2. Documentary
Throughout my documentary, I have used number of conventions that include:
■ Re-enactments
■ Micro-elements (mis-en-scene, camera shots, sound and editing)
The mis-en-scene includes the location, costume and props.The locations we had used were the studio,
areas around the school and also the subway where the murder had happened.The characters just worn
what they were wearing that day as I was filming after school. It made sense because during the plot of
the documentary, it says that the murder happened after school.The props we had used throughout the
documentary was a phone and also a knife we had made out of cardboard.The camera shots that were
mostly used were mid-shots and long shots.There were a few close ups shots as well.The sound included
sounds from the videos, sound effects such as heartbeat, ambient sound 2 and many more.The editing
was all made on IMovie, which is video editing software.This involved transitions such as dissolve, fade to
black, fade to white and also cross zoom.
The mode we have chosen to use is reflective as it includes the main conventions of our documentary.
3. America’s MostWanted PresenterMy Documentary Presenter
In one of the first scenes of my documentary, this is a news reporter who lets the audience know
what’s happening at the start of the documentary.This idea had challenged the convention as for
America’s MostWanted and other crime documentaries usually have presenters.To make our first
scene look more believable, we had added the text that is usually at the bottom of a real life news
report.
The last scene of my documentary is the news reporter ending the documentary. this is where the
presenter had closed the case of Lucy Barrat.
4. America’s MostWanted
My Documentary
The further you watch the documentary, you can see that we have used the convention of interviews, which is
what America’s MostWanted have also used. It is what a lot of documentaries use.The story line worked really
well with informing the audience with what the documentary was about. Which is why we had use it.This was the
main convention along with voiceovers was the main one we had used throughout the documentary.
5. Another convention that was used throughout this documentary was flashbacks, otherwise known
as re-enactments.This footage was created to match the storyline in between the interviews.
America’s MostWanted was the inspiration for this idea. Instead of using the word ‘flashbacks’ as
the text on the footage we had developed it by using the word ‘re-enactments’. Also these re-
enactments were slowed down, using the slow motion tool in iMovie.This had challenged the real
products because not many documentaries use this tool in every single footage and not even all the
way through the videos.
Comparing it to America’s MostWanted, the actors/actresses had spoken in the scenes to give the
audience some form of emotion to the story line.As for my documentary, we had challenged this
form of convention by not having the actresses not speak throughout the re-enactments. Instead,
we placed sound effects (Ambient Sound 2) which played in the background of the moving image.
America’s MostWanted. My Documentary.
7. For my advertisement of my
documentary, I have used a
variety of codes and
conventions including:
■ Main image
■ Masthead
■ Date /Time
■ Logo of Institution
■ Newspaper Reviews
■ Bottom strip The colour scheme of this advert is very simple but effective. It had challenged the
conventions of a real products and this is because adverts tend to stick with the
same colour scheme.The reason I did this because the colour of the font wasn’t
easy to read because the photograph has some dark areas which is why I had
changed ‘Lucy Barrat’ to white so it is more eye-catching. I had challenged the
convention of the image by not editing it to much as I didn’t want the audience
not to be able to see the text which is why I did not edit the photo because the
viewer would not have been able to see the text.
8. This convention is mainly used as a
promotional tool for the documentary and it
is appealing to the target audience as they
believe what the newspapers say as it is real
content that needs to be watched.The font
of the ‘the guardian’ is different to the other
the newspaper titles.This is because I wanted
to keep it the same as the font that the
newspaper uses so it is recognisable to the
audience who read ‘the guardian’.
This convention is includes the date, time and the logo of the institution /
channel that is distributing my documentary.This idea came from the
advert of documentaries such as Ross Kemp on Gangs and many more.
The idea of this was to let the audience know where they can watch, the
date and the time they can watch it.
The information in the left image is
developing what real media products use on
their adverts. Not everyone in the target
audience reads this part of the advert as it is
usually in small print. However, I had
challenged that by making the font bigger so
that the audience can read it if they would like
it.
I also challenged a convention by
not using the logo for the
productions name we created.
instead, I used the same font
Sugarskin BTN.
10. This is my double page spread for my documentary and it involves many conventions of a double page spread; main image, masthead, page
numbers, cover line, lead paragraphs and main body.There is a convention that I did challenge with my double page spread and that is the social
media text at the bottom of the right column.As part of my A2Coursework, I wanted my double page spread to be like a magazine rather than a
newspaper.
Page
Numbers:
These conventions
are being developed
in my coursework as
it used in every
magazine.
The leading
paragraph is the
information that
informs the reader a
little bit about what the
article is about.This is
what most newspapers
use so that the reader
can read on if they
would like to.
The main body is
known as the article. My
article is different to
many others as it is a
question and answer
between the interview
and one of the main
characters in the
documentary. this is
similar to intertextual
preferences because
magazines are usually
the ones doing that sort
of thing.
Masthead:This title is placed on top of the photograph which is a convention that has been
challenged. As the mastheads in magazines are usually placed just above the main body and the
image.
The main image is
an convention that is
placed on the left hand
side. It contains 4
images created into
one main image.
11. This is the cover line and this
develops the idea of cover line used in
other magazines.
This is date and time, this is a convention that is
commonly used in advertisements but as I’m
promoting my documentary, this is allowed to be
used on the double page spread. It develops this idea
because many other magazines use this when they
promote a film or anything media like.
