye lines is a 1/3 of the way down the shot.
Here you can see that the Mise-en scene is very important in explaining what the interviewee is talking about and it realates so that the audience have more knowledge of the topic. For example Dave a learner driver we interviewed, had L plates ontop of eachother as the background and here I have compared it to an professional documentary interview and the mise en scene relates to what the interviewee is talking about.
The graphics used in the interviews were simple, they told the audience who the person being interviewed was, and how they were relevant to the documentary.We collated alot of research before making our documentary to find out what people wanted to see. We asked the question what’s your favourite colour? And a greater part of people said they wanted blue so the graphics needed to be blue, to get our target audience interested and not be bored.
After we had done our research and found relevant information we then we chose to get different pictures we could use in our documentary, for example pictures of old and new cars this way we could use them for our opening titles as shown below.
Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
These screen grabs from our documentary and a profesional documentary of The 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster shows how I have kept to the codes and conventions as the Interviewee here is looking directly at the interviewer and not at the camera. Framing on our interviews was very important and we followed the rule of thirds as the interviewee's eye lines is a 1/3 of the way down the shot.
Here you can see that the Mise-en scene is very important in explaining what the interviewee is talking about and it realates so that the audience have more knowledge of the topic. For example Dave a learner driver we interviewed, had L plates ontop of eachother as the background and here I have compared it to an professional documentary interview and the mise en scene relates to what the interviewee is talking about.The graphics used in the interviews were simple, they told the audience who the person being interviewed was, and how they were relevant to the documentary.We collated alot of research before making our documentary to find out what people wanted to see. We asked the question what’s your favourite colour? And a greater part of people said they wanted blue so the graphics needed to be blue, to get our target audience interested and not be bored.
is examples of print adverts and I have compared them both to see any differences in professional work and ours. The title,date and the time it is on is in the bottem left hand corner as seen in both images. The channel 4 logo is in the centre right hand side of the print advert this is shown on both images again, therefore shows how we have conformed to the normal codes and conventions of real media products.
My Radio advert, has a music bed aswell as other real media documentaries, this is showing how that It is conforming with the rules of a radio advert.
Q2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Q3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Q4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
In the planning of our documentary 'Emergency Stop' we decided to use alot of different technologies, for example Archive footage, cut aways and vox pops. This will make the documentary less boring and make it more enjoyable to watch. When we interviewed people ad filmed our vox pops we decided to ask people questions like 'what is your favourite colour?' As well as questions about driving which will then help us decide on the colour we will use for our titles.
After all the planning for our documentary had been done we then needed to get some research that was relevant to driving, the research also needed to be up to date and include statistics to make our documentary more realistic.
After we had done our research and found relevant information we then we chose to get different pictures we could use in our documentary, for example pictures of old and new cars this way we could use them for our opening titles as shown below.
We then started to edit our documentary and by doing this we had to look out for information and archive footage on the news that would help us keep our documentary modern and original. The footage had to be interesting so that our target audience would actually want to watch it and not get bored. For our archive footage we decided to use Top Gear because this programme is modern and up to date therefore people can relate to our documentary, also as this is already a TV programme so we know that people enjoy watching it. Here is a link where we got our archive footage from www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
We also decided to use footage from the film Final Destination 3 within our documentary because this film is a modern film therefore the audience will be interested. We stuck with the idea of using modern up to date footage because the programmes and footage will still be fresh in our audience's minds. Whilst editing our documentary Emergency Stop, we worked on a range of different things like aligning different interviews so that the framing would look more professional.
Also we worked on putting a background onto a Bluescreen we used for an interview as shown below.
When we where using Premier Pro we were able to watch two different clips this ment we could cut down and work on two different clips at the same time, therefore we could see if we could use a different clip as cut aways or footage that could be placed over our voiceover.
We also used a cutting tool which we could use to cut out anything we didn't want to put into our documentary.
Once had edited our documentary we started to work on our print advert doing this we opened Photoshop and decided on using a ripped red learner plate as our main focus image because this relates to learner drivers and to our target audience however will also reach a bigger audience than just learner drivers. After we had chose our image for the main focus of our poster we then added a coloured background to it just to see what it would look like.
The next thing we did was to add the Channel 4 logo onto our poster this shows what channel our documentary would be on for the viewers. Originally we wanted to use the colour blue on our poster because this was the favourite colour our target audience chose however we then changed our minds to red because this stands out alot more and pulls the viewers in, also people relate the word 'STOP' to the colour red hence the name of our documentary 'Emergency Stop'.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Codes and conventions in filming and editing documentaries (AS Task)
I watched two documentaries, "In the Teeth of Jaws" and "The Simpson's 20th Anniversary Special''
In both documentaries I noticed many things that are done the same and some that are done differently.
The similarities are:
The background to the people is either plain or relevant such as in the Jaws documentary it has a shark's mouth and in Simpsons’ it's either Simpson's merch or where the person works as shown with the people from Southpark.
The person being interviewed always looks at the interviewer and not into the camera. Also say they're looking to the left, the space is too the left (looking space), this looks very professional. During cuts between people it normally shows something relevant information either graphs, animations, pictures or videos. In the Simpson's documentary it shows an animation of trophies falling from the top of the screen to show how many awards it has used, this is a very good technique as it engages the viewer.
When the person being interviewed changes from person to person the name and reason they're on the screen is shown. For example "Name - Writer 1993 - current." this does not happen if the person has a minor role such as member of the public being asked a question. Both interviews don't just ask questions, they show certain details, for example in the Jaws one it shows how the shark is made. In the Simpson's one it shows how far fans go with tattoos and merchandise. With the subject of mobile phones this will be easy to use most of the population of people have one or have had one or even no someone who does have a mobile phone.
In both documentaries I noticed many things that are done the same and some that are done differently.
The similarities are:
The background to the people is either plain or relevant such as in the Jaws documentary it has a shark's mouth and in Simpsons’ it's either Simpson's merch or where the person works as shown with the people from Southpark.
The person being interviewed always looks at the interviewer and not into the camera. Also say they're looking to the left, the space is too the left (looking space), this looks very professional. During cuts between people it normally shows something relevant information either graphs, animations, pictures or videos. In the Simpson's documentary it shows an animation of trophies falling from the top of the screen to show how many awards it has used, this is a very good technique as it engages the viewer.
When the person being interviewed changes from person to person the name and reason they're on the screen is shown. For example "Name - Writer 1993 - current." this does not happen if the person has a minor role such as member of the public being asked a question. Both interviews don't just ask questions, they show certain details, for example in the Jaws one it shows how the shark is made. In the Simpson's one it shows how far fans go with tattoos and merchandise. With the subject of mobile phones this will be easy to use most of the population of people have one or have had one or even no someone who does have a mobile phone.
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Plan (AS Task)
- Wicked cafe, ask people in there like our interview room.
- Make it MTVish like funny angles, and to interview a funny person to make it entertaining.
- At the beginning have shots of people on there phones with a background song e.g telephone/lady gaga or Banana phone.
- At the beginning have shots of people on their phones with a voice/talking doing an introduction about mobile phones.
- Shoot someone walking down a street and then fast-forward it to see actually how many people you had walked past that where on their phones.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Filming (AS Task)
We used Canon XM2 for filming and we filmed onto DV tapes, this has a advantage which is that it is cheap and it can hold alot of footage however this has the disadvatage of audible noise being recodred of the tape being wound. We used a tripod to reduce hand movements and shakes from the person holding the camera this means that the video will be usable.
For the cut away shots we handheld the camera, this doesn't matter because the scenes are short. Also it gave better flexability for pans, as controlling the camera while panning with a tripod is difficult.
While filming for better sound quaility we should have used the microphones we have access too, but the microphone is sutable for the shots we used because the people were close enough to hear thier voices well enough.
For the cut away shots we handheld the camera, this doesn't matter because the scenes are short. Also it gave better flexability for pans, as controlling the camera while panning with a tripod is difficult.
While filming for better sound quaility we should have used the microphones we have access too, but the microphone is sutable for the shots we used because the people were close enough to hear thier voices well enough.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Editing Process (AS Task)
Our editing process started off by capturing the orginal video from the DV tapes, using Adobe Premiere Pro and then editing it using Premiere.
To do this we dragged the created AVI into the timeline and using the razor tool to cut the video up into sections, we then were able to delete the clips we where not going to use, for example the questions.Also we used alot of cross dissolves on clipsto give a sort of edge/mtvish feel to the documentary. The time line is also used for audio, such as music.
The editing process for the documentary was very different to the thriller process, as there was less extreme edits, as the end product needed to be informational.
This screen shot shows the edits we used, simple cuts from section to section, from Question to cut-away to Question.
We as a group also decided to use basic text over the video as this would not detract from the film.
To do this we dragged the created AVI into the timeline and using the razor tool to cut the video up into sections, we then were able to delete the clips we where not going to use, for example the questions.Also we used alot of cross dissolves on clipsto give a sort of edge/mtvish feel to the documentary. The time line is also used for audio, such as music.
The editing process for the documentary was very different to the thriller process, as there was less extreme edits, as the end product needed to be informational.
This screen shot shows the edits we used, simple cuts from section to section, from Question to cut-away to Question.
We as a group also decided to use basic text over the video as this would not detract from the film.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Evaluation and uploaded documentary (AS Task)
In our documentary there are things I liked and things I disliked for example some of the things I liked where the background music we chose, I think it fitted very well with the whole idea of our documentary. However I think the music could have faded in with the clips a little bit better as it just cuts off instead of the voume just being lowerd so that you can still hear the peoplebeing interviewed over the background music. So that is one thing I would change if I where to do this project again.
I like how one of the interviewees plays her Beyonce ringtone and both start to dance to it because this shows the funny side to ur documentary that we where trying to get across to the audience. Also the cut aways we used I think works well because they where not too long and the pans we used looked professional and works well with the music.Instead of jump cuts we used cross dissolves on the start and beggining of each clip to make it more 'mtvish'.
On the other hand I think that we could have had a better ending to our documentary as it just cuts to black and the music just cuts out, I think If we where to do this again I would have the music fading out and also mayby the last clip fades out also. I woud use the mics we where given access to because this would have given us better sound quality.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Research Into The Codes And Conventions Of Documentarys
I am looking at the different codes and conventions that can be used in a Documentary and researching into Examples of the different types of Documentary that I am going to create in a group.
The Devil Made Me Do It is the first documentary I researched.
The Type Of Documentary
The type of documentary is mixed because it has a combination of voice over, observations, reconstructions and interviews these documentarys push the narrative form. The observations and visuals act as evidence to your 'facts'.
Themes
The themes used in this documentary are Religion, Music, Murder, youth of today, how the media effects people and their lives also if they can make an influence on people to do something they normally wouldn't. For example how the youth of today are portrayed and how the media can easily influence them.
Religion is deffinatly an important theme because the murder of the nun shows how the gothic representation and influence from Marilyn Manson has opposed the cathlic religion and how you are supposed to act.
Narrative Structure
At the beginning the documentary sets up a story however we still don't know whats going on and how everything is linked, for example we are told how where and when the nun was murderd but we still dont know why. The middle creates conflict and confuses the audience, which is that an investigation is started and this leads to Marilyn Manson and that he is now involved and to blame. The end of the documentary creates a resolution which is that the girls that brutally murdered the nun go to jail and this makes us believe that the villege will go back to normal again.
Camerawork
Low angles where used on Marilyn Manson to show importance however high angles are used on the audience to make them look vunerable. Canted camera angles where used in the interviews to connote emotion. A crane shot was used over the villege to make it look isolated and vunerable this connotes such a brutal murder has been commited in such a small town in Italy.
Also there is a establishing shot of the town in Italy to show the audience/viewers where the murder has taken place. Two shots where used to represents two sides of the story or opinion for example the three girls that had murdered the nun, their freinds where talking about the three girls and there obsession with Marilyn Manson and to why they had commited this sin and on the other hand the man and women talking about the murder and what had taken place on the day. Other high angles shots where used over the grave yard to dramatise the situation. Also they use big close ups of the experts to reinforce that they are important and know what they are talking about.
Mise en Scene
The Devil Made Me Do It come across quite dark and gothic as they convey alot of violence, death and generally quite dark topics the mise en scene helps connote this theme. For example in some interviews the interviewee would have a shadow on the side of their face from the background image, this gives a good contrast to the background image and the interviewee to look 'mysterious' or 'dark'. Also by showing teenagers drinking, swearing, wearing black make up and being very disrespectful gives off a very stereotypical view of the youth of today. The establishing shot is of the peaceful town of Italy however as the documentary continues the mise en scence changes to a very contraversial scene, Marilyn Manson's concerts which are completly the oppersite from the mise en scene at the beginning.
The location of the interviews in very important because if an interviewee is being interviewed in their own home then they are more comfortable answering you questions as they are familiar with the scenery therefore less nervous and more willing. One of the experts was a women dressed in a red suit this connotes power, because red is a 'powerful' colour and so she stands out in a crowd in the train station, we could also suggest that she was 'power dressing'. We are taken back to the location where the murder had taken place this evokes emotion from the viewer. Marilyn Mansons fans where portrayed quite badly, because then where shown wearing dark make up and quite gothic but this is very stereotypical because they may not dress or act like that on an everyday basis and that they could just be getting into the spirit of the concerts for one night only, so this gives a perception to the viewers however may not be entirely true.
Sound
Non diegetic sound is used to shock or dramatise the situation, however sound effects are used also to evoke emotion and feelings from the viewers for example as the story of how the nun was brutally murdered there where heartbeats, bashing noises as though the rock was bashing against the nuns head. Owl sounds to connote this was commited in the night whilst noone was around. Spiritual and religious music is used to create a religious moral towards the storyline, which is shown whilst the images of the teenagers being disripectful where on, this shows the contrast between the two.
Editing
Match on action and shot reverse shot are used between Marilyn Manson and his fans to show Marilyn Manson as the higher power and his fans are inspired to be him and vunerable. An eye line match is used to make us 'feel' what the nun felt to get a reaction from the viewers. There is alot of long takes, and establishing shots for narrative.
Graphics
For the graphics they use a religious font, this reflects the theme they want to portray. The font is white on a basic background, the white could also connote heaven, the graphics where simple so they did not detract from the visuals.
The Music Biz was the second documentary I researched.
Type Of Documentary
This documentary is mixed because it has a mix of voice overs and archive footage of premiers. These help to present evidence.
Themes
The themes that used in this documentary are maketing campains, the importance of christmas number 1 in the charts, the importance of selling an artist and the reserection and comeback of an artist.
Narrative Structure
At the beginning shows the comeback of Meatloaf and makes the viewers ask 'will it be successful?' In the middle creates a problem because Meatloafs music videos where costing alot of money which then effects funding and budgeting of the videos. At the end of the documentary it concludes that Meatloaf was infact successful and did get number 1 at christmas and stayed there for 8 weeks. This shows that all the money spent was well worth it in the end.
Camerawork
Zooms where used on Meatloaf for example in his music video the camera zooms in on him in the bush and stays focused to show that he is important in this shot. A two shot was used between Meatloaf and the director Micheal Bay showing the power struggle between the two. Meatloaf asked the camers 'Do I look ok?' and the camera nodded, this was unconventional and this now becomes a self reflective documentary because he is talking to the camera. Pans where used in the board room to show each person and the buisness side of the music industry, close ups of Meatloaf connote that he is important and the main focus.
Mise en Scence
The Mise en scene is always relevent with the use of green screen alows them to add backgrounds with promotional images in interviews. There are some very popular and influencial locations used such as the music capital London, the red carpet events this is when they use cut aways of the premiers. This makes the viewers think whether it is more the fame people want or the music they produce? The music industry uses media to help promote artists, like when Meatloaf appeared on Pat Sharpe's Good Morning Britain, this was a very popular radio station therfore promoting to a wider audience, cut aways of this where shown.
Sound
Natural sound is used in interviews this makes the interview more realistic. The soundtrack was mixed in with the the voiceover, also non-diegetic sound is used to evoke feelings from the viewers for example in the cut aways of Meatloaf they used heatbeat sounds to connote the struggle with the funding of his music videos.
Editing
Cut aways are used of people placing bets on whether Meatloaf will meet Christmas Num 1, also cut aways where used in press interviews about Meatloaf and newspaper cut aways. Shot Reverse Shot Between director Micheal Bay and Meatloaf, this suggests the relationship between the two. Dissolves and Fades where used to change to the next shot/scene.
Archive Material
In this documentary there is alot of Archive Footage, like the YMCA music video, the Top of the Pops video and the Award Ceremonies. The use of Mr Blobby's music video and Take that's to show the competition that Meatloaf has to watch.
Graphics
At the bottem left hand side of the shot is the interviewee's name, who they are and The Music Biz Logo this makes it seem for official. Magazine covers are used as backgrounds as if the interviewee is the focus of the magazine.
Marketing Movies is the next documentary that I analised.
Type of Documentary
This type of documentary is mixed because again it has a mix of voiceovers, observations, archive footage and narrative.
Themes
That Thing: Lara Croft is another documentary I looked at.
Here is a link to the Lara Croft fan website: http://www.tombraider.com/server.php?action=setCountry&country=Europe&countryCode=en-GB&outputLang=
Type Of Documentary
Once again this is a mixed documentary although there is only a small part of narration and voiceovers it is still a mixed documentary.
Themes
The themes discussed in this documentary are Feminism and Post Feminism because Lara Croft goes against the sterotypes of women. Also the media effects and how we react, another theme is that Lara croft is a huge product in its self.
Narrative Structure
Sound
The Devil Made Me Do It is the first documentary I researched.
The Type Of Documentary
The type of documentary is mixed because it has a combination of voice over, observations, reconstructions and interviews these documentarys push the narrative form. The observations and visuals act as evidence to your 'facts'.
Themes
The themes used in this documentary are Religion, Music, Murder, youth of today, how the media effects people and their lives also if they can make an influence on people to do something they normally wouldn't. For example how the youth of today are portrayed and how the media can easily influence them.
Religion is deffinatly an important theme because the murder of the nun shows how the gothic representation and influence from Marilyn Manson has opposed the cathlic religion and how you are supposed to act.
Narrative Structure
At the beginning the documentary sets up a story however we still don't know whats going on and how everything is linked, for example we are told how where and when the nun was murderd but we still dont know why. The middle creates conflict and confuses the audience, which is that an investigation is started and this leads to Marilyn Manson and that he is now involved and to blame. The end of the documentary creates a resolution which is that the girls that brutally murdered the nun go to jail and this makes us believe that the villege will go back to normal again.
Camerawork
Low angles where used on Marilyn Manson to show importance however high angles are used on the audience to make them look vunerable. Canted camera angles where used in the interviews to connote emotion. A crane shot was used over the villege to make it look isolated and vunerable this connotes such a brutal murder has been commited in such a small town in Italy.
Also there is a establishing shot of the town in Italy to show the audience/viewers where the murder has taken place. Two shots where used to represents two sides of the story or opinion for example the three girls that had murdered the nun, their freinds where talking about the three girls and there obsession with Marilyn Manson and to why they had commited this sin and on the other hand the man and women talking about the murder and what had taken place on the day. Other high angles shots where used over the grave yard to dramatise the situation. Also they use big close ups of the experts to reinforce that they are important and know what they are talking about.
Mise en Scene
The Devil Made Me Do It come across quite dark and gothic as they convey alot of violence, death and generally quite dark topics the mise en scene helps connote this theme. For example in some interviews the interviewee would have a shadow on the side of their face from the background image, this gives a good contrast to the background image and the interviewee to look 'mysterious' or 'dark'. Also by showing teenagers drinking, swearing, wearing black make up and being very disrespectful gives off a very stereotypical view of the youth of today. The establishing shot is of the peaceful town of Italy however as the documentary continues the mise en scence changes to a very contraversial scene, Marilyn Manson's concerts which are completly the oppersite from the mise en scene at the beginning.
The location of the interviews in very important because if an interviewee is being interviewed in their own home then they are more comfortable answering you questions as they are familiar with the scenery therefore less nervous and more willing. One of the experts was a women dressed in a red suit this connotes power, because red is a 'powerful' colour and so she stands out in a crowd in the train station, we could also suggest that she was 'power dressing'. We are taken back to the location where the murder had taken place this evokes emotion from the viewer. Marilyn Mansons fans where portrayed quite badly, because then where shown wearing dark make up and quite gothic but this is very stereotypical because they may not dress or act like that on an everyday basis and that they could just be getting into the spirit of the concerts for one night only, so this gives a perception to the viewers however may not be entirely true.
Sound
Non diegetic sound is used to shock or dramatise the situation, however sound effects are used also to evoke emotion and feelings from the viewers for example as the story of how the nun was brutally murdered there where heartbeats, bashing noises as though the rock was bashing against the nuns head. Owl sounds to connote this was commited in the night whilst noone was around. Spiritual and religious music is used to create a religious moral towards the storyline, which is shown whilst the images of the teenagers being disripectful where on, this shows the contrast between the two.
Editing
Match on action and shot reverse shot are used between Marilyn Manson and his fans to show Marilyn Manson as the higher power and his fans are inspired to be him and vunerable. An eye line match is used to make us 'feel' what the nun felt to get a reaction from the viewers. There is alot of long takes, and establishing shots for narrative.
Graphics
For the graphics they use a religious font, this reflects the theme they want to portray. The font is white on a basic background, the white could also connote heaven, the graphics where simple so they did not detract from the visuals.
The Music Biz was the second documentary I researched.
Type Of Documentary
This documentary is mixed because it has a mix of voice overs and archive footage of premiers. These help to present evidence.
Themes
The themes that used in this documentary are maketing campains, the importance of christmas number 1 in the charts, the importance of selling an artist and the reserection and comeback of an artist.
Narrative Structure
At the beginning shows the comeback of Meatloaf and makes the viewers ask 'will it be successful?' In the middle creates a problem because Meatloafs music videos where costing alot of money which then effects funding and budgeting of the videos. At the end of the documentary it concludes that Meatloaf was infact successful and did get number 1 at christmas and stayed there for 8 weeks. This shows that all the money spent was well worth it in the end.
Camerawork
Zooms where used on Meatloaf for example in his music video the camera zooms in on him in the bush and stays focused to show that he is important in this shot. A two shot was used between Meatloaf and the director Micheal Bay showing the power struggle between the two. Meatloaf asked the camers 'Do I look ok?' and the camera nodded, this was unconventional and this now becomes a self reflective documentary because he is talking to the camera. Pans where used in the board room to show each person and the buisness side of the music industry, close ups of Meatloaf connote that he is important and the main focus.
Mise en Scence
The Mise en scene is always relevent with the use of green screen alows them to add backgrounds with promotional images in interviews. There are some very popular and influencial locations used such as the music capital London, the red carpet events this is when they use cut aways of the premiers. This makes the viewers think whether it is more the fame people want or the music they produce? The music industry uses media to help promote artists, like when Meatloaf appeared on Pat Sharpe's Good Morning Britain, this was a very popular radio station therfore promoting to a wider audience, cut aways of this where shown.
Sound
Natural sound is used in interviews this makes the interview more realistic. The soundtrack was mixed in with the the voiceover, also non-diegetic sound is used to evoke feelings from the viewers for example in the cut aways of Meatloaf they used heatbeat sounds to connote the struggle with the funding of his music videos.
Editing
Cut aways are used of people placing bets on whether Meatloaf will meet Christmas Num 1, also cut aways where used in press interviews about Meatloaf and newspaper cut aways. Shot Reverse Shot Between director Micheal Bay and Meatloaf, this suggests the relationship between the two. Dissolves and Fades where used to change to the next shot/scene.
Archive Material
In this documentary there is alot of Archive Footage, like the YMCA music video, the Top of the Pops video and the Award Ceremonies. The use of Mr Blobby's music video and Take that's to show the competition that Meatloaf has to watch.
Graphics
At the bottem left hand side of the shot is the interviewee's name, who they are and The Music Biz Logo this makes it seem for official. Magazine covers are used as backgrounds as if the interviewee is the focus of the magazine.
Marketing Movies is the next documentary that I analised.
Type of Documentary
This type of documentary is mixed because again it has a mix of voiceovers, observations, archive footage and narrative.
Themes
The themes used is this documentary are the Media and how marketing within the film industry will effect sales, also how merchandising can help boost the morale of the film. The target audience is discussed because they want to address specific audiences.
Narrative Structure
At the beginning the documentary poses a question like 'Why is marketing important?' which sets it nicely. The middle creates conflict if the film did not hit the target audience they wanted and how the Mouse Hunt had overcome the bad reviews and in the end became successful and all the marketing payed off as people wanted to go out and watch it.
Camerawork
Close ups used of the interviewee's are used this connotes importance. Panning shots where used of the merchandising of products to help promote the film, also close ups of money exchanging hands for the products being sold like Tetlys Tea Bags. A high angle shot is used of London to portray how they merchandise in the Capital and not in small towns this will increase funding. On the other hand static/stationary shots are used which can be quite boring and serious. The interviewee was positioned to the side of the camera in some interviews.
Mise en Scene
Alot of the Mise en Scene is placed at box offices or cinemas, could have been set anywhere but they chose these places because they relevent to the documentarys theme and subject matter. Everyone in the documentary is British and no Americans speaking this is relevent aslo as they set it in the film making Capital in the UK, London. Also this where Mousehunt will be released.
Sound
Natural sound of the interview with a music bed makes sure that it is kept bubbly and not too serious. Various music was played throughout and the sound continued over a new set of visuals.
Editing
Fades where used however this portrays the documentary to be quite ameture because you could used a cut away instead to make it look more professional.Lots of cuts where used between the action in the Interviews, and used dissolves between interviews and cutaways this creates a flowing effect to the interviews. Dissolves where also used between interviews to the next shot.
Archive Material
The archive material in this documentary where film trailors which where used to support how marketing is successful or not and footage from premiers to show how people are 'into' the film.
Graphics
Most of the graphics are self explanatry, simple and some colourful graphics tokeep the viewers intrested.
That Thing: Lara Croft is another documentary I looked at.
Here is a link to the Lara Croft fan website: http://www.tombraider.com/server.php?action=setCountry&country=Europe&countryCode=en-GB&outputLang=
Type Of Documentary
Once again this is a mixed documentary although there is only a small part of narration and voiceovers it is still a mixed documentary.
Themes
The themes discussed in this documentary are Feminism and Post Feminism because Lara Croft goes against the sterotypes of women. Also the media effects and how we react, another theme is that Lara croft is a huge product in its self.
Narrative Structure
At the beginning the documentary introduces the game there is no real point to it, however in the middle presents a problem from Lara Croft having small breasts and a small bum to then having big breasts and a big bum this is not ethnical this goes more towards the stereotypes. Aslo the producers where scared incase Angelina Jolie dictates to what Lara Croft can and can't do. In the end the resolution is that the video game was infact successful and Lara Croft was celebrated as a character by men and women.
Camerawork
Over the shoulder shots of different audiences playing the game, men and women of different ages. Big close ups of people being interviewed this connotes that these people are the focus that they are important. Canted camera of the main focus of this documentary which is Lara Croft and the man that created the game, this aslo shows there relationship (also canted angles from the game).Pans where used to look at the keyboard action going on as the players are playing on Lara Croft.
Mise en Scene
The Mise en scene was relevant as the Interviewee's where interviewed on a dark background, it gave the impression that they where apart of the computer game, in contrast with other people such as Angelina Jolie who was in a lit up background to show she is the main focus.Sound
Natural sounds are used from the interviews, sound from the computer game where also used this leads the audience/viewers in a certain way as grunting noises from Lara Croft are heard this connotes her being 'sexual'. Madonnas techo music could also be heard to show the variety of age groups that could be watching. Music beds are important to use in documentarys.
Editing
Some of the editing was fast motion at times to suggest an urgency for this product. Cutaways where used during the interviews, which where fast pace and fast cuts where used when people where playing the game to fasten up the speed.
Archive Material
The archive footage in this documentary is mostly from the Tomb Raider game, this let us see why the game is so popular.
Graphics
The graphics are once again quite simple and self explanatry, 'That Thing' is used as a gimmik with all their documentarys.
Inside 9/11 Zero Hour
Type of documentary:
This documentary is mixed because it has a combination of voice over, observations, reconstructions and interviews these documentaries push the narrative form. The observations and visuals act as evidence to your facts.
Themes:
The Themes discussed in this documentary are Religion, Suicide, Murder, Terrorism and the Terrorist attacks on the world trade centre in 2001, also discusses the conspiracy theories involved around this attack.
Narrative Structure:
In the beginning the documentary reconstructs the attack on the twin tower, the middle creates conflict and explains why it happened and makes the audience ask whether it was a terrorist attack or if that was just a conspiracy. However at the end of the documentary it shows how it was resolves and the viewers have a clear picture into why this dreadful terrorist attack had taken place in 2001.Camerawork:
A range of camera angles are used that are relevant to the topic discussed, for example big close ups are used of the four men that led the attack and zooms are used to show their eyes, almost like they have hatred in them and no emotion. Handheld camera is used in the reconstruction of the movements of the four men, this makes the audience feel as though they are actually there experiencing it. This evokes emotion from the viewers. Close ups of interviewee’s shows importance and helps support the idea that they are experts on the topic discussed. A high angle shot is used of an elevator with the number 63 on it, this connotes the 63rd floor and how the attack was so close if not higher to this floor.
Mise en Scene:
In the interviews the backgrounds are pitch black with the interviewee in a bit of light, this creates a shadow on one side of the interviewees face. This symbolizes the darkness and sadness into what has happened to the world trade centers. Also the interviewees wear black clothing and suits this shows them paying tribute to that awful day and the suits represent intelligence.
Sound:
The voiceover is quite a deep and serious, also the documentary uses a male American voice. Phone calls from the American 11 flight to the Air Defense Sector Headquarters are heard over visuals on screen this help the viewers put the story together better. Non Diegetic sound is used like Sirens and people screaming this dramatizes the situation. Music embedded under the narrative are used to evoke feelings from the viewers. On the other hand natural sound is used in the interviews to create a sense of realism.
Editing:
Cut aways are used of inside a plane and planes flying to try and give visuals under the narrative to what happened, also shots of the Twin Towers before the terrorist attacks this shows the viewers the extent to the damage that had been done. Aerial shots of Portland Maine USA sets the scene for the viewers. A close up shot of Muhammad Atah is flowing like in the wind this could connote a flag of the country blowing in the wind. Fades are used from one image to another, Pans around the Air Defense Sector Headquarters are used to show how these are very important. A lot of cut away shots of Osama Bin Laden are used this connotes how he could be involved and to blame for the terrorist attacks on The World Trade Centre.
Archive Material:
There is a lot of archive material in this documentary because it help support their view on what had happened, used as evidence to the narrative. Security footage is used of the four men said to be leading the attack on the Twin Towers checking in the airport. Archive footage of the actual attack shown and videoed by the general public this dramatizes and shocks viewers. Also news coverage’s are used to show the world wide shock to what had happened, for example CNN live. Shots of President Bush at the time as he gets the news of the attack and a zoom is used to show his facial expression.
Graphics:
In the interviews there are simple graphics, which are a black background and white font saying the interviewee’s name and who they are. As the reconstruction is played the time it had taken place faded in and out at the bottom left, helps the viewers put the story together through visuals and narrative. Finally computerized images of the towers support the narrative and it explains the different floors and levels in the towers.
The Michael Jackson Story
Type of documentary:
This documentary is mixed because it has a mixture of visuals, archive footage, interviews and voiceovers.
Themes:
The themes that are used in this documentary are Fame, Fortune, The struggle between your personal life and fame, the music industry and family.
Narrative Structure:
The narrative structure in this documentary is in the beginning it introduces Michael Jackson and The Jackson Five. The middle in controversial as Michael Jackson launches his solo career at just 17, ‘when Michaels popularity went into orbit’. However his personal life was getting in the way, the rumors about his molestation case, and when he was arrested his still acted as if nothing could hurt him. In the end of the documentary Michael Jackson was found not guilty and he announced his comeback concert which was also his last concert in London, and he said goodbye.
Camerawork:
In the interviews shallow focus was used to show how the interviewee was the main focus of the shot and they are important. Pans where used on the newspaper articles to let the viewers see more clearly what was going on in the tabloids. Shot reverse shot is used on Michael Jackson and his fans at his concert, low angles are used for his fans to show they look up to him and are venerable, they long for him however high angles are used on Michael Jackson to show he is the higher power he is their ‘hero’. The interviewee’s sit at either the left side of the camera or the right instead of the middle this creates variety, also close ups of the interviewee’s to symbolize importance.
Mise en Scene:
The Mise en Scene in this documentary is always relevant to the topic in question, for example a background in the interview has music awards, cds and records to connote his achievements in the music industry. A lot of things are colorful and upbeat like back in the 70’s – 80’s when Michael Jackson was a child, the interviewee’s are wearing quite colorful clothing this connotes that they are celebrating his life and not mourning his loss.
Sound:
Natural sound is used in the interviews to create realism, Michael Jackson’s songs where played behind the narrative which acts as a music bed. Voice over is used with a male voice however not as serious as other documentaries. A quote from Michael Jackson was played ‘I feel as if I have a suit of armor on, nothing can hurt me’, this shows the determination that he has to not letting the controversial rumors get to him and let his fans down.
Editing:
Cut aways are used from Michael Jackson concerts, his fans screaming and longing for Michael, parts of his music videos, and cut aways of him singing as a child, teenager and an adult. Zooms are used with the cut aways of the newspapers so that the viewers can read the articles properly, also a zoom is used on Michael Jacksons face to show his facial expressions and emotion. Fades are used from one image to another however this can be said to be amateur. Throughout the documentary Archive footage of Michael Jackson performing as he grows up from a child to an adult.
Archive Material:
There is a lot of relevant Archive material such as footage from his concerts, form his music videos and old footage from when he was a child, showing his talent and love for music even when he was a child. The Jackson Five performing is shown this help compare Michael from then to now and how far and successful he has become. However footage of Michael Jackson being arrested for molestation claims, this automatically makes the audience judge Michael in a bad way even though he was found not guilty.
Graphics:
The graphics are simple and self explanatory, in the interviews the name of the interviewee in a simple white font and what their relationship to Michael Jackson is, this helps the audience get a picture of his life.
Codes and Coventions
Always have a problem in the middle of the narrative structure
Facts and figuresVoice over’s in Interviews
Interviews
Always have a problem in the middle of the narrative structure
Cut away shots
Voice over’s
Natural shots
Evidence
Sometimes reconstructions
Sound effects are often added for dramatisation
Simple and sometimes formal graphics
Experts are named
Eye line needs to be a third down
Music bed
Relevant mise-en-scene
Opening titles
Vox pops
No opposing questions
Variety of different camera angles
Archive footage
Exposition is made clear either at the start or throughout
Facts and figuresVoice over’s in Interviews
Interviews
Always have a problem in the middle of the narrative structure
Cut away shots
Voice over’s
Natural shots
Evidence
Sometimes reconstructions
Sound effects are often added for dramatisation
Simple and sometimes formal graphics
Experts are named
Eye line needs to be a third down
Music bed
Relevant mise-en-scene
Opening titles
Vox pops
No opposing questions
Variety of different camera angles
Archive footage
Exposition is made clear either at the start or throughout
Genre Analysis
The purpose of a documentary is to document an event you will need evidence to back up your documentary, also actual footage can be used however reconstructions can be added to your documentary to create meaning. The definition of documentary is Problematic, numerous amounts of documented events could be real or just fiction, also the creative treatment of actuality.
''What distinguishes documentary is the portrayal of the recorded sounds and images of actuality'', this was said by John Corner 1995 the portrayal of recorded sounds and images would create a sense of realism. A factual account of an event does not always mean giving actual footage some are partially staged for example the actors, sets, props ect this can help the documentary 'look' and seem alot less staged for the audience to watch, it is important to realize that even in a documentary a high level of construction takes place.
Documentary does not have to have analysis it can be descriptive and let the viewer make or decide on their own opinion and not the documenter’s opinion on the event. Documentary was designed in the 1930's by John Grierson and his team 'GPO'. Documentary’s were made for cinema audiences because televisions where not invented then so they made the main focus for cinema. They were used to boost morale in Britain-war time.
Some documentary’s such as panorama are well known and can command a prime time slot as of the audience as they are very popular, some documentary’s tend to be emotional to get a feeling or reaction from the intended audience others offer a balanced view point leaving the viewer to make their own mind up about the event. British documentary are renowned for their investigative journalism, this opposes the view of the government and sometimes society.
The creative treatment of actuality.
How creative should a documentary be?
Authenticity is important as the 'event' should be original and new however it is impossible to capture all events in raw state so some elements will have to be fake/fiction.
''Truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing the film. I mean it’s your truth that you’re seeing. Everybody who makes a film is putting their own truths on the screen''. Diane Tammes, film maker. As of the creative involvement over the years many people argue over true documentary’s as there is so much being done to them it’s hard to know whether some elements are true or fiction. They are set out to make you feel something for example rage, to bring out a person’s feelings. Documentary’s are not just about facts some have elements of fiction.
Current affairs programmes are to be no longer than 30 minutes, so basically between a documentary and the news for example Trevor Mcdonald on current affairs:
Current affairs programmes tend to document weighty issues and social problems will be discussed, this appeals to a much broader audience.
According to John Corner of Liverpool University there are five central features to a documentary:
Observation
Mise en scene
Interview
Exposition
Dramatisation
Observation
The camera becomes eye witness to the events documented, for example the camera is unseen on screen or ignored by people making the documentary this gives it more 'realism'.
Interview
Interviews contrast with the observations shown, for example pictures are dubbed over the interview. Interviews are shown in two ways, a full flowing interview for example an interview of a footballer and their life then you will want to listen to all of the interview and not miss bits or have any cuts in the interview, however the other way interviews are shown is by placing the interview in segments like cutting out boring bits maybe swopping segments around to make the interview more exciting/fun.
Dramatisation
All documentary’s have a sense of dramatisation, the audience is an eyewitness to dramatic events. Drama appears to take place in forms of reconstruction or naturally in front of the camera.
Mise en scene
Documentary makers carefully consider mise en scence ensuring that this allows the drama to unfold also used to advance the 'look' of the documentary.
Exsposition
This is the line of argument, the description and combined with commentary and all about what the documentary is all about what it is trying to say. This can be plain or direct, indirect or hidden, e.g. the narrator will tell the audience what to think so the audience does not make their own mind up.
Documentary
Current affairs programmes are on a shorter deadline than documentary’s, as documentary’s can take months to make, they try and answer questions and give answers they work because 'we have the right to know' so people don’t like things to be kept private. Documentary’s have resulted in the change of law and legislations for example the case for Ken Loach and his documentary, Cathy come home (BBC 1966): Here is the link to the full documentary, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8fVnXXMw60
This helped improve conditions for homeless.
Documentary’s don’t tend to question in certain areas, not the fairness of it just the events of what happens and not to question the deeper organizations.
''It is critical that the film makers be rid of the fantasy that the documentary’s can be unproblematic because the representation of reality and truth can be conventionally dispensed and received like valium'', Dennis O’Rourke. Ideas of truth and reality can be conflicting at times, sometimes they can attract counter claims of lies for example Wayne Rooney allegedly cheated on wife Coleen with a prostitute then there are other women coming from out of the blue claiming they had slept with Rooney also which could most probley be lies. Corner believes evidence is better than the truth because technology only records traces of the physical world, these traces can be used as evidence of reality. The documentary represents the transformed world, however documentarys are the first programmes to be cut if commercial channels find money tight but the ratings winners are documentary’s which include the issues of sex, law and order or violence.
Documentary’s that are controversial are not popular with TV channels as they may offend the viewers. There is a three way process in documentary’s and it goes:
The people that make it.
The people that are in it.
And the people that watch it.
Often based around society’s victims, documentary’s use humans as evidence in their expositions for example big brother they talk about what the public wants to know and their ‘right’ to know things.
Types of Documentary’s
Fully narrated documentary’s such as a wildlife based subject:
The off screen voiceovers make sense of the visuals on screen, critics have dubbed this as ‘The voice of God’
Fly On The Wall
Documentary’s of this type draw on cinema almost all observational, no commentary and no narrative. And will sometimes convey chilling events that have accured as the camera is sometimes not seen nor heard.
Mixed
This is the mixed approach of interviews where observation and narrative are used to advance argument there are no face too camera and only voice to camera.
Self Reflective
Self reflective documentary’s are where the subject of the documentary acknowledges the presence of the camera and often speaks directly to the film maker, critics say self reflecting documentary’s can be confusing.
Docudrama
A re-enactment of events as they are supposed to have happened, these are stories based on facts however at best misleading and at worst dangerous. Hillsborough 1996 was said to represent the truth but can only ever hope to deliver fiction.
Something that hurts people and evokes feelings from them, however very misleading and letting people think things that are just fiction based on ‘facts’.
Docusoaps
A phenomenon of recent years following the daily lives of people in a range of different jobs or positions in society for example, airports or cruisliners. Many would dispute if these are actually documentary’s, they are popular to viewers and are cheaper to make than others.
Disneyfication
Steven Bernett has blamed the docusoap type for creating a bad repuation for the documentaries.
Planning Your documentary.
The topic of your documentary is very important use influences from your own lives and from your own experiences. News papers, magazines and notice boards things like these are good places to source an idea you also need to think about if you have knowledge of the subject already that you use to help your documentary. In addition to this you need to think about if you have strong emotional links to the subject and how narrowly you can focus the programme.
Visuals
Visuals are things like what can be shown and what cant? What will be the evidence used to back up your documentary and action based pictures.
Interviews
Interviews can be held anywhere however the settings you choose will affect the meaning that you want create for the viewers/audience. If you interview a person in a location such as their own home then they will feel relaxed and comfortable about answering your questions, however if you choose and unusual location for the interviewee then it could make them feel uneasy and not relaxed which then they will not be answering you questions correctly and as best as they could.
Vox Pops
Vox pops are a must and can be used as light and humorous, these can give a sense of relief from the hard facts like street interviews of the general public.
Narrative Conventions
Documentary’s rely heavily on the traditional conventions of the narrative. It should have a definite beginning middle and end, the central questions at the beginning the most complicated and most compelling in the middle so you are focusing on people and their opinions almost like you hitting it with a problem a dilemma. And at the end the line of the argument has to be clear and fully apparent, conflicts, beliefs, opinions or view points.
''What distinguishes documentary is the portrayal of the recorded sounds and images of actuality'', this was said by John Corner 1995 the portrayal of recorded sounds and images would create a sense of realism. A factual account of an event does not always mean giving actual footage some are partially staged for example the actors, sets, props ect this can help the documentary 'look' and seem alot less staged for the audience to watch, it is important to realize that even in a documentary a high level of construction takes place.
Documentary does not have to have analysis it can be descriptive and let the viewer make or decide on their own opinion and not the documenter’s opinion on the event. Documentary was designed in the 1930's by John Grierson and his team 'GPO'. Documentary’s were made for cinema audiences because televisions where not invented then so they made the main focus for cinema. They were used to boost morale in Britain-war time.
Some documentary’s such as panorama are well known and can command a prime time slot as of the audience as they are very popular, some documentary’s tend to be emotional to get a feeling or reaction from the intended audience others offer a balanced view point leaving the viewer to make their own mind up about the event. British documentary are renowned for their investigative journalism, this opposes the view of the government and sometimes society.
The creative treatment of actuality.
How creative should a documentary be?
Authenticity is important as the 'event' should be original and new however it is impossible to capture all events in raw state so some elements will have to be fake/fiction.
''Truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing the film. I mean it’s your truth that you’re seeing. Everybody who makes a film is putting their own truths on the screen''. Diane Tammes, film maker. As of the creative involvement over the years many people argue over true documentary’s as there is so much being done to them it’s hard to know whether some elements are true or fiction. They are set out to make you feel something for example rage, to bring out a person’s feelings. Documentary’s are not just about facts some have elements of fiction.
Current affairs programmes are to be no longer than 30 minutes, so basically between a documentary and the news for example Trevor Mcdonald on current affairs:
Current affairs programmes tend to document weighty issues and social problems will be discussed, this appeals to a much broader audience.
According to John Corner of Liverpool University there are five central features to a documentary:
Observation
Mise en scene
Interview
Exposition
Dramatisation
Observation
The camera becomes eye witness to the events documented, for example the camera is unseen on screen or ignored by people making the documentary this gives it more 'realism'.
Interview
Interviews contrast with the observations shown, for example pictures are dubbed over the interview. Interviews are shown in two ways, a full flowing interview for example an interview of a footballer and their life then you will want to listen to all of the interview and not miss bits or have any cuts in the interview, however the other way interviews are shown is by placing the interview in segments like cutting out boring bits maybe swopping segments around to make the interview more exciting/fun.
Dramatisation
All documentary’s have a sense of dramatisation, the audience is an eyewitness to dramatic events. Drama appears to take place in forms of reconstruction or naturally in front of the camera.
Mise en scene
Documentary makers carefully consider mise en scence ensuring that this allows the drama to unfold also used to advance the 'look' of the documentary.
Exsposition
This is the line of argument, the description and combined with commentary and all about what the documentary is all about what it is trying to say. This can be plain or direct, indirect or hidden, e.g. the narrator will tell the audience what to think so the audience does not make their own mind up.
Documentary
Current affairs programmes are on a shorter deadline than documentary’s, as documentary’s can take months to make, they try and answer questions and give answers they work because 'we have the right to know' so people don’t like things to be kept private. Documentary’s have resulted in the change of law and legislations for example the case for Ken Loach and his documentary, Cathy come home (BBC 1966): Here is the link to the full documentary, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8fVnXXMw60
This helped improve conditions for homeless.
Documentary’s don’t tend to question in certain areas, not the fairness of it just the events of what happens and not to question the deeper organizations.
''It is critical that the film makers be rid of the fantasy that the documentary’s can be unproblematic because the representation of reality and truth can be conventionally dispensed and received like valium'', Dennis O’Rourke. Ideas of truth and reality can be conflicting at times, sometimes they can attract counter claims of lies for example Wayne Rooney allegedly cheated on wife Coleen with a prostitute then there are other women coming from out of the blue claiming they had slept with Rooney also which could most probley be lies. Corner believes evidence is better than the truth because technology only records traces of the physical world, these traces can be used as evidence of reality. The documentary represents the transformed world, however documentarys are the first programmes to be cut if commercial channels find money tight but the ratings winners are documentary’s which include the issues of sex, law and order or violence.
Documentary’s that are controversial are not popular with TV channels as they may offend the viewers. There is a three way process in documentary’s and it goes:
The people that make it.
The people that are in it.
And the people that watch it.
Often based around society’s victims, documentary’s use humans as evidence in their expositions for example big brother they talk about what the public wants to know and their ‘right’ to know things.
Types of Documentary’s
Fully narrated documentary’s such as a wildlife based subject:
The off screen voiceovers make sense of the visuals on screen, critics have dubbed this as ‘The voice of God’
Fly On The Wall
Documentary’s of this type draw on cinema almost all observational, no commentary and no narrative. And will sometimes convey chilling events that have accured as the camera is sometimes not seen nor heard.
Mixed
This is the mixed approach of interviews where observation and narrative are used to advance argument there are no face too camera and only voice to camera.
Self Reflective
Self reflective documentary’s are where the subject of the documentary acknowledges the presence of the camera and often speaks directly to the film maker, critics say self reflecting documentary’s can be confusing.
Docudrama
A re-enactment of events as they are supposed to have happened, these are stories based on facts however at best misleading and at worst dangerous. Hillsborough 1996 was said to represent the truth but can only ever hope to deliver fiction.
Something that hurts people and evokes feelings from them, however very misleading and letting people think things that are just fiction based on ‘facts’.
Docusoaps
A phenomenon of recent years following the daily lives of people in a range of different jobs or positions in society for example, airports or cruisliners. Many would dispute if these are actually documentary’s, they are popular to viewers and are cheaper to make than others.
Disneyfication
Steven Bernett has blamed the docusoap type for creating a bad repuation for the documentaries.
Planning Your documentary.
The topic of your documentary is very important use influences from your own lives and from your own experiences. News papers, magazines and notice boards things like these are good places to source an idea you also need to think about if you have knowledge of the subject already that you use to help your documentary. In addition to this you need to think about if you have strong emotional links to the subject and how narrowly you can focus the programme.
Visuals
Visuals are things like what can be shown and what cant? What will be the evidence used to back up your documentary and action based pictures.
Interviews
Interviews can be held anywhere however the settings you choose will affect the meaning that you want create for the viewers/audience. If you interview a person in a location such as their own home then they will feel relaxed and comfortable about answering your questions, however if you choose and unusual location for the interviewee then it could make them feel uneasy and not relaxed which then they will not be answering you questions correctly and as best as they could.
Vox Pops
Vox pops are a must and can be used as light and humorous, these can give a sense of relief from the hard facts like street interviews of the general public.
Narrative Conventions
Documentary’s rely heavily on the traditional conventions of the narrative. It should have a definite beginning middle and end, the central questions at the beginning the most complicated and most compelling in the middle so you are focusing on people and their opinions almost like you hitting it with a problem a dilemma. And at the end the line of the argument has to be clear and fully apparent, conflicts, beliefs, opinions or view points.
Brainstorming
Documentaries can be on almost anything. In groups we discussed ideas on what we could do our documentary on.
The possibilities we came up with are:
Elderly People, Teenagers, Music Industry, Internet, Binge Drinking, Tattoos, Womens Football, Books, Obesity, Animals, Biscuits, Teachers, Favourite Foods, Fashion, Video Games, Social Issues, Fashion Industry, Music Industry, Mobile Phones, Wildlife, Sports, Labels, Police, College, Moterbikes, Headwear, Ghosts, Toys, Smoking Ban, Time, Globel Warming, Farms, Parlement, Recycling. This just proves that a documentary can be based on almost anything.
We came to the conclusion that the best subjects to base a documentary on where:
The possibilities we came up with are:
Elderly People, Teenagers, Music Industry, Internet, Binge Drinking, Tattoos, Womens Football, Books, Obesity, Animals, Biscuits, Teachers, Favourite Foods, Fashion, Video Games, Social Issues, Fashion Industry, Music Industry, Mobile Phones, Wildlife, Sports, Labels, Police, College, Moterbikes, Headwear, Ghosts, Toys, Smoking Ban, Time, Globel Warming, Farms, Parlement, Recycling. This just proves that a documentary can be based on almost anything.
We came to the conclusion that the best subjects to base a documentary on where:
- Senses- What a person feels, tastes, see's and hears.
- Sandwhiches- Which fillings are the most popular to the general public.
- Time
- Fashion through Generations- What was 'In' and what is 'In' now in the 21st century, and how they compare.
Initial Plans
In our groups we discussed different ideas we could use for our documentary. At first we came up with the topic Fashion Generation however we came to the conclusion that this was to easy and boring so the topic we came up with was Emergancy Stop, which will be on channel 4 because this channel is mainly based around teenagers or young adults 16-24 years old.
We decided to broadcast the documentary at around 7:00pm which is prime time television therefore more viewers. Emergancy Stop will be aired in between Location, Location, Location and Alan Davies' Teenage Revolution.
Target Audience Research
This video, shows our questions being asked about different questions in our questionnaire, this then gives us a clear understanding of what people think and this then gives you a verbal response of a few of the questions.
This is the Questionnaire that we distributed out to 30 people to get feedback into what they thought of Documentaries, by doing this we could get a feel to what people want in a documentary. We can use this information to then create our documentary on what people want to see.
Questionnaire
Q1. Age:
Q2. Are you Male or Female:
Q3. Is there an urgancy to buy your first car once you have passed you test?
Q4. How hard on a scale of 1-1o, 1 being the hardest would you say the theory test is?
Q5. What forms of transport do you use now and why is driving a better way of travel?
Q6. Is there a pressure to pass your driving test first time around?
Q7. How many lessons do you think you need before you are ready to take your
driving test?
driving test?
Q8. Why do you want to drive?
Q9. If you could have any car what would it be and why?
Q10. How many times did it take you to pass your theory test?
Q11. What is your opinion of the new driving test being brought forward in Oct 2010?
Q12. When did you learn to drive?
Q13. Do you find driving easy?
Q14. What is your favourite TV channel?
Q15. What time do you watch TV?
Q16. What is your favourite colour for a car?
- Black
- White
- Silver
- Other
If other please specify:
Q17. Would it make a difference if your driving instructer was a male or female?
Q18. Where you nervous when you first sat in a car?
Q19. Do you prefer a strict or laid back driving instructer?
Q20. What age do you think is appropriate to drive?
We are going to get 30 questionnaires filled in and once completed we will collate the results and draw conclusions by producing pie charts and graphs to create statistics for out documentary. Here they are:
This represents our target audience for our documentary, we decided to focus more on this age, because there young and learning to drive, and they start to gain more independence. This chart shows that the age for people to start learning to drive is 17 which is the same age as now, therfore nothing needs to change.
Throughout trying to find our target audience, we can to this conclusion that more females are learning to drive than males, this may be for many reasons.
As you can see, there were a numerous of different channels that people enjoyed watching, however Channel 4 was the most popular. From finding this, we decided that broadcasting our documentary on this channel would be best in attracting our target audience.
Again, we decided to place our documentary in the 7pm slot because this time was most popular with our target audience, therefore more viewers.
Blue is our target audiences favourite colour, we did this as it would help us with our colour scheme within our documentary, as we were able to find out what colours they like most. Getting the colours they like would effect our mise-en-scene massively within our documentary, so if we got colours people liked, they are more likely to tune in.
We also asked our target audience why they wanted to drive, to give us a rough estimate why young people are so eager to learn to drive. This chart tells us that people want to drive because it is easier and a better way of travel.
Along with asking why our target audience wanted to learn to drive, we also asked if it mattered if learning with a certain sex mattered. Through our finding we found out that the majority of people didn't care about the sex of their driving instructor.
Within our society, there is a lot of pressures to do a certain thing, and this is also incorporated into passing your driving test. Many of our target audience felt that there was a lot of pressure to buy a car once the they've passed there driving test. This may be for a number of reasons, and peer pressure may be one of the factors.
We also asked if there was any pressure in passing your driving test first time, and again the majority of the people we asked said there was a pressure in passing it first time, again this could be because of peer pressure. Or it could just be simple rivalry between friends about who buys the best car once past.
The average amount of lessons our target audience thought would be appropriate before taking there test was 20, this might be because they wouldn't feel ready taking there test and only having a little amount of experience on the road and inside the car.
With this question, we asked people what form of transport each participant took, and we were able to see that most young people get a bus to get places they go, but also, that the majority of our target audience would say that being able to drive would be a lot easier and simple for them.
Many of the people who filled out our questionnaire thought that the theory test was relatively easy, the most scoring a mere 7/10.
We also found out that the majority of people we asked who had taken their theory test had passed it first time.
The majority of our respondents to our questionnaire said that they found driving pretty easy, however other learner drivers said they found driving easy only sometimes, this could be for a number of reasons for example the weather could be bad on the day that they where driving.
Throughout our research we found out that again the majority of people asked said that they did feel nervous when sitting behind the wheel of a car for the very first time and they started to learn to drive at the age of 17.
People also thought that having a laid back instructor could mean that they'd have more fun with driving, therefore a better experience but also, that they wouldn't feel so pressured when on the road, therefore they wouldn't feel as nervous.
The majority of people asked thought that the age someone should be allowed to drive would be the age people are allowed to drive now, they may have found this age to be mature enough to drive and that they'd feel safe with using the road at this age.Interview Questions
Interview Questions
In order to conduct an interview we had to generate some questions to ask the interviewee's. These questions were;
Driving Instructor:
1- Do you agree with the new test that has been brought forward in Oct 2010 (independent driving)?
2- Do you prefer to be a more strict instructor or a more laid back instructor?
3- Do you think that the theory test is really needed as it never used to be in place?4- Do you think that the age of allowance to drive should be highered, lowered or stay the same?
Learner Driver:
1- Do you find it easy to drive?
2- Were you nervous when you first got behind the wheel of a car?
3- Do you prefer to be a more strict instructor or a more laid back instructor?
4- Do you think that the theory test is really needed as it never used to be in place?
Older Drivers:
1- Do you feel that you have plenty of experience on the roads or do you still feel slightly nervous about driving?
2- Do you get annoyed by younger divers?
3- Are you glad that you never had to take the theory test?
4- Do you think that the age of allowance to drive should be highered, lowered or stay the same?
In order to conduct an interview we had to generate some questions to ask the interviewee's. These questions were;
Driving Instructor:
1- Do you agree with the new test that has been brought forward in Oct 2010 (independent driving)?
2- Do you prefer to be a more strict instructor or a more laid back instructor?
3- Do you think that the theory test is really needed as it never used to be in place?4- Do you think that the age of allowance to drive should be highered, lowered or stay the same?
Learner Driver:
1- Do you find it easy to drive?
2- Were you nervous when you first got behind the wheel of a car?
3- Do you prefer to be a more strict instructor or a more laid back instructor?
4- Do you think that the theory test is really needed as it never used to be in place?
Older Drivers:
1- Do you feel that you have plenty of experience on the roads or do you still feel slightly nervous about driving?
2- Do you get annoyed by younger divers?
3- Are you glad that you never had to take the theory test?
4- Do you think that the age of allowance to drive should be highered, lowered or stay the same?
Brainstorm Of Content For Documentary
Brainstorm of content for Documentary
For my documentary we are going to interview a range of different people because this gives variety to the topic.
We will interview:
· The principal to find out why he has set up programmes such as the theory test revision course, and what the benefits to this are.
· The man who actually does the sessions with pupils and ask him questions like why he thinks this course benefits the students as they learn to drive.
· We will interview driving instructors to find out about how the learners drivers react in different situations.
· Also we will interview Fran Evans.
· Learner drivers in college and ask them all about what it’s like to learn to drive.
· And learner drivers outside of college also.
We will use a range of different camera angles such as:
· Filming from inside the almost like a reconstruction, to make the viewers feel as if they are in the car.
· From outside the car.
· We will also film learner drivers driving off to use as cut aways.
· For more cut aways we could film parts of the theory test like the hazard perception test to show the viewers what it is like.
For the music in our documentary we thought of using up to date music, also we could use relevant music like music about cars or driving. And we could use sounds like beeping or revving to add a bit of humor to our documentary.
For the Archive Material we will have thought of using bits off the theory test, for example the theory test. We could also use footage of learner drivers driving through a route. For the voice over we are thinking of using a male voice in a pretty serious tone to interest the viewers and it’s more believable to the audience.
For my documentary we are going to interview a range of different people because this gives variety to the topic.
We will interview:
· The principal to find out why he has set up programmes such as the theory test revision course, and what the benefits to this are.
· The man who actually does the sessions with pupils and ask him questions like why he thinks this course benefits the students as they learn to drive.
· We will interview driving instructors to find out about how the learners drivers react in different situations.
· Also we will interview Fran Evans.
· Learner drivers in college and ask them all about what it’s like to learn to drive.
· And learner drivers outside of college also.
We will use a range of different camera angles such as:
· Filming from inside the almost like a reconstruction, to make the viewers feel as if they are in the car.
· From outside the car.
· We will also film learner drivers driving off to use as cut aways.
· For more cut aways we could film parts of the theory test like the hazard perception test to show the viewers what it is like.
For the music in our documentary we thought of using up to date music, also we could use relevant music like music about cars or driving. And we could use sounds like beeping or revving to add a bit of humor to our documentary.
For the Archive Material we will have thought of using bits off the theory test, for example the theory test. We could also use footage of learner drivers driving through a route. For the voice over we are thinking of using a male voice in a pretty serious tone to interest the viewers and it’s more believable to the audience.
Formal Proposal For Documentary
The topic we chose to use as our starting point was learning to drive and we changed the name to Emergency Stop because this was alot catchier and quirky so more people will be inclined to watch it. We decided on this because it is different from other documentaries and alot of people will be interested in watching it because alot of people are learning to drive, therefore more interviews and voxpops. Also the documentry will be educational and interesting for parents of learner drivers, learner drivers themselves, non driving who are wanting to start driving and instructers this is a wide range of audiences for our documentary.
Our documentary is mixed because it has a combination of interviews, narrative, archive footage and voiceovers this is used to support the discussion and used as evidence. The people we are going to interview are car drivers because they know all about the questions we are asking them for example if we ask a non driver ' What was your first car?' they cannot answer it, on the other hand if we ask a car driver 'Do you agree with the pay and display parking prices?' then they will infact be able to answer the questions correctly and in detail. We are interviewing driving instructors because they will be able to tell us more about learner drivers and how they react to when they first start driving so we will be able to gain a more in-depth look into learner drivers, interviews with people such as the Principal of Priestley College, the man that organizes all the theory test classes in college, these interviews are important because they help us understand why they have decided to set these courses up for the students and how this could benefit them.
The style of our documentary is pretty formal because we want to get across the idea of people learning to drive and this is quite a serious topic. If our documentary style was informal or mtv style then not many people would take it seriously then our topic will not convey what we want the viewers to think or feel about the documentary. We want the viewers to take out documentary seriously and understand what we are trying to portray.
The channel we decided to air out documentary on was Channel 4 because this is a controversial channel and appeals to an educated audience also teenagers and young adults around the ages of 17 to 24 as these viewers will be either old enough to drive or actually drivers.
The target audience is ideal for our type of documentary because the mass of people that are learning to drive are around these ages so this gives us a great target audience however this could reduce the amount of people that watch our documentary because alot of people are not driving and are not really interested in driving therefore will not watch our documentary. However this documentary could allow people who aren't learning to become interested in pursuing such thing. We decided that young people would be our main target audience because they are the main people in whom want to drive, the fact that many young people want to drive made it important for us to pick such thing.
For the primary research we have created 30 questionnaires and give them out to the public, however we can only give the questionnaires to learner drivers or there would be no point to doing the questionnaire. Then we will receive the feedback from the questionnaires and use the information to create pie and graph charts, this will help us to come to a conclusion of what the viewers want see and how we can make this documentary more realistic. Also we will add the voxpops we filmed to our documentary in between interviews.We've also looked at interviewing a number of different people, including the principle of Priestley College with the enrichment programme he's set up for young learner drivers, the main that is specifically allocated to learner young student to drive, we have also decided to interview a police man, which allows us to get a more hands on approach to how many young people have been involved in a collision. Next we thought it would be able interview a car sales lott owner to find out which car young drivers tend to buy, this would allow us to gather a more in depth understanding of the cars in which people have bought.
The secondary research we will use internet surveys to help us widen our research and gain more knowledge towards the topic in question, also we are going to use newspaper articles in our documentaries to then be able to gather statistics about learner drivers. Another thing in which we did, was to look at different driving instructor schools, this was because we wanted to know how many lessons a person would take before they felt comfortable in taking both their theory and actual driving test. We are able to look at how much a person on average would spend on driving lessons, thus being able to have this average number of lessons being given to everyone who's learnt to drive. We also decided to look at the high crash risk P Test, this is when people who've passed their test, has crashed, we are able to gather information about the percentage of young drivers who've crashed whilst going solo, this is because they haven't had enough skill experience, therefore the more time you spend with a driving instructor the less likely you are to experience a collision. We also looked at different happenings due to learner drivers, whether this is collisions or just plain unexplainable mistakes.
Our documentary is mixed because it has a combination of interviews, narrative, archive footage and voiceovers this is used to support the discussion and used as evidence. The people we are going to interview are car drivers because they know all about the questions we are asking them for example if we ask a non driver ' What was your first car?' they cannot answer it, on the other hand if we ask a car driver 'Do you agree with the pay and display parking prices?' then they will infact be able to answer the questions correctly and in detail. We are interviewing driving instructors because they will be able to tell us more about learner drivers and how they react to when they first start driving so we will be able to gain a more in-depth look into learner drivers, interviews with people such as the Principal of Priestley College, the man that organizes all the theory test classes in college, these interviews are important because they help us understand why they have decided to set these courses up for the students and how this could benefit them.
The style of our documentary is pretty formal because we want to get across the idea of people learning to drive and this is quite a serious topic. If our documentary style was informal or mtv style then not many people would take it seriously then our topic will not convey what we want the viewers to think or feel about the documentary. We want the viewers to take out documentary seriously and understand what we are trying to portray.
The channel we decided to air out documentary on was Channel 4 because this is a controversial channel and appeals to an educated audience also teenagers and young adults around the ages of 17 to 24 as these viewers will be either old enough to drive or actually drivers.
The target audience is ideal for our type of documentary because the mass of people that are learning to drive are around these ages so this gives us a great target audience however this could reduce the amount of people that watch our documentary because alot of people are not driving and are not really interested in driving therefore will not watch our documentary. However this documentary could allow people who aren't learning to become interested in pursuing such thing. We decided that young people would be our main target audience because they are the main people in whom want to drive, the fact that many young people want to drive made it important for us to pick such thing.
For the primary research we have created 30 questionnaires and give them out to the public, however we can only give the questionnaires to learner drivers or there would be no point to doing the questionnaire. Then we will receive the feedback from the questionnaires and use the information to create pie and graph charts, this will help us to come to a conclusion of what the viewers want see and how we can make this documentary more realistic. Also we will add the voxpops we filmed to our documentary in between interviews.We've also looked at interviewing a number of different people, including the principle of Priestley College with the enrichment programme he's set up for young learner drivers, the main that is specifically allocated to learner young student to drive, we have also decided to interview a police man, which allows us to get a more hands on approach to how many young people have been involved in a collision. Next we thought it would be able interview a car sales lott owner to find out which car young drivers tend to buy, this would allow us to gather a more in depth understanding of the cars in which people have bought.
The secondary research we will use internet surveys to help us widen our research and gain more knowledge towards the topic in question, also we are going to use newspaper articles in our documentaries to then be able to gather statistics about learner drivers. Another thing in which we did, was to look at different driving instructor schools, this was because we wanted to know how many lessons a person would take before they felt comfortable in taking both their theory and actual driving test. We are able to look at how much a person on average would spend on driving lessons, thus being able to have this average number of lessons being given to everyone who's learnt to drive. We also decided to look at the high crash risk P Test, this is when people who've passed their test, has crashed, we are able to gather information about the percentage of young drivers who've crashed whilst going solo, this is because they haven't had enough skill experience, therefore the more time you spend with a driving instructor the less likely you are to experience a collision. We also looked at different happenings due to learner drivers, whether this is collisions or just plain unexplainable mistakes.
The narrative structure for our documentary is pretty simple, the idea that we will have a clear exposition means that people will clearly understand what our documentary is about but also to gain a more in depth understanding about learning to driver and young drivers. At the beginning of our documentary will be clear set out interviews with a number of different people, including non-drivers, older drivers and other people set out within the driving industry. By the middle there will be a clear conflict within our documentary, this will happen due to what people in interviews say about our topic area, learning to drive. We will also show the number of fatalities due to young drivers and why they may actually do to cause such things. By this time, we will have gained both sides of the argument, the good and the bad things about young drivers. And by the time the documentary comes to a close, we, the audience will gain a clear understanding of what the documentary was about, and they'll be able to make up their own mind up about learner drivers, therefore the ending is pretty open-ended. This is a good thing, because it allows the audience to be more involved within our documentary. It would also allow people who are undecided about driving to make up their mind whether they wish to want to learn or if they wish to still be an non-driver.
The outline of content for our documentary are:
- Interviews with a driving instructer
- Voxpops with questions
- The man that runs session within college
- Interviews with learner drivers from college
- Interviews with learner drivers from outside of college
- Interview with a non driver
- Interview with someone who never learnt to drive
- Interview someones mum or dad about their first car and put a photo in their first car
Our research requirements for our documentary are:
- A camera
- A mic
- A tripod
- And a green screen
At the start of the documentary, the exposition will be set - learner drivers, isit hard to learn? A montage of clips will be displayed in order to set out how there are various types of drivers, old and young and more experienced than others. There will also be various interviews, vox pops and cut away shots to help establish what the documentary is actually about and highlighting learner driving in general. The middle of the documentary will contain more interviews, including an interview with a policeman, highlighting his views on whether young drivers are more vulnerable and also commenting about 'boy racers' and how they can cause various crashes and mis haps within the streets. There will also be interviews with people such as the principle of priestley college, parents and their cars, it'll give a clear understanding of cars parents had when they were younger. And we're able to understand what cars were like a few years ago compared to cars today.
The End of the documentary will answer any questions lying such as how easy is the theory test? or how much the driving test has changed over the years it has been running. People will also gain a clear understanding of what this documentary was about, and undecided drivers will then come to a decision if they wish to drive or not. This documentary may also give that understanding to young and immature learner drivers, to be more safe and more aware of their surroundings of the road and also people who aren't on the road. This may then begin to reduce the amount of fatalities due to immature drivers.
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