The documentary follows many conventions of the genre to appear realistic and professional to viewers. These include using a voiceover, text overlays to identify speakers, and a presenter. However, some conventions were challenged, such as not revealing interview questions or hiding victims' faces, to make the experience more realistic. Another challenge was changing the focus from the presenter to the missing girl during narration, to keep viewers engaged in the story. While most conventions were followed, these challenges helped the documentary stand out from others in the industry.

1. Question 1- in what ways does
your media product use,
develop or challenge form and
conventions of real media
products?
By Louis Taylor

2. Introduction
 The documentary that i created, follows a large number of media conventions
within documentaries, the reason for this is because i think this makes my created
documentary look more realistic to the viewer and gives my product a more
professional look about it. Although i have followed some of the conventions given
known to documentaries i have also broke some of them to make my documentary
unique to the others out in the industry to make sure there is something eye
catching to the viewer.

3. What conventions did I use in
my documentary?
One of the first general conventions that I have created is a voice over, I used this as the appeal voice at the end of my
documentary I thought this would add a professional touch to my documentary and makes it clear what the contact details that
we are giving are for. I also text overlays so that the audience would know who was talking at the specific time of the
documentary e.g. when the mother of the taken daughter is speaking her name comes up and who she is in relation to the victim,
I felt like this should be used within my documentary to make it clear to the audience who was speaking at the time and to also
give what they were saying more effect, a text overlay was also used with in both of my ancillary task to give information to the
audience such as times, dates, titles and topic of the documentary. A presenter was another of the conventions that I used, to me
a presenter is a key part to a documentary because it gives the audience a basis of the subject that documentary is going to be on
and does not just throw them in the deep end with no basic introduction on the subject. The location we used majority of the time
was the media suite because the school site was no the best place to shoot any footage and it was difficult to get everyone
organized and ready out of school this is also why we took a diversion from the re-enactment route because this could of
potentially made us bypass the deadline we wanted to meet as a group. The lighting used with in our cutaways was very
important because it added mystery to who the person was who took the girl, it didn’t allow you to see the persons face and
fitted in well with the mysterious topic as our documentary was a crime one. The only problem with our cutaways was that the text
overlay was viewed by some of the audience as quite anonymous because it did not follow the general text shown with in our
documentary and this was viewed as quite unprofessional which I have took on board from their reviews. The lighting was also
lighting when taking photos for our double page spread and our newspaper advert because it allowed a constant theme to go
through out all of our products and also brought mystery to the products that would of hooked the audience in because the
image will make the audience want to know who the hidden person is or what the program/ article is about. I tried to add in a few
interviews because I feel like this will give the reader 1st class information on the subject because its so close to home it also gives
them first person information of a person that was there during the crime to hook them in and keep them watching.
This shows the writing used in the
cutaway.
This screenshot shows our presenter
talking about the show and you can
also briefly see the text overlays that
have been used to introduce the
person singing.
Here is a example of a
shot taken in the media
suite during a interview
Here is a example
of how the lighting
caused mystery
because you
cannot fully see
the figure

4. Double page spread
 There area number of codes and conventions that I followed, the first being the use of a title I decided to have to main title
in read to make it stand out from the general colour scheme of the double page spread itself which was mostly all black and
white, this is so that I can catch the readers eye with my title and hook them in to having a interest in the context of my
double page spread. As you can see I used two columns in my ancillary tasks one on the right page and one on the left page
in which the context is on the same context but different from each other, I did this to get as much information in detail so
that the audience will be able to get a real basis into the plot of the documentary before they watch it my reason for this is
because I believe this would make more of the public become interested in the particular case being discussed on the show. I
also used a main image and some smaller images for the more visual of the public, I felt like this was important as the initial
main image will be the first thing that catches the audiences eye so it must be one that grips them and makes them want to
read on in the article, I have then added more images for effect to add onto the main image and furthermore hook the
reader into the mystery of the crime documentary, I have tried to keep the colour scheme of these photos as quite dark ones
in order to fit into the sinister colour theme given to the double page spread to fit in with the actions committed with in the
crime its about. Although I tried to keep all my pictures dark I have added one which is brighter this picture follows the code
and conventions of some newspapers that take pictures of the writer of their article so that they can get gratitude for there
piece of writing. The content of the article itself is what I believe sells the documentary because I feel like it give the audience
a taster of what the documentary is about but because this is just a small taster and they cannot see the majority of features
involved unless they watch the documentary this is what should hook them into wanting to know more about the case and
making them want to watch the documentary created. The lighting of the main picture is also a massive part of making my
main image interesting because it brings a sense of mystery that will hook the reader into wanting to read more this Is why I
purposely tried to make the image dark so you cant see the persons face.
As you can see the
title of my
documentary is a
different colour to
the rest of the
statement to stand
out.
As you can see the lighting
makes you see a figure but
you cannot make out who
it is bringing mystery to it.
You can see the writers
photo in the right corner

5. Newspaper advert
 When doing the newspaper advert I tried to keep it quite plain and simple as I saw a number of adverts like this I
believed this was the best way to do it because for the reader it is short and straight to the point making it easy for
them to find out the information they want, it also does not give away to much meaning that the reader will also
have to either read the double page spread or watch the documentary to gain more information on the topic of the
crime documentary. I used the TV company logo because I saw channel 4 do this a number of time I though this
was very professional and gave a good look professional look to the advert, it also allowed the television company
logo to be advertised and made it clear who produced the documentary for the audience. I decided to use the
same image as I did in the double page spread for my advert firstly because I feel like the image is really good and
has a certain effect on the audience that will hook them in and make the want to get more information on the topic
being discussed in the documentary, I also makes the two products acknowledgeable and compatibly together so
that the audience will be able to see the image and relate the products and the documentary together so as a
overall all were promoting each other. I did not use a tagline as such but I did use a small sentence to hook the
reader in which basically told them what the documentary was on and that it was a unsolved mystery to the nation
making it become a major matter, this will hook the reader in because they will want to know what the big fuss
about the particular case is, under the tagline I have put a brief sentence telling the audience when the
documentary making it easy for them to identify it. I put the title to the documentary in plain font to keep it clear to
the reader what the crime documentary is called, although it could have been a bit more interesting font used I feel
like the topic of the documentary should be kept simple as you see in most TV documentary adverts.
This shows the logo above the
short sentence to hook the
reader in quite similar to the
advert I have created
As you can see
the fonts are
similar and
simple likewise
is the fact that
both are in
boxes to make
them stand out.
On both adverts there is
quite a distinctive different
photo that are quite
mysterious and strange in
a way to hook the reader
into the content written on
the advert.

6. Did I challenge any conventions? And was
this the right decision to make?
 There was a few challenges through out the different products that we made the first
being that with in our documentary interviews we did not reveal the questions being
asked or who was asking them, differently to different crime documentaries and we also
did not hide the faces of any of our victims to our viewers to make the experience more
real and interesting for them to watch. I thought that this worked well because it gave
the feel that none of the documentary was false and none of the interviews were being
fed what to say because of insinuations within the questions. Another thing that we did
was during the presenter talking we changed the focus of her to the girl that has gone
missing, we felt like this would have more effect on the audience because they would be
able to see the victim as her story was being told. I also think that this was a good
challenge of the codes and conventions of general documentaries because it allowed
our one to stand out from other crime shows within the industry, it also made the
talking of the presenter less tedious so that the audience did not just get bored of
watching her talk about what happened instead we just simply changed the subject to
keep the audience thinking.
As you can see the first
interview above is
taken in a two shot
style when our
interviews are taken in
a mid shot style.
During a Louis Theroux
documentary you would see he is
the main topic when presenting.
But when watching ours you would
of seen that the topic changes from
the presenter and zooms in further
to the picture of the girl on the
right.