Evaluation Question 1
Evaluation Question 1
Evaluation Question 1
Documentary
We decided when researching a documentaries codes and conventions we would
watch documentaries which shared the same themes and intentions as ours.
Examples of these include challenging highly influential companies/authorities,
questioning the audiences use or misuse of their money and a debate where we
put 2 subjects against each other to see which is best.
Because of this we watched documentaries Supersize Me and Supershoppers
to gain see how we can apply codes and conventions in the same way to, but also
to see how we can challenge themes used by the documentary in different ways
in the hope of differentiating away from current existing products and appealing
to new audiences.
Documentary Modes
documentary on-screen presenter and the edited voice over style of an Expository
documentary it meant we could demonstrate the documentary feel investigative
gripping the audience with the potential findings of the hosts, but at the same
time being able to use images and background footage to ethicize the issues
raised in the documentary making the information more impactful.
Background Footage
When researching professional documentaries we found in every one was that
there use of background. In these professional documentaries we found that in
every one, they used the background footage in the same way in in order to
increase the likelihood of the documentary to gain the preferred reading by the
audience. This was especially apparent in one sided or bias
documentaries such as Supersize, where the aim of their creation
Voice over- We spoke
to experienced floor
by the media artist is to either reinforce or change the views of the
manage at
audience to support the media artists views (eg- In in Supersize me
Selfridges
the documentarys message was that fast food especially
Mcdonalds).
The conventional use of background footage is aimed to reinforce
the views/content that the voice over is saying to the audience, this
is done by having the voiceover in the background and dubbed over the
supported background footage used on screen. An
example of how this was used in the professional
documentary is in Supersize me where the issue of
obesity is brought up and what a big problem it is and
how many people are effected which was detailed in the
VOs, but in order to give the voice extra impact
background footage of morbidly obese individuals was
displayed with the addition of fast cuts. By having this it
gave the information shock value and left a visual imprint to associated to the
fact so the audience would not forget it, and be more likely to take the preferred
reading because of it.
Like Supersize Me and Supershoppers, our aim was to not
necessarily completely change the audiences views of Branded
products as we tried to construct a more balanced argument
than these 2 documentaries, but we did want our audience to
question themselves and their spending habits. To do this we
needed to make the information memorable and stick out in the
audiences mind. To do this we felt it would be imperial to the
documentary that we follow this convention to recreate the
same desired preferred reading from the audience, as
professional documentaries do.
An example of how we did this was the when we tried to present of how
dominating the Coca Cola brand is over the world market. To do this we put in a
fact which would surprise and shock the audience. This fact was 1.9 billion
servings of Coca Cola per day. Keeping to convention we then took footage
related to this fact and put it onscreen in conjunction with the voice over saying
the fact. This footage turned out being a scene from a Coca Cola factory where
1000s of Bottles of Coca Cola were being produced. This gave the fact a
memorable and shocking image for the audience to remember.
This convention was also used for simple things such as introducing the expert
interview and her association to Selfridges Birmingham. We assumed that not
everyone in the audience would know what Selfridges Birmingham is. Because of
these we captured an establishing shot of the iconic Selfridges building and its
logo to reinforce the context of the interview by giving the audience a visual
image to associate with the store name Selfridges.
I believe by following this basic convention of putting background footage other
VO audio it benefited our documentary greater than defying this convention used
by so many documentarys as it gave Branded a clean flowing feel and kept the
audience interested with the visual imagery of the content being said by the offscreen host.
Another convention which we followed/developed was the sound of the
background music. In conventional professional documentaries in most cases the
sound of background footage is muted in place of either Voiceover to support the
image or background music. This convention is only really challenged when the
noise from the background footage has underlying significance. For example for a
music documentary such as Gimme Shelter a documentary based around the
world tour of The Rolling Stones band. This documentary somewhat defied
convention by having the background footage audible meaning the audience
could hear the sound of the crowd and the music. This was done due to the music
and crowd having special significance in the documentary making it important the
sound was heard by the audience. We felt that when composing our documentary
that our background footage natural sound didnt carry much significance to the
documentary and that the focus needed to be on the narration over the footage,
rather than it being distracted by the sound of the background footage, which in
our case was mostly city noise due to most of our background footage being from
Birmingham city center.
I believe by adhering to this convention it allowed the audience not to be
distracted by useless annoying sound and meant all of their focus was on the
content of the documentary, presented by the voiceover. This makes it more likely
that the audience would pay attention to the information from the VO.
Expert Interviews
Set up
The conventional set up of an expert interview differs from documentary to
documentary dependent on what sort of documentary is being presented as in
some documentary films a stood up interview would be more appropriate egGareth Bale- Welsh Galactico. But what we found is that in most documentarys
the conventional set up was as follows-
the shot as a conventional medium close up it means that the shot isnt as
intense as it would with an extreme CU/CU where the shot has very little
background and very little context. The use of an XCU/CU would be more
associated with a life story documentary eg- AMY , a documentary on Amy
Winehouse. This was unlike our documentary where it wasnt that personal and
facial emotions doesnt play that greater role, our documentary there was more
need for context in the background of the expert interview to give the expert
context and some legitimacy.
I believe the by following this convention it benefited our final product as the look
of the expert interviews sat well with our focus group as they felt it looked
Professional and Like a real documentary. By composition the shot in this way
I feel it gave the expert the right amount of attention for the audience to be
invested with what they are saying, but at the same time gave enough room in
the shot for context from the background eg- The bullring logo/building in the
background of Lucy Stocktons interview as she is a floor manager in the Bullring
Shopping Centre.
Location
In every single professional documentary I
watched every single expert interview followed
the same convention. This that the location of
every expert interview was directly associated
with the expert itself and their position of
knowledge or knowhow. An example of this
convention in a documentary is SuperSize Me
where every expert interview was set in a relevant
location to the expert being interviewed egGeneral Practitioner interviewed in a Doctors surgery.
This convention is used to give the
expert approval/legitimacy among the
audience. This is because with a Mise-ensen which reflects the persons position,
it gives the audience extra clues as to
who the expert is, what is there position
and how qualified they are to make the
statements. This means the audience
can make a clear and calculated choice
whether to take the preferred reading of
the documentary where they take the
statements on board, or the oppositional
reading where they can reject the statements from the expert.
In our documentary we thought it empirical that this convention be stuck to by
putting the experts in an environment which there role is reflected. We
interviewed Lucy Stockton in the middle of Selfridges where she herself works.
We then interviewed Ruth Sharp in the classroom which she teaches business in.
I feel by following this convention we gave the interviews more than adequate
context as to where the interviews are taking place and who the expert is beyond
the label in the bottom corner meaning that the audience could gain greater
insight into our product and make the finished product make sense and look
professional, like a real documentary.
Expert
I believe it really is obvious that it is conventional for the experts included in the
documentary people who have some knowhow and professional insight into a
subject being discussed. This is done because by having experts in the
documentaries subject the content of the documentary and the arguments/issues
discussed in the documentary are more legitimate and make sense to the reader.
By having real information In the documentary firstly it engages the reader as
arguments that the average person may not know can be discussed, giving the
audience more insight and therefore are more likely to watch.
This convention is displayed in Gareth Bale- Welsh Galactico by having interviews
with scouts for his previous clubs.
We adhered to this obvious convention by having Lucy Stockton (Manager at
Selfridges) and Ruth Sharp (Business teacher) give expert interviews. These 2
were relevant because our subject is brand over pricing we felt by gaining a floor
manager at one of the biggest brand distributers in the UK it could give insight
into to the day to day selling of brands and by getting a business teacher she
could give the audience theoretical insight into WHY certain brands are overpriced.
By following this convention it gave our documentary legitimacy and a USP over
other documentaries as it firstly gave the documentary clear discussion in order
to keep the audience interested, but also made them more likely to tune in to
gain this in depth expert knowledge.
Cutaways
In our documentary research we found that there was a mix of documentaries
which used cutaways on their expert interviews. Conventionally when conducting
expert interviews the attention does not leave the expert and they are the center
of attention to the audience. Because of the documentary rarely/if ever deviates
from the expert until the segment is done. This is displayed in Panorama- The
Billion Pound Con Man expert interviews where in every interview there was no
cut or deviation away from the expert for the entirety of the segment/clip.
When creating this documentary we decided to develop convention by inserting
clips and cutaways into the expert interviews.
We found that when piecing our clips together the interview could be considered
as long as we decided to put every clip back to back. To split this up we decided
to put in visual aids in the form of inserting clips and cutting away from the
interview. By cutting away visually from the interview with clips on top we are
able to give the audience a visual representation of what the expert is talking
about, rather than the audience having to imagine or visualize the point the
expert is making. An example of how we did this was by taking the dialog from
the expert interview which was It worries me fresh food will be wasted and
putting an example advertising campaign showing fresh food promotions. By
doing this it meant the audience is able to relate the facts which are said by the
expert in the form of a Voice over and apply them to their every day lives using
images they can associate with.
I believe by defying this convention we are able to better engage with the
audience and keep them interested and engaged in Branded as the constantly
changing images/clips on screen keep the product and the content fresh by
deviating slightly from the expert visually, but keeping their voice and dubbing
over the video with cut away. I believe by developing conventional expert
interview composition it made our product seem fresher and more unique to the
casual viewer with them able to link facts and
images together, making the overall product and
information produced more memorable than it
would be than an interview which is ongoing
without any cutaways.
Expert label
This is a small feature of the documentary, but
when conducting an expert interview near enough every single professional
documentary used a small label to tell the audience who the expert are and/or
how they link to the documentary for example on Supersize Me the label
read-Lisa Young-Professor of Nutrition. This simple convention enables the
media artist to give immediate context to the expert so that the audience
understands who they are so they can take their
opinions and ideas on board without questioning
them,
Because of these reasons we followed convention
in order to give Lucy and Ruth an introduction to
the viewer so they understand WHY they say
what they say. The labels we put in emulate that
of other documentaries. Lucy Stockton- Floor
Manager at Selfridges and Ruth Sharp- A-Level
Teacher
Vox Pops
Location
When conducting a series of vox-pops
the location which they are held is an
important factor. When learning about
documentaries and gathering research
from existing ones I found that
conventionally the location in which
Vox-pops are held should be linked to
the topic of the documentary or a place
which links to the sample. An example of this
can be seen in Supersize Me where
the samples in the Vox-Pops are filmed
outside of Mcdonalds giving their
opinions. This is an appropriate location
due to the focus of the documentary
being about Mcdonalds, so by asking
people going in and out it will be more
likely they will give you a desired
response which could be used for the
documentary.
We followed this convention, but
instead of setting up in a location, not
relevant to the Brand centered
theme, but to the audience we wanted
to interview which were college students. Because of this we set up the vox-pops
in the sixth form college Solihull. We felt that this fit perfectly with the intended
sample and gave us the maximum opportunity for us to interview our desired
sample due to the massive attendance of students at the sicth form.
This location also lended itself well to our intended target audience who are
students themselves. I feel by filming in this related location it allowed the target
audience to get more invested into the documentary due the locations on screen
being familiar to them.
I believe by making the location relevant to the topic, sample and target audience
and following basic documentary convention, it made the documentary make
sense through the continuity/links between the different groups. Because of this
the vox-pops set up made more sense and lead to Branded looking like a more
professional documentary
Sample
When creating the vox-pops we wanted them to reflect and appeal to the target
audience of the documentary. This is convention in most documentaries as the
general aim is to interview those effected by an issue which the documentary is
centered around, this also normally turns out as the target audience for the
documentary. This was the same for ours as we wanted a sample of young
students who were effected by brand overpricing, whilst we targeted the
documentary towards a target audience of the same description in order to get
the maximum effectiveness out of the documentarys message.
We achieved this convention by interviewing students of our sixth form and
getting their reaction to an experiment. By having these as our sample I feel our
documentary will better appeal to our target audience as the people answering
the questions reflect the TA, this can lead to the potential viewers questioning
themselves and their spending habits like the sample on screen did, I feel this can
help carry a better message to the viewer and make the information they are
watching and hearing more memorable.
Shot
After watching several professional documentarys, I found that the conventional
shot used for vox-pops was a md-shot/medium close up with the interviewee
stood up,
We felt that our documentary would benefit by following this conventional set up,
as like the expert interview we wanted the majority of the focus to be upon the
person answering the questions, but also for there to be some context as to
where the vox-pops were taking place in the background location. Due to the
location we filmed in (College canteen) I dont believe it wouldve fit to have a
sitting down interview with the sample due to the type of vox-pop we are filming
with the incorporation of the experiment. By having the shot set up in this
conventional manor I feel the informal look was achieved, whilst directing the
attention of the viewer to where we wanted, which was the response from the
interviewee.
When producing our vox-pops rather than just asking questions like most
documentaries we decided add something much fresher. We decided to conduct
and experiment where we would pit a branded product against a non-branded
alternative. We took inspiration from the Documentary Supershoppers as they
conducted a similar expedient to this with Levis Jeans vs Primark Jean, but they
didnt get the public reaction. We decided to test whether the samples could tell
the difference between Coca Cola and own brand Cola. After this we gained their
reaction through a series of question. From this we got a wide variety of reactions
in which we then mediated to construct a slightly bias argument that brands are
just brought because of repetition. By developing this convention it gave us a USP
over other products as by having a an experiment feature it helped add a level of
suspense and intrigue for the audience. I believe this suspense could help draw in
a greater audience and also act as greater legitimacy for the reactions captured
in the Voxs pops.
Other conventions we followed when creating the vox-pops include
-
audience as the where their focus needs to be which was on the presenter. By
using a medium/mediumCU it meant we were able to have most of the screen
taken up by the host saying the dialogue because of this the audience are more
likely to be focused on what the host is saying meaning they are more likely to
take on board information the host is saying. By allowing some room for backdrop
also it means that the audience can gain some sort of context which links back to
the text. An example of this is during the experiment introduction at the 6th form
where the hosts told the audience where they were and what they were doing,
with the visible backdrop at the edge of the frames confirming this fact to the
audience.
Magazine
Captions
Program
viewing
informatio
n
Main
Image
Masthead/headi
ng
Grab
Quote
Subheading
Secondar
y image
Column
Format
Main image
When constructing the magazine we ensured that the audience was attracted to
the main vocal points first, one if these being the main image. Conventionally the
main image is the largest image and is intended to pull most of the attention from
the reader. We followed this by putting the large image of our 2 hosts Dan and
jake. Felt we wanted to draw the attention to Dan and Jake immediately due them
being g at the forefront of the documentary and a key element of our brand
identity.
The position of the main image in conventional professional magazines is normally
positioned either bellow or to the side of the masthead. We challenged this
convention by putting our main image above the masthead. Our reasoning for our
masthead positioning is explained later on in this document but the the
positioning of our main image was due to the brand identity. We felt that because
our main image was of our hosts, even without a title we feel that the audience
would know what documentary the article is presenting. This is due our strong
push to make the hosts into the vocal point of the "Brand Identity".
We found that when researching magazine articles promoting programmes the
images used with in the magazine where conventionally taken from the
programme itself. This is done to give the target demographic who read the article
a clip or preview into the documentary. This preview is designed to entice the
audience I and make them want to see the whole feature/story. We found this was
especially used in article ms promoting soap Operas where a snapshot of a
controversial scene was used as an image in order for the reader to ask questions,
leading them to watch the show in order to get them answered. We conformed to
this convention by including snapshots of our expert interviews as images in the
article. This was done with the same purpose in order to wet the audiences
apatite and make them want to tune into "BRANDED" in order to see gain the rest
of the information through the interview.
Conventionally in articles we found that the images were accompanied by
captions these captions are used to give details on the context of the image such
as the persons name, drawing factor, location age, anything which gives a brief
explanation of the image. We followed this convention as we found that without
this caption the audience might struggle to understand what the image is telling
them. By giving them the name of the expert and what they are doing it meant
the audience could better understand the image and what element of the
documentary it was. This convention overall made our magazine look more
professional and comparable to real products.
Masthead
The masthead is one of the most important
elements of magazine as it draws the most
attention from the audience. The first simple
convention which we followed is by making the
masthead title say the name of the title. We did
this in order to create the initial link between the 2 products and ultimately try
and promote the documentary. By having "BRANDED" as the title of both it means
the audience can immediately identify what product the magazine article is
promoting.
When producing the masthead to put into our DPS we added several features and
effects to our "BRANDED" title in order for it to stand out from the test of the text.
Characteristics if our title included making the font bold, making it the biggest
text, different colour, red boarder around the text and making it appear 3D.
Making the masthead stand out from the rest of the text means that the
audiences attention draw directly to the vocal point, which is the title BRANDED
by adding these features and attracting the audiences attention the brand
identity is ethicised to the audience, meaning the audience is more likely to
remember it the documentary title when finding it on TV.
Unlike most professional magazine double page spreads positioned the masthead
underneath the main image in the centre of the page. By putting the masthead at
the top of the page the logic behind it is that readers read top to bottom of the
page, this means the masthead normally hits the eye of the reader first and is the
first definitive feature they see. We challenged this as we felt that due to the
masthead being stylised we believed that this still remained the vocal point of our
DPSS whilst having a unique layout which will help draw the readers attention
away from other articles with the same conventional layout. Furthermore in the
top left hand corner of the page where the masthead is conventionally positioned
is the main image which contains the image of our hosts. Due to our hosts being a
major part of the brand imager of BRANDED we felt this image conveyed and
promoted our brand just as well as a masthead with the BRANDED title.
Text layout
When setting up the format for our magazine listing article we wanted it to be
easy on the eye and easy to follow for the potential reader. This is because by
having an easy to follow article it means that the audience is more likely to
understand the content which is uses to promote the documentary. By
understanding the text through clear conventional column format it means the
effect of the text can be more effective in inspiring readers to tune into the
documentary.
Sub-heading
The inclusion of a sub heading in a DPS is simple convention
which is used as a Segway from the masthead/ title to the
article. This subheading is meant to be an extension on the
topic of the title where the audience gets a 2 sentence
summary of the conflict which the documentary is covering and
how to rectify it. By positioning the sub-heading under the
masthead it follows the natural movement of the readers eyes
scanning down the page in the hope it grabs their attention next. In order to make
sure the audience attention moves from the title to the subheading we
differentiated the font and outlined the text. This is convention among most
documentaries to ensure the readers progresses from the
title>Subheading>article.
Radio Trailer
When the radio trailer is advertising a product the trailer mostly goes in an order
which helps build up the listeners intrigue in the product then give the details at
the end of the radio trailer on how to access these products. The general order of
a radio trailer goes
Conclusion
In conclusion I feel that we followed most of the conventions typical of all of our
products, in most cases this was to keep the products professionalism and make it
resemble more of professional product. I believe our development and challenging
of conventions was suitable in making our documentary different and unique from
others intended to stand out from other professional products which would allow a
greater possibility for our product to get noticed among the target audience.