Evaluation Question 1: In What Ways Does Your Media Products Use,

Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of

Real Media Products?

By Lily Gray

During the course of planning, filming and editing the documentary, the most important thing to do was to keep to the codes and conventions of documentaries.

This meant that the way our interviews were framed, the structure of our documentary, the title sequence had to follow the codes and conventions.

This was important as it would ensure that our documentary would have a professional feel.

Overall our documentary managed to use the codes and conventions of documentaries. It did not develop or challenged the codes and conventions.

The following slides will show with screengrabs how we managed to use and follow the codes and conventions and also comparing our documentary to professional documentaries.

Mise-en-sceneThe mise-en-scene should reinforce the content of the interview and anchor the interviewee.

This screengrab was taken from a professional documentary ‘In The Teeth Of Jaws’ and the background that’s projected onto the green screen anchors him to the documentary

In our documentary we interviewed Steph, from a local tea shop. The mise-en-scene we chose anchors her to her job and to the content that she covers in her answers.

Framing Of InterviewsThe rule of thirds should be observed and the eyeline should be directed not to the camera but to the person who will be sat next to the camera. This gives it a more natural feel.

The professional documentary shows the rule of thirds being observed and the eyeline facing the way it should do, away from the camera.

This is a screengrab from our documentary, it shows that we have used the rule of thirds and the correct eyeline. This is an example of how we have used the codes and conventions of documentaries in our work.

The Graphics The graphics should be on the opposite side of the screen to the interviewee and should also be in either a black or a white font and can have a background around it..

In our documentary, the graphics were in a black font with a low opacity white box around it. The graphics were also put on the opposite side of the screen to the interviewee, thus keeping to the codes and conventions.

This is a screengrab from a professional documentary ‘That Thing’. It shows the graphics on the opposite side to the interviewee and they are also in white.

The GraphicsThe head graphic is larger than the sub graphic. This is because the name of the interviewee is seen to be more important than their job. There should be 2pt different in the graphics.

This screengrab from a professional documentary shows the font size difference between the head graphic and the sub graphic.

In our documentary we observed this code and convention and made sure that our sub graphics were smaller and the most emphasis was placed on the head graphic.

Use Of CutawaysCutaways should be relevant and should be used to cover jump cuts in the documentary and help it to flow better.

In our documentary we used cutaways that are relevant to the topic in question. They were also used to reinforce the brand. By using cutaways we were using the forms and conventions.

This cutaway was used in a professional documentary, it was used to cover a jump cut in an interview with Marilyn Manson, and was also relevant to the topic.

Title SequenceThe title sequence should last for 15-20 seconds, it should also be edited and be eye catching to the audience

This screengrab is from ‘The Marketing Of Meatloaf’ and the title sequence, the title sequence of this was eye catching, edited and lasted for the correct amount of time.

This is a screengrab is of our documentaries title sequence, the title sequence was 20 seconds in length, thus keeping to the forms and conventions of title sequences. It was also edited with stop motion effect. It was also designed to be eye catching which is what it was.

LightingThe lighting should be natural, so not to take away from the realism, but should still maintain an element of professionalism.

This is a screen grab from a professional documentary which has artificial light on, however the light is not too bright which makes it look natural

This is a screengrab from our documentary, the light in the interview is natural, which maintains the element of realism and keeps to the forms and conventions of documentaries.

VOX POP’SVOX POP’S are street interviews in which each person is asked the same question and the answers are strung together in a short sequence, should last for 10-15 seconds.

In our documentary there were two sets of vox pop’s. This is unusual in a documentary however there has been documentaries with more than 1 set of vox pop’s, which is why we put in more than 1 set. The twos sets of vox pop’s take up 10-15 seconds each and they are both relevant to the documentary and to the section of the documentary that they are in.

VoiceoverThe voiceover is usually male, spoken in standard English. There is usually 3 words spoken per second.

In God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, a professional documentary that I watched the voiceover was :multi stranded, chronological and linear. It was also spoken primarily by a male and in Standard English, but there was a noticeable Brummy accent.

In our documentary, the voiceover was spoken by a woman, this is an anomaly but was done because we found that more women were in our target audience, and from doing the vox pops we found that more women were willing to answer the questions as they were about tea and the majority of men asked said that they didn’t drink tea. Our voiceover still conformed to the codes and conventions as it was spoken in Standard English and the woman who spoke the voiceover had no noticeable accent. Our voiceover structure was: closed as the question asked in the voiceover is answered in the following section. It is also logical as the documentary follows a logical approach and it is non chronological as the history of tea from the start is featured later in the programme.

Sense Of MovementThis can be used to add strength to the documentary and the narrative. Can be done through physical change, psychological change and time movement

In our documentary there were numerous sense of movements through the change in location, this was done by the different locations upon which the interviews took place in. This conformed to the forms and conventions and also kept the audience on their toes as they were noticing all the different locations and mise-en-scenes.

When I watched the professional documentary God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, I noticed that they had used the technique of sense of movement and the time movement element of that. This was because it showed Ozzy throughout the years and how his life and career has changed. It also showed a variety of different locations.

Music And Sound EffectsSound effects can be used to produce an emotional response from the audience and music can be used, so long as it is relevant to the topic.

In our documentary we used no sound effects, as we couldn’t find any that would be relevant to stick in, inside the documentary. The music we used was only to go underneath the voiceover and they were all instrumental and relaxing music. We did have music that was relevant to tea in the documentary, but we did remove these as they didn’t fit the style of documentary and they were not instrumental.

In professional documentaries that we watched, they all had music that was relevant to the topics, and they had a mixture of instrumental songs and normal songs. I didn’t notice in any of the professional documentaries that I watched any sound effects.

Conclusion

Overall I feel that the documentary conformed completely to the codes and conventions of documentaries because I kept the codes and conventions of documentaries and interviews in mind during the filming and the editing process to ensure that the documentary looked professional.