1. Question One – Evaulation
Abbie Gumbley

2. 
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As part of the A2 Media course in groups of four we had to produce
a five minute opening to a documentary, along side a 30 second
long radio trailer and a double page magazine article for a listings
magazine to support the documentary.
We decided on making a documentary asking the question ‘do
violent videogames affect behaviour negatively?’ we called the
documentary ‘Banned Theft Auto’ as it was a play on words from the
existing violent video game that is called ‘Grand Theft Auto’
We interviewed a variety of different people from society such as
Policemen and Teachers and general members of the public to see
what their opinions on the topic is, we then recorded these views
and used them as part of the documentary to create a controversial
feel to the documentary

3. When researching the documentary genre it was clear that professional interviews were presented in a particular way
meaning it was vital that in our five minute opening piece we had to follow these conventions.
Super Size Me
‘Banned Theft Auto’
At the beginning of all interviews the interviewees name and job title was shown the on the
bottom left hand corner of the screen so it was clear who the person was. We successfully did this
in our documentary and used a white text colour to enable it to stand out. This shown by the
green boxes in the images.
‘Rule of thirds’ – throughout ‘Super Size Me’ the professional interviews all professionals were
sitting on the right hand side of the screen, not looking directly at the camera. In our
documentary we replicated this successfully as we also used a background that represented the
interviewees profession. This is represented with the red lines on the images.

4. Super Size Me
‘Banned Theft Auto’
Whilst investigating the documentaries it was clear that Vox Pops were able to be random with
little preparation needing to be made asides from preparing questions for the person you would
be interviewing these questions are usually open questions to ensure that the interviewee will
be able to talk about the subject.
It was apparent that in every Vox Pop none of the people being interviewed looked at the camera when
answering the questions, so we always asked the person being interviewed to look at the person asking the
questions. I am pleased with how the Vox Pops look on the camera and sound as we were concerned that the
background noise would interfere.

5. Banned Theft Auto
Super Size Me
Example of violent game
footage used in the
documentary
Example an existing news
item that we used a
sample of the
documentary
The Stock Footage in ‘Super Size Me’ was relevant to the topic in which Morgan Spurlock’s documentary was based on,
so it was clear that all the stock footage used in our documentary had to be relevant and appeal to our target audience.
Throughout our documentary we used footage from existing violent video games, at the beginning of the documentary
we played back to back clips of the footage as a way to create excitement. We also used the clips as a way of backing up
any points that were being made, this was relevant as the subject of our documentary was violent video games.
As well as this we also used existing news items that are about violent video games as part of our stock footage, to show
a variety of views from around the world.
I am pleased with the stock footage that was used in the documentary as it was all relevant to the topic and it created
some controversy as to whether the violent video games to affect behaviour.

6. Banned Theft Auto title sequence
The title sequence for our documentary
meets the typical codes and conventions
of a documentary as it was fast paced
and interesting to watch with relevant
background music. We used scrabble
pieces to spell out the words ‘Grand
Theft Auto’ and the printed out a gun off
the internet and made it appear as if it
shot the word ‘Grand’ we then replaced
the word with ‘Banned’.
This was an interesting way to do the
title sequence as we had not seen it be
done in any of the existing
documentaries that we have watched. I
am extremely pleased with how this
went as it will be appealing to the
audience because it is different and
exciting to look at.

7. Our documentary did not necessarily challenge the codes and conventions of
the documentary genre, this is because the existing media texts that we
have watched have featured all of the methods used in our documentary.
Similarly the radio trailer we made also followed the common conventions of
the radio trailers, for example we told the audience the name of the
documentary and the time, date and channel that documentary would be
featured on in the same voice used in the documentary.
However when creating the magazine article, we did not use an image to fill
an entire page of the double page spread. This is unusual as when we have
looked at existing double page spreads the majority feature an entire page
of an image, we decided against this as we felt for our documentary it was
more appropriate to use smaller images.

8. When researching into existing magazines there were various conventions that were
commonly used through out.
Throughout all the magazines there was always a
subheading that started the written piece, this was
always indicated by two lines, with the name of the
programme, the date and channel that programme
would be aired on. This was successful as it makes it
clear to the audience when the documentary is on
and they will be able to reference it quickly if they
need to.
Another common convention was the use of a footer at
the bottom of the page that stated the magazine that they
were reading and the date. This was useful as it ensure
the reader that the copy they are reading is not out of
date. It also tells the reader what magazine they are
reading in case they have forgotten.

9. When researching the radio trailer genre the conventions were:
• At the end of every trailer that we listened to the channel that the
programme would be aired on and the time and date of when the
documentary will be shown. We successfully did this in our radio trailer which
was effective as it will stick in the audiences head.
• The same voiceover used in the documentary is used in the radio trailer, we
followed this convention as it meant that the audience will be familiar with the
voice when watching the documentary.
•As well as the same voice over, the same music was continued throughout
both the documentary and the radio trailer we used the same music that we
created on Garage Band again this created familiarity for the audience of the
documentary.
https://soundcloud.com/jessp3000/bta-radiotrailer
Click this link to sound cloud to hear the radio trailer for Banned
Theft Auto.