In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The task set before us at the beginning of this academic year was to create the opening five minutes of a documentary, and alongside it to produce a radio trailer, and a double page spread in a television listing magazine. However, before we began we had to complete extensive research into the varied field of documentaries. Firstly, I learned that the tone of the documentary was something which would be crucial to our success. We had chosen the sensitive topic of homosexuality and I understood that this could not be treated light heartedly or with gest. I believe our documentary set out an overall optimistic view of our generations attitude towards homosexuals highlighting peoples acceptance, though still being sombre when presenting horrific facts, such as between thirty to forty percent of the LGBT community attempting to commit suicide at some point in their life. The different types and styles of documentaries was also something we looked into, in order to be in keeping with codes and conventions of real media products. Bill Nicholls distinguished various styles and traits of documentaries and developed a multitude of genres and styles in his Introduction to Documentaries. We tried to mimic aspects of these styles within our own documentary, in order for it be successful. We mimicked many of the features in the expository mode. Firstly, we used a voice of authority as I not only narrated the documentary, but also did numerous pieces to camera. We used rhetoric to propose a string argument. We addressed the user directly, particularly when reviewing YouTube footage in the latter half of our documentary. Aspects on the participatory mode are also prevalent in our work. The filmmaker (myself) is visible to the viewer and Supersize Me is an example of this as Morgan Spurlock is seen throughout the documentary. I freely talk about my own personal perspective upon the issue in regards to when the film is being made. I believe I clearly assert the message that homosexuality is not a negative thing. These are all features that are present within our documentary. To an extent, we also have features of the observational mode similar to the fly-on-the-wall style as we film individuals acting naturally; an example of this is the filming that took place in the refectory and in the library. I think our documentary is most representative of the reflexive mode. Firstly, I draw the viewers attention to the constructed nature of the documentary and wrestle with the contents of the documentary, showing them the research process when reviewing YouTube footage. Ruby 2005 stated that by using the above imagery you aid the audience in their understanding of the process of construction in film so that they could develop a sophisticated and critical attitude which is what we aimed to achieve.

The documentary I produced was polemical and strongly expressed the point of view that homosexuality was not a negative feature of our society or of human character. We used both positive and negative views on homosexuality reflecting the diversity of opinion though overall its strongly polemical. We explored a variety of life avenues within our documentary. Firstly, we explored individuals preconceptions, such as the percentage of the population which they believed to identify themselves as homosexual, and out of these people, how many had attempted suicide. The response was overwhelmingly incorrect, with most people suggesting that 30-40% of the UK is homosexual. We also explored controversial issues such as gay marriage, gay rights, and adoption. Overall individuals displayed positive attitudes towards the LGBT community. The sixth form college Solihull has a rich diverse culture and we tried to be reflect of this within the documentary. Also, as of this diversity we were aware that there would be a contrast of views and wanted to try and get the most reflective representational view of the college consensus. However, this was more difficult than first thought as many individuals who expressed negative views didnt wish to be filmed. Also, we interviewed two homosexuals Toni and Frank. We used both a male and female in order to demonstrate that it was not just one gender that is homosexual and it is as likely in both. We tried to represent these groups as well as we could although it was difficult as many individuals with pessimistic views on homosexuality did not wish to be filmed. We also tried to get interviews with a variety of faith leaders, but once again, they declined. However, overall I believe a diverse image of college was portrayed and in the montage at the beginning of our film a variety of races and religions where used and we were conscience in the editing to include a diversity that would reflect the college. The documentary uses a narrative structure which is polemical and persuasive trying to persuade the audience that being homosexual is not a negative thing. The narrator is both a voice of authority, and is visible on camera just like in Supersize Me. By using both of these techniques we aimed for the audience to gain a personal connection with the visible narrator who expressed her own opinion. The voice of authority was strictly factual; we believed this would allow the audience received the facts in an unbiased way, while still being able to identify with the visible narrator and to agree with her point of view. The use of factual information allowed for us to confirm the arguments we had presented. We used a female voice as I believed it would sound softer when approaching such a sensitive issue. By interviewing individuals who had gone through many of the experiences we were talking about, Toni and Frank, I believed it gave us a voice of authority as they had personal experience which gave our documentary a very real feel. The opening of our documentary begins with a montage of close up faces while the audio is a series of layered coming out stories. I believe it is enigmatic to begin with as it may be unclear to some of what the topic of the documentary is. As the opening continues the layer of audio is increased and so is the sound level until it reaches a critical point and then dies down with a single phrase being hear on its own I wasnt comfortable with the idea of hiding who I was, or who I love I think this is poignant

as it is significant factor that leads many people to come out or to even commit suicide and this dramatic element was crucial to our documentary. The section that follows this is a piece to camera in which the narrator states that in the documentary they will be exploring attitudes towards homosexuality. Our documentary uses the enigmatic code throughout as it discusses the subject, however it never directly draws a conclusion for why people are homosexual, or why in fact people who such radical and extreme views upon the subject. By using this code I believe it captures the readers attention to a subject that cannot necessarily be solved. The sound used in documentaries is crucial to its tone. The different sounds are background sound, music, digetic and non-digetic sounds. The music we used throughout is a minor piano melody which I believe represents the sombre tone we have chosen to use which also wasnt going to overpower the voiceover or the interviews. It varies slightly throughout so that the audience dont get bored of the melody, or so that they dont begin to pay too much attention to its repetition and focus less on the message of the documentary. We also use it continuously throughout and adjust the sound levels so that the music is smooth throughout opposed to jumpy. In documentaries such as Supersize Me copyright music such as Fat Bottom Girls by Queen was used which we were unable to use, so therefore we created our own music in garage band. We stated that our target audience would be from both genders though predominately female, would be consisting of the middle and lower class and would predominately consist of individuals aged between 17-24. This is why we chose to place our documentary on Channel 4 at 10pm. I believe our documentary uses the uses and gratifications model which states that the audience is active and uses the text, opposed to the text using it and individuals would watch our documentary as it is factual which could help some with issues of personal and social identity. Id hope that the audience would take away the preferred reading of our text and would decode the message that we wanted them to receive which would be that homosexuality is not a negative thing. However, I understand that some may the oppositional reading whereby they reject the message entirely as of cultural or personal beliefs. Our final magazine article was based on an article that you may find in Pick Me Up or a similar a magazine. Before deciding upon this magazine we examined a variety of other magazines such as Radio Times and TV Mag. As our documentary covered a serious issue we tried to keep it as simple as possible. We followed conventions by: Using a drop cap Using a pull quote Formatting text in column Using a masthead Using captions Stating when the documentary would be on. Before we produced our radio trailer we listened and examined real ones that aired on stations such as Capital, Radio 5 and BBC 1 so that our own would follow the convention s. We followed conventions by: Using audio from our documentary

Stating when and where the programme would be on We addressed the reader directly Used background music Used an enthusiastic voiceover

Overall I believe we effectively followed codes and conventions with our documentary and within both our ancillary tasks.