1. Assignment 17 – Similar products
and conventions
Chelsea Fashole Luke
Rosalin Zein
Marisha Inoke
Russ Monocillo

2. Individual
SIMILAR PRODUCTS

3. Similar Products
Name of
documentary
TV or film
Genre and mode
How much
watched
Where/when
watched
Date
1. Ladyboys
Tv
Observational
All
Sky Living
2. Come fly with
me
(mockumentary)
Tv
Expository
All
Watch
23/8/13
3. Americas
stoned kids
Tv
Participatory
All
BBC2
24/8/13
4. Hotel of mum
and dad
Tv
Observational
All
BBC3
4/11/13
5. Crazy about
one direction
4od
Observational
All
Channel 4
6. tiger: spy in
the jungle
Tv
Observational/ex
pository
All
BBC4
24/8/13
7. The culture
show: youtube –
the future of tv?
Tv
Participatory
All
BBC2
4/9/13
8. City beneath
the waves:
Pavlopetri
Tv
Expository
10 mins
BBC4
9/9/13
9. Child of our
time
Tv
Participatory/obs
ervational
All
BBC1
9/9/13
Chelsea
What did you learn
from this documentary
that you could apply to
your documentary
Good use of narrator
Used humour to
entertain

4. Chelsea
Similar Products
Name of
documentary
10. My tattoo
addiction
TV or film
Genre and
mode
How much
watched
Where/when
watched
Date
Channel 4
11. My big fat
gypsy wedding
12. Dr J Money
and the boy
with no penis
BBC2
4/11/13
13. Miley: the
movement
MTV
5/10/13
14.
15.
What did you
learn from this
documentary
that you could
apply to your
documentary

5. Similar Products
Rosalin Zein
Name of
documentary
TV or Film
Genre
&
Mode
How Much
Watched
Where/How
Watched
Date
What could you apply
to your documentary?
1. The Culture
Show – YouTube :
the future of TV
Online
Reflexive
All
Youtube
01/09/2013
Presenter
Voiceovers
Credits
2. Don’t Blame
Facebook
TV
Expository
1 Episode
Channel 4
08/09/2013
Narrator
Cutaways
Non-Diegetic Background
Music
3. Food Inc
Film
Expository
All
Online
06/06/2013
Use of narrator
4. Catfish
TV
Relfexive /
participatory
All
Online
October
Use of presenter
Credits
Sense of realism
5. Food
Unwrapped
TV
Participatory
2 Episodes
4oD
31/08/2013
Use of sound effects
Transitions
6. Never Sorry
Film
Expository
Short Cllp
Online
October
Expert interviews
Case study
7. Breaking the
Taboo
Film
Expository
All
Online
June
Archival footage

6. Similar Products
Rosalin Zein
Name of
documentary
TV or Film
Genre
&
Mode
How Much
Watched
Where/How
Watched
Date
What could you apply
to your documentary?
8. Out There
TV
Participatory
2 Episodes
BBC Iplayer
16/10/2013
Use of presenter
Case studies
9. One Born
Every Minute
TV
Observational
1 Episode
TV
September
Use of narrator
Camera shots/angles
10. Educating
Yorkshire
TV
Observational
30 mins
Online
19/10/2013
Expert interviews
Credits
11. The Human
Mannequin
TV
Observational
All
Online 4oD
20/10/2013
Sense of realism through
natural lighting.
12. We are
Legion – story of
Hackers
Film
Expository
Trailer
Online
October
Archival footage

7. Russ
Name Of
Documentary
TV or FILM
How Much
Watched
Where/ How
Watched
Date
What did you learn
from this documentary
that you could apply to
your documentary?
I lost My Job
Film Documentary
Full Film
Top Documentary
Films/ Online
April 14
2012
That music needs to
match to various shots to
create fitting
documentary
Future
Intelligence
Documentary Film
Full Film
Top Documentary
Films/ Online
January 30 2009
Inspires desires to have
physical presence of
narrator.
Building Gods
Documentary Film
Full Film
Top Documentary
Films/Online
November 4
2011
An animated introduction
that uses various sounds
images, archived clips or
snippets of the film can
help grab audience
attention.
Google Me
Documentary Film
Full Film
Top Documentary
Films/Online
April 25
2008
The constant use of
actors are very eye
appealing and would help
create an more
interesting documentary
Technology:
World War 2.0
TV Film
Documentary
Full Film
Top Documentary
Films/Online
March 27
2009
Technologies are useful,
having various equipment
allows your documentary
more information and
resources.

8. Russ
Name Of
Documentary
TV or FILM
How Much
Watched
Where/ How
Watched
Date
What did you learn
from this documentary
that you could apply to
your documentary?
Failed
Inventions
TV Film
Documentary
Entire Film
Top Documentary
Films/Online
March 19
2009
Having expert
interviews is very
important for creating
and interesting and
informative
documentary.
How TV
Ruined Your
Life
TV Series
Documentary
1 Episode
Top Documentary
Films/Online
January
2011
Editing various clips to
fit your subject matter
is interesting.
Poor Us: An
Animated
History – Why
Us
Documentary Film
30 Minutes
Top Documentary
Films/Online
November 20
2012
That animation can play
an effective role in
progressing a point of
interest.

9. Individual
INSPIRATION FROM SIMILAR
PRODUCTS

10. Chelsea
Inspiration from similar products
Reflexive mode: cameras are not
hidden from view of viewers.
Allows audience to see from more
than one point of view (the main
camera)
Titles: titles and credits fit
the theme (social
networking) of the
documentary and make
reading them more fun for
the viewers.

11. Chelsea
Inspiration from similar products
Titles in large, bold font,
making it eye catching to
the viewer
Expert interviews:
musician Pharrel is
interviewed about Miley.
Interviews: throughout the
documentary, pieces of
Miley’s interview is shown
Archival footage: images from her
twitter page are shown

12. Inspiration from similar products
Rosalin Zein
Expert interviews with YouTubers.
Reflexive mode – as the construction of the
documentary is exposed through the
cameras and the presenter having direct
address with the audience
Archival footage / Found footage:
e.g. the footage of the man jumping
from space

13. Inspiration from similar products
Rosalin Zein – Don't Blame Facebook
The transitions that are used in this documentary are
really unique. The effect resembles a fuzzy TV screen
which relates to the topic of the documentary which
is social media.
Throughout the documentary there are cutaways to
Facebook & Twitter posts as evidence for their case studies.
What I liked about this was the way in which their cutaways
appeared on the screen and the use of sound effects.
In this documentary there would be
different angles/shots of a single piece –
for example, in this clip the man being
interviewed has a long shot and a close
up shot.

14. Inspiration from similar products
Russ Monocillo
statistics
(captions) subtitles are
easy to read
Archival footage

15. Individual
CONVENTIONS OF
DOCUMENTARIES

16. Chelsea
Conventions of Documentaries
Conventions
Example from a documentary
Titles/captions
My tattoo addiction: tattoo style font in
titles and captions
Social actors
Crazy about one direction: many fans
were interviewed about the band
Mode theory
Tiger: spy in the jungle: observational &
expository. Watches the lives of a tiger
family through secret cameras
Archival photos/videos
Dr J Money and the boy with no penis:
showed photos and videos from David’s
childhood
Narrative structure

17. Conventions of Documentaries
Rosalin Zein
Conventions
Example from a documentary
Presenter
Nev Schluman – ‘Catfish’
Found Footage
‘Breaking the Taboo’ – Found footage of
news.
Background Music
‘The Woman who woke up chinese’
Statistics
‘Food Inc’
Close up shots
‘Don’t Blame Facebook’

18. Conventions of documentaries
Russ Monocillo
Conventions
Example from a documentary
Conventions of Narrator
Poor Us: An Animated History - Why Us
uses animation to set the story for their
narration and continue the progress of
the documentary.
Archival editing
How TV Ruined your life is TV Show
Documentary that uses various achieved
clips to create sketches on attempts to
place the fine line between reality and
television.
Convention Of Location
A Gift for a Hacker uses locations like
buildings , websites and convention for
various businesses as well as companies
Convention Of Music/Sounds
Google Me uses various comforting music
and sounds that fit the setting and set the
mood of either the scene or progression
towards the next subject.

19. Individual
SIMILAR PRODUCTS AND THEIR
CONVENTIONS

20. Which documentaries?
Name
Documentaries
Chelsea
• Ladyboys
• My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding
• Miley: The Movement
Rosalin
• ‘Don’t Blame Facebook’
• ‘The Culture Show – YouTube : The
future of TV’
• ‘Food Unwrapped’
Russ
Marisha

21. Chelsea
Similar Products and their Conventions
Convention
Use
Develop Challenge
Narration
✔
A present is not used, instead a
narrator informs the viewers of
events which take place.
Case studies
✔
The documentary follows ladyboys
living in Thailand and how they deal
with issues in their everyday lives.
Professional
interviews
✔
Interviews with doctors who perform
surgeries and procedures on
ladyboys.
Ladyboys
Explanation

22. Chelsea
Similar Products and their Conventions
Convention
Use
Develop Challenge
Explanation
Interviews
✔
Non-formal interviews with gypsies
are shown throughout the show
Titles
✔
Titles are shown throughout the
documentary, usually adopting the
familiar series font
Case study
✔
Follows the case of many gypsy
brides to be and their families
My big fat gypsy wedding

23. Chelsea
Similar Products and their Conventions
Convention
Use
Develop Challenge
Explanation
Handheld
camera
✔
A handheld camera is used to film
the whole programme and is evident
throughout
Sound bridging
✔
Sound bridging used when sound is
continued over a switched scene
Use of music
✔
Music is used when dialogue or
sound is not in use
Miley: the movement

24. Similar Products and their Conventions
Rosalin Zein - Green Level
Convention
Use
Explanation
✔
Archival
footage
Develop Challenge
Instead of archival footage s they
wouldn’t have been able to have this
– they have reconstructions of events
Narrator
✔
There is no presenter in this
documentary instead they use
voiceovers of a narrator
Case Studies
✔
The show is based on the publics
experiences with social networking
so they have a variety of case studies
with different stories.
‘Don’t Blame Facebook’ – Channel 4

25. Similar Products and their Conventions
Rosalin Zein - Green Level
Convention
Use
Develop
Challenge Explanation
Expert
Interview
✔
They have many expert interviews
with YouTubers and people that work
within the social media
Presenter
✔
The presenter is very laidback and
converses with the cameraman from
time to time
Credits
✔
Credits are used to identify the
presenter and the various ‘experts’
from the interviews
‘The Culture Show – Youtube : The future of TV’ – Channel 4

26. Similar Products and their Conventions
Rosalin Zein - Green Level
Convention
Use
Develop Challenge Explanation
✔
Archival
footage
Archival footage is not used in the
documentary.
Presenter
✔
In the documentary there ae four
presenters who do research on
different/similar topics e.g in an
episode 2 of the presenters researched
grapefruits while the other researched
yogurt.
Sound Bridging
✔
Sound bridging is used for the voice
overs when there are cut aways and
also when there is background music.
‘Food Unwrapped’ – Channel 4

27. Russ
Similar products & their convention
Convention
Use
Develop
Challenge
Conventions of
Music/Sound
Usingvarious fitting
sounds/music to
progress the story and
create a setting for
each person that
shares a similar name
around the world.
When the narrator
visits his similar named
counterpart in
Australia, fitting
accents, sounds and
music were used to fit
the setting.
Stand By
Statistics
The use of statistics
with a plain
background that has
correct text to
strengthen the
subject’s material.
In Vanguard the Mayor
Of New York states
statistics to strengthen
his argument that the
city is now better due
to strict Tobacco laws.
Effects/Transiti
ons
Smoothing out the
shift between clips by
using various effects
and transitions
Vanguard uses sharp
cuts of various clips
rapidly to create a
constant source of new
interest content to
keep interest.
Documentary: Google Me, April 25, 2008 Top Documentary Films
Vanguard Sex lies and Cigarettes June 28 2011 Top Documentary Films
Explanation

28. Group
YOUR PRODUCT & CONVENTIONS

29. Conventions in our documentary
Convention
Where in
documentary?
Use/Develop or
Challenge
Inspirational
Documentary
How does this
relate to Mode
theory?
Presenter
In the 2 minute intro
to episode
USE
Catfish
Presenter is used in
participatory
Voice Overs
Montage of whole
documentary
USE
One born Every
minute
Most modes use
this
Statistics
2 minute intro to
episode
USE
Breaking the Taboo
Presenting evidence
Public Interviews
Within montage of
whole episode
USE
Food Unwrapped
Background
music
Throughout the 5 mins
USE
Crazy About One
direction
Montage Editing
2 Minute montage
USE
The Human Swarm
Sound Bridging
Of voice overs when
there is montage
editing and
background music
USE
Miley The
Movement