DOCUMENTARY

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NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION

RADIO ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION

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EVALUATION

Question Two on Prezi

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This presentation presents the three products I created in different form.
The above presentation was done on Prezi, another form of technology used to create my entire production and evaluation.

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

Our media product uses the forms and conventions of real media products by following them. We created our documentary by using conventions, such as, including interviews to provide evidence. This makes our documentary more creditable and informative to viewers. It also brings the audience into the documentary as they have a say in what is being discussed.

The codes and conventions of documentaries are the use of the rules of thirds, voxpops, narration and interviews. The rules of thirds is used to allow some access to view the background, this is usually used in most shots, such as, interviews and cutaways. Voxpops are used to give quick opinions of the public, in involves them all answering the same question in a short form. Narration is used to guide the documentary and give reasons and answers to what is happening and why. Interviews are used to give factual information and/or opinions from relevant people and are often supported by cutaways and the narration. Despite there being multiple sub genres to documentaries, they all usually follow these codes and conventions. Other types of genres that are found within documentaries include drama, nature, scientific, crime, biography, social and entertainment.

This is a screenshot of a section of voxpops used in our documentary.

The image on the left is of an interview within our documentary showing the rules of thirds convention being followed. The image on the right is of an actual documentary on Channel 4, One Born Every Minute, to show the comparison of our documentary to professional ones in terms of filming.




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This above video is a directors commentary of our documentary produced by myself, it discussed the following -

It develops the typical forms and conventions of real media products in multiple ways. These ways include interviews, voxpops, rules of thirds, cutaways and genre. One way is through the use of the camera, this includes the framing and mise en scene. Our framing followed the simple rules of thirds convention in order to allow our main focus to take to the subject in the interview, but still allowing the background to be present, showing relevant aspects within the shot. Our framing supports the mise en scene being relevant and necessary to what is being discussed or to who the person is within the interviews. As most documentaries do, we alternated which side each interview was taken on to give variation.

The typical conventions of documentaries was furthered by presenting multiple voxpops of people answering one simple question with a one or two word minimal answer. This shows a quick overview of the public's opinion and can make the audience feel more involved so we followed this convention accordingly. In terms of sound, we had one main track playing beneath the entire documentary, this is known as the 'music bed' and the volume of this sound was reduced during the interviews and the voiceover. Our voiceover was relevant to the documentary as it was informative, which is what we wanted our documentary to appear as. When advertising a production, the voiceover is conventionally the same as the one within the documentary so we stood by this and used the same person.

Our media product does not challenge any forms or conventions of real media products. We decided not to do this as it would make it more complex for ourselves, it would not look like a documentary and it would not look as professional. It is narrated accordingly to the structure. We structured our documentary to present multiple takeaways and to show the popularity of them in this day in age. The documentary then progresses on to the positives and then negatives of takeouts, with supporting interviews from a takeout owner and a science tutor. Opinions are weaved in where necessary to relate the public to the documentary, this is through interviews and voxpops.

During interviews we used graphics, like professional documentaries, to present the name and profession of the interviewee to the audience. We used a dissolve to blend this text into the footage as the interview began, the dissolve meant that full focus could remain on the interviewee and what they were discussing without interruption. The graphics were used on the first interview with each interviewee, this was to get the audience to recognise who each person is. After watching and analysing multiple professional documentaries, I have discovered this convention.

Over the top of voiceovers and interviews we placed relevant cutaways which gave a visual insight to what was being discussed during that particular time. The cutaways were short and many were used and followed on from one another. This is a convention of documentaries and to further it we used our cutaways to tell a story. By this I mean that we would have an interviewee describing the process of something and our cutaways would lead one on to another in a linear sequence, showing the chronological order of events. Not only did our cutaways do this but they also disguised any jump cuts between shots. The cutaways were placed where there were jump cuts, the transitions between interviews, during long speeches and voiceovers. The purpose of cutaways is to give the audience something to look at whilst information is being given, it often draws in the attention and gives a focus to the topic. Images can often be more impacting than audio so it is good to give a variety of both, it also keeps the audience more engaged.

Documentaries

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

Links Between Products on Prezi

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This is my print advert in comparason to an actual professional print advert. Mine is on the left, the professional one is on the right. It compares as it follows all of the listed codes and conventions stated in Codes And Conventions Of Newspaper Advertisements.

 You can tell it looks professional as there is a main key image central to the entire production, the strap line is in the same location, as is the Channel 4 logo, there is a colour scheme throughout and you can see everything you need to as the colours emphasis it, including the block of colour behind the scheduling and title.

This is my print advert with the title. Below is the documentary with the title. The title remains the same throughout, thus, another comparason.

The poster and the radio advert have reflected the themes that we used within our documentary by using the same narrative voiceover, the same slogan, the same voxpops and the same title name. This means that each product is relevant to one another and the audience can see this both visually and audically. They are branded for Channel 4 as Channel 4 often presents documentaries. Channel 4 is also a student channel and our documentary is aimed at people between the ages 17-25, typical students. It is targeting this age band because these are the most likely, as research shows, to consume more takeouts. The print advert used the Channel 4 logo in bright colours as Channel 4 portrays multiple colour schemes for different programmes. The Channel 4 logo is placed on the right hand side in the middle as most of their adverts do, with the scheduling and title on the left hand side in the bottom corner with a colooured box to emphasis its presence.

Question Three
What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feeback is vital in media productions because without it you would not know whether your audience liked it or not. You would not know what they liked or what they did not like. Without positive and negative feeback, critical feeback, you would not be able to improve for next time and you would be in the dark about how to go about making a successful production. I have used audience feedback to give my own analysis of my media products and to gain knowledge on what worked and what did not, which will allow me to consider changes for next time.

"The quality of the filming is good, but the sound keeps changing volume," said Simon Aspinall.

Daniel Brown said, "Gread video well put together, good camera angles, wasn't boring, kept me informed but I didn't feel bored watching it. Overall, great video, you should be proud."

Conor watching our documentary


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Conor commenting on our documentary



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The audience feedback has allowed me to see both the positives and the negatives of our productions, and where we could improve on it next time. Audience feedback showed me the successful aspects of our documentary. These positives include the interviews that were relevant to the message within the documentary, the relevance and informative information provided by the voiceover and the interviews, the position of the interviews which allowed the background mise en scene to be visible, and the use of supportive cutaways to provide entertainment whilst the voiceover and the interviews were progressing. Other pressing positives are the choice of soundtrack as the audience found it relevant and interesting, and the cutaways which presented relevant key points to what was being said.

Question 5 in the group Audience Feedback was an important question to ask as the feedback allowed us to see what our audience thought of the sound quality. The question and results are as follow.

5) On a scale of 1 to 5 with five being the most positive, how was the quality of the sound within the documentary?
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 4
4 - 5
5 - 1

To summarise, our sound was not perfect, however, no one rated it less than 3 so it was bareable. The sound was said to be 'alternating in volume' and there was 'too much background noise in places.' To improve this next time we could film in a different area and analysis the effects of this before filming, we could also listen to the audio through the headphones throughout the entire production as we will be aware that this needs to be done.

The sound was difficult to alter as we chose places to film which had uncontrolable background noise, such places include Priestley College canteen. Feedback is important as it allows us to note where improvements can be made and what can be left the same. From this feedback we can gather that we had good quality sound in some places, however, it kept altering volume levels and there was high levels of background noise.

The audience feedback that I received shows me that our documentary had the following negatives, the sound levels that kept changing when the footage switched between interviews and the voiceover as the ambient background noise was loud and quiet in different areas.

Collectively, these positives and negatives affected my overall product in different ways. The negatives, such as, the angle of how some cutaways were filmed, affected the documentary as the quality was reduced. This meant that the action we were trying to portray was not noticed as much as the person in the shot may have been positioned wrongly and their body was in the shot or that the camera was shaking during a panning or crabbing shot. These factors make the documentary look unprofessional.

I feel that myself and the group could have done better, however, it was difficult to get things done at the start as it seemed like no one would do anything on their own. The work load was unevenly spread and I, personally, felt like I was left to do the work. The group selected me as a team leader when I felt we should have all been incharged and had a say, despite this, my ideas weren't followed through with and we made little production. Initially, after filming, I was left to edit the footage which was not very good and we decided not to use it. Upon this, we went out as a team to film more footage and edited it together. Me and Jack came in for an entire day to correct the editing and get it up to 3 minutes of solid documentary. This was the turning point and our group became more successful, however, one member of the group was not doing their share of the work so loose ends were still untied.

I think that I could have probably have took charge and done the work by myself but I did not think this would work and it wouldn't be fair as it is a team effort and we all need a say in it. I also made the mistake of capturing the print advert image in poor lighting on my HTC Mozart phone rather than on a stills camera. This meant that I had to keep capturing the image and changing the initial idea to make it more interesting. All of this was recognised and done after editing each individual image, as shown in the print advert section of my blog.


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

In various stages of production, technology was used throughout, in many ways, to make it professional and to gain an understanding of the work and equipment efforts put in to creating a documentary. To create our documentary, a lot of work was required as there was more than one stage to complete it. Each section of the documentary required the use of multiple technologies.

RESEARCH STAGE
The very first piece of technology used was during the research stage of our production. We used the DVD Player to watch existing documentaries. This allowed us to see what documentaries look like and gave us chance to analyse them and record the codes and conventions of documentaries. By gaining this knowledge we could stick to the codes and conventions and make a professional looking documentary.

During this stage we conducted a lot of computer work on programmes, such as, Microsoft Word and the Internet. Questionnaires we produced on Microsoft Word and we then printed off multiple copies which we handed out to random members of the general public. The feedback from this allowed us to see what the general public would like to see and gave us suggests for a formal proposal as well as a running order. This data was collated with the use of Microsoft Excel which gave us an easy reading understanding of what the public wanted from our documentary. It allowed us to present the found information in the form of pie charts which could be easily analysed. We copied these pie charts and the collated tally researchs onto Microsoft Word and wrote a descriptive analysis beneath. These we then saved as images by Print Screening the work and cropping it, then placing it onto Paint where it was then saved as a JPEG image and uploaded to Blogger.com.

At this researching stage of production, I have found that most technologies link in together as proven above. An example being that we used Microsoft Word to create questionnaires and then Microsoft Excel was used to collate the information and then Microsoft Word was used again to present the findings.

Technologies Used In The Research Stage

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PLANNING STAGE
The first stage was the planning stage where we thought of initial ideas for the documentary. In order to do this we needed to undergo the researching stage. Research was carried out both primarily and secondardy to ensure we had a scope of the industry and target audience preferences.

The primary research we did was conducting questionnaires, at this point, we used an XM2 Canon Camera to record some of the questionnaires in an interview format. We used a JCV Deck to insert the tape and capture the footage onto Premire. This was saved and put onto Youtube.com so it could be embedded and put onto Blogger.com which is where our entire production is individually logged on to. This stage allowed us to conduct and find sufficient audience research to gain an understanding of how successful our documentary would be, along with suggestions for its content. Our questionnaires were produced on Microsoft Word and then printed for distribution. Upon collecting them in, we tallied the answers and recorded the collated information on Microsoft Excel to convert them into pie charts for easy reading and understanding, as well as a descriptive paragraph to explain it.

The secondary research that we undertook was on the Internet to find out about the codes and conventions of documentaries as well as to look into various documentaries and analyse them. The internet was also used here to create a blog with uploaded videos, presentations and images which were put onto Slideshare.net to convert to a video. Upon finding this research we drew out a sketch of the running order for our documentary, this was in the layout of a storyboard. We copied this onto the computer by scanning it in and saving each A3 image as a JPEG image which we could then upload onto Blogger.com.

Technologies Used In The Planning Stage

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CONSTRUCTION STAGE

This is our group with the filming and editing equpiment, preparing to film an interview in the blue screen room.

The next stage of production was the construction stage. During this stage, I captured screen shots of the editing on the computer, this was of the work being produced on Premire. I also took pictures of us creating and filming some footage, which is used within the evaluation to show evidence of the technology used. This was done with a Samsung Still Camera and a HTC Phone camera to show use of various equipment. The Stills Camera was also used to take pictures of the print advert which was later edited on Adobe Photoshop. The filming was done using an XM2 Canon Camera and Jessops Tripod. This camera and tripod allowed us to vary the camera angles and movement to suit the documentary in terms of interviews and cut aways. The camera was used to film the entire five minutes of production in our edit decision list and running order, and the tripod was used to keep it steady so there was no camera shake. As evidence that it was us who created this documentary we used stills cameras and camera phones. Although cameras were used to capture the documentary production, they were also used to get images for our print advert.

This is how I used Adobe Photoshop to edit the print advert. Here is an example of how the lasso tool was used to erase some of the unwanted items in the background so that the main focus is on the key image of the person eating the burger.

This is the original image

Open the image in Adobe Photoshop

Drag this image onto a new layer to unlock it so you can edit on this one but keep the original image increase you go wrong

Once duplicated you need to click the lasso tool on the tool bar on the left hand side of the screen

Once that has been selected you need to draw arround your image by clicked at each point where you want the lasso tool to outline

It will then draw a black and white dotted line around what you have selected and you press 'Delete' on your keyboard

On Microsoft Word, we presented our logging and edit decision list sheets to portray evidence of our filming. This supports our filming diary which also provides evidence of our filming efforts. By creating this sheets we had help with our editing stages as we could see exactly what we filmed and where it was in the editing bin on Adobe Premire. Various software packages, such as, Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Premiere, were used to create the print advert and radio advert, as well as the audio voiceover within the actual documentary. The audio for the voiceover in both the documentary and the radio advert was recorded in the radio suite at Priestley College. Here, the audio could be recorded professionally without any background noise, allowing the entire focus of high quality sound to comes from the subject within the productions.

Sound was not only recorded in the radio suite, it was picked up and recorded by the XM2 Canon Cameras and microphones. These were used to record sound during vox pops and interviews. This made it easier to film as the microphones are easy to hide and can still pick up sound. It is easier than asking permission and brinigng someone to record within the radio suite. By using a microphone we can film in a relevant place, giving relevant mise en scene to what is being discussed, whilst presenting the interviewee in a more natural environment. Microphones have the advantage of allowing us to be mobile and film wherever we want.

The below images are of the radio room which was used to record the voiceovers for both the documentary and the radio advertisement.

We used the internet again to find archive material for our documentary, this includes McDonald's television adverts, Subway television adverts and footage from Supersized Vs Superskinny. We needed these materials to support points being made and to follow the convention of documentaries, this being to use other materials to emphasis and provide evidence to a particular point. Archive footage was taken from Youtube.com, Google.com and Channel 4 on Demand. These had to be approved by a member of the Media department for we used Hotmail.com to email the archive footage which we saved to the D drive on a particular computer, allowing us to access them again. Once approved we used we used the Adobe Premiere editing software to fit them into our documentary.

Technologies Used In The Construction Stage

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EVALUTION STAGE

To begin my evaluation, I created a short presentation to show what my productions are; a documentary, a print advert and a radio advert. This initial presentation was conducted and is presented on Prezi.com and I have posted a link for the website to play my presentation as well as posting it on my blog. The presentation scrolls and passes through the various parts to the presentation, it does this for you if you click the arrow. This makes it simple to view, and keeps it in the format of a presentation as it navigates through the poster. A benefit of this to my evaluation is that it shows the key elements that my entire blog will present and it shows, in order, the various stages of the products.

How Things Were Done

This is me filming whilst we used the blue screen as the background of an interview. The blue screen allows you to place any image you want in the background so if you cannot find mise en scene you particularly want then you can apply it in the editing stages. We put the blue screen in to put in our own images of takeout food and logo behind people during interviews and this was done on Adobe Premiere Pro. The entire editing was done on Adobe Premiere Pro and below is an example of how to grab footage off the tmeline by cutting it down.

When placing cutaways over the top of interviews and other footage whilst using Adobe Premiere Pro we had to lock the sound bars so that when selecting the matching footage to that sound to delete it, it would not delete aswell. We did this because we wanted the sound to play over the top of the footage but we wanted different footage playing over that. Another way of doing this when we wanted to keep some of the footage but wanted a cutaway somewhere within it is by placing the cutaway footage or image on the bar above the other piece of footage.

For the directors commentary I wanted to play my voice over the top of the playing documentary. In order to do this I locked all of the footage bars and deleted all of the audio bars so that I could place my recorded commentary over the top. I recorded myself using a Stills Camera which was then uploaded onto the computer and exported onto Adobe Premiere Pro and added to the documentary. This was all exported and uploaded to YouTube where I embedded it onto my blog.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

Questionnaire

We distributed ten questionnaires to ten members of the general public to get productive feedback on our finished documentary.

1) Do you feel that the first 20 seconds of opening sequence took your attention?
Yes - 8
No - 2

To summarise, the majority of our questionnaire participents found our documentary attention grabbing within the first 20 seconds, the opening sequence. I think that the opening title ruined the opening sequence slightly as they were altered and put into a poor font for the graphics. The voxpops could have caught attention as people were giving their opinion and make the audience think about what theirs is too. It was a qick paced opening sequence with a catchy opening music bed.

2) Do you think that the documentary was ordered well?
Yes - 10
No - 0

To summarise, all of the respondents thought that our documentary was well ordered in terms of how the footage was edited to create a story type documentary. Whenever a point was made in an interview or by the voiceover it was placed with a relevant cutaway. The cutaways were put together to link in with one another, creating a story or a process of something, reflecting the stages of food being made, purchased and consumed.

3) Does the documentary have good continuity?
Yes - 10
No - 0

To summarise, all of the footage was placed in chronological order to how it was filmed so none of the footage had any poor continuity were objects had moved or changed. We prevented this by having people where we wanted them and not having random people in the background. We also tried to film in order of events so things we not everywhere.

4) Are the graphics appropriately used for the documentary?
Yes - 10
No - 0

To summarise, the only graphics used were those to give the name and title of the interviewees and they 'weren't over used' and they 'weren't taking focus away from the interviewee.' This was because we used a plain white font and put the text in the opposite bottom corner to the interviewee. The font was not oversized and did not run over onto the interviewee.

5) On a scale of 1 to 5 with five being the most positive, how was the quality of the sound within the documentary?
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 4
4 - 5
5 - 1

To summarise, our sound was not perfect, however, no one rated it less than 3 so it was bareable. The sound was said to be 'alternating in volume' and there was 'too much background noise in places.' To improve this next time we could film in a different area and analysis the effects of this before filming, we could also listen to the audio through the headphones throughout the entire production as we will be aware that this needs to be done.

6) How would you compare the documentary to professional documentaries on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being not at all and 5 being impressively?
1 - 0
2 - 3
3 - 1
4 - 6
5 - 0

To summarise, the majority of respondents found our documentary very comparable to profressional documentaries. This will be down to the use of Adobe Premiere Pro and the rules of thirds composition. I think this is from the following of codes and conventions of documentaries, such as, the rules of thirds, the voxpops, the interviews and the narrative voiceover.

7) How informative would you rate the documentary as? Rate on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being not at all informative and 5 being highly informative.
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 1
4 - 4
5 - 5

To summarise, most participents found the documentary to be highly informative. This was most probably down to the factual information given in the interviews. It was the choice of questioning during the interviews and the images which supported this that gave it an effective presentation.

8) Would you say that the documentary was entertaining or not? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being not entertaining at all and 5 being extremely entertaining.
1 - 1
2 - 2
3 - 4
4 - 2
5 - 1

To summarise, our feedback was scattered as people have different opinions of what is entertaining. The majority of the respondents thought that our documentary was moderately entertaining, this could be down to the music bed choice and the images of food. The bring down from the entertainment may have been the factual interviews, showing negative factors in which many people may choose to ignore. The entertainment may have come down to the structure of the editing and how it presented the footage and information. Maybe because we spread our the discussion and didn't present every postive with a negative they found it more so interesting than not.

9) Do you think that the print advertisement is eye-catching?
Yes - 10
No - 0

To summarise, everyone who took part in the questionnaire thought that the print advertisement was eye-catching. It was 'bright, outstanding, to the point, centred, easy to see and has a good message' This was done on Photoshop and thge colour scheme was picked out by matching the colours within the burger and of the vegetables in the documentary. The burger was the central focus as it is a typical kind of takeout and is also used within the documentary.

10) Do you think that the print advertisement is relevant to the documentary?
Yes - 10
No - 0

To summarise, all of the respondents shared the opinion that our print advertisement was relevant to the documentary, meaning that it successfully presented what the documentary was about. As this presented the documentary well, it shows that the radio advert did the same too. The wording and colours we relevant and the burger was central which indicated the theme and topic of the documentary.

11) Does the radio advertisement sound relevant to the documentary and present it as interesting?
Yes - 10
No - 0

To summarise, one-hundred percent of participents thought that our radio advertisement was relevant to our documentary and shown it to be interesting. This was due to the voxpops and the interview about the negatives of takeouts that we used in the documentary being used in the radio advert. The same voiceover was also used which also gave a similarity; it also gave the correct information about the documentary in terms of scheduling and the slogan. 

12) Would you rate the camera work as effective or uneffective throughout the entire documentary? Rate on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being extremely uneffective and 5 being highly effective.
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 4
4 - 4
5 - 2

To summarise, none of the participents thought that the quality of our documentary was poor and uneffective. The majority of them, as results portray, thought that the quality was average and did give effect.

13) Do you think that the placement of the subjects within the interviews is of a high standard or not? Please rate your answer in terms of 1 to 5 with 1 being a poor quality layout and 5 being high standard.
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 0
4 - 5
5 - 5

To summarise, according to our questionnaire analysis, our documentary had correct placing, following the rules of thirds, when it came to cutaways, voxpops and interviews. Next time, to get all of our ratings as a 5 out of 5 we could take more shots of each thing to increase the chances of getting a better, more asthetic camera angle.

14) On the whole, do the documentary, print advert and the radio advert interlink with each other to appear relevant?
Yes - 10
No - 0

To summarise, our respondents thought that all three of our media products linked with each other and supported the main point and theme of takeaways. This could suggest that we do not need to make any adjustments in the future and clarafies that we know how to make multiple media products with the same key theme.

15) Do you think that the documentary fits the typical programme types of Channel 4 or does it belong on a different channel?
Yes - 10
No - 0

To summarise, all of the participents thought that the documentary fits the characteristics of Channel 4. This also suggests that our audience is correct aswell as the theme of our documentary.

We also put our documentary, radio advert and print advert onto Facebook and Youtube.

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE

Video





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGP5U3ThWo4&feature=player_embedded

Evaluation

For our Prelim we worked in small groups to produce a short documentary on mobile phones. To analyse the entire production and the final outcome we discussed what went right and what went wrong. Throughout the task we used various equipment and technology. Such included a video camera to film the entire thing, a small clip on microphone was attempted to be used to amplify the interview sound, Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 to do all of the editing. Editing stages involved adding cut aways, selecting the right backing track sound, altering the volume of the interviews so they weren’t drowned out and added a title page to give the credits and the name of the documentary.

What went right?

-          Finding multiple people to interview so we could get different reactions to the questions. This gave variation to the documentary, making it less boring to watch.

-          We placed the camera in the correct place when filming the interview. The interviewer was not in the shot and the interviewee was, they also looked like they were looking at someone rather than looking like they were looking at a wall.

-          The lighting during the filming was sufficient as we closed off any light sources that were directed into the camera. An example of this was when we filmed a cut away against the window and we shut the blinds.

-          Our backing track was carefully chosen and matched the pace of the visual elements of the video. The song is popular and will hopefully make the documentary more interesting.

What went wrong?

-          Interviewee was talking too quietly and we struggled to turn up the volume on it during the editing stages. The background sound was overpowering in comparison so we had to reduce this when the interviewee was talking.

-          Initially we didn’t film enough cut aways so it made the editing stages difficult as we had to fill in shot transactions with images of phones, this got repetitive.

-          We didn’t film the interviews against a relevant background so the mise en scene looks misplaced and spontaneous. This was down to laziness within the group and the lack of motivation during this stage because the questions had to be asked constantly.

-          The microphone wasn’t working so we couldn’t increase the volume of the interviewee which was later a problem when editing.

What can be improved?

-          We could have increased the number of interviews. This can be improved at any point in the documentary production stages because you can add it in at any point during the editing stages. This would be better because you can ensure that you don’t have too many interviews which will overrule the entire interview. Filming them during the editing stages can give you time to establish where you want them within the documentary.

-          We could have selected a better destination for the interview so the background was more relevant. This would make the documentary slightly more interesting as the viewers would have something to look at whilst the interview is taking place. This can be done by either using a blue screen which can later be transformed into a relevant background during editing stages or simply by placing the interview in the foreground of a relevant background image such as a poster or in a phone shop.

-          We could have found and used a working microphone to increase the volume of the interviewees. This can be done by next time putting in the effort to find a working one or borrowing one of another group.

-          We could have filmed more cut aways to fill in the gaps successfully between each of the interviews in the final outcome. Next time we could improve this by planning the documentary more thoroughly and sketching out how we would like it.

-          The interviewee could be facing the camera a bit more because they look like they are looking too far away from the camera; this gives an effect where they don’t look like they are talking to the viewers. This can be changed easily by simply changing the direction the interviewees are facing.

GENRE ANALYSIS

Documentaries                                                                       

 

Image taken from Google Images

The definition of a Documentary is ‘problematic.’ This means that they set out to raise an issue of common interest which usually creates a debate and by the end of the documentary the audience should have a better understanding of the event but are left to make their own opinion. The purpose of a documentary is to provide evidence from an event. Some documentaries are manipulative and take elements of the truth and turn them into fiction. Actual footage can be used within a documentary and is usually expected within one. Other features, such as reconstructions and voice overs, have a tendency to be added and a high level of these take place. Documentaries represent the 'Transformed World' and show how things have changed over time, they discuss topical issues in society and leave the audience to make their own opinion. Examples of how it's changed is Sex, Law and Order, and Violence.They are also the first programmes to be cut if commercial channels find money tight.

John Grieson made the first documentary and defined it as 'The creative treatment of actuality.' Documentaries were made initially for cinema audiences and were often used to boost morale during the war periods. Examples of some of the first documentaries to be made are ‘Housing Problems,’ 1935 and ‘Coal Face,’ 1935.

A documentary was distinguished by John Corner, Liverpool University 1995, as the following:

‘Giving a factual account of an event does not always mean giving actual footage, some documentaries are partly staged, using actors and sets to evoke the audience.’

He also said that there are five central features to them. These being:

-          Observation

-          Mise En Scene

-          Interview

-          Exposition

-          Dramatisation

Observation – The camera acts as a witness; it is as if the camera is unseen whilst the event is taking place. This provides us with proof of the event.

Mise En Scene – This allows drama to unfold and advances the argument. An example being during an interview about different sporting brands, the interview could take place by a sports shop, at a sports club or at a relevant place.

Interviews – They rely on interviews and they can contrast with observations. Interviews can be split into segments of full flow interviews. A segment means that the interview is in multiple parts and has cut aways between them. These break down the interview and allow time for relevant information based on the previous or later question. Full flow interviews are very rare and are used primarily to show emotion during a majoring event. An example of a full flow interview is when Princess Diana got divorced. Interviews are often places in between elements of observations.

Exposition – The line of argument is made up of description and commentary, these can be plain or direct, indirect or hidden. This is so that the argument is obvious to the audience. A sign of weak exposition is relying on observation because it isn’t constructive as any given ‘evidence’ cannot not be considered successfully without an explanation or any thing to back it up. Solely relying on this can make the documentary appear fake.

Dramatisation - Drama appears to take place naturally in front of the camera and plays a big role in terms of Mise En Scene.

The scheduling of a documentary is important; you need to consider what programmes are on pre and post the documentary. This is because you want to know what kind of audiences will most likely be watching it so you can aim it at them by changing the suitability of how it is presented. Documentaries tend to be emotional or sensational; these are bias to manipulate viewers into seeing the programme from the perspective of the camera operator, the director and the producer. Diane Tammes described them to be that everything you see is a version of the truth because parts aren’t factual. I quote, ‘Truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing the film. I mean it’s your truth that you’re seeing. Everybody who makes a film is putting their own truth on screen.’





'Cathy Come Home,' 1966
Image taken from Google Images



Documentaries have resulted in the change of laws and legislation, an example of this is Ken Loach’s ‘Cathy Came Home.’ This particular BBC television programme raised the awareness of homelessness in Britain in 1966. The programme was known for tackling popular issues in society. Tackling these issues with a plot based on illegal squatting and living in shelters whilst having no job it accelerated in popularity, with it’s first broadcast having over a quarter of Britain’s population at that time watching it, and increased the support for shelters. It was thought that this show influences the change in laws of squatters rights.

Dennis O’Rourke discussed the presentation of documentaries and said ‘It is critical that film makers be rid of the fantasy that the documentary can be unproblematic representations of reality and the truth can be conveniently dispensed and received like velum.’

TRUTH AND REALITY CAN CONFLICT

John Corner believes that evidence rather than the truth would help support the fact that truth and reality can conflict because recording documentaries only record traces of the physical world leaving stories to be sometimes one sided.

Documentaries investigate journalism and give the audience the right to know. Undercover things are revealed and offer a balanced view point for the audience. They capture all events from varied view points during the running which are gathered from relevant people, this discussed the reliability of the footage in terms of whether it is fake or not. Using different camera angles effect the viewer’s perception and give better insights to what is being addressed. Controversial documentaries aren't popular as they may cause offence, however, they talk about the public's right to know. Audiences will want to right what they see to be wrong.

With intention to create a debate, documentaries allow audiences to draw their own conclusion at the end, although they may have been manipulated into that decision. Current affairs programmes are half way between a documentary and the news. They are an in depth analysis of an issue and the running time never last more than 30 minutes and aim to provide infotainment; a combination of information and entertainment to increase the popularity of the programme.

Types Of Documentaries

Fully Narrated

These types of documentaries have a voice over which narrates the entire running and makes sense of the visuals within the documentary. The voice over is anchored and the voice used is carefully chosen to suit the mood of the topic being discussed. This voice is considered the 'Voice of God' because of the idea of all knowing and all seeing.

Fly On The wall

Within this type of documentary the editing builds the meaning and the exposition. They have Cinema Verite which is French for 'truthful cinema.' The camera is acknowledged and the effect of this is that it gives notions of the truth and reality, presenting objects and people to be confronted. On the whole, it links the filmmaker and the subject more and the footage gathered throughout the filming doesn't tend to be very edited because it is all filmed as and when. This portrays more of the truth the the audience although they are often staged beforehand. Any editing done builds meaning. These documentaries are observational and have little or no voice overs. Audiences can be scared by what is seen because it is reality and self-reflective.

Mixed

These are a combination of observation, narration and interviews. The narrator leads the action and any interviews are spoken to the camera. This is the most common type of documentary because they are easy to follow as the narrator explains the exposition along the way and the interviews allow personal opinions and experiences to be discussed with opportunities for cut aways to flow to give a visual explanation to the subject. 

An example of an interview layout Image by Google Images



Docudrama

These are real things, such as JFK, and they aim to relive the truth but can only ever hope to deliver fiction. They are not filmed in actuality and sway people towards their perception because they are only based on facts. Being based upon facts, docudramas are built around a natural and realistic setting which acts as a backdrop for a plot and characters to be developed. The background is what creates and emphasises the drama but this, however, can make the documentary, itself, fake. Whether about real people or a real event, the rest of the documentary tends to be fictionalised.

Heroes And Villains,
Image From Google Images

Docusoaps

This particular type of documentary originated in the UK and is based upon the lives of people, to do so they are known to be ‘ease dropping’ on other peoples’ lives. They are low on costs to produce so are often bad quality, however, they are popular for the simple fact that they are involving and are seen to be 'real.' Ken Loach’s ‘Cathy Came Home’ is seen to be an example of a docusoap, but it is also considered to be a docudrama. They are representations of real people in society put onto television for the entertainment of others. Specific techniques and aspects they often contain are interviews, a ‘Voice of God’ narration, editing to enhance the suspense, and reconstructions. Story lines within these docusoaps follow on from each other.

Disneyfication

  A Disneyfication Documentary by Walt Disney Productions Image from Google Images 

Disneyfication undertakes the aim to bring an appealing documentary to audiences. In doing this they are not dealing with issues effectively, they merely soften them in order to win audience views. Power is not challenged in these types of documentaries as they are 'safe' and 'controlled,' the truth is watered down and neutralised. Steven Barnett's theory about disneyfication is 'glossing things up and improving them.' Two examples of disneyfication are 'True-Life Adventures' and 'Disneynature,' series of documentary films created by Walt Disney Productions.

Documentary Narratives

Documentaries have a definite beginning to entice the audience, centralise a question and give the purpose of the documentary. They often start off with some action, an interview and quick cuts.

The middle of a documentary should consist of an argument and some action, this keeps the audience interested and expresses evidence to back up the exposition. There should also be some set up conflict and an explanation for it, the information provided must be backed up with evidence.

At the end of the documentary the exposition must be understood by the audience, meaning that any questions are answered and resolved. The previous conflict must be justified otherwise it is irrelevant. Finally, there must be a reason why you have documented it as there must be a point to it to get views.

Interviews are important; who is being interviewed, where they are being interviewed and what they are actually being interviewed about. They are assets to a documentary because they provide the audience with opinions, actual experiences and an insight into what the documentary is telling them. On the whole they are prime evidence to prove something within a documentary. During interviews, the interviewee must re-read the question they are asked in their answer so when edited the question isn't actually used and it all flows. Interviewees must not look directly into the camera, they should be looking at the interviewer who should be sat just off set to the camera so the interviewee isn't turned away from it. The people interviewed should be reliable when telling 'facts.'

The sound in a documentary is also important because it helps maintain the theme throughout. It is vital to keep interest and create belief within the programme. Lighting is another element that needs to be taken into account. Shots must have the lighting considered carefully so the footage is clear and accurate, this must be continuously focused both inside and outside. Mise en scene is another aspect of a documentary, just like in films, what is actually in the shot is important as it gives visuals for the audience to keep interested whilst the interview or action takes place or the narrator is speaking. Whatever is in the shot should be relevant to the current goings on at that time, remaining within the topic of the documentary.

Codes And Conventions

These are guides as to what should be in a documentary.

• Achieve footage
• Interviewees don't look directly into the camera
• Multiple interviews with relevant people
• Interviews follow the rule of thirds composition
• Plain graphic text on interviews
• Mid shots and close ups during interviews
• Interviews
• Consistent narratives
• Voxpops
• Narrative structure is linear
• Relevant mise en scene
• Answer in full sentences in interviews
• Repeat the question in the answer
• We don't hear the interviewer's voice
• Graphics during interviews are in the opposing bottom corner to the interviewee
• Narration for the voice over is the 'voice of God'
• Green screens on interviews
• Consistent theme
• Clear exposition
• Create debates or raise a point of conflict
• Diegetic sound
• Suitable or relevant non-digetic sound
• Supporting graphics
• Cut aways
• No storyline
• Have a set aim
• Target audience
• Plain graphics in a serious matter
• Captions
• Observation
• Music bed
• No light source behind footage
• Interviews are evidence
• No on screen questions
• Experts are used
• Opening titles
• Sometimes sound effects
• Based on facts
• Eye line level is a quarter down the screen
• Variety of camera angles
• Reconstruction
• Clear beginnings
• Narrative leads the audience
• Evidence is supported
• Clear ending
• Maintain continuity
• Sometimes dissolves
• Based on good filming, not unnecessary special effects
• Montages are used
• Ambient sound
• Shot reverse shot
• Uninterrupted interviews
• Dramatisation for narrative

Research Into Existing Documentaries

Jaws

Jaws Interview Footage Printscreened

• During the interviews, more than one person is being questioned. This gives a range of opinions and knowledge from each area of production about the film.
• The camera switches between the interviewees and during this switch the camera pans across the sea view. This is relevant to the interview as the film is set in that area.
• Each interview per person at a time is short. This is to keep it more interesting for us viewers.
• Interviews use mid-shots to keep focus on the interviewee but still showing some background.
• The interviewee's name and importance to the film is noted at the bottom of the screen, usually on the opposite side to the person.
• After interviewing the same person several times, their name and role is no longer visual on the screen.
• Each interviewee is placed specifically to follow a rule of thirds composition allowing some of the background to be portrayed.
• Interviewees do not look directly into the camera; their eyes are usually off set to the camera and looking at the interviewer.
• Pictures occur during the interviews; these are relevant to what is being discussed. This keeps the audience entertained through a range of mediums as just speech would create apathy where as giving something visual for them to look at will not. This is called a cut up.

The Simpsons

•  The interview begins with the Simpsons theme tune and during the actual interviews the theme song is played in various versions in the background.
• Graphics in the interview include the names and role of the people being interviewed.
• There are quick changes between scenes where the theme tune is being played. This is showing live footage of some of the production, making the audience feel part of the making and giving a better inside understanding to the type of work that goes on behind scenes.
• This particular interview has a presenter who orchestrates the interview and explains to us what the interviewee is actually answering.
• One shot of the presenter is of him walking with the camera.

Marketing Movies

Image From Google Images

Type of Documentary
This is a mixed documentary containing interviews, observations and a narration.

Themes
The themes are the successes in marketing films, how films appeal to different audiences and how you see a product in the end.

Narrative Structure
With a linear narrative structure we see a clear beginning, middle and end. The beginning presents what goes into marketing a film and the importance of all factors within. The middle gives us an insight as to just how successful merchandise can be and how in 'The Lion King' it was more successful than the box office tickets. To further this they discussed successful marketing techniques used in the film industry. In the end the audience was left to decide whether they thought it was successful or not, making it an open ending.

Camerawork

Close ups are used in interviews to show the importance of the person talking. Extreme close ups are used when showing the box office tickets; this is used because, firstly, the tickets aren’t large, and secondly, to show the topic of discussion, which at the time was how merchandise sold more than box office. There is also panning over some of the merchandise as if we ourselves are looking at it rather than the camera. As someone from the press walks through the gates the camera zooms in on his press pass to show who he is and how involved the press got. High angles were used to show the importance of the celebrities as they walk up the stairs.

Mise-En-Scene

Everything in the frame is completely relevant to the documentary and supports the theme and discussion at the time it is shown. As people talk during interviews the green screen behind them alters, the same one is used for each person but it portrays a different image. These images include the location, where they are from, who they are and what they are a part of. Merchandise is visible in nearly every shot because it is an important element of marketing movies.

 Sound

Diegetic sound is used in the documentary for the interviews. Ambient sound is also used when cut aways are shown and the narrator is not talking. There is an official narrative voice which explains points and cut aways. Sound is relevant to the films being mentioned and carries on playing in the background when an interview progresses.

Editing

This documentary undertakes slow paced editing which gives the audience chance to take in what is being discussed. Interviews inter-cut to keep the audience interested; they also answer the same question but obviously give their own opinion. Dissolves occur betweens shots of the interviews and cut aways or footage. Some of the shots are clumsy and out of focus on zooms; an example of this being the shot of the press pass. Relevant green screens are also used for each person during an interview.

Archive Material

Video footage from multiple films such as Rugrats The Movie, The Little Mermaid, Mousehunt and The Lion King. Actual footage from some premières are also shown to provide evidence against what is being said.

Graphics

There is use of a black background with white writing to describe who people were when they were speaking. When the subject was being changed there was a wipe which then turned into a title screen. The title screen had a small animated graphic which was relevant because the documentary was about different films and the ones discussed previously were animated; it also kept the documentary light hearted rather than serious.


The Little Mermaid, Image From Google Images





The Lion King, Image From Google Images



Mouse Hunt, Image From Google Images



The Devil Made Me Do It

Type of Documentary
It is a mixed documentary; we know this because there were interviews and observation and the story unfolded throughout.

Themes
The themes include crimes, youth, influences from the media, influences from music, roral disposition and religion.

Narrative Structure
There is a linear narrative to this documentary; the conflict exposition was addressed right away and constantly asked questions from the audience in a beginning, middle and end composition. We were initially presented with Marylin Manson as a puppet master, however, in the middle of the documentary there was evidence for and against this, giving an unbiased discussion. To finalise, the loose ends of the documentary were tied with a resolution concluding the event. This meant that punishment was given and the town returned to normal as if the event never happened.

Camerawork
Camerawork in this documentary explores multiple areas of visuals, creating more than one perception of the event. One shot in particular is an establishing shot which involves the crane shot over the town to make it appear more vulnerable and innocent. This portrays how out of the ordinary and how massive the roral disposition was to the town. High angles were used to make the audience look vulnerable to Marylin Manson when he is on stage, as if they are taken in by him; this supports the idea of him being a puppet master. Low angles of him are used to emphasis how much power and control he has over his fans. In a way these angles are biased and manipulate us as an audience to have a negative image of him. Crane shots of groups of people make them look close and together. The close ups used throughout the interviews are only used on important people, purely show how relevant they are and how we can trust them. More close ups are used but of fans, they are used to show their faces and how badly they are influenced. Extreme long shots are also used, it is as if we are allowed space for our own opinion.

Mise-En-Scene
Everyone is interviewed in their own environment to get an accurate response from them as they will be in their comfort zone. The Psychologist who is interviewed on the train is wearing a red suit which commands the audiences' attention and also symbolises her power and importance. The fans in the crowd are all dressed to mimic him and references of rebillion are shown. They are portrayed to be the opposite of 'norms' in society which is biased towards Manson. Tension was created in the reconstruction because we could hear sounds during the actions, however, we could not see any people so it was left to our imagination.

Sound
Marylin Manson's non-diegetic music was played in the background throughout the documentary to remain in theme and to aware the audience of who he is and what he does. The action is dramatised by the reconstruction and adds to the impact of the situation. Religious music can be heard during informative parts of the documentary to signify that it was a nun. Ambient sound was used to emphasis people in their natural environment and so nothing took our attention away from them.

Editing
This documentary was cleverly edited to advance the exposition successfully. There were long voice overs which explained cut aways and videos; each supported each other. Cut aways during the interview were used to enhance points being made and to give evidence of what was being discussed. There was the use of eyeline matched and cantered camera footage. Mug shot cut aways at the start were fast paced and fullfilled the typical thriller code and convention with it. During the reconstruction the camera remained static which gave a scary atmosphere, as if we, the audience, were there watching and anticipating something.

Archive Material
The archive material used was the music video for Manson's song, some camera footage from interviews and talk shows and the nun's funeral. They all gave the sense that something is wrong.

Graphics
The graphics on the interview screens were simple; plain white. This was to stop the audience from being distracted from the interview. A black background with white writing in a religious styled font was used for the title screen; this was relevant to the theme. Interviews were sometimes on the left and sometimes on the right, this mixed up the composition a little so it wasn't the same throughout to reduce apathy and keep out of the way of the people on screen, none the less, the rule of thirds composition remained. Subtitles at the concerts were at the bottom of the screen so we knew what was being screamed, this included swear words said because they emphasised the seriousness of the situation.

That Thing

Type of Documentary

It is a mixed documentary because it consists of observation, interviews and narration.

Themes

Themes of this documentary are games, the evolution of games, role models, Lara Croft, the role of women, feminism, the effects of media on society and the idea of reality verses fiction.

Narrative Structure

This narrative structure is linear as there is a clear beginning, middle and end. The beginning informs the audience about the game by giving a small introduction and an insight into what the game is and who made it. The middle tells the audience about how the game has developed into a film and has lead to having merchandise made. To summarise the middle, it is about the games successes and the conflict between the cartoon and the movie actress. In the ending, after they have shown you what the public and producers think, you are left to make your own mind up. Thus, it is an open ending with no conclusion other than that it was a successful game and film.

Camerawork

There was a range of camera footage in this short documentary, creating all kinds of effects by using multiple peoples perspective. There was a zoom out from the computer game footage to present someone playing it; the idea of this was to make the audience feel a part of it. An extreme close up of some interviewees were used and this indicated their importance to the documentary. Side over the shoulder shots were used to portray people playing the game and how addictive it is because they aren't even turning to face the camera. Cantered angles were used to make you feel engrossed in the game, as if you were playing it yourself. Head and shoulder shots were used during interviews and a close up during important interviews to express their importance. Panning shots around the game were used to show the audience the well produced new technical game and how realistic it feels because you can see it from a variety of angles. A close up of a hand on a mouse whilst playing the game on the computer is shown and then it shows you an over the shoulder shot of that person playing the game; this makes the audience feel like there are playing it themselves.

Mise-En-Scene

Mise en scene in this documentary mainly revolves around the game footage. Interviews have the game and video footage projected over the interviewee and in the background; this was popular to do back then. Similarly, during interviews there is the game footage playing in the background, however, it is not projected on the interviewee's face. Montages of magazines and merchandise footage are used as cut aways to present the unexpected popularity of the game. Game footage is used where the screen is shot at, making the audience feel they are being shot at, after the vertical scrolling credits. People were playing the game whilst being interviewed, making the interview more relevant and showing how interesting the game is. Them physically playing the game makes their opinion more valid. Interviews were filmed in small spaces to cut out any unwanted and irrelevant objects. Also, to add to the effect and relevance of the interview, the interviewee was placed into an animated computer screen.

 Sound
There is a song mentioned during an interview and then this song plays non-diegetically in the background; this is the only music recognised in the documentary. Other sounds in the documentary include a voice over asking questions which change the subject and lead the graphics, interviewees who speak over the video and game footage, the game and video sound effects which is diegetic and reenforces the characters female sexuality, and the narrative voice over directing the conversation.

 Editing
Some interviews are placed into an animated computer screen which acts a frame and keeps the theme on going. Cut aways are used to reenforce the meaning of the game like the creator wanted; this includes game footage. Graphics are used to place people into the computer screen to keep within the theme of the documentary. A montage of interviews at the beginning of the documentary are played for the audience to find out what the documentary is about initially and to get opinions.

 Archive Material

The archive material used in this documentary was majorly the game and video footage and then a few website email cuttings from fans, there was also an Angelina Jolie interview taken to give her input about the movie.

 Graphics

The only graphics used in documentary were on a black background with a white font which was large and bold; this was for the title and the same only not large and bold was used for the interview. During the interview the text came up in the bottom opposing corner to the interviewee and gave their name and who they are.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend Game Cover,
Image From Google Images

Lara Croft Game Footage,
Image From Google Images

Music Biz

Type of Documentary
'Music Biz' is a mixed type of documentary because there was exposition, observation, conflict and interviews within it.

Themes

The themes of this documentary are music, staying at the top within the music industry, marketing within the music industry and global success.

Narrative Structure
Linear is the type of narrative structure that 'Music biz' undertakes. The beginning introduces the audience to Meat Loaf and his history as an artist. We, as an audience, also are shown just how competitive the music industry is and how Meat Load was signed but had difficulty marketing himself. The middle questions whether Meat Loaf's current performance and whether he was redoing 'Bat Out Of Hell' exactly and trying to get back on top of the charts. Another question was how marketable is he and will he ever get back up in the charts. At the end of the documentary the problem is resolved and questions are answered. The audience are proved that he was in fact able to become profitable as an artist again.

Camerawork
Within this documentary there are various uses of multiple camera angles. There are extreme close ups of Meat Loaf's face to show his importance and how he is the main subject matter of the entire documentary. There is use of tracking which gives the audience the perspective that they are the eye witnesses at this point and allows them to feel a part of the documentary. Mid shots are used during interviews to show the head and shoulders of the interviewee and also allowing us to see what is in the background. There are some high angles looking down at Meat Loaf, however, this is not to make him look vulnerable and insignificant, it is to give us the cameraman's point of view. Controversial, there are low angles of the director to reflect on his importance in the making of Meat Loaf's come back.

Mise-En-Scene
What is in the background of the footage is important and within this documentary they have considered the background during interviews. Green screens are used in interviews so they can provide a relevant background of the producer's choice to suit what is being discussed. There is also a moving background during some of the interviews which enable visuals to scroll behind the interviewee; action is created by this. Relevant locations are used to support the documentaries theme and within them the audience may lose sight of what is actually going on.

Sound

During the documentary Meat Loaf tracks were playing to emphasis what the documentary is about, keeping it relevant, and to support what was being said along side the anchored visuals. Non-diegetic music by Meat Loaf and some by The Village People were in the background of what the narrator and interviewees were saying. The use of this gives the audience something to listen to along side the voice overs and keeps them interested because they are likely to have some knowledge of the music. This being relevant means that the audience can tell what is being discussed even if they aren't fully aware or interested in the topic, a well known, popular song can draw them in. There are no sound effects used in the documentary, it is lead by current music tracks to maintain the theme and topic being discussed and also by the narrative voice over which is there to address things mentioned by the interviewees. Often, the narrator emphasised something previously said by raising a point or a question to summarise it.

Editing

The different types of shots used within the documentary are used quite frequently, giving a small range of different angles. This affects how the audience perceive certain elements throughout it. Using a range of shots can do one of two things, increase the emotion and connection between the audience and the footage by giving various insights to the topic, or it can pursue the idea of the footage being unrealistic and fake. This particular documentary uses a shot reverse shot of Meat Loaf and the Editor which gives us, as an audience, a view of their relationship whilst working together. They are also some of the main people within the documentary so it is relevant that they are connected by this shot. A tracking shot is used to portray everyone in the room getting on with what they have to do as if they are preoccupied, making it all look natural as they ignore the camera. This gives the effect that the camera is actually us walking through the crowds which gets the audience involved. There are a montage of cut aways to make the voice over make sense as they list related information. Dissolves are used for people in the interviews to smoothly fade in and out as the voice over previously changes into an interview which will have usually just begin as the image changes. In the background of interviews there is a green screen which superimposes images of relevance behind the interviewee. Usually the image is where they are from, why they are relevant to the documentary or what they are discussing.

Archive Material

The various archive material that they have gathered as secondary research to the documentary include music videos which also play the sound in the background of interviews, the Grammies and Virgin Records as sources to represent how successful he was and how successful his 'rivals' are. They emphasis how tough the music industry is to remain in, especially with the new upcoming acts and new favourites. The Late Show, Top Of The Pops and The Brit Awards are also used for the same reason as previously stated above. All of this footage taken from other resources are to reinforce the point of the narrative.

Graphics
Although there are not many graphics used within this documentary the ones that are used are effective. There is the use of scrolling horizontal text across the screen which emphasises what the narrator is saying. This allows the audience to look at something visually and for themselves for a change, rather than listening solely to the narration. Also, there is plain white text to show the interviewee's name and who they are. Using this draws no attention from the interviewee and what they are saying. It also doesn't distract the audience from the background or cover any important mise en scene.

Meatloaf,
Image From Google Images



Meatloaf Bat Out of Hell 2 Album Cover,
Image From Google Images

 

Meatloaf Bat Out Of Hell Album Cover,
Image From Google Images



Trophy Kids

Type of Documentary
This documentary is mixed as it has observation, interviews and narration.

Themes
The themes of this documentary are the pressures of parents, children growing up, opinions, winning, competition and sport.

Narrative Structure
It undertakes a linear narrative structure as it has a clear beginning, middle and end. The beginning gives us an insight of the parents pushing their kids. The exposition is clear here. The middle portrays the impact on of the pressures on the children and discusses the conflict between them and their parents at that point. The end has a conclusion and solution where the parents realise how hard they push their children.

Camerawork
Multiple shots are used within this documentary, most of them, particularly the interviews, follow the rule of thirds composition. The documentary begins with a long shot of the different children playing their sports, this allows us to see what they do on a larger scale. Long shots are also used to show the children training, the long shot could be a symbol for the amount of time and effort they put in and how far they have come. Over the shoulder shots of a father looking out of the window at his son training in the darkness outside show how hard his son is working for this and that his father isn't pushing him into something he doesn't care about, it also gets the audience involved as we are given a 'place at the table' where we see what he sees. Parents are interviewed separately to their children but in the foreground to them at their training grounds or competitions. These shots are taken with close ups. Extreme close ups are used to present one of the children, this shot is used to show his emotion. It stands out and focuses on him because a shallow depth of field is used to block out any surroundings. An over the should shot of one father talking to his daughter is used so that we can see her reactions to what he is saying as if we are saying it to her, again we are given a place in the conversation. Mid shots are used to portray the parents watching their children and critizing. Extreme long shots are used to show the audience a change in location or time by giving an over view of an area. Close low angle are taken of small factors to the childrens' successes, things such as a racket maker and a physiotherapist are shown. Side shots of families watching their children are used to reflect on how interested they are in it and how focused even the parents get. Tracking is used to follow the ball and the childrens' movement during their activity, this is so us as an audience can see their ability. Bird's eye views pan over one child whilst he is working out for his boxing by running and jabbing the air. A worm's eye view is used on some of the children to portray their power and ability, making them look intimidating as they really want to succeed and make their parent's proud.

Mise En Scene
On the screen we see the entire training grounds that are relevant to the children who the documentary is focusing on. Parent's are interviewed in their homes to make it look more natural, however, the interview backgrounds are not really considered and thought about as they are merely on the streets, by walls or by doorways when inside which is too casual for an interview. One father has serious body language as his arms are folded and he is wearing his sunglasses which hide part of his stern look. In the background of some interviews you can make out one of the children doing his boxing training, this is one example of a relevant background. Some of the children train in the night time which shows their dedication and gives this impression to the audience. A bottle of alcohol is on one of the father's desk whilst he is calculating how much money they have spent on training his daughter and researching how to solve her minor injury. This reflects on how stressed he is about it all.

Sound
At the beginning of the documentary we hear a mellow rhythm which sounds fairly 'techno,' this is played quietly in the background and adds somewhat of a competitive aspect to the introduction, which is an on going theme throughout. The narrators voice and the speech during interviews are the only other main sound that can be heard within the documentary, the rest is ambient. On some of the interviews with the children the questions are spoken on camera and aren't repeated by the children.

Editing
The voice over explains the mise en scene and then runs over onto the interview where the interviewee gives an explanation of the mise en scene; the mise en scene is relevant to the discussion at that time.

Archive Material
The only archive material used is a snap shot of Wimbledon to portray the girl and her father's dream and to show her potential. This is relevant because she is a tennis player and wants to get that far. Another piece of archive material is a video of one of the children are the age of 5, this shows his past and gives the audience an insight into his life.

Graphics
The graphics are white and in a 'comic stance' font during the title 'Trophy Kids.' This is also repeated when the programme tunes back in from an advert, however, the background is a long shot of what sport the children play and which child is going to be documented next. The credits at the end roll up vertically on a black background with a white font to keep the simple format to the documentary.

Fighting On The Frontline

Type of Documentary
This documentary is mixed as it portrays observation, narration and interviews.

Themes
The main themes of this documentary are army life, reality, emergencies, death, war and jobs.

Narrative Structure
The narrative structure is linear as there is a clear beginning, middle and end. The beginning shows the fun that the soldiers have and then it turns and shows how serious it is by coming away from the light hearted general work. The middle emphasises the serious work they undertake on an average day, showing a typical scene and death. This is an insight of the war. It ends with the consistant theme of realism, how individual soldiers took the experience and what they would miss about it.

Camerawork
The camera work consists of a range of shots. There are long shots of aircrafts to portray how far away they are and yet still so large, this gives the audience an idea of how extreme life is out there. Another long shot is taken of the soliders playing games, this gets most of them on the screen and represents their free time is well spent and they don't take advantage of it by wasting it. Mid shots and close ups were used during the interviews to show the soliders importance and so that we focus solely on them. The camera during these shots moves slowly as if we're getting closer into their mind and understand them and their feelings on the subject. A use of a fly on the wall type shot giving the pilot's perspective is shown to make us as an audience feel like we're in that position. Bird's eye view shots are used to show the landscape, allowing us to see the area they work in and how rural it appears because of all of the empty space and desert like ground. Worm's eye view shots are used to show the grateness and importance of the aircrafts, portraying how the soldiers rely on their equipment as much as they rely on each other. This shot also brings the audience into the documentary as we see what the soldiers would see so we feel a part of it. A short zoom into the green scope screen in an aircraft of the area beneath is used to express the pilot's point of view. There is also panning of the area from the soldiers' perspective.


Mise En Scene
Interviews alternate which sides of the screen the interviewee and the text appear. In the background and in the surroundings there is army gear, helmets, overalls, boots, guns and protection. This is relevant and keeps the theme throughout. A lot of footage is filmed from inside aircrafts whilst they are in Afganistan deserts. The atmosphere is busy so the documentary is not dressing up the subject to be something it isn't, it is realistic. In the background of interviews there is just a plain screen or wall and it is unclear due to the camera's shallow depth of field. The point of this is so we focus on the interviewee and pay complete attention to him. It also portrays and reflects the interviewees personally, allowing the audience to see their emotions and opinions.

Sound
The sound is progressive at the start as the pace increases, giving the audience a sense of anticipation before the real insight to army life begins. Most of the sound in the documentary is diegetic as you can hear the surrounding sound that the soldiers can hear. this includes laughing at the start and then guns, walkie talkies and plane movements from there on. The voices of the interviewees are alls that can be heard during the interviews because they want the audience to focus on what they're saying without distractions. The narrator is the only other sound to be heard that isn't ambient.

Editing
Quick cuts of interviews, the soliders free time and tracking through the desert are the first thing we see at the beginning of the documentary, this gives the audience an insight as to how quick you have to be in terms of cognetic and somatic ability to survive in the army. The sound during the interviews carries on speaking over some of the footage which is acting as a cut away. An example of when this happens is when it discusses the equipment. Some scope shots of what the soliders see are in black and white so we focus on what they are looking at.

Archive Material
Footage from the air and from on the frontline are used to present the realism. Another aspect of the documentary which did this was the use of scope footage at night. This emphasises how often they work and that it carries on through the night.

Graphics
The graphics at the beginning of the documentary are plain white and on a black background. These graphics discuss what the documentary is about to show you. To present this to be as if someone is talking to you directly it is on the left hand side of the screen and half way down. The use of the plain black background against the white text allows the audience to focus entirely on the text they see. Interviews present the name in a larger font above who they are, this is on the bottom of the screen in the opposite corner to the interviewee. This is so the audience are not distracted from the subject. Subtitles are used to portray what is being said over all of the noise. Noise is created from the explosions and aircrafts, this is left in the documentary so we get a real insight to the atmosphere. Credits play at the end, they scroll up vertically after a soldier grabs the camera. The point of the soldier doing this is to continue that sense of reality.