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1. A2 Media
Coursework
Evaluation
Milling Tang
8087

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

3. When producing our documentary we made sure that we followed the Codes
and Conventions of real documentaries in order to produce a documentary of
high quality and professional finish.
In order to do this, we researched a variety of different documentaries that
attract a wide range of audiences as this allowed us to pick out the main
conventions which seemed to crop up in each documentary so we could apply it
to our own. An example of a documentary we watched is SuperSize Me, A Good
Smack Etc.

4. At the beginning of the A2 course we were told to produce a 5 minute opening of a documentary of our
choice, as well as producing two ancillary tasks; a radio trailer and a double page spread for a listings
magazine to go alongside out documentary. We had to research and find out what would go into the
opening of a documentary.
Before starting our planning of the documentary, we looked at Bill Nicholl’s theory of Documentary
Modes (2001), which looked into different types/ styles of documentaries. Bill Nicholl’s said there were 6
different modes; participatory, reflexive, performative, expositional, observational and poetic. The
participatory and performative modes are very similar in styles, in which they include the film maker as
part of their documentary. For example, we looked at SuperSize Me, as Morgan Spurlock appears in his
documentary shown to the viewers, which shows it is very personal and is more about the intentions of
the film-marker. This is an effective mode and would suit our chosen topic of teenage binge drinking. For
example, Cherry Goes Drinking is a great example for this as she appears in her own work. In addition,
the performative mode is pretty much like an autobiography where it follows the film maker’s life. The
observational mode is very much like a ‘fly on the wall’ style which tends not to have a voice over or
music included. This would not suit out documentary as we need to inform our viewers on teenage binge
drinking. The Poetic mode also, would not suit our documentary as it is a documentary mode that has
very subjective style. Finally, out of all the modes we thought the expositional mode is best suited to our
documentary as we are setting out to expose an issue. For a start, a voice over is a common convention
found in the expository mode. We used this in our opening 5 minutes as we wanted our opening to guide
our viewers through the documentary. We found this mode effective as it is very rhetorical, as it narrates
the viewers and can reinforce important points we put through in our documentary.

5. Another convention our documentary uses is exposition, in which we use factual
information and opinions given by interviewees to pass information to our viewers in order
to persuade the viewers. The narration is used as a way of explaining our documentaries
rhetorical content. The voice over plays an important part as they speak directly to the
viewers, offering information, explanations and opinions of teenage binge drinking. The
use of interviews in our documentary offered expertise and relation to the audience which
will bring across the meaning of our documentary. Moreover, expert interviews add more
emphasis to support the facts of our documentary. We also made use of vox pops which
we felt was effective as
The overall structure of our documentary used the enigmatic code which is a problem
that is only discussed and not solved. This leaves viewers with questions that cannot be
yet be solved. It catches the viewers’ attention as they are able to realist how serious
something could be, and they want to hear more about these unresolved problems.

6. At the beginning of the A2 course we looked
at many different documentaries in
preparation to ours. Many of the conventions
I picked up from these documentaries were
use of the Camera; which included shots
such as Close Ups, Extreme Close Ups,
Medium Close Ups, Establishing shot. In
our documentary it focused a lot of medium
close ups as we did many interviews and vox
pops.
We noticed that a lot of the documentaries
made use of handheld cameras which was
used to make the audience feel a part of the
documentary, however in our documentary
we chose to use a Tripod as we set out to
inform our audience and there was no need
for a handheld technique. We mainly used
the tripod for expert interviews, which allowed
us to set up in a skilled manner. The tripod
allowed us to take various steady shots and
use skills such as Pan, Tracking and
Zooming which added emphasis in our
documentary.

7. The rule of thirds is the main convention used for
expert interviews as it sets up the screen. The
interviewee should be looking into an empty space
which we have done, with their eyes level at a third of
the way down.
Our Documentary SuperSize Me

8. We found that the use of montages at the beginning of the documentary
were very effective as it offered an understanding and an insight to what
to expect from the documentary, this is why we decided to open with a
montage as we knew this would immediately attract and draw the
audience in. The opening montage would serve the purpose of the
documentary, create a strong impression and essentially create an
effective impression to the audience which will make them watch on.

9. Sound is another important part of a documentary, this includes Voiceover, background music, Diagetic
and non-diagetic sounds. In SuperSize Me, they used a presenter as well as a voiceover; which worked
very successfully as it made the documentary feel more relatable and personal to the audience. On the
other hand, we found that our documentary was being more informative and therefore there was no need of
using a presenter, so we just had a voiceover. We used the voiceover effectively as we used it to guide our
audience through the documentary.
Background music was something we found made the documentary complete. The music had to be simple
and not over powering the voiceover and general content of the documentary. We used Garageband as it
allowed us to make royalty free loops and track which meant we did not infringe on any copyright when
using them as part of our documentary and radio trailer. The backing track helps convey mood and we used
an appropriate backing track for use with both the documentary and radio trailer. A background track also
keeps viewers interested in more lengthy sections of video and speech.

10. The inclusion of the title in the documentary is a common convention of real life
media products. It is mainly used for practical reasons as it is something you
would usually expect to see within a documentary. Our title; ’17 and Smashed’
is plastered on to a bottle of a well famous alcoholic beverage ‘The Famous
Grouse’. Underneath our title you can still make out the beverages name. This
will catch the attention of our audience as they would instantly recognize the
name and then realize that our documentary title is in fact replaced the name
on the bottle. This is effective as it is instantly eye-catching and will make the
audience want to carry on watching.

11. Editing- Cut-aways
We used cut-aways throughout our entire documentary which is necessary and
relevant. For example, the cut away to a clip of drunken teenagers highlights
how teenagers drink to get drunk and their behavior when drunk. It also
reinforces what has been said and creates more emphasis on teenager binge
drinking.
Cut-away during interview

12. We included an over the shoulder shot to capture the archived footage on the screen to make
it look less like found footage and make it flow better with other resources in the
documentary. We decided to use this sort of shot as we wanted to reduce the amount of full
screen found footage. Our archived footage is of a team of officers in newsagents’ over
underage alcohol sales. In our documentary we used this footage as a cut away as our
voiceover began giving important facts, this keeps the audiences interests. It also shows a
student viewing the resources which emphasizes the accessibility of the content.

13. Text and Graphics are a common technique used in many of the documentaries
we viewed during the initial planning stage, they were also used in SuperSize Me.
Text and Graphics are used to transfer information to the audiences.
This graphic is used to introduce the
professional interviewees on screen
meaning we didn’t have to use voice over all
the time. We used a red boarder as this
stood out the best over the footage.
The chart is used as a cut away. It is a good
example of a visual aid where the voice over
explains the findings while it is on screen. It
provides an easier way for viewers to absorb
the given information as is provides visual
evidence. The chart shows the % of 15-16
year olds who had 5 or more drinks on one
occasion, in the past month; with the UK
being at the top of the chart.

14. Double Page Spread
We chose to follow the layout of ‘TV Choice’ as we wanted our article to fit in with our audience as well as our
topic which we felt TV Choice would represents. We wanted to follow the conventions of not just a general
magazine article but a TV Choice article. When researching the magazine article we found they appeared to
use a statement image and a very brief article.
Screen Caps of footage –
are both framed with a
Main images – white boarder. TV Choice
dominate the half does not use drop
the page shadows, so we did not
use that on our images
A Pull Quote Rule of Thirds is
used in all
magazine
articles
Drop Cap – Makes Documentary
the article stand name, date and
out time
I kept the House Style simple and consistent
which is similar to that of the TV Choice articles.
As you can see there is a main, dominating image,
it article still catches the readers attention which
is a convention I have tried to apply to our article.

15. Radio Trailer
The radio trailer was created to offer a 45 second preview of what
would be in the documentary.
We used the software GarageBand on the Apple Macs. We did various
research into the typical conventions of a radio trailer.
We first researched which radio station we would actually be broadcasting our trailer on, and
once we established that we analysed exemplars of radio trailers from that station so we
could get an idea of the conventions that arise in professional radio trailers. We analysed
BBC radios in particular as this was the station we wanted to broadcast our documentary.
In terms of conventions of a radio trailer, we wanted to keep the radio trailer clean cut and
simple; as well as professional. Backing music was a common convention we found most
popular in radio trailers as well as a voice over and clips that prompt what is being advertised.
Most importantly they include details of when the product is being advertised will be released
and broadcasted. We used all these conventions in our documentary.
We took snippets from our interviews and voxpops which we thought conveyed the most
important points of the documentary. This also gives a taster of what to expect in the
documentary. The voice over we used was clear and easy to understand. Recording the
voiceover was similar to the process of recording the voiceover for the documentary. We
placed the voiceover into final cut before transferring it to Garageband.
The announcement of the title of the documentary gives identify to the documentary.

16. How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary texts?

17. I personally felt that overall, all three media products (main product
and ancillary tasks) were an effective combination and achieved our
goal to relate to the target audience. We did this by using the same
backing track for both documentary and radio trailer. We also
included snippets of professional interviews and vox pops and
incorporated them into the radio trailer. If someone was to listen to
the radio trailer and then watch the documentary they would be able
to relate both of them together. We emphasized a time, date and
channel in our radio trailer and double page spread.
Since we chose the BBC as our broadcaster we had to choose the
appropriate channels and magazine to use. We chose to use BBC
Three as our channel because it is the most relatable channel that
provides to our target audience. We also chose to broadcast our
radio trailer on BBC Radio 1 because this is the main radio station
the BBC use for TV programmes showing on BBC Three. We chose
TV Choice as our magazine for our double page spread, as this
magazine is more informal and relatable to our target audience.
The Documentary was the strongest out of all three media products
because it was the central task and required a higher level of input
from all of us and then from the documentary, we were able to put
together the radio trailer and double page spread. Without the
documentary the construction of the ancillary tasks would have been
difficult but possible to produce.

18. Double Page Spread
Our article had a house style which effectively represented the topic of our documentary as we
used a faded out image of a main image, which creates an illusion of a mirror effect. We also
incorporated images of our professional interviewees and a full page image of a bottle with our
documentary title name on it. This same bottle was used in the opening of our documentary, so
readers can recognize this when they watch the documentary. It also creates the idea of
continuity; a link between article and documentary. I think the idea of the bottle as our main
image is a effective idea as it works well for our target audience by including large images. We
did not want to make it heavy with text or images so we tried our best to maintain a balance
between the both. We also used a pull quote taken from an interview with Julie Maitland which
further emphasizes the link between the two.
The layout we have chosen seems to be very common in TV Choice articles. It incorporates
many conventions and features typical to a magazine article. All this adds up to make an
authentic piece that works well with corresponding products.

19. Radio Trailer
The same date, time and name is used on the double page spread and
broadcasted on the radio trailer which emphasizes the link between the
two products.
The radio trailer uses the same backing track as the documentary which
again makes a link between the two as it creates a sense of brand identity
to keep everything consistent throughout all 3 media products.
In the radio trailer we used clips from the documentary which consist of
student talking, facts from the narrator and professional interviews. These
are aspects that the audience can recognise from both the documentary
and radio trailer, and they then combine together well.
The radio sells the documentary and briefly provides information about the
documentary.
In addition, I felt our ancillary task combined successfully with our
documentary. They all link and a clear brand is established. Both the radio
trailer and magazine article contain similar information which successfully
promotes the documentary and automatically attracts the attention of the
audience.

20. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

21. In order to gain audience feedback we firstly carried out a questionnaire which we gave out to our target audience of
16-25 year olds. Our classmates fitted into this category so we therefore gave our questionnaires out to them as they
have been through a similar process to rate and suggest improvements in particular areas.
We asked our sample what they thought of our sound levels in the documentary as this was an important feature
because if the sound levels were not great then the documentary will not do its job in informing our audience about
teenage binge drinking.
Overall, we got a 90% positive result with a low level of 10% of negatives. This was due to the ending of the
documentary where the sound levels were not great as we had to put in extra clips to make up for blank spaces and
too fulfill the request of making a 5 minute clips. Regardless of this, we are satisfied with the scores we achieved and
the rest of the documentary was successful with exceptions of the ending, the rest of the documentary was of high
standards. Taking all this in, it is clear that we would need to change the ending of our documentary if we were to
improve it.
We also asked the question ‘Does the documentary run smoothly throughout?’. 95% thought it ran smoothly with 5%
saying it didn’t. This again is due to the ending sequence of the documentary. If we were to improve this, I feel we
would need to capture more video footage, where we would have more variety to choose from and decide which clips
are most appropriate and provide excellent quality than the clips we had already used.

22. A question we asked was whether the opening sequence
was effective. The overall score was positive as the
viewers thought the montage was effective and a great
idea. Moreover, if we were to improve it, I feel that we
should include a wider range of ethnicity and filmed it at a
different location.
The voiceover is another important part in the documentary
as it plays an important part in presenting and passing
information onto the audience. We asked whether the
voiceover was clear and easy to understand. We received
100% positive reviews on that which shows that we did an
excellent job at this and that the information is passed on
effectively to the audience watching it.

23. The overall review of our documentary has been positive which shows that we had did a
successful job in producing a 5 minute opening to a documentary. Most importantly, we asked
our target audience if the documentary appealed to them, and all of them said it did, which
again shows we did a good job in presenting information clearly to them and that our
documentary followed typical conventions.

24. We then asked our target audience, if we were to improve our documentary, what would need
improving. A majority said that we would need to improve on the sound, this was mainly aimed at
the section at the end of the documentary as it the sound levels were not of one level and did not
flow as nicely as I would have expected it to flow. This would be improved by replacing that
footage with new footage that’s of quality or changing the sound levels.
Others also said that the editing needs improving, this would include cutaways and transactions
used between clips. In improving the documentary, we would use more transactions between
clips in the relevant places if necessary. It could also imply that the line up of clips towards the
end needs work, this would be improved by us taking more care and paying more attention to
detail.
Other
Footage
If improvements were to be made, what
should be improved? Camera
Edit
Sound
0 5 10 15 20

25. The overall results for our ancillary tasks were positive as
they found the radio trailer easy to follow and understand.
They also said it was appropriate to the documentary and
topic.
Was the radio trailer easy to understand?
Was it appropriate?
No
Yes
Is the article suitable for the target audience?
Are the images used well?
0 5 10 15 20 25
We asked our audience whether the article was suitable to
the target audience as they positively rated it was. This
shows that we are on the right track and our article is
suitable to our topic of choice and relatable to our
documentary.

26. The double page spread was reviewed an overall good
with the exception that the images were too overpowering.
Any improvements to:
Double Page Spread
Overall Good
Images
Editing
Sound
Content
Radio Trailer
0 5 10 15 20
The target audience found the sound in the radio trailer to
be really bad as the levels were not the same. Also, the
editing was not great either as clips would cut off too early.
This was due to lack of technique used.

27. Conclusion of feedback:
From the documentary feedback, I think the montage of students saying their favorite
drink, was very effective as it creates a relationship to the target audience who are also
of similar age. However, the clips towards the end of the documentary was slightly
muddled and not of great quality. This was due to the fact of shortage of footage and the
deadline fast approaching, so we were rushed in time in completing this.
However, overall the documentary was quite professional and our target audience liked
it even with sound errors, it came out effectively tackling the controversy.
The radio trailer was effective in presenting a brief taster to our documentary. However, I
thought the content could have been better and included better sound editing. The
sound was not level throughout, this was again due to the fast approaching deadline. If
we had more time, we would have corrected the sound levels.
The double page spread, the audience found this effective as it was very visual and
informative. However, it could be improved to be more subtle, as I find it to be
overpowering as the image is very heavy on colour. Although this, the layout was
good, the article worked well and the software's used to produce this was used
effectively.
Gaining audience feedback was very crucial to finding out how well we had done.
Particularly because we had accessibility to ask our target audience about this. We
learnt a lot overall about how the sound levels could be improved in our radio trailer and
how time management is key in producing this.
Overall, all three media products were successful and also gained constructive
criticisms which we would take into account if we were to do redo or make another
documentary. As well as people making suggestions on improvements to be made to
the radio trailer, i.e., sound, we were overall satisfied with the feedback we gained from
our classmates, especially as they were familiar with the process we had been through
in producing these pieces of work.

28. How do you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?

29. Looking at examples of documentaries to do with our topic online
helped us to get a feel at how ours should look with the correct
conventions. As our documentary would go on BBC Three, we
looked particularly at their documentaries and what makes them
appeal to their target audience. Although similar topics to our
documentary had not been informatively made recently by
them, getting the overall idea from others helped us to see what
goes into them.
During research and planning, the internet was an essential as it
was useful to find out the most up-to-date information on the
topic we’ve chosen.
In doing so, we used Google to find news items and helpful sites
with the appropriate information.
Youtube was another search engine but for videos and useful clips
that may help us with our documentary. The analysis of TV
documentaries was made easy as it was fully accessible.
Youtube also allowed us to upload our final documentary and it was
a good choice as Youtube is a widely used for sharing videos and is
probably accessed by a lot of our target audience.

30. Throughout the coursework, it has been very important to upload
and update our work on to a blog through Blogger.com.
Blogger.com allowed us to upload our research and planning, which
helped us to organize the research and see what was missing and
who needed to do what. Most sections of the research and planning
was split up between us three and the work should be uploaded on
to the blog each time it is completed.
I found Blogger.com overall a good simple site which helped us to
stay on track and it became very useful later on when we were
uploading the rest of our work. It was useful in a way that it is
accessible from college and home. Blogger.com was easy to use as
uploading photos and videos was not complicated.
To upload and show our work, we also made use of Slideshare and
Scribd. Such sites provide interesting ways in presenting our work
instead of using PowerPoint or word. None of us had used these
sites before, however they were very easy and was not a challenging
software to use. It made the blog look more professional and more
simple, so overall, it was a useful piece of software to use as it was
easy for viewer of the blog to read.

31. We used SoundCloud to upload of radio
trailer. SoundCloud is an online audio
distribution platform which allows
collaborations and promotions of audio
recordings.
SoundCloud is easy to use and upload
audio clips to, it made public so anyone can
have access to it.

32. Tri-pod allowed us to take steady
shots of our footage instead of using
Camera allowed us to take HD quality footage on the go. It also a hands-free approach which we did
allows our footage to look professional and of high quality considering not want. It makes the footage look
it is HD. The camera also allowed us to frame different shots and professional.
zoom in and out. After shooting the footage, we could instantly replay
this on the spot. We can then upload the footage on the same day it
was shot, in order to avoid loosing it and then log and transfer clips
into Final Cut Express.
Microphone allowed us to capture
Headphones allowed us to monitor the sound sound and to make interviewees feel
levels when doing interviews and vox pops. like it is a professional interview.
Without this, the sound levels of footage
would not be appropriate to use and
therefore, jeopardises the whole footage.
Apple Mac Computers offered a
viarty of softwares which we could
use to edit our footage and to
produce our media products. These
softwares helped in producing high
quality work which regular
computers cannot. They were also
useful for researching and planning
purposes.

33. GarageBand was used in creating backing track for both
documentary which was also used in the radio trailer which was also
made using this software. Garageband was also very easy to use
and prevented us from using copyright material. Garageband offered
different types of sounds such as, cheer and urban. It also offered
different types of instruments such as drums and guitars.
It was simple to understand how to use and allowed us to find the
types of music we wanted, with variety of choices to choose from.
Final Cut Express to create the actual music video, which
without this software the video would definitely not look as
effective or professional. To create the magazine advert we used
‘picmonkey’ to add the effects and text on top, this made it look
much more effective rather then adding generic fonts used in
microsoft word.
Microsoft excel proved useful when it came to creating graphs in
our evaluation stages, as we had no other way of presenting the
data that we found out when doing our audience feedback.
Another media technology we used during our evaluation stages
was Windows movie maker, as once we had filmed our
evaluation question this was the technology available for us to
edit.

34. I used In-Design to create my double spread page and give it a
professional look. It also allowed me to design my page in which it
would look similar and have similar aspects to a TV Choice article. I
had used In-Design for my AS media work and was quite familiar
with the software and I found it easier to use and could use my skills
that I have learned and apply them to make my article look
professional and part of an existing TV magazine.
 used PhotoShop when creating my ancillary tasks.
I
PhotoShop is professional software which meant I had access to
a wide variety of professional tools and features to aid the
creation of a professional media text. by using PhotoShop I was
able to edit images as well as create pages and text. This meant
I could create the entire text in one program as opposed to
editing the image separately and pasting it onto the page. I made
use of PhotoShop's photo editing tools to make the
images, particularly the image on the poster, look striking and
clear.

35. Microsoft Office Word was used in producing the questionnaires and feedback
sheets for our target audience.
The audience research we produced involved the use of Microsoft Office Excel
so that we could produce graphs to make our data more visually appealing.
As these software's were not new to us we found there was no real difficulty in
using them.