Media evaluation question one

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

• When creating my documentary I used my existing documentary research in order to explore what conventions my product needed to have, then incorporated various conventions into my running order to ensure I remembered to include them. From my audience research I found that 23/30 people I interviewed in my target audience research would be between the ages of 16 and 18, and the other 7 were above the age of 19. Using this I created a documentary that would appeal to young people of this age. I took into account various factors that would relate to these age groups for example the attention span of a 16-18 year old may be a lot shorter than someone ages 30. Taking this into account I ensured that I used various factors and conventions to make sure my audience were entertained throughout. By watching existing documentaries and analysing them thoroughly I found that the main conventions of a documentary were:

• Voiceover• Archive footage/Stills• Real life footage • Interviews• Text on Screen • Re-enacting • Sound/music • Using this research I took into consideration that during my documentary I would have to incorporate

these various different areas into my documentary. During the editing process I ensured to have a montage of images with a variety of music that suited the topic of the documentary. Within the editing process I researched different transitions and sounds to use in my editing process. This helped to ensure that I was using the correct codes and conventions within my media product.

• To complete my existing product research I used http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/ to find various documentaries that may be similar to the documentary I wanted to create. I also searched different conventions

In order to follow the conventions of a documentary I decided to use a montage of footage related to the topic of my documentary (Everyday Addiction) I also used cross dissolves between the different pieces of footage to follow the generic convention of a documentary opening scene.

I filmed various cut-away shots to place in-between my interviews and footage. All my cutaways related to the specific part of the documentary I was focussing on at any one point. When I researched the conventions of a documentary I found out that cutaways were a main element of a documentary which is why I ensured that I used them

I used images from the internet to represent the topic of the certain area of my documentary for example smoking.

I used a cross dissolve in-between all the shots in my montage, this is also a generic convention of a documentary and all the documentaries I analysed and watched within my research process all included a cross dissolve at some point during the film.

The music I used in the opening montage of my documentary was a song called “addiction” I decided to use this song as it related to the topic of the documentary and I thought it was a well suited piece of music. To add this music to my documentary I downloaded the song from YouTube and edited it to suit my specific area within my documentary.

When I edited the music of the beginning montage I added a constant gain at the end of the song so it would run smoothly into the other song. This also fits the conventions of a documentary as they all include some sort of music.

For the audio levels I added a fill right into the audio to ensure that it would sound smooth and have a good flow with all the songs.

After the montage I used a fade to black to introduce the interviews from the montage.

When filming my interviews I used a classic rule of thirds to position my interviewee. This creates a professional style interview that will be respected within a documentary as it subconsciously allows the viewer to pay full attention to the interviewee by following the main line of interest. The interviews that were filmed on the white background looked more professional and the levels were easier to edit to make the background colour look clearer and more eye-catching. Also using a white background keeps the audiences attention to the interviewee to ensure that they are following what is going on and the answers to the questions. Using a clarified background is a convention of existing media products as I researched many documentaries and I found that it is a good way of keeping the eye of the audience focussed on the main points.

The sound for my interviews was all recorded using a standard clip mic. I decided to use a clip mic because from my research I found that it would make the sound clearer and easier to understand. Each interviewee was asked 3-4 questions and from watching existing interviews I found that it was essential for the interviewee to incorporate the question into their answer so that the audience would be aware of the topic of conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee.

The sound of my interviews also had to be edited with levels as the clip mic only records the sound through one headphones so using the fill left and fill right tool I altered the sound for it to sound more smooth.

I used a montage of voxpops from the various interviews that I filmed towards the beginning of the documentary to give the audience an insight as to what featured within my documentary. Using the pink background wasn’t as effective as using the plain white background however due to a lack of resources and time it was essential to use this background. Although the background wasn’t a successful choice I still remembered to incorporate the rule of thirds and the clip mic to ensure the audio and visual were balanced and interesting for the audience to watch.

• By researching existing documentaries I found that using a plain white backdrop for filming interviews created a professional and serious outlook on the interview and was a great way of ensuring the attention was all focussed on the interviewee and not what was going on around them.

I used the same style interview to this one in my documentary as I thought it was a good layout and the black writing on the plain white background was very effective.

I edited the levels and colour of the shot in premiere to get rid of any shadowing on the white background. I also positioned Kate using the rule of thirds with just a medium close up shot of her.

The text is used to inform the audience who the interviewee is and what her purpose is during the interview, this shows the audience why she is being interviewed.

I used a clip mic for my interview to ensure the sound would be clear and clarified as from watching previous documentaries I noticed that the majority of the sound was imbalanced and a lot of interviewers didn’t use a clip mic. Also this fits in with the codes and conventions of a documentary.

For the sound of this interview I had to edit the sound in order for the audio to play through both headphones as the clip mic only recorded sound through one side. To do this I used the audio levels and used the fill left tool in the audio editor.

The font of the text over is a standard sized font which is easy to read and clear for the audience to understand.

One way I challenged conventions within my documentary was by using a screen recorder. This was a different approach to get information and statistics across to my audience. Also because there is reading required it gives the audience a chance to engage with the documentary and creates inquisition.

I also used the screen recorder to record blogs on the internet which included key words that related to the topic of my documentary which again made the audience want to engage with the documentary and makes them question their everyday routine.

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/ Using facts and statistics within my documentary was decided by watching a variety of documentaries and discovering that facts helped to show the audience the importance of the topic that is being covered. Using the screen recorder made the facts and statistics stand out to the audience whilst challenging and altering a convention of a documentary.

Using cutaways over the audio of the interview is also a way I have challenged the conventions however I feel that it is effective as the cutaways are related to the interviewees answers. From my research I found that this is sometimes used however it isn’t as common as most conventions.

A very popular convention of a documentary is a voiceover however I didn’t use a voiceover within my documentary as I didn’t have the time to incorporate one. Using a voiceover is to help the audience understand and follow what is going on within the documentary however watching and editing my documentary I feel that it works and runs smoothly without the voice over so this is also a way that my documentary challenges the conventions of a stereotypical documentary.

I used archive footage when editing my documentary to follow the codes and conventions of a typical documentary. This just gave the documentary some existing footage and facts that it could be related to and also helped to break up the footage and interviews. Many existing documentaries use archive footage in order to give the audience the reassurance that the facts and information being presented to them is legit and that there are other videos and people that agree with the point that the documentary is trying to get across. Archive can also be used to represent historic footage or footage that may be hard to capture.

I used archive to split up the interviews and give extra information about the topic being discussed at different points within the documentary. I added my own choice of music over the archive footage for the majority of the documentary, however I used some American archive as it would be too hard to film myself.

I decided to use the song “Teardrop” as it has a sinister background sound and it portrays the fact that even though the previous sound was happy and upbeat, the topic of the documentary is in fact a serious topic and the facts that are being portrayed are effecting the lives of various people.

• The name bars for my documentary didn’t work out as well as they were expected to as I was responsible for all the editing within my group the last minute touches such as name bars didn’t get completed properly as I ran out of time, however I have used a generic text name bar to show the audience who the person being interviewed is and to follow that convention of existing documentaries. Using name bars within a documentary isn’t essential however it is a key to informing the audience who is speaking and why.

The mise-en-scene of this interview is related to the topic as the topic is make-up and beauty which is a girly topic and relates to the flowers and floral background. Also the rule of thirds has also been incorporated. The name bar shows the purpose of the interviewee and why she is being asked the various questions.