Final evaluation of Leave I Alone

We were required to create a documentary of our choice. We learnt the different types of documentaries such as Expository and Observational. We also watched previous documentaries to understand why each of these are different.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I decided to make my documentary about an inspirational character named Levi and about the how he has changed his life around from bad to good. I decided to use observational for my documentary because I wanted to observe Levis life. I didnt use expository because I wasnt trying to get an argument across.

Using forms and conventions There are quite a few features for observational documentaries such as fly on the wall, portable cameras and interviews. I did not use fly on the wall in this section however if I was creating the full documentary I would have. I used portable cameras because it allowed me to follow Levi around and observe him. Again I used interviews in my documentary because it allowed Levi to get his story across, as well as Denise (his youth worker)

Developing forms and conventions Developing forms and conventions is when you take something which is usually found in documentaries and develop it further. My aim was to make my documentary believable. I used picture montages in the documentary with Levi speaking over it so that it showed emotion in the audience. I think that by doing this is created a really good effect. I also think that that it was a good way to make the audience feel closer to Levis story. I created the documentary based on the truth so that it was believable. However I didnt really develop anything else in the documentary and kept it like what you would see in a normal observational documentary.

Challenging forms and conventions One convention I challenged in my documentary was add interview into it. I did this so that the audience could get an idea of Levis background from him and also someone else. I think that this was a good idea because my aim was to make my documentary believable and by doing this the audience would believe that it is the truth. I didnt challenge any other conventions because I wanted it to be an accurate representation of the truth and so I used mainly observational documentary conventions. Everybody who makes film is putting their own truth on the screen I wanted this documentary to be the actual truth and not my side of the truth.

I decided to use observational for my documentary because I wanted to observe Levis life. I didnt use expository because I wasnt trying to get an argument across. v v

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? I got an interview with Levi himself to give the audience his story. I then decided that I would get an interview with someone who has known Levi for a long time to get there thoughts on how his life was and how it is now. I used some archive footage from prom to show past moments in Levis life. I recorded Levi to use as a voice over so I could put it over the footage which had no talking. I used a camera to take photos of Levi. Aswell as taking new photos, I also used photos which Levi already had from when he was younger.

I used Garage band to create the music for the documentary. I used iMovie to edit all of the footage for the documentary and to add the music into it, and I used iDVD to create the actual DVD. My first step I took when I started to make the documentary was filming the footage. The reason why I started with this is because it was the main part which I needed. I then put the footage into iMovie and started to crop and edit the footage. After I had edited it so that the footage ran through smoothly, I went on to Garageband to create music which would be suitable for it. Then I added the music into iMovie and lined it up to where I wanted it to be. I added transitions at the end of every clip so it separated each clip from each other. Once I had finished creating the documentary, I exported it to iDVD, created a suitable menu and then burned it onto a disc.

In my foundation portfolio, we had to create a film based on a thriller. However in A2, we had to make a documentary. The reason why this is different is because a thriller is a story which you can make up whereas a documentary is meant to be based on real life events. In my foundation portfolio, I used all new footage, I didnt use audio recording and I had to do less editing as we filmed it in quite big sections. However when I was creating the documentary, I used both archive footage and original footage, I used audio recording and I had to do more editing because I created it with more sections.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? I created a newspaper advert and a radio advert to promote Leave I Alone. Before I created this I researched which channel I wanted the documentary to be shown on and what a average advert would look like on it. After I done this I started to create the advert using Microsoft publisher. I created a first and second draft and then created the final design. The aim of the advert was to give the audience an idea about what the documentary is going to be about. I created the radio advert using Garageband. The radio advert links back to the documentary because I have used actual voice recording from the documentary. I think that the newspaper advert is quite effective because lots of people actually read the newspaper. This will mean that when they open it, they will actually see the advert in it. I think that it links back to the documentary because it gives a brief idea of what it is going to be about.

I used prison bars and handcuffs on the bad side to give the intention that he could of ended up in prison. I used a photo which I found on Google to put in the middle of the page. This was so that when I added the good and bad, it looks like its focusing around him In this draft, I decided to put good and bad on each side and add objects which symbolises each one. In my final draft I took this out. I used the scales of justice on the good side to show how he has changed his life around.

I changed the whole layout of the advert by adding a transparent box down the side. I took more high quality photos using a camera. I think that it gave it a better look as in the first draft, it was pixilated. I kept the BBC logo and the time and day in the bottom right because I think it is out of the way but still noticeable. I added a tagline into the advert so that people has a brief idea on what its going to be about. I kept the scales of justice in the advert because I think that them alone gives the audience the idea that he has changed: I think it links in with the documentary

I set out to create a short radio advert based on the documentary. I had to include the day it was on and what time. To create the radio avert I used Garageband. I created new voice recordings and also used voice from the documentary. I think that it was quite successful because it gives enough information to tell you what it is about. It was also backed up by footage from the documentary.

What have you learned from your audience feedback? I showed my newspaper advert to five different people to find out what they thought about it. Four of these liked it and one didnt. I think that by asking other people what they would improve, it gave me the chance to actually change the advert so it reached the expectations of the five people. I did a screening of my documentary to a few people and they all said that they really enjoyed it and it made them want to watch the rest of the documentary. Some of the people said that there were a few to many photos at the end but the documentary itself gave them enough information about Levi.

Critical Theory The first quote which I decided related to my documentary was Bill Nichols Each change in documentary style and format has produced claims of a closer contact of the truth The reason I think this quote links to mine is because I based mine on a observational documentary rather than an expository documentary and i think that i picked the right format to show the truth. I also think that i showed the truth was the interviews I used. I had Levis story from him and then got someone else to give their story on him. Observational documentaries get a closer contact to the truth because you are filming as it actually happens. The second quote I thought related to mine was Diana Tammes Everybody who makes film is putting their own truth on the screen Again i think this relates to mine because everything I have put in my documentary is the truth and it is backed up with the interviews. I also think that my documentary shows the truth through the use of images and archive footage. These show the truth because all of these are from the past. Their own truth refers to the fact that the filmmaker decides what to include. Some people may think that Levi is still a bad person but I chose to only show the good bits about him. The third quote I decided on was another from Bill Nichols. There is a sense of commitment or engagement with the immediate, intimate, and personal as it occurs. This also affirms a sense of fidelity to what occurs that can pass on events to use as if they have simply happened. I think that this is a good quote to use because of the key words featured in it. One of the key words is immediate. I think this relates to my documentary because all the footage that I filmed was done straight away. Another key word used in the quote was personal. I think this links to mine as I believe the documentary is quite personal to Levi and goes into deep detail about his life.

Final summary I think that my documentary is successful. I think that I added all of the right information to give the audience a idea of what Levi use to be like and how he is now. I also think that the audience would find it quite interesting. I am happy with the documentary. I believe that I have created a documentary which many people would like to see. I have achieved what I set out to do because I wanted to tell Levis story and my opening section manages to do that in an engaging and entertaining way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN2okiYgAU0

Final evaluation of Leave I Alone

Documents

observe levis

closer contact

audio recording

portable cameras

bill nichols

foundation

makes film

levis story