DOCUMENTARY

QUESTION ONE

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

There are many codes and conventions to consider when creating media products. Documentaries tend to follow a trend that I have tried to recreate in my own documentary about hair. One of the first things that we c

onsidered when creating this documentary was looking at the people we would film for our interview and the relevant cutaways that we would use in the film. This is as one of the obvious trends in a documentary is the fact that they all will have experts talking about the topic the documentary is based on and they all have cutaways that are also relevant to this topic. We developed and challenged this convention by having more complex and creative cutaways that include exciting editing techniques on the different hair related shops on the high street and camera angles when focusing on the different hair products within hair shops.

One of the key codes and conventions that we have included in our documentary is that all of the interviewers are looking away from the camera. This meant that if any of the interviewees looked at the camera during filming we had to retake the shoot. This allowed us to expand on this convention and make it better with repetition. Also within the interview process of the documentary a convention is that you never hear the question that the interviewer poses meaning that they are edited out during the editing process. This gives the effect that the interview is more natural and runs smoother. It is trend to have the graphics at the bottom of the screen to show the audience the main information that is relevant about the person being interviewed. We developed this idea by having our graphics in the same colour that we found out in our audience research was the majority of people’s favourite colour. These are shown with in the first few seconds of the person being on screen and the time they are shown never exceeds five seconds. The framing within the interview is also key, as if this doesn’t match the codes and conventions then the interview has to be re-filmed in the correct framing, otherwise it is uncomfortable for the audience to watch the interview comfortably.

As well as cutaways being relevant to the documentary the background and mise-en-scene of the interview also has to be relevant. We used this in our documentary by creating a background with different pictures of people’s hair on it to go in the background of the person being interviewed. This is as it anchors meaning to the documentary and ensures that the audience member it always being reminded what that documentary is about. We developed this convention by interviewing a barber in front of a mirror, showing the reflection of the shop and the tools the barber uses in the background; I feel this was very effective. The only time within the documentary were the background in an interview is usually not relevant is during the vox pops, and that is because these interviews are conducted at random on the street. Another convention that we used in our interviews is that the interviewee is either looking to the left or the right. We challenged this convention by mixing the position of the head between interviews. This created more diversity.

My media product here shows how it is very similar to real media products through following the codes and conventions of print adverts. This shows here that our print advert looks very similar to the ones of a professional standard through following some easy things. Firstly the image we chose was simple yet had an impact on the audience and told them exactly what the documentary was about but in a way that makes them want to watch the documentary to find out more. This is what both print adverts do. Also you will notice that we have used the channel four i-dent in the same place as on the real advert. This keeps to the conventions of print ads and gives the advert an overall more professional look. Also the titles are the same colour as the i-dent. This is a subtle code of print adverts that we have included to make the product look even better and realistic. The information we have given on the advert is also relevant and in relation to the type of information that you would usually expect to see on a print advert. The image on both print adverts have also been manipulated in some way or edited to make it have a stronger impact on the viewer. This makes the product look of a very high standard.

The radio advert below is an example of a professional one that is currently being used/ has been used in the media. When played in comparison to mine you will see that both radio adverts follow the same codes and conventions to make them look professional and interest anyone that is listening. Firstly the music bed used interests and attracts the audience to listening, and then the voice over artist has an interesting voice in some way that makes you interested in what they are saying. It also uses some sort of slogan to tell the audience member what the product is and make you think about what is being played. This makes our radio advert look as though it is a professional one.

I realize that this is not an advert for a documentary. But they are hard to find on the internet and this clip demonstrates the codes and conventions of a radio trailer.

QUESTION TWO

EVALUATION QUESTION TWO

View more presentations from Jessica Healey.

QUESTION THREE

INDIVIDUAL FEEDBACK

To gather information of what people thought about my documentary I posted the video on my Facebook profile and asked them to comment on what they thought. This is the information we gathered;

Jordan here says that h

e feels there was a fast cut that he didn’t feel was appropriate. We used fast cuts in our documentary to make it look more fun and exciting to the audience so that’s why we left in the fast cut. Jordan also says that he feels the documentary flows well from person to person and that we used relevant cutaways. That is important as this is one of the main codes and conventions from documentaries. He also states that the camera was ‘choppy’ in some places, I feel that this is because of some difficulty with the recording equipment that was out of our control, but we felt we should still use the footage as it was important to the documentary.

Laura comments on the framing of the interview with the barber making the documentary look professional. This is goodas it means that it is meeting the needs of the viewer. She also states that she enjoyed the documentary and it looks well made.

Helen says here that we have used relevant music in the music bed to keep the meaning anchored to the documentary topic. Helen also gives positive feed back about the opening title sequence and says that it is ‘funny’ showing that we also are entertaining the audience as well as informing them. She also says that it looks ‘professional’ suggesting that she didn’t see any visible problems with editing or cuts.

David has given me some mixed feed back; he states that the cutaways and music are relevant and fit well with the flow of the documentary. But David also states that a woman is in the shot of the interview that doesn’t speak. This is a problem we noticed, unfortunately it was a two shot interview, but this woman didn’t say anything during filming. We still used the footage though as we felt there was still useful information in the footage and it gave a variety of interview framings throughout the documentary.

Rachel says firstly that she enjoyed the documentary which is positive feedback. She also comments on the sped up archived footage of the man shaving head, this is good as it was used as a transition to one topic about hair to another. She also mentions that she enjoyed the reconstruction as the added drama to the documentary. This is good as modern documentaries are more and more dramatized, which means we meet the codes and conventions of modern documentaries.

GROUP FEEDBACK

It is important for a documentary to be informative but also entertaining at the same time. This ensures that the documentary will be watched all the way through and people are more likely to watch more documentaries if they are enjoyable. This is why this question is

important as it ensures that people are enjoying the documentary otherwise if they didn’t enjoy it they wouldn’t watch it. This is a good result that we have gathered, this positive feedback tells me that 14/15 people enjoyed the documentary meaning that it was a success in this way. However one person did say that they didn’t enjoy the documentary.

This could be due to this result. This result shows that one person didn’t think that the editing was smooth so this could be the reason there was one person that didn’t enjoy the documentary. This problem with editing could be due to two things. From the facebook comments it looks like there could have been a problem with how fast the cuts are, as this is the only thing that could be seen as making the editing look un-smooth. This feedback is also positive though, as it shows that most people feel the editing was smooth. The continuity of a documentary has to be good, as this ensures that the documentary is easy and enjoyable to watch. Good continuity is a convention of documentaries, showing that my documentary meets the requirements of a documentary.

FURTHER FEEDBACK

Hannah here in the video states that she feels that the documentary worked well. She says that she thinks the opening title sequence is fun and enjoyable making her want to watch the rest of the documentary. This is good as this is one of the codes and conventions of a documentary that the first opening titles have to make the viewer want to carry on watching. However, she says that she didn’t think that the interview with the two wig shop owners fit in with the documentary as it didn’t have the same upbeat feel as the other interviews. This is understandable but may just be down to personal reference, as the documentary had to include this bit about hair too fit with the slogan ‘highlights and low lights’ i.e. the good and bad things about hair.

When questioned on the about her thoughts on the radio advert, Hannah states that she felt the advert made her want to watch the documentary because it sounded so fun and upbeat. This is good because it shows that we used correct codes and conventions of relating the music bed to the documentary and drawing in the audience. On the other hand, she says that the music jumped at one point, this is as we wished for the part of the song ‘that weirdo with five colours in her hair’ to be played at this point and it could have been a problem with the editing process.

Feedback about the print advert was great as it showed that we succeeded in creating a print that looked professional and made people want to watch the documentary.

IN SUMATION

In hindsight this feedback helped me see that the people that viewed my media products did actual enjoy them, and although there were some problems with the media, they were there for reasons and could be explained as to why they were there. Overall I feel that the feedback was positive.

QUESTION FOUR

EVALUATION QUESTION FOUR on Prezi
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