George a2 evaluation

A2 Media documentaryVideo game violence: The controversy

George Allan

What we had learnt about documentaries to prepare and watched

In preparation of making our own documentaries we watched a variety of documentary types so that we could gain knowledge of all the different documentary types (Expository, observational. So that when it came to picking which type of documentary we wanted to do would be an easier process.

We watched Undefeated and Grizzly man, which are both observatory documentary this is where the subject matter is filmed with little intervening so that the events unfold without change. Another documentary that we have watched is Blackfish an expository documentary, this is where the documentary is set out to expose the subject and build and argument around the subject for example in Blackfish it exposes to the people how the animals were being miss treated. In supersize me it was to show how eating Mc Donald's daily can lead to be obese.

We were required to make a 5 minute documentary on a subject of our choice. I chose to make my documentary on video games and the violence that they ‘cause’ people to portray. Within the documentary we had to use many of the codes and conventions of documentaries. For example interviews, achieve footage and Narration. Not only did we have to make a documentary we also had to make a newspaper and radio advert in which we would use to help advertise our documentaries to the general public.

What we were required to do

Codes/Conventions How they were used or avoided

Narration In my documentary I used narration over the top of my montage of pictures and achieve footage of news reports. I used the voice of god narration as it’s a feature that is included in expository documentaries.

Interview I have used interviews in my documentary so that I can get peoples opinions on the subject matter. I used interviews as they are one of the conventions of documentaries.

Reconstructions I did not use reconstructions in my 5 minute segment of my documentary but if I went on to make the full 1 hour documentary I would choose to use some reconstructions for example I would make a scene of a gamer acting angry or re-enacted footage of someone in with a bad mental state.

Camera type

Fly on the wall I have used fly on the wall in my documentary so that I could catch people in unguarded moments, I have used It in the scene where the people are gaming. I have chose to do this so that I could capture how people react when they are gaming.

Cinema verite

Stereotype/simplification My documentary does contain stereotyping as I interviewed people that were around the same age range as one of my case studies (Adam Lanza). If I did go on to do the full 1 hour documentary I would add more clips of gamers being angry violent people

Archive footage I have used a wide variety of archive footage throughout my documentary so that it could help set the scene and provide a real life scenario such as the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting.

In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

I chose to make a expository documentary as I believed that this suited my documentary the best because I was exposing the topic about video games and violence and also Adam Lanza a murder who committed the crime due to ‘playing video games’.

This type of documentary also suited my topic as I had used many features that a expository documentary consists of. Commentary/voice over, showing images and video clips. Whilst these were playing I was talking about what the viewers should expect the rest of the documentary to be about. During these voice over I gave factual information and statistics referring to a gamers habits and how people have been affected by games.

Before I began starting to construct my 5 minute opening of my documentary I did lots of planning. I made a mind map brainstorm of what I planned to put in my documentary it looked like this. I then put this only blog so that I could refer back to it when I needed to.

With knowing what I was going to include in the documentary I went on to make a running script in which I planned out the order of events throughout my documentary. I then put this only blog so that I could refer back to it when I needed to.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I recorded my documentary with the Panasonic HC-V700M camera this camera was very good for recording, the video quality was very good but the downside to this camera is the sound quality whilst recording my interview the sound quality sounded muffled and the camera picked up a lot of background noise so whilst recording this section of the documentary I switched to using the XF 100 which was a professional camera with a noise cancelling microphone which allowed for a better sounding interview.

When It came to recording audio/voiceovers I used the IMac software garage band. We used the recording studio in our school that had a studio mic with a built in pop filter so that the quality of the recording was as good as possible. I first tried to record with a male voice over effect so that it would make my voice sound all one tone but the sound quality with this effect sounded very low, so I had to do a re-recording so that I could have a better quality and when I did do this I removed all the vocal effects.

I have used many different media technologies in the construction stage. At the very start of creating my documentary I realised that I was going to need to make a action plan of what I needed to do. I needed to ask people if I could record them and ask questions about my topic to them. I also needed to get achieve footage of different news reports to do with the real life scenario ‘Sandy Hook’ I used my computer to browse through Youtube and the internet to find clips that I thought were appropriate and relevant to the topic. I then researched around this topic so that I had lots of factual information to talk about in my voice over whilst footage was playing. During the evaluation stages of my documentary I have used media technologies to complete my work for example I have used PowerPoint in order to make my final evaluation.

I first set out collecting my archive footage so that I could make a very simple layout of how the documentary was going to run. Secondly I recorded both of my interviews and then worked on editing these adding things such as text over the video clips. After this I then recorded the part of the documentary where I explain how big the gaming industry is.

During the making stages of the documentary there were many differences between how I approached making my documentary, as in my As thriller i had very low level skill set in things such as using the cameras and editing together my final piece. But as I was doing my documentary I found it a lot easier to put together my final piece as I had a initial experience in using the camera’s/Macs and some of the equipment used such as camera’s have also improved making my work look a lot better.

I also found it a lot easier to put across the point of my documentary as I used archive footage to help build up my argument where as In my thriller it was all first hand footage and I had to push my story across to the viewer where as with my documentary there was an underlying argument which allowed for the viewer to think about there own opinions as well as the ones being given.

But the main difference in my two piece’s of work is that one was a short 2 minute thriller and my A2 documentary was a 5 minute segment. Which allowed me to add a lot more to my work. I also had more interest In making the documentary as it allowed for me to get creative and explore further into a topic that I am interested in.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts

I set out to promote my documentary through the use of a newspaper advert. The aim of my advert is too reach out to people and show them my documentary and give them a insight into what to expect my documentary to be about and when and where my documentary will be aired.

Whilst making my newspaper advert I followed a style guide in which BBC make there TV adverts/ new paper adverts from this I learnt the basics size that they make there adverts and the colours in which they use. I looked at other existing newspaper adverts that BBC have made and I based my design idea on this.

The main target audience for my advert was teenagers/adults as it sets out telling people the time which it’s on (9pm) which is after the watershed where content which is more graphic can be used legally.

My first initial idea for my advert was to keep it as simple as possible whilst putting across the what I wanted to the viewer. I thought that using very simplistic colouring of both the background and the text would be the best idea. Both of the colours I have used are colours that BBC 3’s theme follows which I found out whilst looking at the style guides.

Time aired

Name of documentary

Channel logo

Single coloured background

BBC 3 theme coloured text/font

Rough cropping of image

But after comparing to my final newspaper advert I could see that in the draft copy the image looked lost within the background colour. So with my final copy I therefore decided to increase the size of the image and scrap the background and just make the actual image the background. This also made the image look a lot better as in my draft copy I had to crop/ cut around the image which had a ruff finish. where as with using the image as the background cut out this step of editing.

Background image

Higher quality professional image.

Moved logo to

Top corner so the bottom of the image didn’t look clustered

I also made a radio advert in which I can use to advertise my documentary. I set out to make a advert in an audio format so that It can reach people listening to the radio aswell. I made my advert through the use of garage band and our recording studio in school. Using garage band was a very easy decision to make as I have used it a lot in my Media course. Also the software in our recording studio allowed for me to make the advert sound high quality.

Overall I believe that my radio advert was very successful as It gave people an insight in what to expect in my documentary and it gave the listener a short snippet of some of the stuff that will be included in the actual documentary.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After showing my documentary to a audience of people I have had a very positive amount of feedback with some negative. Most of the negative feedback is from people who wouldn’t watch the documentary as they don’t have an interest around the topic that I chose to make my documentary about.

Most people that enjoyed my five minute segment of my documentary have said that they would watch the documentary if it was a full hour long documentary. People were mostly positive about the ways in which I given opinions from both sides of the argument for example I have used the new reports which really put violence down to gaming. Which I have then counter balanced the argument by giving opinions of people who actually play these violent videogames. They have also said that the editing of the documentary is also at a good standard.

Without the audience feedback from things such as our Oasis John Williams film festival I may have handled things in a very one sided way as with the feedback I began to see flaws that I couldn’t see myself which then helped me to go on and improve my documentary.

After looking back at my work I believe that I have done a good job with making my documentary I think that the changes that I have made from what I had put in my running script and spider diagram have made my documentary a higher standard than what I believed that I could do.

I believe that I have achieved what I set out to do at the start of the course as I have developed my skills and as a person in the course of the A2 side of the course as I have appeared in my own documentary which I only briefly did in As and I haven’t had people pulling me down in the making of my documentary. I have managed to make a documentary which I can say I am happy with the outcome of it.

I believe that my documentary was successful as I have managed to make a full 5 minute long segment including what I feel was relevant. People have also said that they would watch the documentary if it was a whole hour. So therefore I believe I was successful in making my documentary.