Evaluation question one

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

H U M AY R A S U L E M A N

EVALUATION – QUESTION ONE

As I am currently studying A2 Media Studies, I was given a specific brief as part of the A2 Media coursework. We were required to create a five minute introduction to a documentary; this was based on a topic of our choice. Alongside this, we were required to create two ancillary tasks; these were two media products to promote the documentary. These included a double page spread alongside a radio trailer; the purpose of these products was to support and promote the main product which is the documentary.

INTRODUCTION - A2 MEDIA COURSEWORK TASKWe were asked to work in group of three or four. Before we began the production

stage as a group we put in a lot of research and planning in order to ensure the media products are of professional quality and effective in terms of audience. We researched and planned for topics, existing documentaries, conventions of magazine articles, radio trails and documentaries, audience research, channel research, draft of double page spread, script for voiceover and radio trailer, the storyboard for the documentary as well as much more research and planning which we went into in order to ensure the professional standards.

Before we began we made extensive research into the documentary genre by looking at the typical conventions of a documentary. After picking a suitable topic idea for the documentary; we ware that the purpose of the documentary was to cause public interest, convey opinions and to inform the viewers. This was achieved by researching and acknowledging the typical conventions of a documentary, These include, expert interviews, voxpops, reconstructions, voiceover, archival footage and also actuality.

After the completion of the documentary we have been able to assess and identify the relevant conventions we have made use of in our documentary. Actuality was an important convention because we believed that it was essential to give the viewers a real insight into the topic of underage drinking. The main reason for this is because we are aiming to inform the viewers about our choice of topic.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RESEARCH Primary and secondary types of research have a big involvement when it comes to the

production of the documentary. A reason for this is because the research is where we are inputting views of the public and views overall and we are using these to portray through the documentary.

Primary research consists of original primary data collected by the researcher. In our case we can be known to be the researchers. We carried out questionnaires and focus groups which were directly aimed at our target audience. To portray these through the use of documentaries we used voxpops and interviews; we used this to link to certain people; showing how we have gained information. We approached members of the public/college students to input their views onto the documentary through a voxpop. This is very similar to “Super Size Me”, a reason for this is because they conducted primary research and portrayed this through the use of voxpops. The documentary asked people on the streets in the US what understanding they had on fast food and McDonalds.

Secondary research is carried out with existing data. It makes use of materials such as books, magazines and newspapers. In terms of secondary research; we extracted the research form these factual resources and we used the content onto the voice-over. We did this in order to show the knowledge we hold on the subject and also to inform viewers of facts they may not have known before watching the documentary. Similar to this “Super Size Me” has also used this feature. Morgan Spurlock includes a bombardment of facts towards the beginning of the documentary. A reason for this may be to entice the reader into listening carefully and becoming intrigued by the amount of factual content being delivered. We used the same feature in the beginning of our documentary in order to gain the same impression from the viewers perspective.

DOCUMENTARY MODES In terms of documentary modes there are number which were identified by Bill Nichols

theory. These are used to categorise the different types of documentaries. Nichols 2001 looked at history of documentary and identified 6 distinct modes.

The style of documentary fits into the expository mode. The primary purpose of the mode is to make an argument. This is most often associated with documentary in general. The structure is grounded in a series of assertions backed up by evidence. Usually presented through verbal commentary from a voice-over narrator, while images provide the evidence towards the argument.

The second type of documentary mode is observational. This mode uses observations of an unobtrusive camera to create a direct engagement with the everyday life of subjects.

The third type of documentary mode is participatory. This mode emphasises interaction between filmmaker and subjects. Usually these take the form of a series of interviews or even more direct involvement from conversations to provocations. As well as this, the use of archival footage examine historical issues revolving around the subject.

The fourth type of documentary modes is the poetic mode, This approach to documentary filmmaking emphasises visual associations, tonal or rhythmic qualities, description, and form.

The fifth type of documentary modes is the performative mode. This highlights the subjective or expressive aspect of the filmmaker’s own involvement with a subject to heighten the audience’s responsiveness to the subject and to this involvement. These films reject objectivity and favour emotion.

The final documentary mode is the reflexive mode. This includes the mockumentary format, calls attention to the assumptions and conventions that govern documentary filmmaking to increase our awareness of how films construct representations of reality.

DOCUMENTARY MODES CONTINUED…

From looking at these types of documentaries it is clear that they don’t fit our documentary type as well as the expository mode does. The expository mode has been portrayed through our documentary through verbal commentary and visual images in order to create and illustrate the argument based on the programme.

We viewed existing documentaries in order to watch different types of documentary modes and to identify the conventions of these particular modes. One example of this was “Super Size Me”. Morgan Spurlock’s documentary has a performative documentary mode. He portray his views clearly through a autobiographical style; which adds a unique spin on the documentary unlike typical documentaries. As a result of doing this it enhanced the documentary because it gave the insight from Morgan Spurlock’s perspective. Another documentary that we watched was “Teen Species”; this was also an expository style of documentary which included fly on the walls in order to gain a greater insight into the subject.

Our documentary can under a pessimistic and serious category because of the nature of the topic. Because of voiceover which maintained and a serious calm tone of voice when narrating the documentary.

NARRATIVE STRUCTUREWhen concerning the narrative structure it is important to consider what the

style would be. As I was required to create a 5 minute documentary I could not use one specific narrative documentary to link to the whole documentary. By researching narrative structures we decided to use a closed structure. A reason for this because it would give viewers the clear conclusion to answer the questions of the documentary. With a close end narrative structure we were able to ensure that all the relevant information has been provided.

Towards the beginning of the documentary and radio trail the extracts begin with a series of rhetorical questions to get the viewers thinking about whilst watching the documentary. As well as this we tried to bombard the beginning of the documentary with ;loads of facts to inform and teach viewers on the subject of underage drinking. We used questions which would be answered by professionals in order to get them thinking about how much of a complicated matter the subject can be seen as. Expert interviews also helped us with this as it strengthened the use of the rhetorical questions.

MANAGEMENT OF SOUND USING FINAL CUT EXPRESS: VOICEOVER AND MUSIC

- Narration through the pre recorded voiceover. Information contributes towards the documentary to assist and lead the viewers through the problem of underage drinking.

- We had used a sound recorder to record the voiceover effectively and then incorporated this into the soundtrack of the documentary. We enticed the viewers by making the start of the documentary contain a few rhetorical questions in order to identify the topic and the issue of underage drinking

- Using Final Cut Express we edited the voiceover to the clips and we then used the soundtrack to run through most of the documentary. By using the software in a technical manner we managed to cue the voiceover at relevant points and we tuned the volume of the soundtrack down.

- We noticed that in real media documentaries they have used sound as an advantage all of them contained relevant background music throughout the documentaries so we decided to experiment and use the same. We did this by using sounds from Garageband; we experimented with the sounds to get something we liked. We chose the sound carefully in order to fit in well with the documentary. This is similar to Super Size Me and A Good Smack as they have a background music in the background which relates and works well with the rest of the documentary.

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DOCUMENTARY FEATURESThe use of voxpops illustrated the types of views members of the public may hold on underage drinking. We

used these to possibly make the viewers of the documentary relate to the members of the public or disagree with them; forming a opinion on the viewers mind for our topic. Alongside this we used another convention of documentaries which was interviews. These were taken place by a professional academic coach to express her thoughts on such a serious subject. We used voxpops and interviews together in order to give a balanced response and a range of views in the documentary. We prompted all interviewees with questions in order for them to give something to discuss whilst being recorded. We had a variety of voxpops within the documentary this is developing the use of voxpops in “Super Size Me” as the documentary has a limited amount of voxpop. We decided to develop this further to give the public a chance to express their views on underage drinking.

On the documentary we also filmed stock footage from YouTube; the main reason of this was to show the medias perspective of underage drinking. We did this to get to shots we normally would not be able to film during college and get hold of violent scenes because of the influences of alcohol. Doing this would widen the knowledge viewers may learn and it might even change the opinions on underage drinking; the purpose of stock footage was used to improve the viewers knowledge in terms of TV adverts, news reports and also violent crime being shown due to the underage drinking.

We did not make use of reconstructions as we know this is another convention of documentaries. We didn’t use this as we thought it would not benefit the viewers as they wouldn't learn anything new from it as results of underage drinking commonly are known to lead to violence and havoc across cities. To replace the point of reconstructions we filmed some background footage of the effects of underage drinking to show them the obvious instead of making our own reconstructions which would have been time consuming and not as effective.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURESDuring the filming process of the media production we were required to consider how

the camera angles and shots would be shot in order to achieve the results we required. A way to do this was by following the typical camera shots for certain extracts; in order to achieve an effect or meaning whilst doing so.

We used a Close up shot in order to record one of the voxpops. A reason of doing this was because we wanted to use a variety of camera shots when doing the voxpops n order to portray the fact that we are asking different types of people for their portrayal of underage drinking. The use of a close up shot means that the focus lays concentrated on the main frame which would be of the young man who is being interviewed in the extract. The close up shots allows the viewer to identify his facial expressions whilst he is speaking, this is an advantage because we want to show how shocked he is after we reveal the legal drinking age limit in the home is. When looking at existing documentaries they tend to use close up shots for the similar types of reasons; after researching this we decided to aim for the sae outcome. As you can see I have illustrated below the types of close up shots we managed to film.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURESAnother type of shot which we consisted in the documentary was a long shot. We used

this in order to show relevant locations, scenes of students and as well as this long shots enable viewers to be aware of the location and surroundings of the shots. We used this to film locations such as pubs, clubs and also shots of students in college. We felt that this type of shot worked extremely well because it linked directly to the topic of alcohol when we were filming the locations of pubs.

Very close up shots are used to show objects in detail. This may be to illustrate a meaning or to generally show a action/ object from a close detail. We used this through the use of background footage and stock footage to use a variety of camera shots in the documentary and to also show certain items in a close detail. We decided to use this because these shots were cleverly used in “Super Size Me” to demonstrate their points e.g. Very close up shots of the unhealthy fast foods. We decided to go for the same style in order to achieve a similar impact on the viewers watching our documentary.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURESMedium shots are commonly used throughout the documentary. We used this for

majority of the interviews including the professional expert interview. A reason for this is because we wanted to show the person in the frame with their body. This enables us to approach a more professional view because we can see the gestures and expressions they may be talking whilst speaking. After looking at “Super Size Me” we noticed that a few of the interviews were done through medium shots, not too far from the individual but not too close either. This is where we tried to replicate the same idea in order to present the interviews more professionally.

We used a couple of still images in our documentary. A reason for this is to add a variety and to change the presentation of the extract to show different techniques. It was a good idea to do so because we would not be able to film the individuals in the photographs; adding a professional touch to the documentary.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURESSet up of the camera is very important when filming whether it be a documentary or a film.

Majority of documentaries make good use of tripods, this is a piece of equipment which holds the camera steady when filming. This allows us to adjust the camera angles and positions as we can lower and higher the positions using the functions attached with the tripod. When we were filming the professional interview we ensured to use a tripod because we wants to maintain the professional standard of filming as handheld filming can become wobbly which is not something viewers want to see. As a group we ensured relevant items were in the area of filming e.g. We rearranged the room a bit by tilting the chair, making books , pens and paperwork visible. A reason for this is too associate the interview as being from a expert point of view; doing this assorts the voxpop interviews from the professional interview as experts can be known as intelligent as books and paperwork are typically associated with intelligence. We have considered the rule of thirds whilst filming the interview. We placed the expert slightly to the right of the screen, with her looking to a side and speaking about her perspective on the subject.

This contributes towards mis en scene, it is also portrayed in existing documentaries such as in “supersize me” and “a good smack”. The interviews have rule of thirds and it is obvious to see that the rule of thirds have been worked with as the interviewees are kept to one of the screen; allowing features in the background to be on display. As you can see include print screens of these documentaries

DOCUMENTARY FEATURESLighting it yet another convention of documentaries. We used this in order to present the

images on the screen as clear and professional. We chose to use natural source of lighting. A reason for this is because the lighting was exactly how we wanted it and the shots weren’t dark so we did not require artificial lighting. We thought that editing the lighting would mean a change of locations and also it would require technical knowledge to set up the equipment needed to create specific lighting.

During the production of the documentary we didn’t use any props because didn’t find it to be relevant. We found that they weren’t required.

Through the use of mis en scene we used a number of elements to make the documentary effective. One way in which we did this as through the use of locations. We did this by filming the college canteen in the main building. We filmed the location with a pan of the canteen; doing this we could see students socialising and having their lunch. We did this in order to show the typically affected people of the topic “underage drinking”. Similarly to this we recorded background footage of Solihull city centre, including shots and pans of the pubs. We recorded a number of background footage for students, including panning the camera with it, zooming the camera and also just general stills.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURESVoiceover is yet another convention of documentaries. It is used to guide the viewers through the

documentary and it doesn’t leave the viewers watching images with no sound or speech guiding and directing them through the piece. We used a voiceover to guide the audience through the extract. We made use of this by recording the voiceover through a deep male voice who spoke with a serious tone of voice. We did this to emphasise the seriousness of the subject and also because we thought the accent and speech of the individuals was clear and would be good for voiceover use. It is quite similar to some of the existing documentaries we watched. An example of this is “A Good Smack” this had the same serious tone of voiceover which overall created the serious tone and style for the documentary. We used the voiceover to explain the scientific side of the problem of alcohol consumption which gave a good variety to the piece instead of just giving facts and figures. The scientific bit of the voiceover makes it effective and catches the viewers attention because the words are alarming and most likely would capture the attention of the viewers even more, The rhetorical questions which were asked by the voiceover gave a sense of hope and enthusiasm to the audience. We did this because in “Super Size Me!”; Morgan Spurlock uses the voiceover to personally show his enthusiasm and anxiety to show the world the impacts of fast food eating. This is why we incorporated this feature to the voiceover because the voiceover upkeeps a sense of hope and an answer to the situation.

Portable microphones were made use of when performing interviews or when capturing any sound we wanted to be heard as a part of the documentary. We used this because it gave a better sound quality and also sound was heard easily whereas the camera microphone had been capturing sound with very low sounds. We made use of this device because it was portable and it made it easier for us to manoeuvre around the campus and outside of college with the equipment. The microphone did give us a few issues because when we used the device the microphone came into the frame whilst we were filming. However, we were able to solve this issue as we made use of Final Cut Express in order to edit and reposition the frame slightly to edit out the microphone.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURESOur documentary has elements of diagetic and non – diagetic sound; these are also

conventions of documentaries. It was hard to avoid non – diagetic sound during voxpops and interviews however we wanted to have this element of being real and truthful because with this sound it can almost seem like the truth is being told. We did not do anything about this sound because we wanted it to look like we approached members of the public for interviews, otherwise viewers may have the portrayal that this isn’t the publics opinion but our own. Diagetic sounds have been included in the extract. Examples of this can be people walking past, telephones ringing, talking/car noises whilst interviews being carried out outside may have experienced. We were happy with this type of sound from what we had filmed; however to ensure the sound is not overpowering we managed and maintained the sound levels. The non-diagetic mostly came from our documentary although it was not very noticeable it worked well with the existing sound on the documentary. We did not have to alter anything drastically because of these sounds so we were pleased with the outcome.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURESIf we could improve the documentary or re do the piece I would have spent time into researching

and seeing how graphics were cleverly used and inserted into the documentaries. We could do this by looking into the types of software which could be used to incorporate special effects and graphics to further engage the audience. Instead of this we added text onto the extract several times to highlight and put extra emphasis on facts and figures at the beginning of the documentary; very similarly to the “Super Size Me” introductory graphics and the bombardment of facts and figures they are giving.

By looking at Super Size Me the graphics became engaging and interesting for the viewers to watch. With the animations and sound being utilised to present facts and figures added an interesting element to the documentary. This is something we did not use as much because it was not easy to use and get to grips with the software providing these types of graphics. Due to the limited time we were not able to go into that much depth ad research into the choice and variety of graphics available.

In terms of graphics we also included a banner which is typically used in documentaries such as “

e.g. The professional banner identifying the experts profession and same, the text which was inserted to reinforce the facts alongside the voiceover

CONVENTIONS OF DOCUMENATRIESTransitions were used a lot from each of the clips we filmed. We

inserted a couple of transition effects in order to make the transitions different from certain clips.

Straight cuts are known to be a big feature when it comes to documentary filmmaking. This is another typical convention of documentaries and is used to make the move between two different clips.

Cross dissolves were also used within the documentary. This is to add variety to the documentary and to also demonstrate the skills we hold on inserting and demonstrating these features. This transition is a dissolve so it can come across as interesting to the viewers watching the documentary.

TV LISTINGS MAGAZINE ARTICLEAs part of the ancillary tasks we were required to produce a double page spread article for a

TV listings magazine. Amongst the team we discussed and decided to use the “Radio Times”. We used this because we found it is a largely wide spread magazine with thousands of readers; meaning the purpose of promoting the documentary is much more likely to be accomplished. We had a look at other magazines such as the “TV and Satellite week” and “What’s on TV” and we found that most of the magazines had similar types of conventions. We chose the Radio Times because we found that the magazine had similar types of documentaries featuring on the magazine. We came to find that the Radio Times has a simple layout and looks impressive in terms of style and the creativity with imagery to make the page appealing and attractive. Radio Times has general conventions of magazines such as columns, by-lines, stand first, main image; allowing us to adapt the layout slightly to our own preferences and also to the subject of underage drinking. As you can see our magazine

TV LISTINGS MAGAZINE ARTICLEWhen it came to the main header of the title we used this just above the article on the left

hand side. We think this is appropriate positioning because it lets readers know the title of the article and also the subject. This works well with the main image as the title is placed on the blank side and the main contents of the image is on the opposite side. This convention develops existing media products use because the imagery has been taken in order to work around to fit the main header.

Through the use of the columns we have demonstrated the similarity to existing “Radio Times” articles. We have used four columns because the text is narrow and going along a strip at the bottom of the page. We decided to do this because we wanted our magazine article to look as if it belongs to the “Radio Times”. Furthermore, we developed the use of columns by editing pictures from the documentary and fading them behind the text. We did this in order to make the [age look interesting as we are aware younger target audience may get bored of reading articles. The remainder of the article is dominated by the main image to make them identify the documentary that's going to be airing as the main image originates from the documentary itself. Using a very similar design to the Radio Times reinforces the magazine the article belongs to and remains to be a typical convention. As you can see the placement of the article itself and the main image is very similar.

TV LISTINGS MAGAZINE ARTICLEThe article consisted of captions to illustrate who was behind the

production of the article and the magazine page. It gives credit to the people that wrote the magazine article. We also have captions of the magazine name as well as the date. This was similar to the technique used in the Radio Times, we used this in order to make it look like the article belongs to the magazine.

The first letter of the article has a drop cap effect placed onto it. This is once again another typical convention of magazine articles and it is commonly used to indicate where the beginning of the article starts. We saw that majority of the articles we looked through researched with did include a drop cap, so we decided to replicate this idea because it was clearly a common convention.

TV LISTINGS MAGAZINE ARTICLEAnother common convention we have followed is by including a subheading onto the

magazine article. This is a good way of encapsulating the attention of the reader because the text is next to the heading and it is in big lettering. The words “Are these Teen Drinkers really in serious danger?” is a rhetorical question placed underneath to make the readers think about whether these people are in serious danger or not. We did this because we found most magazine articles from different types of magazines did have a subheading in order to give a very brief overview for the article.

The pull quote was used to grab the attention of the reader. We continued this and challenged the convention by placing it in the middle of the main image and we then went onto rotating the quote. As well as this we inserted effects onto the pull quote and subheading to make them stand out. We did this because it is likely to grab the readers attention because of its unusual position; which would mean they are most likely to be intrigued after reading the shocking expert fact we took from the documentary. This supports the documentary as the fact is directly said by the interview, linking the product very closely to the documentary itself.

RADIO TRAILBefore it came to producing the radio trail we went through the research and planning stage to

highlight and identity the main typical conventions of radio trails. One radio trail that I listened to was the “British grand prix”. After listening to a couple of radio trails as a group we identified some of the common conventions of these radio trails. We learnt they lasted up to 45 seconds long the most. Having identified this we decided to go for just under 45 seconds and it came to 42 seconds to be exact. We opted for this timing because we felt that it was a suitable period of time to engage the listeners and to keep them interested for them to go onto watch the documentary. We decided to air the radio trail on Radio One because majority of our target audience listen to that radio station and this is a advantage for us because it means we get a broadened audience.

We decided to include a different background music and did not follow the convention because we found that the music was not as upbeat and engaging as we would want it to be for a radio trail. As an alternative we created a tune on Garageband and then we went onto insert this. When extracting the voxpops from the documentary we used this as a way to hear some of the background music in the original documentary. In some form we are challenging the convention but up keeping the element of continuity.

MEDIA PRODUCTSIn the radio trail we used extracts from the voiceover and the voxpops. We did this in

order to give the viewers a brief insight of the documentary. This is a convention we used in order to give that element of continuity as the role of the radio trail is to promote and support the main product. These would hopefully encourage viewers to go onto watching the documentary. For the radio trail we used two people to speak, one female and one male. We did this to represent the views and different perspectives people may hold on the subject. We ensured that the speakers were confident and that they portrayed a serious tone of voice matching to the seriousness of the subject. Most importantly the common convention was to insert the date time and channel of broadcast. We did this at the end of the documentary so that listeners remember the details of the broadcast. It was vital to insert this because without this listeners would not know when to watch the documentary being aired.

To conclude I think that we have used majority of the forms and conventions within the documentary, TV listings magazine article and the radio trail. I believe that in this document we have provided valid reasons as to why have not used the some of the conventions. I think the use of existing media products made it useful for us because it gave us a stronger idea of how we could form our own media products. The process has been made easier with the research and planning stages because they allowed us to expand on this and put our own creativity onto the products. Research into existing products allowed us to base our own products on .