For my media A2 coursework, myself and Arran created a five minute extract froma new documentary TV programme.

We called the documentary The journey we take. and the five minute extractstarted 1 minute after the documentary TV programme began.

From the start to the end of the extract, the main convention we used was basedon the direct interviews and was totally focused on the three individual people.Inevitably, this allowed the interviewees to speak directly about our subject matterprompted by the questions ask by me and Arran. This essentially creates a senseof realism for the viewer, that the documentary makers ( Me and Arran) aremutually shared by another person, and thus is more valid. I would say that thiswas the key convention in providing a platform to work and develop from.

Another conventional aspect we used was the technicality of realism when shapingour interviews, the natural lighting was very important to capture to enhance thequality of the interview. The lighting arrangement was different for each person asit was set in different locations.

I could argue that this challenges the forms of conventions as the interviewer andinterviewee in a documentary tv programme tends to be in the same location andsetting. We went against this convention due to our chosen genre. The setting hadto reflect the personalities of the three people in some way, we chose locations thatwere relatable to them. Although it was harder to do this for Matt due to him notbeing from the Island, however the fact that he was filmed in his girlfriend's(Ashias) living dining room can justify this.

The lighting ideas for the extract was adopted from the general conventions of ourmedia product.

Kims interview took place in his room, we wanted him to be sat on chair in front ofhis window which gave us natural lighting, therefore artificial lighting was not

needed.

Whereas in Aishas setting ofthe living, the light above wasall that we needed as the room

itself was fairly light and airy. Originally we were going to place more of spot light,however the soft light focus from above gave Aisha and the room a more naturaleffect to fit the atmosphere and mood.

In Matts interview he was setin a darker room in comparison to Kim and Ashia. Which meant that an artificiallight was essential. For this we used lighting from the left back of the room toproject onto Matt. It was placed at the back to reflect a less light as it was quitestrong. Also There was a mirror behind Matt so we had to make sure the light wasposition out of the mirror. The back left was the only spot that was suitable.

Another convention we followed was incorporating people appropriate to the topicand the target audience. The journey we take is specially about the youngergeneration; people of the ages from 15- 23 who is either transiting into the realworld or working towards the journey . This was our primary target audience.Having Kim, Aisha and Matt expressing and talking about their journey establishedthe genre and subject matter perfectly, each with different story and perspectiveand all in the age region from 15-23.The camera work for our extract was another key convention to be carefullythought about. Generally interviewees in documentary TV programmes areframed either to the left or right of the screen, using a medium close up, close up

or big close up. However this was one of the conventions we challenged, and in theprocess of creating we decided not to stick to this rule, as I thought this set uplooked too perfected and unnatural for our particular subject matter which followsa more a serious, intimate and personal outlook. Alternatively, we placed thethree people in a comfortable position, thus the camera is fixed to unconventionalframes , unconventional in frame layout but conventional for representation of ourgenre. Camera work in our extract varied between zoom in/outs, medium shots,close ups, extreme close ups and straight on angle for all frames. It was worth it tochallenge this convention for our case, of reinforcing our genre and using thecamera frames to do so. We were aware that camera positions is generally labelledas a crucial element especially for interview footage therefore we did follow therule in some of the scenes where the interviewer (Arran) was on the same eyelineas the interviewee facing straight on angles.

In terms of camera movement, we used handheld camera and a tripod. Consistingof zoom in and outs. We stuck to minal creative camera movements and edits to

sustain the interest of audiences, enough to make sure the interviews were visuallystimulated.

We mainly used the simple cutsto construct the extract. This is the most common edit in TV documentaryprogrammes. Our aim was to make sure the audience didn't notice the edits asmuch, therefore we made it as less intrusive as possible. We had no major fancyedits as this would also distract the audience from our subject matter. The camerashot transitions were over all conventional of TV documentary programmes. Byonly having one camera we managed to create subtle and natural- looking camerashot transitions for most part of our extract, although there were a few difficultiesfor Matts transitions. For Matts interview, the camera would be zoomed in andout at parts creating disorganised and messy transitions, so we replaced this withover edits such as the filler imagine of Matt with his weight training equipment tofollow a more natural and flowing transitions. Some other edits included Dissolvesto add a visually interesting touch and added to the dramaticness of what matt wassaying, we thought. Unfortunately, there are some noticeably bad edits, which wasdue to the minor audio skips that couldnt be edited out.

Filler shots is key in documentary interviews, and I learned this when when Irealised the number of different shots it takes to make a five minute extract, letalone a whole documentary. Kims footage was the longest out of the three in

terms of consecutive scenes of him talking as he was the main focus of thedocumentary. Thus, it was important to use filler shots in Kims footage to draw theaudience into our story and most importantly reveals more of Kim's personalityand interests. To achieve the most relatable and authentic filler shots, Arranrecorded footage of him playing Sniper Elite V2 and watching Rooster Teeth playGrand Theft Auto V on Youtube. This was a great way of reinforcing the idea that hefinds .. stories that people write, and create and come up with to be far better thanwhat I have now.. Another filler shot that was added was a medium- speedpanning shot of his bookshelf and the posters he has on his wall relating to videogames and other media which reveals a lot about Kim.

The conventions of sound in TV documentary programmes is generally followed bymusic to create an atmosphere and is relevant to the topic in some way. HoweverMe and Arran decided not to incorporate sound, in an attempt to provide moreclarity for Kim, Aisha and Matts speech. We felt that by adding music (bed), itwould compete with the dialogue too much. This is why it was important to makesure that the three interviewees were in a quiet room tone. We wanted to capturethat clear, crisp sound in some of the less light hearted scenes, in particular Matts.Although we did have a few minor problems with the sound. There were slightdifferences in room tone between shots which made smooth sound transitionsdifficult. We also didnt anticipate the echo of the speaker in certain rooms, I thinkMatts was the most susceptible to echos, but we did manage to level out thesound in edit. The clarity of sound, usually depends on the degree of control, and Iwas happy to see that Aarran had a good level of control when holding videocamera or balancing it on the tripod.For the speech in the extract, TV documentary programmes usually edit out thequestions of the interview, so that we can only hear the interviewees. This wassomething that we definitely used and developed as we wanted nothing but Kim,Aisha and Matt to take the spotlight. In our research and planning stage this was

something that me and Arran learned how to capture; we learnt how to stageinterviews so that the interviewees will appear to speak directly to the viewer. Wenoted to maintain eye contact and give visual feedback while the interview goes on(nodding, smiling, ect). This was something we remember to do for interviews.

Mise - en - scene in interviews anchors to the relevance of the person to the topicand tells us something about the person. For our extract and Genre, this was anobvious convention to use and develop. In Kims setting of his room, gave theaudience clear distinctions of his interest and building his personality together.However I really thought about how important this is because really, we wanted tomake sure that the viewer felt connected and could relate as others are goingthrough this process. The mise en scene in Kims footage gave us the chance tomake him appear like your average normal teen on screen. It had to be authenticeven more so for Kim (protagonist). In our extract mise en scene in Kims scenesincluded, his books, his games, computer playing in the background, posters, mostof it was digital stuff that was great as it it relevant to what he is currently learning,studying and using at school. On the other hand, Matts and Ashias had less miseen scene attention as they were secondary focuses, also because they had morecontent to provide (older than kim and have experienced University) there scencesdemanded less distractions, the speech in their scenes played the major role forAisha and Matt.

Lastly, graphics is the last convention to examine and evaluate. In TV documentaryprogramme, graphics are normally just two lines and are in a simple font in orderto not distract the viewer. Graphics can be used to note down the intervieweesname and relation to the subject. There are other conventions of graphics, howeverthese were the two that were relevant to our five minute extract, drawn from after1 minute into the documentary, therefore a title sequence was not included andend credits were not included. We channeled the two conventions into our extract.The concept of the extract included an introduction to the different interviewees.So it was necessary to add text on screen consisting of simple font and two linesgiving information about who they are, and where/how they are doing it in thebeginning of their interview, effectively this establishes who the person is and andwhy they are there, and what the programme will be about.

I have learned so much in the research planning and producing stage and learningabout these stages is crucial to have a solid understanding of what makes mediaproducts. I came into media unaware of media key conventions, and how peoplego about creating them. Through each of the stages, minus the time I had off, Ihave discovered how to use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of realmedia products, overall it has been an insightful process.