2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
Although it includes a mix of genres, our documentary is most typical of the Expository genre.
Images and archive
material
Intro - Voice-Over Expository documentaries use lots of
Complying to the expository genre, we have Archive footage
photographs and materials to support the
a „voice of god‟ voiceover (heard but not We included some archive footage
argument put forward in the voiceover. We
seen), which addresses the audience directly. of recent news reports to emphasise
Conventionally, the voice over is
found press cuttings from newspapers and
how topical and controversial the
authoritative, presenting the audience with scanned them in, and then edited them into
issue of CCTV is. This is very typical of
facts and figures to back up points . our documentary. We then edited the
the genre.
voiceover so it matched up with the clips to
support and illustrate the argument.
Stand-up interviews Anonymous Interview Editing
A typical convention of the genre which we Another typical convention is the use of We used lots of short joining shots for
have complied to is the use of interviews anonymous interviews. Due to the secretive nature continuity, These shots link together all
with the public. As expository documentaries of expository documentaries, many include our points and interviews and provide
tend to be about current affairs, they usually anonymous interviews as the interviewee may not a visual to go with the voice over. We
get the views of the general public to make want to be identified because they are exposing also have edited these shots into the
it more personal for the audience. something personal or secret. interviews to illustrate their points.
3. There are many similar documentaries which are made in the same style and which have inspired us.
Dispatches
Dispatches is a Channel 4 documentary series, which frequently broadcasts current affairs documentaries. I would classify our piece as a „current affairs
documentary‟, as CCTV is a very relevant and controversial topic at the moment. As Dispatches covers issues such as politics, health. Religion, British society and
the environment, we feel that our documentary could be included in a series of Dispatches as it seems to conform to them.
„Dispatches: Train Journey from Hell‟ Our documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPI5tR1G-m8
„Dispatches: BP: In Deep Water”‟
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od#3176547
We used lots of screenshots for
example BBC news, Crime watch,
Screenshots of internet sites (YouTube) helping and Guardian Online. This was to
to show that the issue is topical. show how controversial and topical
CCTV is.
We used a similar anonymous shot
An anonymous shot to hide the
„Dispatches: Britain‟s Secret Fat Cats‟ interviewees identity because he was
to hide the identity of a pupil.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/4od#3173562 a worker from BP who was exposing
something about the company.
We also used an establishing shot of
the school to introduce the
Establishing shots are used to show interview.
where the action will take place.
On location interviews
Location interviews are used to illustrate
what the interviewee is talking about
Short clips of busy crowds are used.
We used busy street shots to break up the
interviews, establish a setting and to add
some variety to the angles. Shots of the
public gives the impression that it is an issue
which involves the public directly.
4. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Our target audience is quite varied. The style and topic of our documentary
would appeal to adults as it is very factual and to the point. However, we talk a
lot about the use of CCTV in schools, which would appeal to younger viewers as
they could relate to it.
Therefore, we have tried to make our advertising pack appeal to a wide ranger
of people – the young and the old.
We tried to make posters
which appealed to a wide
audience. We want to
attract everyone to our
documentary, so we
chose simple layouts which
attracted attention though
My magazine article is aimed at older audiences, as it
the use of striking colours
has lots of text and is very informative. It uses colours (red, white and black). The
which are subtle and sophisticated so it would mostly colour scheme is
attract a more mature audience. This article would be sophisticated and
found in a magazine aimed at adults, as this isn‟t the probably wouldn‟t appeal
type of article which would appear in a celebrity to young children. As
gossip magazine or a magazine targeted at children. CCTV is an issue which
It talks about CCTV in schools so it might appeal to effects everyone, we think
parents with children of school age. that everyone could find
bits of it interesting.
5. Meanings and Messages This question is introduces the audience to the topic and
makes the audience think about it before they‟ve watched
the documentary. Also we address the audience directly,
which tells the audience that the documentary will be
relevant to them personally.
British Flag –
The same font gives the
and colour The picture of impression that
scheme is used someone stealing all of Britain is
throughout our from a shop under
advertising pack. illustrates a positive surveillance
The felt the use of CCTV. It also and tells
colours red and acts as a king of viewers that
black suited our warning to the this is a
documentary as public. It introduces documentary
they look quite a main theme of the about Britain.
foreboding and documentary –
threatening, but crime.
also eye catching We included a smart phone barcode, which enables viewers
to draw viewers in. with compatible phones to scan the code which would then
take them to the documentaries website. We only put this on
the bus stop advert because people would be more likely to
spend a longer time looking at it and may want some
entertainment while they wait for the bus.
6. I have found a professional magazine article on
My Magazine - the internet and compared it with mine to check
that mine conforms to typical conventions.
Photographs
illustrating
points in the
article
Information boxes to
engage the read
and present facts in
a clear, easy to read
way.
Advertisements
for a product/
documentary to
try and sell the
products.
Eye catching titles and
a short introduction in
big bold writing. These
draw readers
attention to the article
and gives them a
quick look into what
the article will be
Important quotes are about.
enlarged and
coloured to
emphasise and draw
attention to them to
keep the reader
engaged.
7. Examples of professional media products
Logos of the
Questions channel
which address
the viewer
directly to
involve them Time and
on a personal date details
level.
8. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
“I really liked the music
and it was typical of a
documentary”
From our audience feedback we could see that “Some of the effects
we needed to make a few changes. Nearly all of
our audience said that the volume of our voice seemed a bit
over needed to be louder. Unfortunately we don‟t monotonous and the
“I liked how you used have time to re-record this, but we have turned interview is a bit too
down the music to make it less obvious. We had
newspaper cuttings long”
mixed comments about the transitions, with some
and news reports” people really liking how smooth and effective the
transitions were, and others saying they were a bit
“some of the interviews monotonous. We have left these as they are
probably a matter of opinion. Lots of people said
went on too long”
that the interview with Mr Scully went on too long, “I liked how smoothly
and when we observed the audience watching it
everyone seemed to loose interest by the end of edited it was”
his interview. With this in mind, we have now
“the voice over was quite
made his interview shorter.
quiet so the music drowned
it out a bit”
“I liked the content
and the transitions that
you used”
“the voice over was a
bit hard to hear”
9. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
Planning & Researching
Slideshare
I used this to find I used Blogger.com to enabled me to
Similarly to Youtube I I used Windows Movie I used timerime.com I used upload
videos to research create my blog as I worditout.com to
used this to watch other Maker to practise editing to create a timeline PowerPoint
other existing used this last year so I make a word cloud
documentaries for and put little clips know it was effective about the history of presentations to
documentaries which illustrated my
inspiration together for my blog. and easy to use. documentaries. my blog
ideas
Construction
We edited our footage We used GarageBand We used a „Yeti‟
We used an Apple We used Kodak HD
in iMovie to create a to make the music for microphone to record the We used a tripod to
MacBook to edit all camera to film our
professional effect our documentary voice over to produce a keep the shots steady.
our work. documentary.
clear, professional sound
10. Construction cont.
We used Photoshop to I used PhotoImpact I used screen grabber to
I used a scanner to scan We used a Nikon digital I used Microsoft
create our supporting whilst making my print screen shots to put on
the press cuttings in camera to take some Publisher to make my
piece (the advertising magazine article to edit my blog and to use in my
of the still shots magazine article
pack) photos evaluation.
Evaluation
I used the search
engine Google to find
I used Microsoft PowerPoint out information and
I used word to draft my
to make my evaluation research similar
ideas
presentation products
