The documentary required us to get various professional interviews because the

information presented to the viewer is not well known so a trustful source was
needed so the audience would trust and accept the information to be fact. As the
topic focused on the educational life of younger people and the effects of mental
health, we got several interviews with educational staff, who taught or worked
with students, at the Solihull Sixth Form College. I feel that these interviews with
a psychology teacher and an academic coach are successful as we gained good
lengthy footage that captured quality content that contained issues on the
effects of mental health in students. The convention of the interview was
effective as it built on the voxpops where students explained that they didnt
know much about the topic opposed to the professionals that built onto the
better known basic information of the topic. To follow the binary opposites
narrative of the documentary we had to find an interview that gave us a view
that dismissed the seriousness of mental health. This was a hard task as we
researched to find if someone or organisation in the area had a negative view,
but someone the target audience would understand who there were or their role
so they could trust their point. We found that a Christians view of mental health
was that it was an idea that is false as mental issues should be dealt spiritually.
We felt this was an interesting point of view to be conveyed in the documentary
so we contacted a local Bible learning Centre in the local town centre to see if
they would participate in an interview. We booked the interview and attended
where we met Pauline Smith who was a Christian who dealt in resolving mental
health issues in older people. The interview achieved some interesting footage
however the interviewee fully supported the awareness of mental health, which
was not what we hoped and assumed. This was an unsuccessful interview but we
learnt from the mistakes and corrected our interview technique for the next 2
interviews; concerning the questions asked and camera shots. It is still
undecided whether we will use this footage in the documentary as it does not
fully follow the topic and might confuse viewers. However we came to the
conclusion that this segment should not be used in the opening 5 minutes of our
documentary.
Furthermore another convention we had used in the documentary was voxpops.
We gained 4 voxpops as this allowed us to get the students point of view, who
was our target audience. We used a script of voxpops questions to gather a
response from the candidates. The script was devised to base around the results
of the questionnaire so that the stronger topics would be asked. I feel that the
voxpops that we gathered were successful as there were a various selection of
replies, from some candidates not knowing anything to some candidates being
aware of the topic in some detail. Even though we had one candidate answered
the questions shortly as they did not know a lot about the subject is not a bad
thing to have feature in the documentary. This is because it fortifies an idea that
mental health education is not taking a strong stance in the curriculum of
students in todays educational system. The voxpops were filmed against a blue
screen as we thought it would be an effective and interesting way to represent
the candidates, where the background will most likely be classroom for students,
or allow different topics to be conveyed as a background when the professional is
stating facts.
When planning to take shots we wanted to achieve a high angle long shot
focused on people walking in the high street. We wanted to achieve this shot as
we would use this as a background for statistics that the narration would say to
depict the effect of mental health on the general public. This was obviously not
viable through conventional means so we had to get creative on how we

achieved this shot. The idea of taking the shot from a high-rise car park was
raised and planned into the next filming session. Unfortunately the angle at
which the car park overlooked the high street wasnt visually appealing nor
focused on the general public walking by, therefore this was a failure however
we still achieved a time lapse long shot of viewing down the high street to give
the impression the audience was there was achieved for the same purpose.
On reflection I feel that one of the strongest segments of our documentary was
the introduction. When planning, we wanted something quick the audience would
relate to and take advantage of Tzvetan Todorovs theory of equilibrium to give
something hard hitting, memorable, and relatable. The equilibrium was changed
when the documentary uses archival footage to let the audience relive the
moment when they learned the news of the beloved actor Robin Williams had
died, and they would realise the cause of his death. This is impactful as the way
the archival footage uses a news presenter to bluntly state the cause of death,
which is then followed but a brief 3 seconds of black screen and silence. Even
thought this is a short break it is still impactful and symbolises how someones
life can stop because of a mental health issue or seemingly how time can be like
its slowing down and you put life into perspective.
In the voxpops and interviews we chose the shot type of a mid shot to represent
the interviewees and also implemented negative space. This was done because
it represented the interviewees as real so that the audience could trust or relate
to the information that was being presented.
Another way the subjects in the documentary were presented was the clothing
that they were wearing. For example the students at the college we were filming
at wore more casual clothing such as hoodies and jeans whereas the teachers
were wearing smart attire such as shirts and suit trousers. This was effective as it
constructed the reality of the topic being centred on education.
I feel that our documentary is quite truthful, however we have somewhat
constructed a reality where for example we have not shown some aspect which
allow the audience to learn what is being done as we focus on what isnt to raise
the seriousness of the problem to the audience.
Gate keeping and mediation will be a method that we will use when editing the
documentary to alter the viewers perception of the topic and to achieve feelings
of shock or interest. One way this is used is in the professional interview where
we get a glimpse of the interviewees real harsh opinion about how it is being
dealt with by the government or educational bodies, instead of sticking will the
safe polite answer. An example of this is where the interviewee Tom Krawec
becomes somewhat politically judgemental of how the current government is
dealing with the issue and gives the impression that more could be done easily if
the problem would be given the time. This create the reality that the authority
doesnt care for this issue and therefore doesnt care about current students
health and again gives a underdog feel to the situation where we could exploit in
the form of mediation for shock value and to induce a strong opinion on this
matter in the audience. This has proven to be a successful idea as when research
the successful documentary Super Size Me mediated their professional
interviews where they gave their opinions on how the government is lacking

when cracking down on the excessive advertisement of unhealthy food to

children, where the interviewees suggest that it could stop.
One way our documentary uses a convention of documentaries is the voiceover.
Our voiceover takes an authoritative stance to encourage the audience that we
the filmmakers have some specialist knowledge on the topic that we want to
bring to light in the documentary. This convention was used as it was been
shown as successful in documentaries such as Michael Moores Bowling for
Columbine, where the filmmaker used a voiceover to recap or present key points
about gun control to the audience.
We have also used a convention but also developed it in the form of using real
archival footage. Some documentaries have to go to lengths to convince their
seemingly real footage is conveys their point however is mediated in order to
construct a reality to present to the audience. However our documentary uses a
real archival footage in the intro of the documentary to present the topic and
tense, seriousness of the topic we are about to explore, but we do not edit the
footage it is just cut to how it was broadcast. I feel this furthers our point and
introduces the topic effectively as the audience can clearly see that the footage
has not been edited to trick them into following/supporting our point.
Furthermore another way we have followed convention is the use of professional
interviews to support our point. With a combination of mis en scene the audience
is encouraged to trust the information given by the professional. However in
most documentaries the filmmaker will include a professional interview that will
give an opinion that will disagree with the filmmakers point, but they dismiss it
using evidence they have, which is usually mediated. An example of this is in
Spurlocks Super Size Me where the filmmaker includes an interview with a
professional from a advertisement company of a fast food conglomerate.
Spurlock is quick to dismiss the argument with his evidence, which has two
effects on the audience. Firstly the audience is encouraged in thinking that this
professional is evil and wants to give you false information in order to exploit
you, which overall fortifies the narrative theory of binary opposites the
documentary uses. Secondly because this particular professional is perceived as
evil or false then the audience is most likely to reject this information and be
swayed to the opposite information to this, which is Spurlock opinion. Doing this
allows Spurlock to easily sway the audience to his point. Moreover this
convention of disagreeing with a professional has not been used in our
documentary as, discussed in my previous point, we could not find a
party/person to disagree with a point. This is an example of challenging a form of
convention in our product.