Oliver Mitchell

A2 Media Studies Evaluation Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products Documentary
The brief for our A2 Coursework required us to create the first 5 openingfive minutes ofto a documentary for of a topic of our choice, a double page article advertising the documentary along with and a radio trailer and a double page article advertising the documentary. Although the task was to create the first five minutes of a documentary we envisaged that the entire documentary would be an hour long. Our starting point, even before we decided on the topic for the documentary, was to better understand how documentaries are structured and the We began by researching codes and conventions used that would allow us to create a professional and effective documentary documentary. We realized that the first few minutes of a programme are likely to either hook the viewers or turn them off, and it was therefore very important that we got these first few minutes right. We decided that our documentary was going to be about health and wellbeing, and that it was going to focus on the serious side of issues relating to lack of exercise and poor diet. This is important to our documentary style as it lets the audience know what type of documentary they are about to watch and the reality of the problems relating to poor health and lack of fitness. We began by looking at Bill Nicholls Introduction to documentariesDocumentary (2001) to expand our knowledge on of the modes types of documentary styles possible and to help us decide which mode type was most suitable for us to use. In his book Nicholls suggests that documentaries fall into a number of broad categories including; critical, serious, light-hearted, ironic, pessimistic, and optimistic. His book highlights the modes and styles of documentaries. Nicholls also proposes that these categories can be further refined into six distinct modes. These are: Expository, Poetic, Observational, Participatory, Reflexive and Performative. was able to narrow down that every documentary are; Poetic, Expository, Observational, Participatory, Reflex and Performative modes. He suggests that these modes form a progression, each with a distinct style, and can be summarized as follows: Expository: Poetic: This is perhaps what most people identify with a documentary, using logic and arguments to create a position and is often underpinned by a narrator. This differs by moving away from objectivity to create a vision that can be seen only hints often of a poetic or romantic nature, for example man in harmony with nature. This mode rose to prominence in the late 1950s and early 1960s and tries to objectively capture the situation with the maker as a neutral participant. These types of documentary are often seen as Fly on the wall situations. This differs from the Observational mode by including the maker within the subjects. The maker will participate within the documentary and can influence the way that the subjects behave.

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Observational:

Participatory:

Oliver Mitchell Reflexive: This mode recognizes that documentaries are made by people who will be biased and that information is not necessarily the truth, but a truth. The audience are made aware of this bias and can be made aware of editing etc. This is draws out the subjective nature of the documentary and also recognises that the audience will also have a subjective view, where objectivity is often replaced by dramatic effect, e.g. Supersize Me (Morgan Spurlock 2004)

Performative:

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We decided that our documentary was going to be about health and wellbeing, and that it was going to focus on the serious side of issues relating to lack of exercise and poor diet. This is important to our documentary style as it lets the audience know what type of documentary they are about to watch and the reality of the problems relating to poor health and lack of fitness. For our documentary, we used a number of different modes, the main one being Eexpository. This had a narrative feature to the documentary and uses a Voice-of-Ggod commentary. This helps to hook the audience within the which is what out opening 5 minutes is, giving the audience an idea of how the documentary is going to developpan out. WeThis addressesaddress the viewer directly and also introduce allows us to add titles and facts that give a perspective and persuasive argument that is well supported throughout the clip, t. This is also another feature of an Eexpository mode. To begin with, we created a question relating to our documentary title and asked if there was anything that could be done about this. Expository mode allows us to follow this withthis with a well thoughtout response with numerous facts to back up the answer. I believe this is the best way to inform the viewer since it allows you to relate both sides of the argument before coming to a final conclusion. The documentary also shows signs of observational mode. We included scenes that include the scene around us being films with people going about their day to day activity without being obstructive. Nicholls also looked into participatory and performative modes which are very similar; however our documentary does not include a lot of this element. Both modes involve an active participant being seen on the screen and becoming involved in the events, meeting people and personally pursuing a trial to uncover the answer. An example of this would be Morgan Spurlocks Supersize me. The poetic mode is one that stresses tone and mood rather than exhibiting displays of knowledge and facts. Nicholls describes it as a heavy influence on the use of symbols that metaphorically relate to events in the real world To look for some guidance I took a lot of inspiration from other documentaries that would include similar aspects to ours. I spent a number of weeks analysing and
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Oliver Mitchell drawing ideas from Morgan Spurlocks Supersize Me By watching Supersize Me it allowed us to observe conventions used in a professional documentary, the main one being thebeing the type of camera shots and angles used. This included shot types such as Close-ups, Establishing shots and , Extreme close-ups. After brainstorming a number of ideas, it was decided that the best possible documentary idea was to use a narrative structure, which consisted of a voiceover effect. Although this was not quite as personal it presented us with the opportunity to sound extremely professional and knowledgeable. We were able to give persuasive arguments without becoming swayed by one motive or another. It also allowed gave us a certain authority. For out our 5 minute clip we used a handheld camera with a tripod to stabilise it. This permitted us to shoot establishing shots of college, Solihull, equipment being used and interviews with experts in their field. By having a steady shot, it makes the documentary look very professional and realistic, instead of having the camera hovering about, moving up and down. For our interviews, the main convention we used to create a professional manor was the rule of thirds.
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We would set up the interviewee on the left side of the screen, looking to the right across the dead space. This also enabled us to position our text and captions appropriately around the interviewee. We had the caption fade in/out towards the bottom of the shot, introducing who was on the screen and their job title. Another key aspect of the documentary was the sound. Background music, diegetic sound, nondiegetic sound and voiceover were are all important features to create a professional documentary. With a lot of the filming, we used a microphone to create a clear and crisp sound for the interviews, however, we found that there was a lot of diegetic sound in the background where it was not wanted. For instance, filming the vox-pops in the canteen was extremely noisy and when we played it over we found it was difficult to hear the specific person talking. We overcame this problem in final cut express, as it allowed us to edit out a lot of the ambient noise levels that were not wanted. Another problem we encountered with the sound was that the volume for the different interviews were at different levels and caused the documentary to become patchy, having to turn the sound up and then down again consistently. Final cut expressed allowed us to overcome this problem too.

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Oliver Mitchell We found that we were able to adjust the sound levels accordingly for each individual piece of footage, meaning we could change it to suit how loud or quiete we wanted that clip to be. When it came to recording the voiceover for our documentary, we had to be sure that it was clear and easily audible so that the audience undoubtedly knew what we were talking about. To do this, we found a quiet room and recorded the voiceover several times, so that we knew we definitely had an understandable voiceover that was easy on the ears to listen to. The final part of our documentary that we wanted to be distinct was the use of special effects. We found that the most useful effect for us to use was blurring. Blurring the image on the screen in allowed a number of things. To start with, it meant that the audience was able to focus more on the voiceover as opposed to watching something constantly and not listening, and then not knowing what is happening. Another use of blurring is through the transition from one clip to the next. By blurring in/out of scenes, it allows the documentary to run a lot smootherly compared to having the clips suddenly end and switch to the next scene unexpectedly. I believe this makes the documentary a lot more professional and realistic. However, we could have done a lot more with the blurring. For example, whilst the scene was blurred we could have used that time to add text on the scene, detailing facts and figures about what is being discussed. This would have backed up what the voiceover was saying and given the audience the opportunity to read the information in case they cannot could not hear the voiceover clearly. Another effect we used was zooming. Although this seems incredibly simple it was also very effective. By zooming in, it clearly highlights to the audience what we are talking about and where they are being directed to look. This came in useful when we wanted the

audience to look at something specific.

Oliver Mitchell

An example of where we used this would bewas at the start of the documentary, where we zoomed in on the logos of a number of different fast food retailers.

Radio Trailer
The purpose of creating our radio trailer was to advertise a short 40 second clip of our documentary informing people when it would be on and giving them a sneak peek into the details and information that it would include. We chose to advertise our radio trailer on a well listened to and well respected station, so that we could attract the correct target audience. To ensure that our trailer was suitable, we first researched into a number of real trailers from stations such as BBC, Capital, Kerrang, FiveLive etc. From these stations and trailers we became more knowledgeable on about the codes and conventions. A use of narration was the key aspect of the trailer. I believe this because it is the narrator that will be informing the audience as to what the documentary will be about, what day it will be played, and at what time. The narrator also had to be careful as how he came comes across in the trailer. We wanted people to believe that the documentary was going to be extremely informative and enjoyable to watch, and yet at the same time serious about the problem we would be discussing. To earn the audiences attention, we also ensured that the trailer had a number of clips from the documentary. For instance we included vox-pops from the documentary. This is an important role in the trailer and found that next tonearly all professional radio trailers include them. It is important because it lets the audience know that in the documentary the public do have a say and it is not just experts in the fields that are giving us all facts and figures.

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A backing track was also essential to the trailer. We found that by including a quiet use of toned music enhanced the audiences willingness to listen. This was because the music gave the audience something to almost focus on. We recorded the music in garage Garageband, using the copyright free piano. This gave the radio trailer the serious edge it needed which reflects clearly on the tone of the documentary. Lastly, we added a request. By adding Spread the word to the end of the radio trailer, it informs people that the documentary will be very factual, and it will include information that will affect every age group.

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Oliver Mitchell

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Magazine Article
For our magazine article, we created a double page spread that would be in the radio times. To begin with, we looked at the conventions of other magazine articles and what made them so successful. Magazine articles will change from magazine to magazine; however, each one has key codes that create an overall article that is easy and enjoyable to read.

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We believe that we have created an effective and professional magazine article using a number of different codes from the rule of thirds, leading images and fonts. For our leading image, we decided that it must set the mood for the rest of the article and gives the audience something to relate to when they are reading. We also included added captions to the image to explain what is going on or who is being involved.

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Like nearly all articles, we included a drops-cap at the beginning of the article. This makes the magazine look

Oliver Mitchell extremely professional and it all also lets the readers know where the beginning of the text is.
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Another important feature of the magazine was a pull quote. This shows an important quote that is used in the article to attract the readers attention. In most cases, the pull quote is something of great detail that will shock or interest the reader, causing them to want to read on.

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The date and time also had to be extremely clear on the magazine, letting the audience know when the documentary is going to be playing on the T.vTV. This included the title, date, channel and time. For the article, we formatted in into 3 simple columns discussing the documentary and the interview. This is important because it makes the article easy to follow and read so the audience does not get lost. For the interview, we ensured that the interviewer and interviewee were in different colours. Not only does this add some colour to the text to make it more appealing it also makes it easy for the audience to follow, clearly labelinglabelling the questions and then the answers.

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Overall, we are happy with the final product. We used many codes and conventions from real-life products in the market and the features that they include. However, although we are pleased with the final product there was still room for improvement. For example, for a long time, we did not have a lead image for the article. Realistically, this should have been the first thing that we decided on so that if there was change needed we would have time to correct this. Primarily, this was because we spent a lot of time focusing on the documentary and not the magazine and radio trailer and they were not the main priority. Although we spent a lot of time of the documentary, this could have been improved too. Towards the end of the editing, we found that for some of our clips, the sound was panned towards the left hand side. This caused a major problem for the documentary as it made it sound like a glitch and not professional at all. If we had had further time, we could have amended this.

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