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

Withthebriefforthecourseworktoproducetheopening5minutesofa televisiondocumentary,weinitiallyconductedsomeresearchintowhat makesasuccessfuldocumentary.Creatingpublicinterest,controversy andengagingthetargetaudienceseemedtobeageneralconsensusfor asuccessfultelevisiondocumentary.Therefore,wedecidedthatthe bestwaytomakesomethingsuccessfulwouldbetomakeourselvesthe targetaudienceandchoosesomethingwecanrelateto. TheLostGenerationexplorestheportrayalofyoungpeopleinsociety today;highlightingandaddressingacontroversialandthought provokingissuethatwefeelpassionatelyabout. Wefeelthisisacurrentaffairsissue,especiallywithrecenteventssuch astheAugustriots,andsoweregardourproductasapublicaffairs documentary.Throughoutthe documentary,weattempttoavoidany biasbyremainingneutral.However,we seemtodrawattentiontowhatweseeas aperceivedwrong,makingthe documentarypolemicalandonesided. Thiscanbeseenaschallenginganeutral codeofdocumentarieswhichcouldeffect howprofessionalourproductappearsto thepublic. Beingapublicaffairsdocumentary,itwasimportantwe choseapublicservicechannel.Channel4wasoureventual choicenotonlybecauseitisapublicservicechannel,but becauseChannel4hasareputationforpowerful documentaries.Researchintothechannelmainlyviaits catchupservice4OD(hyperlink)showedthechannelalso hadastrongassociationwithdocumentariesdirectedata youngpeople,examplesbeingEducatingEssexandtheSex EducationShow.

TheIdent
Acommonconventionofnotjustrealmediadocumentariesbutofany reallifetelevisionproductionisthechannelident.Channel4hasawide selectionofdifferentidents,butwechoseoursaswefeelitbest establishesthemoodtothedocumentary.Wearetryingtocreatea seriousatmosphere,andsoneededaseriousintroduction.

In an hour on 4, were being Frank with everyones favourite Gallagher. But for now, are you part of the Lost Generation?
Writingthescripttotheidentintrowasimportantinhowprofessional ourdocumentaryfelt.Aswellasgivingtheviewerusefulinformation suchasthelengthoftheshowandwhattoexpectafterwards.Including wordplayintheidentisacommonconventionofChannel4,andone thatourtargetaudiencemayappreciate.Hintingtowardsthetitlewith therhetoricalquestionengagestheviewertofindoutwhatorwhois theLostGeneration.Wefeelouridentworkedwellwithouraudience duringourpeerreviewsession,andissomethingthatwashighlightedin theaudiencefeedback.

DocumentaryResearch

Inresearch,Ifoundadocumentaryverysimilartoourown.Teen Troublehighlightsthesametopicandmanykeythemesofourown documentary,aswellasbeingaChannel4exclusive.Analysingthis provedprofitableintheconstructionanddevelopmentofourown ideas.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/teen-trouble/4od

Hereisthedescriptionoftheprogramfromthe4ODwebsite,available inthelinkabove:
Teen Trouble digs behind the media scenes to find out why the press only tell that "teens are street rats". Exploring the truth about teenage misbehaviour and assessing ways in which the government tackles teenage crime, the programme looks at ways of promoting better relationships between adults and teenagers.

AnopeningmontageisacommonandimportantconventionofanyTV documentary.TeenTroublesopeningmontageisparticularlyeffective atcreatingthemoodtheymaintainthroughoutthedocumentary. HereisaseriesofscreenshotsIhaveputtogetherfromtheopening montage.Viewpicturesfromlefttoright:

TheopeningmontageofTeentroubleisfilledwithcontrastingfootageofnews reportsrelatedtomediaportrayalofteenagersandfootageofantisocialbehaviour fromblackandwhiteCCTVcameras.Thecontrastbetweenthecolourfulnews reportsandthegrainyfootageofantisocialbehaviourcreatesaparallelbetweenthe twothataddstothestrengthandtherealismofthedocumentary.Thediegetic soundofeachvideoclipismixedinwithaninaudiblesoundofmanynewsreader voicesthatemphasisetheoverwhelmingfeelingwegetfromthemedia.Thisis contrastedbythecontinuingsoftnondiegeticpianosolothatremainsconstant throughoutthefootage.Thisisveryeffectiveandemotivetotheaudienceandworks wellwiththetopicofthedocumentarybecauseofitsnature. Recreatingasimilarfeeltothiswasdifficultforus,asallthefootageintheopening montageofTeenTroubleisunoriginalandsourcedfromotherplaces.Wecouldnt includeunoriginalfootageforrightsreasonsandsohadtotakeaslightlydifferent approachincreatingthetenseemotiveatmosphere.

Ouropeningmontagecreatedasimilar moodtothatofTeenTrouble.Opening withveryshortvoxpopsofwordsconnoted withyoungpeople,wequicklyestablisheda moodonlyintensifiedbyourchoiceofnon diegeticsoundorbackgroundmusic. Tensionisbuiltthroughoutthemontageas thevarietyofshotsincreasesandthemusic graduallydrawstowardsacrescendoatthe endofthemontage
Examples of cutaways from the montage.

Examples of vox pops from montage

Ourvoxpopsanddiegeticsoundfromarangeofclipsisbrokenupwith cutawayssuchastheseabove.Cutawaysareacommonfeatureof documentaries,andincludingthempositivelyeffectivehowprofessional ourdocumentarylooked.Thisalsoallowedtimefortheintroductionof ourvoiceover,anothercrucialandconsistentfeatureofalltelevision documentaries.

Presenters

Themajorityofdocumentaries,includingTeenTroublefeaturea presenter,whousuallyappearstotheaudienceaftertheopening montagetointroducethedocumentary.Wehoweverdidnotincludea presenter,showingwearechallengingacommondocumentary convention.Wefeelthathavingavoiceoverissuitableforour documentaryandsochosenottohavesomeoneopenthedocumentary onscreen. Onemajordrawbackofthismeantthatweneededtoincludefarmore fillerfootageforwhenourvoiceoverwassayingwhatusuallywouldbe saidbyapresenter.Thisissomethingwestruggledwith,andalarge negativepointofouraudiencefeedbackinvolvedtherepetitionof footageinourdocumentary.

Shots
Weincludedavarietyofdifferentshotanglesinourdocumentary. Varietykeepstheviewerinterestedandengagedinthedocumentary, somethingwefeltveryimportantespeciallywhentargetingateenage audience,notoriousforshortattentionspanstotelevisionprograms.We foundthisoutininitialresearchwithpeersofwhatwouldkeepthem watchingadocumentary. Herearesomeshotexamplesfromourdocumentaryandhowthey compareorcontrasttothoseofreallifeexamples:

OurDocumentary

TeenTrouble

MCU CU

These examples show very common shots in many documentaries. Like this real life example, we have attempted to follow certain conventions such as the rule of thirds. Both eye levels are approximately a third of the way down the page in both the medium close up and close up. This positively effects how professional we feel that our documentary looks to the viewer, as it is comparable to real life examples. OurDocumentary TeenTrouble

GroupShot
Groupshotsareanotherfeatureofourdocumentarycommonlyused wheninterviewingmorethanonpersonatonce.Everyoneinourshotis equal,withnoonedominatingtheframe.Insteadwechosetozoomin whilstrecordingonthosewhowerespeakingatthetime(seebelow). Thiswefeelcouldhaveworkedbetterifweinsteadchosetozoomin postrecordingusingeditingsoftware.Thiswaythecameradoesnot shakeandseemunprofessional.

CameraMovements
Cameramovementsareacommonconventionofreallife documentariesandweincludedintheopeningsequenceofour documentary. Thedocumentaryopenswithafade inandthefirstimageonscreenisan extremelongshotofastudent outsideacollege. Thecameraatthispointpansright, towardsthesignforthecollegewe areoutsideof.Thiswas madefareasierbyusing atripod,somethingthat afilmcrewwouldusein arealdocumentary. Thecamerastopswhenitreachesthe signforthecollegeandthenzoomsin onit. Thisiseffectiveasitmakesitseemas ifweareenteringthecollegeaswe getclosertowardsthesign.Wefeel thatthisworkedwellasanopeningto outdocumentaryattheendofthe montage.

Interviews
Interviewsmakeasubstantialpartofanydocumentary.Weincludeda rangeofinterviewsinourdocumentarywithbothprofessionalswehad arrangedtointerviewandvoxpopswithyoungpeopleforshorter unarrangedunscriptedinterviews.Bothwereusefulintheirownways. ProfessionalsVoxPops

Includinginterviewswithprofessionalswithexpertinsightgavegreater believabilitytoourdocumentary.Weknewthatouraudiencewould acknowledgewhatweweresayingmoreifwehadviewsofaprofessionalin thegivenfield.Thisisthesameforalldocumentariesandsoisacommon convention. Includingvoxpopswiththegeneralpublicincreasestherealismofa documentaryasthesearemeanttobeusuallyrepresentativeofthetarget audienceandsotheycanrelatetothem.

Weusedashotreverseshotinourinterviewsasitisacommon conventionwefoundusedinmanydocumentarieswhenconductingan interview.Oneproblemwecameacrossshootingthisisdominancein theframe.Asweonlyhadonecamera,wehadtoshoottheinterview andthequestionsonseparateoccasionsandsounfortunatelythe framingwasnotequalinboththeshots.Itappearsthattheinterviewer isdominatingtheframeheistakingupmoreofthescreenthanthe personheisinterviewing.Thischallengescommonconventionsof equalityinshootingandsocanbeseenasnegativelyeffectinghow professionalourdocumentaryappearstobe.

Miseenscene
These plugs in the background are the only visible sign of mise en scene. They make the interview look unprofessional.

Fromwatchingotherdocumentaries,wefoundoutthatthelocationof aninterviewisimportantinhowprofessionalandplausibleitseems. ThisisaprintscreenfromaninterviewweconductedwithCarole DaCosta.SheisHeadofEducationandChildrensServicesforYoung PeopleinSolihull,thoughyouwouldnotthinkitjudgingbyourpooruse ofmiseenscene.ThisissomethingIamnothappywithaswefeelthe locationdoesnotreflectCaroleinaverycomplimentarylight.Having plugsocketsinthebackgrounddoesnotmaketheinterviewseemvery professional.

Transitions
Weincludedvarioustransitionsinourdocumentary,rangingfrom straightcutstofadesandwipes.Hereisanexampleofawipeweusein thedocumentary.Thewipesignifiesliketheturningofapageoranew topicandwefeelitisaneffectivetransitionusedinmanyprofessional documentaries.
This wipe was used after showing the sign for The Sixth Form College, Solihull. It signifies a change of topic in our documentary.

UseofSound
Soundiscrucialtoalldocumentaries.Researchintoexisting documentariesshowedthathavinglevelsofconsistentsoundisamajor wayofdistinguishingthequalityofadocumentary.Itwastherefore importanttomakesureoursoundwasconsistent.Thisdidnot particularlymeanloud,asweoftenhadtoreducethevolumeofmuch ofourrecordedmaterialtobringitdowntoaneutralandconsistent thresholdlevel.

Changing the sound levels.

Wefoundthatmostdocumentariesinclude backgroundmusic,asitreallyhelpstosetthemood forthedocumentary.Wedecidedthatbackingmusic wouldbeausefultoolinengagingourownaudience, butwhatbackingmusicweusedprovedamoredifficultdecision.We narroweddowntotwodifferentbackgroundsongs.Thefirstwasan upbeatsongthatgaveapositivefeeltowhattheviewerswere watching.Butafterreconsideringourtruebrandidentity,wedecided onafardarker,moreserioussongtoplaythroughthewholeofthe documentary.Thissong,FoodforThoughtwasmadebyafriendof mine,andwhatbetterwayofchoosingamoodforthetargetaudience thanusingasongmadebyamemberofourtargetaudience?After askinghispermission,weincludedhissonginthedocumentary,which broughtpositiveaudiencefeedbackonit.

Onemajorproblemwithusingbackgroundmusiciscopyrightlaws.We hadnowayofobtainingcopyrightsfromanyestablishedartist,andso anymusicweconsideredwerefromRoyaltyFreesitessuchas Incompetech. http://incompetech.com/m/c/royaltyfree/ Thiswouldnotbeaproblemforprofessionaldocumenters,butitis somethingthatwehadtoavoid,especiallyif,forexample,wewantedto putourdocumentaryontopublicsitessuchasYoutube.

ListingsPage
Accompanyingourdocumentaryasanancillarytask,wehadtocreatea listingspagethatwouldhelppromoteourdocumentarytoouraudience. Inordertomakeourlistingspageeffective,wehadtoidentifycommon conventionsandapplythemtoourlistingspage.Wefeltthebest approachwouldbetofollowconventionsratherthanchallengethemas itwouldbethebestwayto createaconvincinglistingspage. Headline By-line Main image Image caption Page number Drop caps Columns Grab quotes The listings page we feel worked effectively. The colour scheme was appropriate for our documentary and I feel we advertised the documentary well to attract a wide audience who may be intrigued by our mysterious brand identity. One problem we found that greatly affected how professional our listings page looked were the spelling errors, which were picked up in our audience feedback. InDesign, the software we used to make the listings page, is not a word processor. This means any spelling errors were not picked up on. If we were to make the listings page
again, we would create the article in Microsoft Word before copying it into InDesign.

Here is an example of a spelling mistake. It should say Anthony Hill, as it is a name. This affects how professional our documentary looks and shows poor development of conventions.

RadioTrailer
Theradiotrailerwasthesecondancillarytaskforustousealongsideour documentaryasapromotionaltool.Afterlisteningtoexamples,we pickedoutcertainfeaturesofthoseandappliedthemtoourownradio trailer. Hereisthescriptforourradiotrailer: PresenterAllyoungpeopleareinthesameboat,butnotallyou peoplesharethesameopinion,somejustneedtobeheard. Malevoxpop1Welliftheyrecallingusthugsthenwemightaswell bethugs. CaroleDacosta(councilworker)Youfearthem JagJagdev(youthworker)ItisntjustaboutgoingoutonaFriday nightandgettingdrunkandplastered. Malevoxpop2Weswearalot Malevoxpop3Ithinktheminorityofyouthsfollowthestereotype, ofbeingtheseaggressiveintimidatingpeoplethatareinconsiderate... Andthatalotofpeoplearescaredoflikeinthepublic. JagJagdev(youthworker)youngpeopledontgetagoodimageof themselves,andthatshowsocietywillseethem. AnthonyHill(securityofficer)Aperceptionthattheyoungerpeople aregoingtobehavemorebadlythantheolderpeople,butinreality thatsnotactuallytrue. Malevoxpop4Peopleneedtounderstandthat,andrealisethatits noteasyforusyouthsonthestreet. PresenterTheLostGeneration,Tuesdayatnine,onChannel4.

Theradiotrailerismadeupofquotesfromthe documentaryputtogetherintoacompilationthat tellsastorytothelistener.Wetrytouse highlightsfromourdocumentarythatwould makethepersonwanttotuneintoseewhatour documentaryislike.Also,byonlyusingquotes fromthedocumentary,wearenotmisleadingthe listener,aswhattheyarehearingisanaccuraterepresentationofwhat ourdocumentaryisabout. Thepresenterfeaturesverylittleinourradiotrailer,whichcanbeseen aschallengingconventions,asthereisusuallyfarmorewrittenscript thanwhatwehavedecidedtoinclude.Thiswasanactivedecision becausewefeelthattheradiotrailerexplainsitself. Weendtheradiotrailerwiththepresenterwhostartsit.Heendstelling theaudiencethenameofthedocumentary,whenitisonandwhat channelitison.Thiswasintentionallyputlastaswewantittobethe lastthingthatthelistenersrememberabouttheadverttheyhavejust heard,andsowillhopefullystickwiththemtotunein.

Howeffectiveisthecombinationofyourmainproductandancillary products?

Inorderforourthreemedia productstobeeffective,wehad tomakesuretheywerealltiedtogether withthesamebrandidentity. Thecontentofourdocumentaryisserious,hardhitting,andwe neededtoechothisthemeintheproductionofourancillary products.Theradiotrailerandlistingspagearticleinthereal worldwouldbetheretopromoteourdocumentary,andsowe hadtokeepthemconsistentnotonlywiththedocumentary butwitheachother. Wehadtoalsomakethethree productsrelatabletoyoungpeople, asthiswasourprimarytarget audience.Todothis,bothour documentary,andpromotional ancillaryproductscontainedyoungpeople inthem.
Asyoucanseeinthelistingspage, wehelpcreatethebrandidentityof ourdocumentarythroughouruse ofimagery.Theidentityiscreated herewiththecolourschemeofthe page.Itisdark,connotingsincerity, whichissomethingwetriedto recreateinourdocumentary.Our model,beingayoungperson, attractsourprimaryaudience.The imageryisalsosymbolicofthe seriousidentitywearetryingto create,withtheidentityofthe modelclearlylostinthe stereotype.
Including young people in the documentary.

Ourchoiceoftitleforthearticlealsohelpscreateandwillour identity.UsingtheverbLostinthetitlenotonlydraws attentiontothearticle,somethingcrucialinattractingan audience,butislinkeddirectlytothedocumentarytitle TheLostGeneration.Thisiseffectiveinestablishingand maintainingourparticularbrandidentity.

Do you think todays youth are lost in the stereotype?

Thisisnotjustaquotefromarticle,butis actuallyfromtheendoftheopeningmontageof ourdocumentary.Wefeeltheuseofthis rhetoricalquestionhelpsemphasiseour identity,wearechallengingyoutoanswerour question,andalsochallengingyoutowatchthe documentarytofindoutwhy.Wefeelinvolving ourreaderwiththisisaneffectivetoolinthecombinationof ourthreemediaproducts.

Well if theyre calling us thugs then we might as well be thugs.

you fear them

People need to understand that, and realise that its not easy, for us youths on the street.

Young people dont get a very good image of themselves, and thats how society will see them.

A perception, that the young people are going to behave more badly than the older people

Emotionalquotes.Theseareallexamples ofthescripttakenfromourradiotrailer. Thisemotivelanguageissourceddirectly fromourdocumentary,andprovidesthe radiotrailerwiththesamedeeptheme wetriedtocreateourbrandidentity around.

Usingthesamevoiceoverasthedocumentarynarrator,aswellasaudioclips fromthedocumentary,wecreateconsistencyinbuildingupanidentityasa product.Ifourradiotrailerappealstoouraudience,thentuninginwillprovide themwithasenseofsecurityfromknowingtheyhavecometotherightplace, andthatthedocumentaryisinfactasadvertisedontheradio. Wealsocreateasimilarstyleinbuildupofourradiotrailertothedocumentary. Aseriesofshortclipsinbothcreateafastpacedclimacticbuildupoftensionto bothproducts.Thisiswhatwearetryingtopromoteasanidentity,butitisalso somethingwefeelthatwelackinourlistingspage,whichcanbeseenasperhaps moremellowthanourothertwoproducts.Thisnegativelyeffectshowsuccessful ourthreeproductsareasacombination.

Thenondiegeticbackgroundmusicofbothmyradiotrailerand documentaryfeaturesanemotivepianoscore.Wefeelthat despitesimilarityoftheinstrument forinusewithinbothproducts, theyarenotconsistent,asthe backgroundmusicinthe documentaryismoreupbeatthan thesolopianoscoreusedinthe radiotrailer.

Thereisonemajorproblemwiththecombinationofourtwoancillary productsinthepromotionandmarketingofourdocumentary,andthat isthatitisdifficultforustomarketittoourtargetaudience.Young peoplebetweentheagesof1319areunlikelytoeitherlistento commercialradioorreadourlistingspageinamagazine.Thismeans thatperhapsthesearenotthebestplatformstopromotetoourprimary audience,andperhapswebadvertisementsonsitessuchasFacebookor duringpopularTVprogramsaimedatthesame audiencesuchasSkinsmaybebetter platformsinwhichtotryandpromoteour product.Facebookisasitemuchmore affiliatedwithyoungpeople,andsowewould reachalargeraudiencethroughthis. However,wedofeeldespitethisthatthereis stillgreatusetoourtwoancillarytasks.We feeltheyareusefulinattractingour secondarytargetaudienceofthose associatedwityoungpeople.Wefeelthat certainaspectsofbothourproductsmay appealtoothersratherthanjustyoung people,thuswideningtheoverallaudience ofourdocumentary.
Parents and teenagers we appeal to both.

Whathaveyoulearntfromyouraudiencefeedback?
Onceeverythingwasfinished,itwasimportantforustogainaudiencefeedbackon whatwehadproduced.Weshowedthedocumentarytoourclass,whohappento alsomakeupthemajorityofourtargetaudience.Feedbackfromtheclasswould showushowsuccessfulourdocumentaryisatappealingtoourtargetaudience. Wegavetheclassanonymousquestionnairesheetsforthemtofilloutwhilst watchingourdocumentary.Wemadesure itwasanonymous,sonomemberofthe classfeltpressuredintoresponding differentlytohowtheyactuallyfelt.We asked11differentpeoplewhatthey thoughtonspecifictopicareadsofthe documentary. Thesearethetwoareasweweremost worriedaboutbeforeweshowedittoour audience.Wehavelearntthatouraudience respondedpositivelytothesetopicareas
Choice of Topic for TV

Excellent

Very good

Good

Satisfac tory

Poor 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Ouraudiencefeltthat ourtopicchoicewas strong.Outofthe11 peoplethatresponded tothequestion,allof themweresatisfied withourchoiceoftopic forTV.

Findingandfilming appropriatematerialfor ourstyleofdocumentary giventhelimited resourceswehadwas challengingforus.We wouldhavepreferredto includematerialfrom topicaleventssuchasthe riots,butwithoutbeing allowedtouseunoriginal materialitwasdifficultto reconstructsimilar

Filming Appropriate Material

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Poor 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Series1

footagewithoutitlookingfake.

Herearetherestofthequestionsfromouraudiencefeedback:
Using Sound and Music Appropriately

Appropriate for target audience

Excellent
Excellent Very good Good
# of votes

Good Poor
0
0 2 4 6

# of v ot es

Satisfactory Poor

Professionalism

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Poor

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
# of votes

Using Effects

Editing so viewers can understand

Excellent Good
# of v ot es

Poor
0 2 4 6

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Poor

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
# of vot es

Allofthisfeedbackwasusefulfor us.Ithighlightedthatwehad consistencyacrossallareasofthe coursewithourtargetaudience.

Overall

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Poor

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
# of votes

Whenaskedtogiveanoverallview onthedocumentaryasawhole, ourfeedbackwasverypositive. Wewerepleasedthattheclass enjoyedourdocumentary,asthey areexactlythepeoplethatour documentarywasmadefor.

Wealsoaskedforanycommentsfromour audiencetofindoutwhattheylikedmost aboutthedocumentary.Wealsoaskedfor themtohighlightanyweaknessestheyfound inthedocumentaryorareastowhichwe couldimprovefrom.Thiswasthemost importantfeedbackwecouldget,asitwould telluswhatwecouldimprove,werewetodo itagain.

Hereissomeofthepositivefeedbackwereceived:

It was well put together; the use of music and clips were very effective together.
Itwasencouragingthatpeoplethoughtthatourmusicandclipsworked together,asthechoiceofbackgroundmusicwasadifficultone.Wehad threedifferentsongswewereunsureaboutusing,allthreeofvery differentgenres.Wewerepleasedwithoureventualchoice.

It was very unique, there are not many similar documentaries.

Wewerepleasedwithcommentssuchasthisone.Wetriedtomakeour documentarydifferenttomanypopularstyles.Wealsowantedtomake itonsomethingwewerepassionateabout.Ifeelweachievedthis.

It looked professional and genuine

Hearingthatpeoplethoughtourdocumentarylookedprofessionaland genuinewasahugeboostforus.Wetriedtofollowconventionsof professionaldocumentariestoreplicatethem,butwerealwaysunsure hastohowwellitactuallyworked.Hearingthatourdocumentarywas seemedprofessionalfromaneutralviewpointwasabigpositiveforus.

 Herearesomeofthepossibleroomsforimprovement:

The narration felt rushed

Weagreewiththisstatement.Whenrecordingthenarration,Ifelt rushedandpressuredintosayingtoomuchintoolittletime.Thiscould bebecausewehadalackoffootageavailabletocreatemoretime. Anotherfactormaybethatwehadnopresenter,socouldnottakeour timewithnarration. Badlighting? Wealsofeltthatsomeshotswerebadly lit.Wefeelthereasonforthisisbecause wedidnotexperimentwithouruseof lighting,usingnaturallighting.Thismeans ourshotslackedconsistencyoflighting,as somelocationsweredarkerthanothers. Nowwehavefinished,werealiseifwe weretodoitagainonethingwewould makesuretodowouldbetoexperimentmorewithouruseoflighting.

Some shots were badly lit

Some parts had repeated footage

Thiswasareoccurringcommentfromouraudience.Weunderstandwhy wewerecriticisedasrepeatingfootagedoesmakeitseemalotless professional.Howeverweputthisdowntoourlackoffootagetousein ourdocumentary.Thiscouldbebecausewedidnotdoenoughinitial planningofideasforfootageandsowedidnotcollectasmuchaswe possiblycouldhavedone.Ifweweretodothisagain,wewouldmake surethatwehadfarmorefootagethanwouldbefeaturedinthe documentarysowedonotfindourselvesreusingfootage.

Should be more filming externally to college

Alotofthefilmingwedidwaswithinthecollegegrounds.Thiswas noticeabletoouraudienceduringthefeedbacksessionastheywereall membersofthecollege.Wefeelthatwepossiblyshouldhaveincluded morefilmingexternallytocollege,butwithlimitedtimeavailabletouse cameras,wefounditdifficulttogetthetimetospendoutsideofthe collegefilmingexternalfootage.Toawideraudience,itwouldnotbe noticedthatmostofourfilmingwasincollege,sothisisntasmucha negativepointasothers. RadioTrailer: Ouraudiencegaveourradiotrailera7/10.Someofthestrengthsforthe radiotrailerthatouraudiencepickeduponwerethequalityofthe scriptandtheemotional/hardhittingmooditcreates.Thesewere positivesforusaswewerehopingtomakeourscripthardhittingand effective.Everyonepickeduponthesoundlevelsasanareaof improvement.Theyfelttheywereinconsistentandunsteady,which maketheradiotrailerseemunprofessional. ListingsPage: Ouraudiencegavethelistingspagea9/10.Wefeelthelistingspage wentbetterwithourtargetaudience.Someofthepositivecomments wereceivedconcernedtheuseofimagery,aseveryonefoundithard hitting.Thecolourschemewasalsoapositiveasitaccuratelyreflected themood.Negativepointsincludedalackofimpactsuggesting includingbetterpullquotestograbthereadersattention. Fromthisfeedbackwehavelearntthatthequalityofproductionis equallyasimportantasthequalityofthecontent. Overall,ouraudiencefeedbackprovedusefulinevaluatingboth thepositiveandnegativesidesofourdocumentary,listings pageandradiotrailer.Throughitwewererewardedforaspects weweremostproudof,andgivenconstructivecriticismon aspectsthatcouldhavebeenimprovedtomakeabetter documentaryandadvertisements.Ifeelouraudiencewere happywithwhatwehaveproduced,andIpersonallyamproud overallwithhowthedocumentaryandancillariesendedup. Duringthewholeprocesswedoubtedmanyaspectsofourworkbut audiencefeedbackwasgenerallymorepositivethannegative.

Howdidyouusemediatechnologiesintheconstruction,researchand planning,andevaluationstages? Weusedmediatechnologiesinallstagesofproducingourdocumentary andaccompanyingancillarytasks.

ResearchandPlanning
Thoroughresearchandplanningpreparationhadtobe undergonebeforewecouldevenstartmakingthe documentaries. Weconductedresearchintootherdocumentariesusingan internetbrowser.Ontheinternetwefound documentariesonwebsitessuchas4OD.4ODisthe homeforChannel4s(ourchosen broadcaster)documentariesandasyoucan seefromthepicture,Channel4producemore documentariesthananyothertypeofTV program,whichmeantdespitehavingawide choiceofdocumentariestoanalyseandbuildoursfrom,it wouldprovedifficulttocomeupwithanideawefeltwas original. Aftersuitableanalysisofdocumentaries,alongwith brainstormingofideasforourown,wemadeapitchforour class,usingMicrosoftPowerPoint.PowerPointwasaneasyway forustopresentourideastotheclassforpeerassessment.Itwaseasy

touse,andaneffectivetooltousealongsideapitch totheclass. Tokeepontrackwithproduction,wedecidedtofirst createstoryboardsofwhichwecouldbaseour documentaryfilmingon.Todothis,weuseda cameratotakedigitalstillsthatwecoulduseasa storyboardforourdocumentary.Tomakethe storyboard,weusedaprogramcalledComicLife.Comic Lifeisverystraightforwardandeasytouse,aswellas beinggreatfun.Creatingastoryboardaccompaniedto explanatorytextwasquickandeffective,andIfeelthat weusedComicLifeenabledustobemorecreativeinthe planningofourdocumentary. Cominglifeisnotavailablefor Windows,andsoanotherdigital technologyweusedwereAppleMacs.Though atfirstMacsweremoredifficulttouse,IfeelI becameverycomfortablewiththemsoonand actuallyfoundthattheyenabledmetodomore

creativethingsthanwould beavailableonaPC. Hereisanexampleofone oftheinitialstoryboards wemade. Thisisnotexactlyhowit eventuallyplayedoutinthe documentary.Howeverit provideduswithasenseof directionthroughallstages ofmakingthedocumentary aswecouldfollowthe storyboardswemadeon comiclife.

Throughallstagesoftheproduction, wewerekeepingalogofourprogress usingawebsitecalledBlogger. www.blogger.com Ourblogisanotherexampleofmedia technologiesweusedtokeepupto datewithourprogressthroughout. Filmingthefootagemeantweneededtouse videocameras.WeusedaCanoncamerawith builtinharddrive,asrecommendedbyour College.ThecamerasrecordedinHD,which wasveryimportanttousashighquality footagemeantourdocumentarywould automaticallybeofahigherquality.Along withthevideocamera,weneededtousean externalmicrophoneandatripod. Theexternalmicrophonewasimportantasit meantoursoundlevelswereofhigherquality thatifweusedthesmallmicrophonebuiltinto thecamera.Oneproblemwithusingthese microphoneswasthattheyalsopickedupalot ofbackgroundnoise.Infuture,wewouldeither useamicrophonethatwasntmultidirectional orquieterlocationsforusingthemicrophones. Thetripodwasanessentialtoolin makingsureallourshotswerestable. Theflexibilityofthetripodallowedus toconstructawidevarietyofshots andcameramovements,somethingwe mayhavestruggledtodowithoutit.

Construction

ConstructionofallourfootagewasdoneinFinalCut Express.FinalCutExpressisintuitivevideoediting softwarethatallowedustocombineourvideoclips withexternalaudiofilesforthebackgroundmusic.On finalcutwecouldmakeadjustmentstoourrawclips andcreateamultitudeofeffects.

Someexamplesofusefulthingswecouldcreateare: Transitions Addcaptions Rearrangeframing Adjustsoundlevels Hereishowtoaddacaptiontothe screen.Thiswassomethingnewwelearnt inFinalCutExpressandwasveryeffective atmakingourdocumentarylookmore professional.

GarageBandismusicsoftwaremadeeasy.Thisiswhere weproducedourradiotrailerandalsowhereIedited thebackgroundmusicforthedocumentarybefore addingittoFinalCutExpress. Hereisaprintscreenfromourasegmentofourradio traileronGarageBand: Asyoucansee,GarageBandmadeitveryeasytochopandchangeclips aswellaseditingthesoundlevelsthroughout. TomakethelistingspageweusedbothPhotoshopandInDesign. Photoshopiswherewemanipulatedstillimagesforthelistingspageand InDesigniswhereweconstructedthelayoutofthepage.Boththese softwareareindustrystandard,andsoourworkwouldbeasexpertise aspossible.FrommyASyear,IusedbothprogramssoIwasalready familiarandcomfortablewithusingthemagain.

To burn our documentary to disk, we used iDVD. This was an easy way for us to get our large video files onto dvd discs. We then played our documentary in a DVD Player onto a projector screen for the class to do the audience feedback.

I used Scribd to upload this evaluation to our blog. To make sure Scribd could read the Microsoft Word document, I first made it into a Adobe PDF file.

Daniel Rattigan.