Thursday 16 December 2010
Wednesday 15 December 2010
Evaluation
Question one: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Examples of keeping in whith convention- (examples from our documentary above)
This screenshot from our documentary shows how we have included voxpops in our documtentary.
Above you cen see our opening titles which we featured in our documentary
This shot shows how we focused on mise en scene in our documentary, as we always had something relevant to what is being said in the interview in the background.
Here we see that we included graphics when showing an interview with someone for the first time. These only stayed on the screen for five seconds and no longer, so that the audience arn't distraced from whats happening int the intervew.
We can see how we kept with the framing conventions in this shot as they are talking to one side of the camera and the eyeline is a third of the way down the screen.
I am aware that the cube is not a documentary but it was difficult to find examples of ITV print adverts and this would share the conventions a documentary print advert would
As you can see from the powerpoint my advert abides by all of the codes and conventions of print adverts like using one main image which has had little or no manipulation done to it and the image takes up most of the advert. The ident appearing in the bottom right of the image and the title with other information in the bottom left corner. The graphics are simple and do not distract from the main image. The whole advert also uses a limited amount of colour.
I have abided by all of these conventions because I wanted the advert to look professional.
The radio advert also abides by most of the radio advert codes and conventions. Below is an advert which abides by the radio codes and conventions.
I abided by all of the conventions for the radio trailer such as using a constant music bed which I did by having classical music playing throughout my trailer and in the one above there is quiet instrumental music playing. We also included the programme information, like the programme title, slogan, channel and time. We included these on the end of our trailer because then it would stay fresh in our target audiences minds and so they wouldn't forget. They also use extracts from the actual programme, which we included with the voxpops and some parts of the interviews. This is not included in the trailer above. We also used the same voiceover as in the actual programme and we did this so that the two would be paralleled together and linked. The voiceover in our product uses rhetorical questions and puns like fancy a cuppa so that the audience is drawn in, this is another convention. This can also be herd in the advert above as Steven Fry both does the trailer and documentary and uses rhetorical questions and puns.
This shows that I have sucessfully used the conventions from radio trailers and I did this to make it look professional.
I made both the adverts abide by most if not all of the conventions because I needed to draw in an audience and then went against some of the conventions in the main documentary. I did this because the main documentary needed to keep changing so that the audience would watch all of the way through where as the adverts only needed to gain an audience.
Question two: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?
Examples of keeping in whith convention- (examples from our documentary above)
This screenshot from our documentary shows how we have included voxpops in our documtentary.
Above you cen see our opening titles which we featured in our documentary
This shot shows how we focused on mise en scene in our documentary, as we always had something relevant to what is being said in the interview in the background.
Here we see that we included graphics when showing an interview with someone for the first time. These only stayed on the screen for five seconds and no longer, so that the audience arn't distraced from whats happening int the intervew.
We can see how we kept with the framing conventions in this shot as they are talking to one side of the camera and the eyeline is a third of the way down the screen.
I am aware that the cube is not a documentary but it was difficult to find examples of ITV print adverts and this would share the conventions a documentary print advert would
As you can see from the powerpoint my advert abides by all of the codes and conventions of print adverts like using one main image which has had little or no manipulation done to it and the image takes up most of the advert. The ident appearing in the bottom right of the image and the title with other information in the bottom left corner. The graphics are simple and do not distract from the main image. The whole advert also uses a limited amount of colour.
I have abided by all of these conventions because I wanted the advert to look professional.
The radio advert also abides by most of the radio advert codes and conventions. Below is an advert which abides by the radio codes and conventions.
I abided by all of the conventions for the radio trailer such as using a constant music bed which I did by having classical music playing throughout my trailer and in the one above there is quiet instrumental music playing. We also included the programme information, like the programme title, slogan, channel and time. We included these on the end of our trailer because then it would stay fresh in our target audiences minds and so they wouldn't forget. They also use extracts from the actual programme, which we included with the voxpops and some parts of the interviews. This is not included in the trailer above. We also used the same voiceover as in the actual programme and we did this so that the two would be paralleled together and linked. The voiceover in our product uses rhetorical questions and puns like fancy a cuppa so that the audience is drawn in, this is another convention. This can also be herd in the advert above as Steven Fry both does the trailer and documentary and uses rhetorical questions and puns.
This shows that I have sucessfully used the conventions from radio trailers and I did this to make it look professional.
I made both the adverts abide by most if not all of the conventions because I needed to draw in an audience and then went against some of the conventions in the main documentary. I did this because the main documentary needed to keep changing so that the audience would watch all of the way through where as the adverts only needed to gain an audience.
Question two: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?
(Click on the link below)
The cube advert is not a documentary advert, however I used it to show the codes and conventions of ITV print adverts and I could not find any ITV documentary adverts.
As part of my target audience feedback I put my finished documentary product onto facebook in order to get comments from the people that I know. Overall the comments which I received we re positive for example Becky Moules said that the documentary was well edited its concise, humorous at times and easy to watch, a very informative documentary about Britain and its love for tea. Other positive comments which people said was that it wouldn’t look out of place on the news and that it was very professional. However, the documentary did not escape criticism. There were many evaluative points which I received on facebook. These included, the narrative was hard to understand, this was justified because we challenged the convention with Janet so that the audience had a break from facts and kept them interested. Someone else said that the music was distracting in the interviews. However, we have since changed this so that there were no lyrics in the music in the interviews or when the voiceover was talking. This was so the voiceover would stand out and so that the lyrics would not distract the audience from the information being said.
We also changed some of the parts to instrumentals so that the audience could stay interested. Another comment which I received off facebook was that the microphone was a bit too sensitive on the interview with James Hill, the sociologist. This was an issue which we could not correct as the cameras did not allow you to challenge the microphone gain. We did turn down the volume in his interview when we were in the editing process. Someone also said that the pictures of Britain look out of place but this is OK because they show typical pictures of Britain and this anchors meaning to what the voiceover is saying at the time. We were trying to show stereotypical images of Britain and this gives the audience a break from tea and so keeps them interested. A comment which was said a few time was that the documentary ended suddenly. But this was OK because we did have more footage but we had to cut it short as the documentary could only be five minutes so the ending was forced to be sudden. We did plan out the rest of our documentary in the planning stage so it is meant to continue but we could only produce the first five minutes. Another comment which followed this was that they wanted to see more of the tea room manager as she had some very good points about tea, but as we had to stick to five minutes we could not change this. A final criticism which we got from facebook was of the framing in the voxpops was too square and that we should have changed the height of the camera as the height of the people changed also. However, as we did our vox pops early we had used their answers to create parts of our documentary. Also there were many comical answers and comical people which we spoke to so we did not want to get rid of this footage as they added comedy. 
We also handed out a questionnaire and this gave us some valuable information on our documentary for example, we asked if they noticed the music and fourteen out of fifteen people said that they did notice the music. This means that we were correct to add in tea related songs and that we made the correct choice for non-diegetic sound. To justify the one person who said that they didn’t notice the music this could have been avoided if we had a constant music bed throughout the documentary. We did have a constant music bed but then we received comment that the lyrics in the songs were distracting from the voiceover and other content. In hindsight if I did the documentary again I would find more relevant instrumental music. The next question which we asked was how could our documentary be improved and this question gave us many evaluation points. A lot of the comments which we received were saying that they wanted to see more of Janet. This was a big problem in the editing process because Janets footage was difficult to cut down because it was all very comical. But in order to show that we had shot a variety of interviews and footage we had to keep that section as short as we could. It was important to use as much of Janets footage as we could because we wanted to make our documentary as light and fun as we could so that the documentary did not risk getting boring as tea could be a boring subject. This links to other comments which we received, these were saying that the documentary needed to be more informative. We had originally planned to do this however, we then changed our minds and thought that we should make our documentary seem exciting and fun so that it wouldn't risk getting boring. But if I were to make the documentary again then I could found time to include a small origins section. We also asked in our questionnaire if they understood the documentary and only one person said that they didn't. This was because we challenged the conventions of documentary narrative by starting with the tea tutorial and then coming back to it later. Asking the target audience how our print advert also gave us some good constructive criticism. They said that the font should have a different colour and that it needed to be more visible. As you can see with our new advert being below and right we moved the font and changed the colour. Another comment which we received was that we should make the font look bigger than the image, but we didn't make this change because this would go against the convention of print adverts and make ours look un-professional.
Copy of Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? on Prezi
Question three:What have you leaned from your audience feedback?
As part of my target audience feedback I put my finished documentary product onto facebook in order to get comments from the people that I know. Overall the comments which I received we re positive for example Becky Moules said that the documentary was well edited its concise, humorous at times and easy to watch, a very informative documentary about Britain and its love for tea. Other positive comments which people said was that it wouldn’t look out of place on the news and that it was very professional. However, the documentary did not escape criticism. There were many evaluative points which I received on facebook. These included, the narrative was hard to understand, this was justified because we challenged the convention with Janet so that the audience had a break from facts and kept them interested. Someone else said that the music was distracting in the interviews. However, we have since changed this so that there were no lyrics in the music in the interviews or when the voiceover was talking. This was so the voiceover would stand out and so that the lyrics would not distract the audience from the information being said.
We also changed some of the parts to instrumentals so that the audience could stay interested. Another comment which I received off facebook was that the microphone was a bit too sensitive on the interview with James Hill, the sociologist. This was an issue which we could not correct as the cameras did not allow you to challenge the microphone gain. We did turn down the volume in his interview when we were in the editing process. Someone also said that the pictures of Britain look out of place but this is OK because they show typical pictures of Britain and this anchors meaning to what the voiceover is saying at the time. We were trying to show stereotypical images of Britain and this gives the audience a break from tea and so keeps them interested. A comment which was said a few time was that the documentary ended suddenly. But this was OK because we did have more footage but we had to cut it short as the documentary could only be five minutes so the ending was forced to be sudden. We did plan out the rest of our documentary in the planning stage so it is meant to continue but we could only produce the first five minutes. Another comment which followed this was that they wanted to see more of the tea room manager as she had some very good points about tea, but as we had to stick to five minutes we could not change this. A final criticism which we got from facebook was of the framing in the voxpops was too square and that we should have changed the height of the camera as the height of the people changed also. However, as we did our vox pops early we had used their answers to create parts of our documentary. Also there were many comical answers and comical people which we spoke to so we did not want to get rid of this footage as they added comedy. 
We also handed out a questionnaire and this gave us some valuable information on our documentary for example, we asked if they noticed the music and fourteen out of fifteen people said that they did notice the music. This means that we were correct to add in tea related songs and that we made the correct choice for non-diegetic sound. To justify the one person who said that they didn’t notice the music this could have been avoided if we had a constant music bed throughout the documentary. We did have a constant music bed but then we received comment that the lyrics in the songs were distracting from the voiceover and other content. In hindsight if I did the documentary again I would find more relevant instrumental music. The next question which we asked was how could our documentary be improved and this question gave us many evaluation points. A lot of the comments which we received were saying that they wanted to see more of Janet. This was a big problem in the editing process because Janets footage was difficult to cut down because it was all very comical. But in order to show that we had shot a variety of interviews and footage we had to keep that section as short as we could. It was important to use as much of Janets footage as we could because we wanted to make our documentary as light and fun as we could so that the documentary did not risk getting boring as tea could be a boring subject. This links to other comments which we received, these were saying that the documentary needed to be more informative. We had originally planned to do this however, we then changed our minds and thought that we should make our documentary seem exciting and fun so that it wouldn't risk getting boring. But if I were to make the documentary again then I could found time to include a small origins section. We also asked in our questionnaire if they understood the documentary and only one person said that they didn't. This was because we challenged the conventions of documentary narrative by starting with the tea tutorial and then coming back to it later. Asking the target audience how our print advert also gave us some good constructive criticism. They said that the font should have a different colour and that it needed to be more visible. As you can see with our new advert being below and right we moved the font and changed the colour. Another comment which we received was that we should make the font look bigger than the image, but we didn't make this change because this would go against the convention of print adverts and make ours look un-professional.
Our final question was do you have any comments on the editing of our documentary? The comments which we received from this were mainly on the pace of the documentary as some people said that it was too fast paced. This links back to us trying to keep the documentary interesting and not boring and the fast paced editing was an attempt to do this as it keeps the audience interested. Some of the other comments backed this up and so if I were to do the documentary again I would keep the same pace.
Another piece of target audience feedback which I did was getting another media student to watch the documentary and then comment on it.
This interview with Daniel was very helpful with my target audience feedback because it both justified my reasons for decisions within our documentary and gave us some constructive criticism. He thought that the music was good as it fits in with the topic of tea being a traditional part of British society, this along with the questionnaire proves that the music which we have chosen works well with the documentary. He said that the opening title sequence was a bit jumpy and so we could have improved it by doing a smoother animation, in hindsight we could have used more shots of the tea bags to make it look smoother. Dan then says about the voiceover lacking in volume, and this would have been difficult to alter because we made the voiceover a lot louder in Adobe Premier but we could have put the microphone closer to her or turned up the mic gain when doing the recording. When he said that the two interviews being shown at the same time was good, this justified my decision and showed me that going against convention was the correct thing to do as it worked. He also criticised the cutaway imaged we used to represent Britain, this issue was also brought up on facebook so in hindsight I could have found more relevant images to tea and Britain. Another which was presented was the framing in voxpops as we had them in the centre and did not adjust the camera to suit the person. This was a convention we should have stuck with as it gives the impression of the documentary being professional. Dan also liked the tea tutorial part as he said that it was like a programme within a programme, so this means that we were right to go against convention. The use of statistics and archive footage he said worked well and this is good because we included these so that our documentary would look professional.
To conclude the audience feedback section of the documentary has been very helpful because it has shown me that my media product does work as I received positive comments, It has also shown me changes that needed to be made like with my print and radio advert. Finally it showed me how I could have made it better if I were to repeat the process, which has allowed me to grow as a media student.
Question four: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Sunday 14 November 2010
Documentary Analysis
The devil made me do it
The devil made me do it is a mixed documentary because it has a voiceover in at certain points, which pushes the narrative. It also had observation elements which were used to support the evidence. Reconstructions were also used in it to dramatise situations like the murder.
The big theme in the documentary was murder, as a nun had been murdered in a small religious town in Italy. As the documentary progressed the murder then linked with how teenagers were rebelling through musical influences like Marilyn Manson.
This documentary started with the murder of a nun in a small religious town, with no motive. In the middle of the documentary the case became complicated because they unmasked the killers, who turned out to be three teenage girls as they confessed. The story progressed and Marilyn Manson was accused as the puppet master. The resolution of the documentary was that one of the killers had repented and the sentences of all three girls had been reviled, and the town was back to normal.
At Manson’s concert there were many low angles used which made him look powerful and like the puppet master of all the audience. There was a woman who was a psychology expert
and she had close up shots on her, which gave her importance. Whenever the cameras showed the town, high angles were used to make the town seem vulnerable as a murder had taken place. Also in the reconstruction of the murder the camera was cantered, which made the killers seem psychotic and villainous.
In regards to mise-en-scene the psychologist expert was dressed in red as she was relating to the killers in a small way, making her seem evil also. All of the interviews which took place were in the interviewees own environment, which would have made them feel comfortable and so more likely to give out information. At the Manson concert the audience which were shown on camera all looked the same as Manson, this was the documentary showing his influence on teenagers. However, you
must remember that documentaries don’t show a true picture as there would have been a number of “normal” looking people at the concert. Two sides of Mansion were shown, him at the concert and then him at the Vatican. In the interviews Mansion was also shown to be a very intelligent person, disproving the things said by others. You could also argue that the girls weren’t shown to let the audience imagine what they look like, but the voiceover said it was due to them being only 16.
There were various non-diegetic sounds throughout the documentary, for example because it had a religious theme as a nun had been killed there was religious music like organs. The reconstruction of the murder had a big impact of sound because there was a heart beating which slowed, the sound of someone running up the stairs and sounds of beating which resulted in the heart beat to stop. There was also diegetic sounds like at the concert where some of Marilyn’s controversial lyrics were exposed with the crowd seen singing along. Then there was background noise during interviews sound effects to help raise importance.
Cut away shots were used as evidence, when people were talking in the interviews. There was also match on action used in the concert, which kept the action and showed the crowd enjoying the concert and an investigator finding it disturbing. There were also many point of view shots, like the eye line match in the reconstruction of the murder which made the audience feel like they were part of it. Long takes were used in the town which connotes as time running out to find the killers. Fast paced editing at times made the documentary have drama and excites the audience.
The documentary uses a number of different archive materials. A lot of these were of Marilyn Manson, either in his music videos or at concert which showed him to be odd and unusual. This made the audience worried because this was the person who was a role model to a lot of teenagers. Also footage from the trial was used, which would have had to be filmed at a different time also the same with the nun’s funeral. Finally the last piece of archive footage which they used was of the columbine shooting, which compared this case to another where people had been influenced by Manson.
The graphics for the documentary were simple and were just white writing at the bottom of the screen, which didn’t distract from what was happening on the screen as they were not on for more than five seconds. At the end when the killer’s sentences were revealed it was just white writing on a black video, which is also simple.
Marketing Movies BBC2 Educational Documentary
This documentary was a mixed documentary because it contained a voiceover, helping the audience understand what is happening in the narrative. Observation was also used with trailers and merchandise being shown, to give examples of what was being said in the interviews.
The main theme of this documentary was marketing films, as it was informing the audience how films are marketed today. This then progressed to showing why it is important to attract your target audience. The documentary also had themes of education because the documentary was made for an educational purpose, to teach GCSE classes about marketing films.
The documentary had a clear linear narrative, with a beginning, middle and end. The beginning had fast editing and fast passed music, making the documentary seem important as the experts were talking about why marketing is important in regards to films. The middle showed the importance of other parts of marketing like merchandising when marketing a children’s film. In the end we saw the finished product of the trailers for a film Mousetrap, but two trailers were shown targeted at different audiences. It was left to the audience’s decision if the trailers were affective or not, as the film had only just come out.
During the interviews the camera was static and a close up was shown, which makes the interviewees look and sound important. There was a transition from deep focus on the interviewee to shallow focus on a poster when one of the experts was talking about decisions made when making the poster. There were many high angles on London, making it seem vulnerable and insignificant compared to America in regards to marketing films. Zooms were
used on the important people, which looked bad and seemed amateur. There was also other close ups used on objects relating to cinema, which were used as cut away shots when the experts talked about the cinema. The camera did pans on merchandise when the experts in the interviews talked about merchandising with films, the pan showed how much merchandise is made for one film.
The mise-en-scene in this documentary was almost irrelevant in regards to the setting of the interviews because film posters had been set up which anchored meaning to what the experts were saying. This also links to documentaries being creatively controlled, as someone has set that poster up to give meaning to the audience. The premiers were all in London and no American experts were interviewed, which was ironic because Americans specialise in marketing films, as most are made in Hollywood.
There was diegetic sound used which was natural in the interviews, There was also none diegetic sound like in the opening and end of the documentary, which excited the audience and made them want to carry on watching. However, you could argue that the music was underplayed with the narration and music bed being rarely used. So sound did not have a big impact on the documentary.
The documentary started with very fast cuts which was exciting and made the audience want to carry on watching the documentary. This also gives the documentary a chance to get an audience by accident by starting off fast so people are less likely to change the channel. Relevant cutaways were used from the expert’s interviews, which helped anchor meaning. However, the documentary also contained some amateur methods. For example they used a fade, which made the documentary look cheap and amateur as there is no need for one as a cut away shot would look more professional.
The archive material used in this documentary was quite vital to the documentary because it was looking at how they have marketed the film mousetrap so it was vital to show clips from the trailer. When the experts were talking about merchandising with the lion king and the little mermaid, they showed clips of the films, to act as cutaways and emphasise their point. It also gives the audience a point of view on the successfully marketed films. There was also archive material from premiers where important people were seen.
The graphics in this documentary were constant and driven because the documentary was meant for school teachers and had a man introducing each part of the documentary in a graphic. The words introducing people however were simple and white at the bottom of the screen.
The Music Biz
This documentary was in a mixed style as it had lots of different parts to it for example it had interviews with important marketing people which adds evidence and explain how the Meatloaf marketing campaign worked. The documentary also contained a voiceover which anchored meaning to what was happening on the screen.
The documentary contained various different themes to it such as, the rise and fall of Meatloaf because the documentary showed his success after Bat out of Hell and then his bankruptcy after it. It also contained theme of the race to the Christmas number one, it also showed how important it was to have a number one twenty years ago whereas today it isn’t important to music artists. There were also explicit themes of music and marketing with the documentary showing meatloaf and the campaign which people had drawn up for his new album.
The documentary had a clear linear narrative structure. At beginning we are told a little bit about the music industry and we learn that Meatloaf want to re-launch himself to the public and create an album. The middle showed the new re-launched Meatloaf and we got to hear his new song, however the issue was made that the production team had spent too much money and so they all had to mortgage their houses to afford to do the video. In the end we saw that Meatloaf had become successful but he wasn’t the Christmas number one but he did win his first Grammy.
Throughout the documentary there was various close ups on Meatloaf and Michael Bay during the video shoot, highlighting a power struggle between the two of them. The camera also did pans on important people to show that they have During the interviews they used mid close-ups and they sometimes flipped the interview, to try and add variation however the technique looked amateur. Another technique which didn’t make the documentary artistic was the zooms which were used frequently with Meatloaf on location shots.
The interviews were done on a blue screen and then a relevant background was added later, this helped the voiceover anchor meaning into the documentary. The camera also filmed the music video on location which aligned the audience with Meatloaf and added interaction with the camera which isn’t usual of mixed documentaries. We also got to see Meatloaf’s old concert footage, which let the audience see how good Meatloaf once was. There was an anti climax at one point in the documentary because the voiceover said that one collaboration with Meatloaf and another man would be brilliant but then they never said anything of it again. Meatloaf’s makeup in the music video can also be commented on, as he was dressed as a fictional character and so this means that Meatloaf is also just a character and not real.
There was diegetic sounds in the documentary of the interviews and the voiceover, as it was within the narrative. There was also diegetic noise at the press conference, which was loud and chaotic which showed that everyone wanted to hear about meatloaf. There was also none diegetic music of Mr blobby, the village people and Meatloaf and the song I’d do anything for love was overplayed throughout the documentary. The only sound effect which was used was a heartbeat when the camera showed a picture of the new album, connoting that it would have to do well but it was unknown if it would.
There was a shot reverse shot used at the video shoot between Michael Bay and Meatloaf, connoting a power struggle between the two of them. Cutaways were used to reinforce what was being said in the interviews and to anchor meaning. At the beginning we saw fast paced editing of interviews between marketing people and journalists and this highlighted the conflict between the two of them.
There was archive material used in the documentary of the Grammys and of Meatloaf performing there. There was also a lot of music video archive footage from videos like Meatloaf, Mr Blobby and the village people.
At the beginning there was a magazine cover and there were interview’s blue screened inside it, showing that what they were saying was important like news on the cover. As the interviews were shown they were introduced by simple white writing at the bottom of the screen.
Laura Croft That Thing
Laura Croft That Thing was a mixed documentary because it contained interviews with the creator of Laura Croft and feminists, who tackled some of the debates about Laura Croft. Evidence was also used in the form of archive footage and footage from the game, to back up the experts points.
In the opening titles shots of Jimi came up on the screen with the sound of lightening, which connotes as him being powerful and could also signify him as being a god like figure. The opening titles also have a point of view shot of a rollercoaster, which could describe him as he was exciting on stage or his link with drugs as that is what it made you feel like. In one of the interviews someone even describes him as a rollercoaster when he was on drugs. There were many archive shots of London in the 60’s to show the audience where he was playing and to anchor meaning to what the musicians were saying. Some of the famous musicians had their interview in front of drum kits, which helped the audience, understand who they were, if they did not recognise them. One interviewee even was holding a guitar in the interview, which gave the audience even more of an explicit idea of what he does. Also in all of his interviews Slash was smoking and this links with him being a rock star and being rebellious. There is a moment in the documentary where one of the interviewees says that Jimi bought a jacket and then there is archive footage of everyone queuing up for these jackets, which shows that Jimi was a style icon in the 60’s. The audience is encourperated into the documentary because in two occasions the camera is asked questions by the interviewee’s and the cameraman answers. This differs to the convention because the camera is meant to be hidden away and not be able to be seen.
The sound had a big part in this documentary because it was on Jimi Hendrix, and so his songs would be expected to play a big role in the documentary about him. So the documentary contained a lot of none-diegetic music, with purple haze playing in the opening titles, but the opening titles also contained the diegetic sounds from the rollercoaster. There was also diegetic sound from the narrator, Slash, who was very relevant to the target audience because people who watch this documentary would be interested in famous guitar players, like Jimi Hendrix and Slash. Many of Jimi Hendrix’ songs appeared in the documentary and whilst the famous musicians were talking the none diegetic music would still play whilst they are talking, this gave the effect that Jimi is still with us. Also it gave what some of the musicians were saying some reality because they were talking about Hendrix’ gigs and the music in the background gave the effect of being at his gig and talking to someone. There was other none-diegetic music like the French music when Jimi had scheduled a tour in France.
The editing in the opening titles was slow as it was all one take on a rollercoaster, but then once the song kicked in then the editing sped up with quick cuts between famous musicians and their opinions of Jimi. During the documentary they used a lot of fades from interviews to photo’s of Jimi, which seemed a bit unnecessary but it kept slowed the pace of the documentary and kept it smooth. There was a lot of cut away footage to archive material of the swinging sixties or photo’s of Jimi, this anchored meaning to what the musicians were saying. During the footage of Hendrix’ funeral there were many long takes used which with the song had a very powerful effect on the audience.
Archive material had a huge part of this documentary because Jimi Hendrix is no longer alive so it was needed to show him, because you couldn’t do an interview. The main archive footage which was used were photographs of Jimi and his concert footage like from Woodstock and him playing when he was young. There was also a lot of shots of London from the sixties to show what it was like in that time, there was also a news piece on London being free made in the sixties. There was also footage of one of his influences, Little Richard playing a concert. The documentary also included a number of interviews which had been done previously, like with his ant and even interviews with Jimi himself. One of the most powerful interviews however was from Eric Clapton when he tells the audience about his last meeting with Hendrix, and that he never got to give him a left handed guitar. This interview was powerful because it was a long take, with music over it. The final bit of archive material which appeared in the documentary was of his funeral, which also had long takes with a music bed over it, which was very emotional.
The graphics in the opening titles were simple write writing in the middle of the screen with a simple long take on a rollercoaster. Then when the graphics introduced people again there was just simple writing at the bottom of the screen.
Ripped off Bernie Madoff and the Scamming of America
This documentary had a mixed style, you could tell this from the voiceover which continues throughout and linked to the target audience. The documentary also contained evidence in the form of observation.The documentary started out with the theme of money and how the recession started in America, then the documentary had themes of business and scamming as it turned out that Bernie Madoff had a big part of the recession and says how he scammed millions.
This documentary had a clear narrative structure with an explicit beginning, middle and end.The beginning showed the audience how the stock market crashed and introduces Bernie Madoff by telling some information about who he is. In the middle The question did he start out as an honest man or did he plan it all, also the issue is addressed that he could have been stopped because someone had figured out his scam. The end showed the conclusion that he is a bad person and showed his sentence of 150 years.
There were lots of close ups of expensive objects like jewellery, champagne and boats to start out the documentary which showed how America was flourishing in the economic boom. The interviews show a close up shot of the experts, which connotes that they are important and know what they are talking about. There is one shot where it shows both Ponzie and Madoff on the screen and you can see similarities between the both of them. At one point in the documentary there was a low angle shot, looking up at the American flag this made the flag look powerful, which connoted as America being powerful also. There were also many shots throughout the documentary of high angles on Bernie in the courtroom, which made him look vulnerable as his plan had been foiled. On some of the photos shown of Bernie, the camera would stop and canter which made him look evil and crazy. With the cutaway shot’s of photo’s of old conmen the camera would always be moving, either panning or zooming in, which made the documentary seem amateur because the documentary was moving too quickly.
All of the interviewees were business executives and so they all wore suits in their interviews and the interviews were conducted in offices, this made them look powerful and made the audience believe what they were saying. Also the cut away shots of expensive objects gave the audience an idea of what Bernie’s life had been like whilst he had scammed millions off people. There is old footage of one of Bernie Madoff’s stock lessons and he is in the centre of the room, unlike usual teaching setups, and this could connote as him being the centre of attention also. At some points in the documentary there are shots of some of the victims of Bernie, these people were all elderly and some of them began to cry. This makes the audience feel sorry for them and also gives the audience feelings of dislike for Bernie.
There were different music tracks used for different shots in the documentary, for example when the camera was showing all of the money and expensive items there was none diegetic music of rap. This genre was used because rap music is well associated with money and luxury items. When Bernie is shown in the documentary for the first time, there is none-diegetic music of rock music; this makes him seem rebellious. Sound played a big part of this documentary because there was a constant music bed playing throughout the documentary. Even in the interviews there was quiet none diegetic music of drums, which helped build tension and emphasised what some of the experts said. The documentary also contained diegetic music of a voiceover which gave us some incite into some conman tricks. Another element of diegetic music which was used in the documentary was the sound from the interviews.
At the beginning of the documentary the editing was fast with it showing lots of expensive
things. Shots of expensive items were then followed by archive footage of the stock market crashing. This was a contrast because it showed how people were spending money in the economic boom to how people went bankrupt in the recession. The documentary contained many cut away shots of expensive items and ex conmen, this anchored meaning to what the experts were saying during the interviews. They also used a number of fades in the documentary between the photos which attempted to slow the pace of the documentary.
There were various different archive materials used throughout the documentary, for example at the beginning and throughout the documentary there was a number of different protest materials used,
and to show how the public reacted to the Bernie Madoff scam. There was also archive footage of the news when the stock market crashed, this put the issue into perspective for the audience. There was also photo’s of Carlo Ponzie, which was used for cutaway shots during interviews. Finally the most important archive material which was used was from Madoff’s trial.
The graphics in the documentary showed falling money and then people falling from buildings, which showed how the stock market affected peoples lives, these opening titles were complex and when doing my own documentary I would keep them simple. When the graphics were used to introduce people on the screen, they were white writing inside of a black box.
The devil made me do it is a mixed documentary because it has a voiceover in at certain points, which pushes the narrative. It also had observation elements which were used to support the evidence. Reconstructions were also used in it to dramatise situations like the murder.
The big theme in the documentary was murder, as a nun had been murdered in a small religious town in Italy. As the documentary progressed the murder then linked with how teenagers were rebelling through musical influences like Marilyn Manson.
This documentary started with the murder of a nun in a small religious town, with no motive. In the middle of the documentary the case became complicated because they unmasked the killers, who turned out to be three teenage girls as they confessed. The story progressed and Marilyn Manson was accused as the puppet master. The resolution of the documentary was that one of the killers had repented and the sentences of all three girls had been reviled, and the town was back to normal.
At Manson’s concert there were many low angles used which made him look powerful and like the puppet master of all the audience. There was a woman who was a psychology expert
and she had close up shots on her, which gave her importance. Whenever the cameras showed the town, high angles were used to make the town seem vulnerable as a murder had taken place. Also in the reconstruction of the murder the camera was cantered, which made the killers seem psychotic and villainous.In regards to mise-en-scene the psychologist expert was dressed in red as she was relating to the killers in a small way, making her seem evil also. All of the interviews which took place were in the interviewees own environment, which would have made them feel comfortable and so more likely to give out information. At the Manson concert the audience which were shown on camera all looked the same as Manson, this was the documentary showing his influence on teenagers. However, you
must remember that documentaries don’t show a true picture as there would have been a number of “normal” looking people at the concert. Two sides of Mansion were shown, him at the concert and then him at the Vatican. In the interviews Mansion was also shown to be a very intelligent person, disproving the things said by others. You could also argue that the girls weren’t shown to let the audience imagine what they look like, but the voiceover said it was due to them being only 16.There were various non-diegetic sounds throughout the documentary, for example because it had a religious theme as a nun had been killed there was religious music like organs. The reconstruction of the murder had a big impact of sound because there was a heart beating which slowed, the sound of someone running up the stairs and sounds of beating which resulted in the heart beat to stop. There was also diegetic sounds like at the concert where some of Marilyn’s controversial lyrics were exposed with the crowd seen singing along. Then there was background noise during interviews sound effects to help raise importance.
Cut away shots were used as evidence, when people were talking in the interviews. There was also match on action used in the concert, which kept the action and showed the crowd enjoying the concert and an investigator finding it disturbing. There were also many point of view shots, like the eye line match in the reconstruction of the murder which made the audience feel like they were part of it. Long takes were used in the town which connotes as time running out to find the killers. Fast paced editing at times made the documentary have drama and excites the audience.
The documentary uses a number of different archive materials. A lot of these were of Marilyn Manson, either in his music videos or at concert which showed him to be odd and unusual. This made the audience worried because this was the person who was a role model to a lot of teenagers. Also footage from the trial was used, which would have had to be filmed at a different time also the same with the nun’s funeral. Finally the last piece of archive footage which they used was of the columbine shooting, which compared this case to another where people had been influenced by Manson.
The graphics for the documentary were simple and were just white writing at the bottom of the screen, which didn’t distract from what was happening on the screen as they were not on for more than five seconds. At the end when the killer’s sentences were revealed it was just white writing on a black video, which is also simple.
Marketing Movies BBC2 Educational Documentary
This documentary was a mixed documentary because it contained a voiceover, helping the audience understand what is happening in the narrative. Observation was also used with trailers and merchandise being shown, to give examples of what was being said in the interviews.
The main theme of this documentary was marketing films, as it was informing the audience how films are marketed today. This then progressed to showing why it is important to attract your target audience. The documentary also had themes of education because the documentary was made for an educational purpose, to teach GCSE classes about marketing films.
The documentary had a clear linear narrative, with a beginning, middle and end. The beginning had fast editing and fast passed music, making the documentary seem important as the experts were talking about why marketing is important in regards to films. The middle showed the importance of other parts of marketing like merchandising when marketing a children’s film. In the end we saw the finished product of the trailers for a film Mousetrap, but two trailers were shown targeted at different audiences. It was left to the audience’s decision if the trailers were affective or not, as the film had only just come out.
During the interviews the camera was static and a close up was shown, which makes the interviewees look and sound important. There was a transition from deep focus on the interviewee to shallow focus on a poster when one of the experts was talking about decisions made when making the poster. There were many high angles on London, making it seem vulnerable and insignificant compared to America in regards to marketing films. Zooms were
used on the important people, which looked bad and seemed amateur. There was also other close ups used on objects relating to cinema, which were used as cut away shots when the experts talked about the cinema. The camera did pans on merchandise when the experts in the interviews talked about merchandising with films, the pan showed how much merchandise is made for one film.The mise-en-scene in this documentary was almost irrelevant in regards to the setting of the interviews because film posters had been set up which anchored meaning to what the experts were saying. This also links to documentaries being creatively controlled, as someone has set that poster up to give meaning to the audience. The premiers were all in London and no American experts were interviewed, which was ironic because Americans specialise in marketing films, as most are made in Hollywood.
There was diegetic sound used which was natural in the interviews, There was also none diegetic sound like in the opening and end of the documentary, which excited the audience and made them want to carry on watching. However, you could argue that the music was underplayed with the narration and music bed being rarely used. So sound did not have a big impact on the documentary.
The documentary started with very fast cuts which was exciting and made the audience want to carry on watching the documentary. This also gives the documentary a chance to get an audience by accident by starting off fast so people are less likely to change the channel. Relevant cutaways were used from the expert’s interviews, which helped anchor meaning. However, the documentary also contained some amateur methods. For example they used a fade, which made the documentary look cheap and amateur as there is no need for one as a cut away shot would look more professional.
The archive material used in this documentary was quite vital to the documentary because it was looking at how they have marketed the film mousetrap so it was vital to show clips from the trailer. When the experts were talking about merchandising with the lion king and the little mermaid, they showed clips of the films, to act as cutaways and emphasise their point. It also gives the audience a point of view on the successfully marketed films. There was also archive material from premiers where important people were seen.
The graphics in this documentary were constant and driven because the documentary was meant for school teachers and had a man introducing each part of the documentary in a graphic. The words introducing people however were simple and white at the bottom of the screen.
The Music Biz
This documentary was in a mixed style as it had lots of different parts to it for example it had interviews with important marketing people which adds evidence and explain how the Meatloaf marketing campaign worked. The documentary also contained a voiceover which anchored meaning to what was happening on the screen.
The documentary contained various different themes to it such as, the rise and fall of Meatloaf because the documentary showed his success after Bat out of Hell and then his bankruptcy after it. It also contained theme of the race to the Christmas number one, it also showed how important it was to have a number one twenty years ago whereas today it isn’t important to music artists. There were also explicit themes of music and marketing with the documentary showing meatloaf and the campaign which people had drawn up for his new album.The documentary had a clear linear narrative structure. At beginning we are told a little bit about the music industry and we learn that Meatloaf want to re-launch himself to the public and create an album. The middle showed the new re-launched Meatloaf and we got to hear his new song, however the issue was made that the production team had spent too much money and so they all had to mortgage their houses to afford to do the video. In the end we saw that Meatloaf had become successful but he wasn’t the Christmas number one but he did win his first Grammy.
Throughout the documentary there was various close ups on Meatloaf and Michael Bay during the video shoot, highlighting a power struggle between the two of them. The camera also did pans on important people to show that they have During the interviews they used mid close-ups and they sometimes flipped the interview, to try and add variation however the technique looked amateur. Another technique which didn’t make the documentary artistic was the zooms which were used frequently with Meatloaf on location shots.
The interviews were done on a blue screen and then a relevant background was added later, this helped the voiceover anchor meaning into the documentary. The camera also filmed the music video on location which aligned the audience with Meatloaf and added interaction with the camera which isn’t usual of mixed documentaries. We also got to see Meatloaf’s old concert footage, which let the audience see how good Meatloaf once was. There was an anti climax at one point in the documentary because the voiceover said that one collaboration with Meatloaf and another man would be brilliant but then they never said anything of it again. Meatloaf’s makeup in the music video can also be commented on, as he was dressed as a fictional character and so this means that Meatloaf is also just a character and not real.
There was diegetic sounds in the documentary of the interviews and the voiceover, as it was within the narrative. There was also diegetic noise at the press conference, which was loud and chaotic which showed that everyone wanted to hear about meatloaf. There was also none diegetic music of Mr blobby, the village people and Meatloaf and the song I’d do anything for love was overplayed throughout the documentary. The only sound effect which was used was a heartbeat when the camera showed a picture of the new album, connoting that it would have to do well but it was unknown if it would.
There was a shot reverse shot used at the video shoot between Michael Bay and Meatloaf, connoting a power struggle between the two of them. Cutaways were used to reinforce what was being said in the interviews and to anchor meaning. At the beginning we saw fast paced editing of interviews between marketing people and journalists and this highlighted the conflict between the two of them.
There was archive material used in the documentary of the Grammys and of Meatloaf performing there. There was also a lot of music video archive footage from videos like Meatloaf, Mr Blobby and the village people.
At the beginning there was a magazine cover and there were interview’s blue screened inside it, showing that what they were saying was important like news on the cover. As the interviews were shown they were introduced by simple white writing at the bottom of the screen.
Laura Croft That Thing
Laura Croft That Thing was a mixed documentary because it contained interviews with the creator of Laura Croft and feminists, who tackled some of the debates about Laura Croft. Evidence was also used in the form of archive footage and footage from the game, to back up the experts points.There were various themes used in this documentary, the main theme was games and this then progressed to how the audiences are growing and that older people are beginning to play video games. A problem which was made apparent in the middle of the documentary was that CGI is becoming realistic which has a different affect on different audiences. For example Laura is becoming a sex object for the male teenagers and fan sites have been made for her.
This documentary had a clear linear narrative structure, with a clear beginning, middle and end. At the beginning Laura Croft is made out to be revolutionary because she is the first real independent strong woman. The middle showed an issue that boys have sexualised Laura, which isn’t good because people have compared her to Barbie which women then want to live up to. Some of the fans have also become obsessed with her and have created websites where they can live some of these fantasies. The end shows how some people have mimicked her, and concludes by saying that the game has given too high expectations for men which women then try to copy.
A Dutch shot was used on Angelina Jolie and the creator of Laura Croft in their interviews, which was unintentional. There were many close up shots of Laura Croft throughout the documentary which made her look important. There was also an over the shoulder shot of people playing the Tomb Rader game, closely followed by a pan over all the people playing the game which showed how popular the game is.
The Dutch shot which was used on Angelina Jolie and the creator could have been bias fro
m the creators of the documentary because Angelina tried to mimic Laura Croft and the creator might have seemed crazy when he was first creating a game with a female lead in the 90’s. But these shots differ these two people from all the other interviews because they are important. The interviews are centred and the game is playing in the background, which is relevant to what the interviews are talking about. The game was done by projector and not by blue screen which is done because it would be easier than a projector when showing a game.
There was diegetic sound of the game but only quietly when the interviewees were talking, sound from the interview also and from the film clips. There was an upbeat music bed which played throughout because the documentary was only short so the upbeat and fast style could be kept for the whole documentary.
The editing was very fast because of it being a short documentary they could keep it fast paced and upbeat for the entire documentary so that the target audience was interested for the whole documentary. There were also cutaways used of people playing the game, fan websites, the game itself and adverts for the game. This gave the audience some evidence of what people were saying in the interviews.
There was only a small amount of archive material used which were adverts and clips from the film, this is because most of the footage was from the game and this is not archive material as they could just easily film the game for the documentary.
The graphics for this documentary were quite complicated at times because you had the creator talking on a computer like he was a recorded message. Also at one point Laura Croft ran across the screen. But the other graphics were just simple white writing at the bottom of the screen.
Jimi Hendrix Guitar Hero
The documentary had a mixed style to it as it had a voiceover, slash, which was relevant to the target audience because they are both famous guitar players. The documentary also contained observation in the form of pictures and archive footage, which backed up what the musicians were saying about Jimi Hendrix.
The guitar hero documentary contained the main theme of music because Jimi was a musician and this developed into showing how in the 60’s the artists had friendly competition because the members of the Beatles and Cream would come to his gigs. The documentary also progressed to show issues of race and how London was free spirited and accepted Jimi as an African- American artist, whereas America rejected him. Towards the end of the documentary there were themes of drug abuse as it showed how it controlled his life, affected his playing and ultimately was the death of him.
This documentary had a linear narrative, with a clear beginning, middle and end. At the beginning the documentary covered how Jimi came to London and all of the big musicians talked about their first experiences meeting him. The middle covered his family life and how the death of his mother affected him. Later on the experts start to talk about technical things about Jimi’s playing style, like the unconventional formation of his chords and how he never used many effects pedals. In the end the people who knew Jimi talk about his drug addiction and how this got him into other trouble with the law. They also ask the question what he would be doing today if he were still alive, and most people say that he wanted to write symphonies.
It starts with a big close up of Jimi’s face whilst he is smoking which is fades away and you see a point of view shot of a rollercoaster. In the opening titles there are extreme close-ups on famous musician’s faces as they talk about Jimi. But in the normal interviews there is just a close up used on the musician’s faces, but sometimes a mid-shot is used if the person was playing a guitar. Most of the camera movement was on photos of Jimi because they would zoom into his face or pan across concert posters to see The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
In the opening titles shots of Jimi came up on the screen with the sound of lightening, which connotes as him being powerful and could also signify him as being a god like figure. The opening titles also have a point of view shot of a rollercoaster, which could describe him as he was exciting on stage or his link with drugs as that is what it made you feel like. In one of the interviews someone even describes him as a rollercoaster when he was on drugs. There were many archive shots of London in the 60’s to show the audience where he was playing and to anchor meaning to what the musicians were saying. Some of the famous musicians had their interview in front of drum kits, which helped the audience, understand who they were, if they did not recognise them. One interviewee even was holding a guitar in the interview, which gave the audience even more of an explicit idea of what he does. Also in all of his interviews Slash was smoking and this links with him being a rock star and being rebellious. There is a moment in the documentary where one of the interviewees says that Jimi bought a jacket and then there is archive footage of everyone queuing up for these jackets, which shows that Jimi was a style icon in the 60’s. The audience is encourperated into the documentary because in two occasions the camera is asked questions by the interviewee’s and the cameraman answers. This differs to the convention because the camera is meant to be hidden away and not be able to be seen.
The sound had a big part in this documentary because it was on Jimi Hendrix, and so his songs would be expected to play a big role in the documentary about him. So the documentary contained a lot of none-diegetic music, with purple haze playing in the opening titles, but the opening titles also contained the diegetic sounds from the rollercoaster. There was also diegetic sound from the narrator, Slash, who was very relevant to the target audience because people who watch this documentary would be interested in famous guitar players, like Jimi Hendrix and Slash. Many of Jimi Hendrix’ songs appeared in the documentary and whilst the famous musicians were talking the none diegetic music would still play whilst they are talking, this gave the effect that Jimi is still with us. Also it gave what some of the musicians were saying some reality because they were talking about Hendrix’ gigs and the music in the background gave the effect of being at his gig and talking to someone. There was other none-diegetic music like the French music when Jimi had scheduled a tour in France.
The editing in the opening titles was slow as it was all one take on a rollercoaster, but then once the song kicked in then the editing sped up with quick cuts between famous musicians and their opinions of Jimi. During the documentary they used a lot of fades from interviews to photo’s of Jimi, which seemed a bit unnecessary but it kept slowed the pace of the documentary and kept it smooth. There was a lot of cut away footage to archive material of the swinging sixties or photo’s of Jimi, this anchored meaning to what the musicians were saying. During the footage of Hendrix’ funeral there were many long takes used which with the song had a very powerful effect on the audience.
Archive material had a huge part of this documentary because Jimi Hendrix is no longer alive so it was needed to show him, because you couldn’t do an interview. The main archive footage which was used were photographs of Jimi and his concert footage like from Woodstock and him playing when he was young. There was also a lot of shots of London from the sixties to show what it was like in that time, there was also a news piece on London being free made in the sixties. There was also footage of one of his influences, Little Richard playing a concert. The documentary also included a number of interviews which had been done previously, like with his ant and even interviews with Jimi himself. One of the most powerful interviews however was from Eric Clapton when he tells the audience about his last meeting with Hendrix, and that he never got to give him a left handed guitar. This interview was powerful because it was a long take, with music over it. The final bit of archive material which appeared in the documentary was of his funeral, which also had long takes with a music bed over it, which was very emotional.
The graphics in the opening titles were simple write writing in the middle of the screen with a simple long take on a rollercoaster. Then when the graphics introduced people again there was just simple writing at the bottom of the screen.
Ripped off Bernie Madoff and the Scamming of America
This documentary had a mixed style, you could tell this from the voiceover which continues throughout and linked to the target audience. The documentary also contained evidence in the form of observation.The documentary started out with the theme of money and how the recession started in America, then the documentary had themes of business and scamming as it turned out that Bernie Madoff had a big part of the recession and says how he scammed millions.
This documentary had a clear narrative structure with an explicit beginning, middle and end.The beginning showed the audience how the stock market crashed and introduces Bernie Madoff by telling some information about who he is. In the middle The question did he start out as an honest man or did he plan it all, also the issue is addressed that he could have been stopped because someone had figured out his scam. The end showed the conclusion that he is a bad person and showed his sentence of 150 years.
There were lots of close ups of expensive objects like jewellery, champagne and boats to start out the documentary which showed how America was flourishing in the economic boom. The interviews show a close up shot of the experts, which connotes that they are important and know what they are talking about. There is one shot where it shows both Ponzie and Madoff on the screen and you can see similarities between the both of them. At one point in the documentary there was a low angle shot, looking up at the American flag this made the flag look powerful, which connoted as America being powerful also. There were also many shots throughout the documentary of high angles on Bernie in the courtroom, which made him look vulnerable as his plan had been foiled. On some of the photos shown of Bernie, the camera would stop and canter which made him look evil and crazy. With the cutaway shot’s of photo’s of old conmen the camera would always be moving, either panning or zooming in, which made the documentary seem amateur because the documentary was moving too quickly.
All of the interviewees were business executives and so they all wore suits in their interviews and the interviews were conducted in offices, this made them look powerful and made the audience believe what they were saying. Also the cut away shots of expensive objects gave the audience an idea of what Bernie’s life had been like whilst he had scammed millions off people. There is old footage of one of Bernie Madoff’s stock lessons and he is in the centre of the room, unlike usual teaching setups, and this could connote as him being the centre of attention also. At some points in the documentary there are shots of some of the victims of Bernie, these people were all elderly and some of them began to cry. This makes the audience feel sorry for them and also gives the audience feelings of dislike for Bernie.
There were different music tracks used for different shots in the documentary, for example when the camera was showing all of the money and expensive items there was none diegetic music of rap. This genre was used because rap music is well associated with money and luxury items. When Bernie is shown in the documentary for the first time, there is none-diegetic music of rock music; this makes him seem rebellious. Sound played a big part of this documentary because there was a constant music bed playing throughout the documentary. Even in the interviews there was quiet none diegetic music of drums, which helped build tension and emphasised what some of the experts said. The documentary also contained diegetic music of a voiceover which gave us some incite into some conman tricks. Another element of diegetic music which was used in the documentary was the sound from the interviews.
At the beginning of the documentary the editing was fast with it showing lots of expensive
things. Shots of expensive items were then followed by archive footage of the stock market crashing. This was a contrast because it showed how people were spending money in the economic boom to how people went bankrupt in the recession. The documentary contained many cut away shots of expensive items and ex conmen, this anchored meaning to what the experts were saying during the interviews. They also used a number of fades in the documentary between the photos which attempted to slow the pace of the documentary.
There were various different archive materials used throughout the documentary, for example at the beginning and throughout the documentary there was a number of different protest materials used,
and to show how the public reacted to the Bernie Madoff scam. There was also archive footage of the news when the stock market crashed, this put the issue into perspective for the audience. There was also photo’s of Carlo Ponzie, which was used for cutaway shots during interviews. Finally the most important archive material which was used was from Madoff’s trial.
The graphics in the documentary showed falling money and then people falling from buildings, which showed how the stock market affected peoples lives, these opening titles were complex and when doing my own documentary I would keep them simple. When the graphics were used to introduce people on the screen, they were white writing inside of a black box.
Documentary AS Task
Codes and Conventions of Filming and Editing Interviews
Planning
We decided to film a member of our class called Sam we did this because we knew that Sam would be up to the expectations and he was an interesting subject that we wanted for this short documentary. He was an interesting subject because he offered a contrast to normal interviews, as Sam does not use his phone often. First we recieved the pre set questions that we had to include in the interview. We then storyboarded the interrviewe thinking of many different cut aways that we could include in the interview. An example of a cut away we wanted to include was a clip from Rocky 1 where he talks about how he doesn't use a phone. The important cut aways we wanted to include was showing Sam's old mobile phones, so we asked him to try and bring his old mobile phones to the next lesson.
Filming process
When the filming process came along we were very prepared as we had our pre-set questions and planned our cutaways already. We filmed Sam in front of a blue screen so that later we could add in a background and make the interview stand out. We took our time filming the interviewee in order to get a clear response, with no other audio affecting Sam's answers. We also were careful and told Sam the question off camera so that the interviewer's voice was not on the film. We also asked that he was clear with his answer so the audience knew what he was talking about. Even if the question was not clear then we could use the blue screen to put the question next to him. We then repeated some of the questions from a different angle in order to add some variation to the interview. Finally we filmed the cutaway shots with the phones that Sam brought in.
Editing process
The editing process was relatively simple because we had filmed the different angles and cutaways already, so the editing process mainly involved putting the questions in order and removing the miss-takes. Once I had done this I looked through the other angles we had filmed to see which ones looked best and if we could use any in the documentary, some of them had framing issues. Once i had put all of the questions the next step in the editing process was to add in the cutaways, which was relativly simple as we had filmed them already and did not have to film again. After the cutaways I added titles to the begining and edited the blue screen, to put a background of mobile phones behind him to link with the questions being asked. The final process was adding the music to the start and one of the cutaways.
Documentary evaluation
I think that there were good and bad points with our documentary. The good points of our documentary were that it encourperated a number of different camera angles, which gave it variety. Also the blue screen background worked out well which was interesting and gave the documentary more reality. The person we interviewed was another good point because he offered a contrast to other mobile phone users because Sam admitted to not using his phone often.
However, there were some issues with our documentary, for example we had to edit some of the camera angles as they wern't clear, this we should have done when filming and wasted time. Also the blue screen wasn't lit well enough in some shots so this gave us trouble applying the background. Finally we could have filmed more cutaway shots because we used some whipes to go onto the next question, which could have been avoided.
Interviewees filmed in medium shot, medium close up or a regular close up
Framed to left or right of the screen- if their is more than one interview positioning alternates as as to create variety.
Framing follows the rules the rule of thirds - eyeline is roughly a third of the way down the frame
Interviewee looks at the interviewer not directly into the camera
Positioning of interviewer is therefore important: If the interviewee is on the RIGHT side of the frame, the interviewer should be positioned on the LEFT side of the camera. If the interviewee is on the LEFT side of the frame, the interviewer is positioned on the RIGHT side of the camera.
In either case,the interviewer should sit or stand as close to the camera as possible.
Miese-en-scene: background reinforces the content of the interview or is relevant to the interviewee providing more information about them in terms of occupation or personal environment.
Interviews are never filmed with a light source behind them i.e. infromt of a window or with the sun behind them; the light is always in front of them.
Questions are edited out.
Cutaways are edited into in interviews for 2 reasons:
- to break up interviews and illustrate what the interviewee is talking about
- to avoid jump cuts when questions are edited out
Cutaways are either
- archive material
- suggested by something said in the interview and therefore filmed after the interview
Planning
We decided to film a member of our class called Sam we did this because we knew that Sam would be up to the expectations and he was an interesting subject that we wanted for this short documentary. He was an interesting subject because he offered a contrast to normal interviews, as Sam does not use his phone often. First we recieved the pre set questions that we had to include in the interview. We then storyboarded the interrviewe thinking of many different cut aways that we could include in the interview. An example of a cut away we wanted to include was a clip from Rocky 1 where he talks about how he doesn't use a phone. The important cut aways we wanted to include was showing Sam's old mobile phones, so we asked him to try and bring his old mobile phones to the next lesson.
Filming process
When the filming process came along we were very prepared as we had our pre-set questions and planned our cutaways already. We filmed Sam in front of a blue screen so that later we could add in a background and make the interview stand out. We took our time filming the interviewee in order to get a clear response, with no other audio affecting Sam's answers. We also were careful and told Sam the question off camera so that the interviewer's voice was not on the film. We also asked that he was clear with his answer so the audience knew what he was talking about. Even if the question was not clear then we could use the blue screen to put the question next to him. We then repeated some of the questions from a different angle in order to add some variation to the interview. Finally we filmed the cutaway shots with the phones that Sam brought in.
Editing process
The editing process was relatively simple because we had filmed the different angles and cutaways already, so the editing process mainly involved putting the questions in order and removing the miss-takes. Once I had done this I looked through the other angles we had filmed to see which ones looked best and if we could use any in the documentary, some of them had framing issues. Once i had put all of the questions the next step in the editing process was to add in the cutaways, which was relativly simple as we had filmed them already and did not have to film again. After the cutaways I added titles to the begining and edited the blue screen, to put a background of mobile phones behind him to link with the questions being asked. The final process was adding the music to the start and one of the cutaways.
Documentary evaluation
I think that there were good and bad points with our documentary. The good points of our documentary were that it encourperated a number of different camera angles, which gave it variety. Also the blue screen background worked out well which was interesting and gave the documentary more reality. The person we interviewed was another good point because he offered a contrast to other mobile phone users because Sam admitted to not using his phone often.
However, there were some issues with our documentary, for example we had to edit some of the camera angles as they wern't clear, this we should have done when filming and wasted time. Also the blue screen wasn't lit well enough in some shots so this gave us trouble applying the background. Finally we could have filmed more cutaway shots because we used some whipes to go onto the next question, which could have been avoided.
Documentary Codes and Conventions
Documentary notes
The purpose of a documentary is to document an event, this includes actual footage. However, this is not always possible and so requires a reconstruction sometimes. Documentaries also contain a voiceover, which anchors what is happening on the screen.
It is hard to define a documentary because of the variation which is associated with documentaries. There are many things which are documented such as events like 911. These events could be bias or fictitious because of the freedom which the film makers have when creating a documentary. Even when they claim to be real you must question how real it is.
The portrail of the recorded sound and images of actuality is what distinguishes a documentary. The factual events or accounts do not mean that the documentary holds actual footage. Documentaries cannot be real because the interviewer has control over the interview by telling them where to sit or they could even tell them what to say, so the documentary only holds an element of truth.
John Grierson was the first person to coin the term documentary which was in the 1930’s; he defined them as the creative treatments of actuality. This shows that even in 1930 he knew that documentaries could not be factual and were mostly down to the creative people. He made such documentaries as Housing problems in 1935 and Coal face in 1935 also. These documentaries were made for the cinema as the television had not been invented in the 30’s. The film Coal face had its problems though because the interviewer asked certain questions and all of the interviewies acted differently because they were in a film.
Documentaries were always used for boosting moral in a war which gained the governments interest.
An important part of a documentary is the scheduling as you need to have a programme which interests your target audience before and after the documentary, to almost gain an audience by accident. However, there are also exceptions to this convention because the documentary panorama has a prime time slot on BBC 1. Documentaries need to be both emotional and sensational, they needs to be sensational because this makes the audience gain a bias opinion as they are part of it.
Some documentaries offer a fair opinion, but this is very rare. Usually British documentaries are made to appose what the government thinks. For example at the minute the government say that there is no trouble with the education system, but you could guess that soon a documentary will come out saying that the education system has to get better.
The creative treatment of actuality, when discussing this authenticity is important because some elements of documentaries are fake as the filmmakers take control.
“Truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing the film. I mean it’s your truth your seeing. Everybody who makes a film is putting their own truth on screen”
Diane Tanners – film maker
Because it is so difficult to put a definition to documentaries subgenres are made. Documentaries should have elements of real life, not just fact because fact is used to create an argument and then it is up to the audience to take a side.
A sub genre of documentaries is current affairs programs which combine half documentaries and half news. They are usually 30 minutes long and if they are any longer this usually means that it is a documentary. Current affairs use weighty issues and problems as their content and this is sensationalised to appeal to a broader audience. Current affairs programmes have a shorter deadline because they have to be topical, in the now, whereas documentaries could be strung out over months. They also offer infotainment, a combination of entertainment and information which creates moral panics in society
The central elements of documentaries
This uses 5 elements which are commonly found in documentaries, observation, interviews, mise-en-scene, exposition and dramatisation
Observation
With observation in documentaries the camera is like the audience and is unseen and ignored. The camera acts as an eye witness as it documents both the good and the bad.
Interview
This can contrast what is seen in the observation. Pictures are dubbed over in interviews to make sense of what is being said and to anchor meaning.
Dramatisation
The audience of the documentary is an eyewitness to the dramatic events and this drama can be reconstructed where the drama takes place naturally in front of the camera.
Mise-en-scene
When making a documentary you must consider mise-en-scene as it ensures that the cinema can unfold.
Exposition
Documentaries make up the line of an argument and then make up the description and combine it with commentary which can be plain/direct or indirect/hidden. The narrator may tell the audience what to think. Documentaries which rely on observation can be problematic as this means that only one angle is seen by the audience and so is not a true picture.
Documentaries often gain their rights to question people from the people’s right to know what is happening in the world today. Like what happened with Reese Jones, the information came out because the audience had the right to know what happened to him.
Many documentaries have resorted in changes in laws and legislation, an example of this is with Ken Loach and Cathy Come Home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8fVnXXMw60 this is the link to watch Cathy Come Home as it was unable to embed.
“It is critical that film makers be rid of the fantasy that documentary can be an unproblematic representation of reality and truth can be controversially dispatched and received like valium.”
Dennis O Rourke
Ideas of truth and reality can be conflicting and sometimes they can attract counter claims of life. Recording technologies only record traces of the physical world and can be actuality or reality, this supports exposition.
Documentaries are used to represent a transformed world and are about victims who can’t fight and need someone else to stand and make a difference, humans are used as evidence.
When money is tight then documentaries are the first thing to be considered cutting from the schedules. This especially applies to controversial documentaries as they annoy the advertisers, which is where the television gets its money from.
Types of documentaries
Fully narrated- These contain a narrator throughout which acts like the “voice of god.” They have a sence of reality and authority
Fly on the wall- They are almost all observational and contain no interference, the editing process creates meaning, which the editors can change.
Mixed- They play on the understanding of narrative, the voiceover suits the target audience and they speak to the camera. They also use visuals to anchor meaning.
Self- reflective- These are more about the presenter and their understanding not the subject itself, like Louis Theroux. Critics say that they are confusing because they are drawing to themselves as filmmakers and that its too much about the filmmaker and not the subject.
Docudrama- Docudramas involve re-enactments of events which were supposed to have happened and dramatise an issue like the Hillsborough disaster.
Docusoaps- They follow the daily lives of people in a range of different jobs or positions like airports or cruise liners but you must remember that documentaries do not show the truth and so they are not real. They are very popular with audiences and are low cost because you don’t have to pay the staff because they are getting paid for doing their job also.
Disneyfication- Steven Barnett says that the docusoaps are dumming down real issues by winning rating using friendly topics.
When planning my documentary the topic must be important as it must be manageable but something I don’t have a strong emotional attachment to, so that there is no bias in my documentary. Looking in newspapers, notice boards and magazines are a good idea to start.
I must include visuals in my documentary like evidence in the interviews, and archive footage. When I come up with my idea I must think firstly what can be shown on this topic?
I will also include interviews into my documentary. Which can be held anywhere but in an unusual setting would add drama. When doing an interview I must start off with factual and light questions so that they can get into the interview and get into more detailed answers. I will also include vox pop’s which will add humour to any hard hitting issue.
I must also remember the narrative conventions, the beginning should start with the issue I’m looking at being made clear, and the most dramatic footage I have filmed at the beginning to interest the audience. The middle should have the conflict with opposing views in order to make things complicated and to allow it to carry on with audiences staying interested. At the end the exposition should be made apparent and some sort of resolution will be offered.
Codes and Conventions of Documentaries
-Voice over
-'Actual' footage/reconstructions
-Set narrative structure (beginning, middle, end)
-Archive footage
-Interviews
-Cutaways
-Graphics/Subtitles
-Music bed
-Ambient sound
-Observations
-Opening title sequence
-No questions asked
-Interviewees' eyeline a third of the way down the screen
-Some documentaries use fades between interviews
-Names only shown when person is introduced to the audience for the first time
-Light always positioned behind the camera
-Exposition always made apparent
-Voxpops
-SFX
-Matching action
-Location shots
-Mise-en-scene
-Appropriate editing
-A variety of interviews, usually all having the same point of view on the topic
The purpose of a documentary is to document an event, this includes actual footage. However, this is not always possible and so requires a reconstruction sometimes. Documentaries also contain a voiceover, which anchors what is happening on the screen.
It is hard to define a documentary because of the variation which is associated with documentaries. There are many things which are documented such as events like 911. These events could be bias or fictitious because of the freedom which the film makers have when creating a documentary. Even when they claim to be real you must question how real it is.
The portrail of the recorded sound and images of actuality is what distinguishes a documentary. The factual events or accounts do not mean that the documentary holds actual footage. Documentaries cannot be real because the interviewer has control over the interview by telling them where to sit or they could even tell them what to say, so the documentary only holds an element of truth.
John Grierson was the first person to coin the term documentary which was in the 1930’s; he defined them as the creative treatments of actuality. This shows that even in 1930 he knew that documentaries could not be factual and were mostly down to the creative people. He made such documentaries as Housing problems in 1935 and Coal face in 1935 also. These documentaries were made for the cinema as the television had not been invented in the 30’s. The film Coal face had its problems though because the interviewer asked certain questions and all of the interviewies acted differently because they were in a film.
Documentaries were always used for boosting moral in a war which gained the governments interest.
An important part of a documentary is the scheduling as you need to have a programme which interests your target audience before and after the documentary, to almost gain an audience by accident. However, there are also exceptions to this convention because the documentary panorama has a prime time slot on BBC 1. Documentaries need to be both emotional and sensational, they needs to be sensational because this makes the audience gain a bias opinion as they are part of it.
Some documentaries offer a fair opinion, but this is very rare. Usually British documentaries are made to appose what the government thinks. For example at the minute the government say that there is no trouble with the education system, but you could guess that soon a documentary will come out saying that the education system has to get better.
The creative treatment of actuality, when discussing this authenticity is important because some elements of documentaries are fake as the filmmakers take control.
“Truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing the film. I mean it’s your truth your seeing. Everybody who makes a film is putting their own truth on screen”
Diane Tanners – film maker
Because it is so difficult to put a definition to documentaries subgenres are made. Documentaries should have elements of real life, not just fact because fact is used to create an argument and then it is up to the audience to take a side.
A sub genre of documentaries is current affairs programs which combine half documentaries and half news. They are usually 30 minutes long and if they are any longer this usually means that it is a documentary. Current affairs use weighty issues and problems as their content and this is sensationalised to appeal to a broader audience. Current affairs programmes have a shorter deadline because they have to be topical, in the now, whereas documentaries could be strung out over months. They also offer infotainment, a combination of entertainment and information which creates moral panics in society
The central elements of documentaries
This uses 5 elements which are commonly found in documentaries, observation, interviews, mise-en-scene, exposition and dramatisation
Observation
With observation in documentaries the camera is like the audience and is unseen and ignored. The camera acts as an eye witness as it documents both the good and the bad.
Interview
This can contrast what is seen in the observation. Pictures are dubbed over in interviews to make sense of what is being said and to anchor meaning.
Dramatisation
The audience of the documentary is an eyewitness to the dramatic events and this drama can be reconstructed where the drama takes place naturally in front of the camera.
Mise-en-scene
When making a documentary you must consider mise-en-scene as it ensures that the cinema can unfold.
Exposition
Documentaries make up the line of an argument and then make up the description and combine it with commentary which can be plain/direct or indirect/hidden. The narrator may tell the audience what to think. Documentaries which rely on observation can be problematic as this means that only one angle is seen by the audience and so is not a true picture.
Documentaries often gain their rights to question people from the people’s right to know what is happening in the world today. Like what happened with Reese Jones, the information came out because the audience had the right to know what happened to him.
Many documentaries have resorted in changes in laws and legislation, an example of this is with Ken Loach and Cathy Come Home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8fVnXXMw60 this is the link to watch Cathy Come Home as it was unable to embed.
“It is critical that film makers be rid of the fantasy that documentary can be an unproblematic representation of reality and truth can be controversially dispatched and received like valium.”
Dennis O Rourke
Ideas of truth and reality can be conflicting and sometimes they can attract counter claims of life. Recording technologies only record traces of the physical world and can be actuality or reality, this supports exposition.
Documentaries are used to represent a transformed world and are about victims who can’t fight and need someone else to stand and make a difference, humans are used as evidence.
When money is tight then documentaries are the first thing to be considered cutting from the schedules. This especially applies to controversial documentaries as they annoy the advertisers, which is where the television gets its money from.
Types of documentaries
Fully narrated- These contain a narrator throughout which acts like the “voice of god.” They have a sence of reality and authority
Fly on the wall- They are almost all observational and contain no interference, the editing process creates meaning, which the editors can change.
Mixed- They play on the understanding of narrative, the voiceover suits the target audience and they speak to the camera. They also use visuals to anchor meaning.
Self- reflective- These are more about the presenter and their understanding not the subject itself, like Louis Theroux. Critics say that they are confusing because they are drawing to themselves as filmmakers and that its too much about the filmmaker and not the subject.
Docudrama- Docudramas involve re-enactments of events which were supposed to have happened and dramatise an issue like the Hillsborough disaster.
Docusoaps- They follow the daily lives of people in a range of different jobs or positions like airports or cruise liners but you must remember that documentaries do not show the truth and so they are not real. They are very popular with audiences and are low cost because you don’t have to pay the staff because they are getting paid for doing their job also.
Disneyfication- Steven Barnett says that the docusoaps are dumming down real issues by winning rating using friendly topics.
When planning my documentary the topic must be important as it must be manageable but something I don’t have a strong emotional attachment to, so that there is no bias in my documentary. Looking in newspapers, notice boards and magazines are a good idea to start.
I must include visuals in my documentary like evidence in the interviews, and archive footage. When I come up with my idea I must think firstly what can be shown on this topic?
I will also include interviews into my documentary. Which can be held anywhere but in an unusual setting would add drama. When doing an interview I must start off with factual and light questions so that they can get into the interview and get into more detailed answers. I will also include vox pop’s which will add humour to any hard hitting issue.
I must also remember the narrative conventions, the beginning should start with the issue I’m looking at being made clear, and the most dramatic footage I have filmed at the beginning to interest the audience. The middle should have the conflict with opposing views in order to make things complicated and to allow it to carry on with audiences staying interested. At the end the exposition should be made apparent and some sort of resolution will be offered.
Codes and Conventions of Documentaries
-Voice over
-'Actual' footage/reconstructions
-Set narrative structure (beginning, middle, end)
-Archive footage
-Interviews
-Cutaways
-Graphics/Subtitles
-Music bed
-Ambient sound
-Observations
-Opening title sequence
-No questions asked
-Interviewees' eyeline a third of the way down the screen
-Some documentaries use fades between interviews
-Names only shown when person is introduced to the audience for the first time
-Light always positioned behind the camera
-Exposition always made apparent
-Voxpops
-SFX
-Matching action
-Location shots
-Mise-en-scene
-Appropriate editing
-A variety of interviews, usually all having the same point of view on the topic
Brainstorming
A documentary can be based on anything, we found this out after brainstorming with my group. Here are the things that we came up with:
Smoking, fighting, gardening, transport, public transport, instruments,
Under aged, drinking, cars, tea, pets, homelessness,
Drugs, DVLA, coffee, religion, poverty,
technology, drinks, healthy eating, exotic, animals, the news,
video games, college, music, ID, the Internet,
board games, the senses, supermarkets, pigions, piracy,
cake, school, piercings, biscuits, cookies,
lettuce, sport, tattoo's, charity shops, bread,
cabbage, football, colours, hobbies, obesity,
YouTube, rugby, bullying, bands, school, dinners,
vlogging, tennis, gender influence, guitars, Christmas dinner,
homosexuality, siblings, comedy, laughing, friends,
sleep, fizzy drinks, chocolate, crisps, festivals,
socks, sexuality, dieting, weight watchers, DVDs,
3D films, watershed, golf, sweets, clothing,
image, hair, suits, party's, paper,
money, role models, fashion, celebrities, cooking,
shopping, fitness, gym's, fishing, books.
Smoking, fighting, gardening, transport, public transport, instruments,
Under aged, drinking, cars, tea, pets, homelessness,
Drugs, DVLA, coffee, religion, poverty,
technology, drinks, healthy eating, exotic, animals, the news,
video games, college, music, ID, the Internet,
board games, the senses, supermarkets, pigions, piracy,
cake, school, piercings, biscuits, cookies,
lettuce, sport, tattoo's, charity shops, bread,
cabbage, football, colours, hobbies, obesity,
YouTube, rugby, bullying, bands, school, dinners,
vlogging, tennis, gender influence, guitars, Christmas dinner,
homosexuality, siblings, comedy, laughing, friends,
sleep, fizzy drinks, chocolate, crisps, festivals,
socks, sexuality, dieting, weight watchers, DVDs,
3D films, watershed, golf, sweets, clothing,
image, hair, suits, party's, paper,
money, role models, fashion, celebrities, cooking,
shopping, fitness, gym's, fishing, books.
Initial Idea and production shedule
Once we had completed our brainstorm we decided that the best and easiest idea would be to do tea. This means that we could just interview a varety of people about what tea means to them. We thought that this type of documentary would be popular with housewhives or people who have retired. This means that we would put our documentary on around daytime, soon after the big breakfast programmes have finnished, like this morning. As a group we were torn between the names fancy a cuppa and milk and two sugars, and we then thought that the name Milk and Two Sugars would be a better name as it seemed more catchy even though fancy a cuppa was more explicitly to do with tea.
Production Schedule
Name Of Programme: Milk and 2 sugars
Directors: Sam Atkinson, Meg Davies, Andy Touhey
Producers:Sam Atkinson, Meg Davies, Andy Touhey
Client: OCR
Date production Started: 27th September
Formal Proposal Started: 5th October Completed: 12th October
Storyboard Started: 6th October Completed:
Shooting Started: 5th October Completed: 4th November
Post Production Started: Completed:
Rough Cut Submitted: 10th November
Final show tape completed: 18th November
Sent To Client: 15th December
Location Equipment Required:
Camera, Tripod, Microphone, Headphones.
Transport Required:
Car
Production Schedule
Name Of Programme: Milk and 2 sugars
Directors: Sam Atkinson, Meg Davies, Andy Touhey
Producers:Sam Atkinson, Meg Davies, Andy Touhey
Client: OCR
Date production Started: 27th September
Formal Proposal Started: 5th October Completed: 12th October
Storyboard Started: 6th October Completed:
Shooting Started: 5th October Completed: 4th November
Post Production Started: Completed:
Rough Cut Submitted: 10th November
Final show tape completed: 18th November
Sent To Client: 15th December
Location Equipment Required:
Camera, Tripod, Microphone, Headphones.
Transport Required:
Car
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