analysing in relation to other texts

8/9/2019 Analysing in Relation to Other Texts

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Michael Fox 13.7

Analysing in relation to other texts

My Feature

Content

My documentary is about the UK grime scene where I focused on its development, its portrayal to

others by different mediums and the arguments on whether it has affected Londons society. I

looked it at from the perspective of young people and young mcs in London since they arent

really given a voice or the chance to express themselves regarding what they feel passionate

about.

Old Text Tu Pac In his own words (Documentary)

Content

The old text focused on the story of Tu Pacs life and his opinions on how Hip Hop was being

portrayed in the US. This is quite similar to my feature in the sense that Tu Pac was given the

chance to express himself (through interviews) and justify how he used his music to inspire his

society just in the same way each of my contributors were given the chance.

New TextThe BBCs Grime documentary

Content

This documentary was very similar to my documentary as it focused on the grime music as whole

but in much more detail. The obvious reason for this was that they could actually interview more

important people and investigate the topic further due to the fact that they had a real budget. I on

he other hand could only investigate grime music vaguely.

My Feature

Mode of Address

The mode of address in my documentary featured primarily the use of colloquial and informal

language that would only be understood by a specific audience. My contributors in both the vox

pops and the interviews carried themselves in the same manner by the way in which they spokeand how they were dressed. Using words and phrases like for example all dem man, init and

safe contribute to the overall informality. I think this was solely because of the fact that I

targeted and featured more of the younger audience in an area where this type of language is

understood. However, since I didnt have a visual presenter, I did try to provide a balance of both

informal and formal language through the voice over to ensure that my documentary was

understood by everyone.


Mode of Address


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In comparison to my documentary, the mode of address was very formal with some aspects of

informality which was expressed in the language used and the way in which the contributor, Tu

Pac, was dressed and his mannerisms. Even though he spoke formally he still carried himself in

that East coast stereotype which was mirrored by my contributors who carried themselves in that

Street corner stereotype.

Furthermore, they were able to achieve a formal mode of address by the way in which the

presenter presented himself and this is what I tried to achieve through my voice over which I

explained earlier. But I think the balance between both the formal and the informal mode of

address was achievable because the presenter was actually seen which might have made thebalance that I was trying to achieve unnoticeable.

Formally dressed and

well spoken presenter.

News report style

achieved formality.

The backwards cap and the

ear stud shows informality to

a certain extent.


My feature Grime and the Media

Wearing the hood and the

location shows informality

also.


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Michael Fox 13.7


Mode of Address

The BBCs mode of address was very similar to my documentary as the focus was on younger

generation. These types of documentaries will inevitably feature informality solely because of thetopic itself. Words like bruv, strap, shank etc are examples of informal language expressed by

the contributor which was evident in my documentary also. Likewise, I think that because of the

audience that the BBC tend to appeal to, they tried to incorporate a voice over to provide that

balance between informality and formality which was shown in my documentary also.

My Feature

Conventions

In my documentary I used the general conventions typical of a documentary, they are as follows:

Archive footage, which was predominantly used.

Music

Graphics

Voice over, which eliminated the role of an actual presenter being seen on camera.

Exposition

Interviews

And Vox pops


Conventions

The conventions used in this documentary were similar to the conventions I demonstrated but

only to a certain extent. I think its because of the fact that this documentary focused on Tu Pac

and therefore featured him primarily through interviews. It constantly features interview after

interview whereas my documentary had at least three interviews all from different perspectives.

The use of vox pops were inexistent in this documentary which contrasts with my documentary as

the vox pops, with careful editing, was the highlight of my production. I think that the fact that no


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Michael Fox 13.7

vox pops were used suggests the seriousness of the topic, the formality and also indicates the

preferred target audience. The use of vox pops help contribute to the fast pace of the

documentary and is sometimes used as the voice of the audience which I tried to demonstrate.

This is what I tried to achieve in my documentary by primarily featuring fast paced vox pops.

Similarly, archive footage is evidently used however the vast amount used differs from my

production but I think this is because of the overall running time where I only had five minutes andthe In his words documentary had 30 minutes. So the amount of archive footage was

compensated for by the amount of time available. Five out of the first seven minutes of the

documentary was archive footage from music videos, interviews, films, studio sessions etc used to

demonstrate exposition. Likewise, I used archive footage of music videos to help provide some

explanation of my documentary and what I was trying to investigate. The only footage actually

captured was the interviews with Tu Pac and the presenter, Kurt Loder, which is similar to my

documentary but instead of captured footage of the presenter, I used cutaways.


Conventions

As with my feature and the old text, this documentary demonstrated the typical and general

conventions of a documentary.

The use of archive footage was kept to a minimum which I believe is because they had a budget to

keep to and didnt want to over spend by paying for royalties. The archive footage was only used

at specific points whereas I used the archive footage to demonstrate exposition, as explained

before, and to be used as cutaways. Moreover, the fact that they used a lot of their own footage

enabled them to demonstrate a variety in camera technique which greatly differs from my

documentary, even though I did use the occasional high angle, long and medium shot, a lot of theshots were very similar. This is because of the fact that I only filmed the interviews and the vox

pops primarily and there wasnt much scope for creativity as I only had one camera. As you can

see, the shot of the vox pops/interviews in my documentary and the BBCs documentary are

similar.

Medium shot

Talking Space

New TextThe BBCs Grime documentary My feature Grime and the Media


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Music is used effectively to add to the overall style of the documentary and also to prevent the

award silence between shot. Appropriate music is used to reflect the mood and atmosphere of the

documentary which I demonstrated in my documentary. In the opening of my documentary, I

closely edited the footage and so that the tempo of the music would reflect the timing of the next

shot.

My Feature

Style and Form

For the style of my documentary I tired to imitate the style of a music video or action film to

appeal to my target audience. This was greatly reflected by the pace of the overall documentary

which was achieved by how carefully I edited the vox pops and the archive footage in relation to

the chosen music. I think I was able to capture the attention of my viewers by ensuring that

something different was seen constantly which the exception of the three interviews which acted

as a tension release which is greatly used in action films.

Even though I didnt demonstrate a great deal of camera language, the shots that I did capture

were simple but demonstrated the rules of capturing footage. By looking at the shots you can see

that I kept in mind the rule of thirds and talking space which was demonstrated in every shot.

Referring back to the mode of address, I didnt feature a visual presenter and I think that if I had

featured one then they could have contributed to the overall style and form by the way in which

they would have dressed and conducted themselves.


Style and Form

What differs from my documentary and the Tu Pac documentary was that the overall pace was

considerably slower which I think was because of the fact that there were no vox pops, it

predominantly featured interview after interview with Tu Pac and it adopted the style of a news

report like the BBC news. (As shown below) I think this reflects the audience that they were trying

to target as the news isnt for anyone specific, its for everyone, and I think thats what they were

trying to achieve, diversity. In comparison, my documentary implies that it is only for a specific

audience and will therefore not be able to reach out to those on a national scale that the Tu Pacdocumentary might be able to achieve.


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Michael Fox 13.7

Similarly, there isnt a wide range of complex shots used in this documentary as there isnt a lot

going on. It can be suggested that there just isnt any time or need to demonstrate a wide range of

shot types in a documentary as its the message thats most important to them. Also, using a wide

range of shot types can sometimes confuse the audience especially if a high angle shot is used for

a vox pop instead of an eye level shot. Both mine and the Tu Pac documentary show very little

creativity.


Style and Form

Likewise, the use of vox pops and close editing contributed to the fast pace of the documentary

which suggests the audience in which they are targeting. This is very similar to my documentary as

the intentions are the same.

A lot of archive footage was used to demonstrate exposition and illustrate arguments expressed in

the voice over which I took advantage of in my documentary also. However, what differs from thetwo was the amount of archive footage used in relation to the footage captured. I think that

because both documentaries focused on music, getting your own footage would be difficult and

time consuming compared to if I produced a documentary on healthy eating as capturing footage

would be within my means.

What was completely different from my documentary was of the reconstructions to illustrate

points and to give the audience a visual understanding (As shown below). I dont think I could have

incorporated reconstructions in my documentary because I wasnt focusing on someone or

something that had happened in the past. It does however fit in well with the overall style of the

documentary. It also suggests that they could have been targeting a wider audience as those whowould be considered the target audience for this documentary would already understand and or

be aware of the incident.

My Feature

Technology

There was a very limited range of technology used to create my documentary but this is not to say

that technology wasnt used in helping to create my documentary. A 3.2 megapixel camera and a

tripod were used predominantly at the production stage but I didnt take advantage of the otherequipment to enhance my use of technology. I used Imovie to import music and edit my captured

footage.


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Michael Fox 13.7


Technology

This documentary had the obvious technological influences as I did but the quality differed which

was solely based on the time at which this documentary was filmed. This is clearly shown in thequality of the footage as the resolution is poor and the sound quality as the sound is distorted.

Which compares to my documentary as the quality of the camera was able to capture the

surrounding sound and the voice of the contributors without the need for a microphone. We can

make the suggestion that a boom microphone may have been used to compensate for the poor

quality of the camera which may not have been able to capture the sound of the presenter or

others speaking.


Technology

In comparison to my documentary, the technology used was much more enhanced in terms of the

camera itself as the quality was HD and most probably had been able to pick up the voices of the

contributors. We can make the implication that they used lighting equipment to portray specific

moods and to create an atmosphere. As we can see below, the use of lighting has created a tense

atmosphere. Graphics were used in my documentary but not creatively whereas in the BBC

documentary we can see that a creative use of graphics. This is also shown below in the left hand

corner of the shot where we can see the shadow of a gun.

Simple graphics More creative graphics

My feature Grime and the MediaNew TextThe BBCs Grime documentary

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