Documentaries · Documentaries speak about or allow the participants) to speak for themselves about the topic and concentrate upon actual evidence relating to real events in history.

Documentaries Task 4 - Unit 4,5,24,31

By Suela, Talia and Filipa

Primary ResearchPrimary research (field research) is the gathering of new information regarding a specific subject and/or topic. Primary research can be collected through many means, such as surveys, interviews, observations, diaries and speeches.

There are many advantages of using primary research such as,

1. The research can create any content their want that will be related to their work. 2. Information will be accurate and available as the person who created to research will have easy

access to the work. 3. The researchers are in full control of how and from where they collects the information.

Nevertheless, there are disadvantages when using primary research such as,

1. It is time consuming because the person has to create all the work from the start.2. May be expensive because of creating the information.3. Some people may reject or or not want to participate in the work.

Secondary Research Secondary research (desk research) involves gathering data that already exists and was produced by another person. Secondary research is collected through reviews, textbooks, magazine articles, biographies and reports and studies by government agencies.

There are many advantages of using secondary research such as,

1. It is inexpensive to create and/or collect.2. It can be easily accessible.3. The researcher can get a large amount of detailed information and trends.

However, there are also disadvantages when using secondary research such as,

1. Takes time to collect the information.2. The information may be out of date.3. It could be potentially unreliable.

Primary research on our target audience

As a group, we created our own questionnaires with questions that we feel would be related to use for our documentary about bullying. The questions consisted questions that we thought would be relevant in order to gather information about people who may have came across this topic. Also, we made sure that the questions that we would ask individuals would not be too personal as we considered the ethical point as some people may not want to answer some personal issues and feel uncomfortable with what we have asked them.

We needed to use primary research for our documentary because it would be effective if we created our own research and would be relevant to our task. Moving on, secondary research would be used as well because we need to have extra information from other perspectives that were collected by other individuals or groups.

Secondary research about bullyingWe have found many secondary data about bullying such as, statistics by the government, videos, television programmes, movies and books.

We watched some documentaries about bullying to give us an idea of what we could include in our documentary and how we could make it different and unique from the other bullying documentaries.

There are different types of documentaries which therefore allows us to make decide what type of documentary we will need to use for our own documentary, as we will make a documentary about bullying. We need to put into consideration whether we will make the subject exposed to the audience, if we want the participant to speak directly to the camera or not intervene when recording the subject.

Documentary A documentary is a non-fictional video that records and captures reality.

Documentaries are often used to reveal an unusual, interesting or unknown issue. Documentary filmmaker are often motivated to make their videos because they feel a particular story or viewpoint is not necessarily being covered by the media.

The purpose of a documentary is to educate, inform, persuade and bring about social change. Also, make claims about what has happened or is happening to the subject.

Documentaries speak about or allow the participants) to speak for themselves about the topic and concentrate upon actual evidence relating to real events in history.

Documentaries tend to record situations about previous or current historical events, what happens in certain people's lives, make a point, show the truth and be factual.

Types of documentaries There are six different types of documentaries such as,

1. Poetic2. Observational3. Expository4. Participatory5. Reflexive 6. Performative

Poetic documentary A documentary that shows a topic that is personal to the people involved.

The filmmaker will arrange the footage that was recorded in order to arouse through tone, rhythm and juxtaposition. The music is important as it helps to develop the mood and tone of the story being told.

An example of poetic documentary is Surviving Evil. The documentary begins with a presenter introducing the the content of the video. The first shot is an establish shot which shows the presenter and the background which looks like an empty building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPDd68iRImM&t=2161s&safe=active

The filmmaker remains behind the camera and will not affect change or influence actions or events.

Nothing is rehearsed or stgaed which means that the camera would need to keep up with the actions therefore resulting to the footage becoming rough or shaky.

This screenshot shows one of the indivalds that are apart of the show, expressing their view to the camera as a private chat from the other housemates.

There is also a voiceover that talks to the audience to explain what is happening in the scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuyQpMgPbTc&safe=active

Observational documentary (fly on the wall)

Expository documentary (the voice of GOD) The filmmaker speaks directly to the viewer. This type of documentary exposes the person or topic to the audience.

These films are rhetorical and try to persuade the viewer. There are social issues presented into an argumentative frame with a narration voice-over emphasising what is happening.

The documentary will also include in the video picture and/or recordings of evidence to make sure that the points stated are correct and show what happened when the situation was happening.

The documentary involves people that are relevant to the situation such as the police force and the witnesses.

Use of recordings that show what the police were doing in order to make sure they find the girls that were missing. This provides backup on the topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLxFsHPr5Yg

Participatory documentary The filmmaker and the participant in the video have direct engagement, mostly in the form of interviews, conversations and sharing of experiences.

The filmmaker becomes a character in the documentary and also often becomes a part of the events that have been recorded.

Example: talk shows and interviews. Also called interactive documentaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2atzoaA2NI

The participant is sitting with the interviewer, You can see how the interview is talking to the participant and simply being involved with talking to and about the participant.

Reflexive documentary (awareness of the process)

A documentary where the audience engages with the content of the documentary when shown. The audience are made aware of the process throughout and aware of the editing, sound and recordings because the viewer is just as interested about how the film is constructed as they are with the content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1FxPh1OTLc

The two images on the left show pictures of what had happen before the situation which helps build a background story for the audience. There is music playing in the background to make the mood change in the video. These images have been arranged by the filmmaker to show the audience what previously happened and show evidence for the subject. Moving on, the image on the right hand side shows the main character which is being recorded walking into school. There is no music in the background as the filmmaker wants to show the audience what happened next and allow the characters to speak for the audience to hear what they will say about the situation.

Performative documentary It acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of the documentary and tend to show an individual's view on a certain event or topic.

They use both an on screen presenter and a voice over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoN8-ApC8jY

This documentary presents a young boy’s life as he has no arms and it shows how he lives his life with the difficulties. The documentary includes recordings of what the boy can do such as using his hands to do everything he would normally do if he had arms.

This documentary can influence and encourage people to e grateful for what they have as they can see how some people are not as fortunate but still manage to live their lives as normal and don't give up even if they make not have the same things as others.