During our A2 ,media course, my group and I were asked to create the opening five minutes of a television documentary.

We were given freedom to choose the topic of our documentary, although we were asked to make it relevant to social problems in modern society. As well as this documentary we were also given two ancillary tasks these were to create a double page spread and a radio trailer, both were to be created with the purpose of publicising the documentary. There are many different categories or styles that documentaries can fall under, these are explained in, Bill Nicholls theory of documentary modes, some of these include; Poetic, Participatory, Reflexive, Performative, Observational and expositional. The poetic mode is very subjective and expects the audience to share the same views as the documentary, it will portray characters and scenes in a particular way in order to get its point across. An example of the participatory and performative styles would be the documentary, SuperSize Me in which Morgan Spurlock the on screen presenter shows his intentions and goals, following his life for a set amount of time. In some ways our documentary was similar to these modes and SuperSize me as they shared the idea of an on screen presenter who constantly explained and described the chosen topic. However unlike SuperSize me we were not following the presenters life they simply described and explained the topic. The observational mode again follows the subject around however has also been called the, Fly on the wall style as the people in the piece act as if the camera is not there and continue to behave in a way they would naturally. Our documentary differed from this as we used a presenter who often spoke to the camera and audience acknowledging them completely. The expositional mode tends to use a narrative and voiceover throughout similarly to ours, it is also generally factual using statistics primarily to shock and inform the audience this is again something which we tried to incorporate into our own documentary. We used narrative through the use of our presenter who was the main figure in our documentary and the person who attempted to explain and argue facts and beliefs based around our chosen topic. This is something which is widely used in many documentaries a prime example being Morgan Spurlock in SuperSize Me. As well as this our documentary was also not made with the intention of being polysemic, meaning the audience are left to create their own views and opinions. In our documentary we really wanted to emphasise the negative effects drugs have on our society. Since we began our A2 course we have looked at many different documentaries. The two most notable of these are, BBC Threes A Good Smack and Morgan Spurlocks, SuperSize Me.

While watching these documentaries it was vital that we made notes on different codes and conventions, which were used in each. We were then expected to mirror these conventions in our own work in order to give our documentaries a realistic and professional feel. One of the main things which we picked up on were the use of camera shots in both. Each seemed to share similar shots at similar times, at the beginning or at the start of a new scene an establishing shot was used in order let the viewer know the location of the footage. As well as this the shots in the interviews of, SuperSize Me seemed to be consistent, they would all use a medium close up and have the interviewee sat looking across a section of dead space. This was clearly something which was very important and something we felt we must emulate in our own product.

These two shots are taken from both SuperSize Me and our own documentary. It is clear how the interviews are structured in much the same way. Both use a medium close up while the interviewee looks across dead space while answering.

In addition to this the use of handheld cameras at certain times were used in both A Good Smack and SuperSize Me they are used in both to create intimacy with the audience and the person in the clip. This is something we again tried to mimic in our own documentary, when our presenter is discussing the issues revolving around drugs a hand held camera follows him. By doing this he becomes less formal and easier for the audience to relate to and build a connection with.

Another way in which our product is similar to the two we had previously watched was its use of narration. Both A Good Smack and SuperSize Me used

narration the same as ours, however we also incorporated a presenter making our documentary in this sense more like SuperSize Me. In addition to this another feature that we shared with SuperSize Me was the use of facts and statistics to shock and educate our audiences. After seeing how SuperSize Me used these so effectively we coduncted vigorous research in order to ensure that we could do the same. However, while SuperSize Me does use research it also uses first hand experience, Morgan Spurlock is actually experiencing creating his own evidence and research therefore giving it higher validity. This was unfortunately something we could not imitate, as it would not have been appropriate given our chose topic of drugs. However, if we were to repeat this take I believe we would attempt to seek help from someone who has had first hand experience with our chosen topic in order to firmly validate our research and facts.

Special effects are also something shared by both our documentary and SuperSize me although hey are used in different ways. SuperSize me uses effects to illustrate its facts and statistics in an attempt to make them seem more interesting or fun for the viewer. This is shown when Morgan Spurlock informs the audience of how many McDonalds there actually are. If he had simply narrated the amount without the illustration it may have been missed but by using the effect to back up the statistic the viewer is more likely to remember it.

While we have used special effects we have used them for difference reasons. The clearest one used in our documentary is when we speed up the process of spelling out drugs with a number of sweets, used because they somewhat resemble pills. The reason why we used this effect was with the intention of making and instant impact on the viewer. By creating something, which is aesthetically pleasing so early on, the viewer is more likely to be gripped and not lose

interest. This was shown to work when we conducted our focus groups and 100% of people said it worked well and thought it was creative. In addition to this we also used a common feature in most media products which is the use of captions to give relevant information to a scene. An example of this in our documentary was during the expert interviews. While the interviewee answered the questions a small box stating their name and job title would appear beside them, informing the audience of who they were and why they are of particular importance or authority in relation to our topic.

Our double page spread was created with the intention of being published in the RadioTimes. Similarly to our documentary we aimed to follow typical codes and conventions in order to ensure that our product looked as professional as possible. The use of a clear mast head located at the top of the page is something which is used across all magazines in all genres and something which we though was vital. As well as this the simple use of a drop cap improved the realistic look of our product and is something which is used in real RadioTimes articles. Finally the use of columns in text is again something that is used In nearly all text based media products and again in real RadioTimes Articles.