evaluation question 1 in what ways does your media product use (2)

8/12/2019 Evaluation Question 1 in What Ways Does Your Media Product Use (2)

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In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?Documentary:

Our advanced portfolio was to create the first five minute introduction to an hour long

documentary, with the subject of our choice. After weeks of researching into different

topics, we finally settled on social networking more specifically cyberbullying, as it is a

subject everyone is familiar to, particularly our targeted audience, young adults.

Alongside our documentary, we were also asked to construct a double page spread for a

magazine and a 30-45 second radio trail.

The different modes and genres of documentaries range from light hearted to uncritical.

These are important as it sets the tone and mood for the viewers. Our production would

be considered serious, factual and slightly pessimistic as we introduce the consequences

such as bullying that comes with social networking. Bill Nicholss theory of documentary

modes (2001) categorises our piece as expository. This is because our documentary

utilises the Voice of God approach by using direct address and offering preferred

meanings. It carried quite a rhetorical narrative structure as we presented a reasonable

argument and addressed the audience directly.

During the process of planning our documentary, we analysed

various documentaries including Supersize Me and A Good

Smack. Through this, I was able to pick up a large amount of

conventions as we were introduced to different uses of Camera

which varied from angles, close ups, long shots, medium shots

etc.

We decided to begin our documentary using a montage of

archival footage, of news reports concerning cyberbullying. We

selected ones from several countries including England and America. We did this to make

the topic of our documentary (social networking: cyberbullying) clear to the audience

and the use of universal snippets symbolises the fact that it is a global issue.
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Instead of beginning our documentary in a traditionalmanner by just simply placing

the title on the screen, we believed that the collage of news reports would entertain our

targeted audience (between the ages of 16 25) without swaying from the seriousness

of the subject. Research was a vital element, as it ensured that we used the appropriate

forms and conventions of existing media products. Similarly, in Supersize Me a similar

approach is used as they insert a song about fast food chains sung by a group of children.

This makes it clear what the subject of the production while keeping it entertaining.

Another convention is the use of interviews. We used a mixture of interviews balancing

an equal proportion between professional ones and ones taken of students. We did this

so that we can get a professional insight from teachers at the Solihull sixth form and

their views on social networking as well, as ones taken of students at the sixth form,

allowing our audiences to relate to their experiences as they are from similar age groups.

We set up our interviews carefully, ensuring that all the appropriate mise-en-scene was

present, as displayed in the following interview underneath which took place with

student development staff member Julie Maitland. As illustrated in the picture, Julie is

clearly placed next to props such as paper, a desk, a computer etc. which are usually

found in the student development office. We also made sure that the Solihull sixth form

website was opened on the computer, reminding the audience where the location of the

documentary is. The camera angle used provides looking room which is a common

convention with documentaries. This means that the interviewee responds to the

interviewer rather than directly at the camera. We also used a tripod for all our

interviews as it gives a steady image and we also used a medium close up shot and the

rule of thirds for all our interviews

because it is a convention used in

many documentaries including,

Supersize Me.

We also placed Julies full name

and profession at the bottom

right of the screen as it allows the

audience to know who they are

and it is a common convention

used in documentaries


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Similarly, our interview with head of the IT department,

Richard Mapperly also had the appropriate conventions

for our professional interviews.

We placed the live feed security system (which blocks social networking sites on all the

sixth form computers) on the computer as it held the appropriate mise en scene. It is

clear that we are in a technicians office as we have added the essential props to make it

clear including, two computers

(instead of one), a video camera

on the computer, wires etc...

Another convention was adding

masses of background footage

that lasted for a relatively short

time (Approximately 3 seconds).

We came across this idea, when

researching and analysing other

existing media productions in specifically, the National Geographic: Supercars -

Lamborghini AventadorDocumentary. Although they are varying topics, we chose to do

something similar as the change of scenery would keep the audience intrigued, and the large

amount of shots allowed us to be creative while allowing the documentary to be presented in a

professional mannerism. Doing so, it allowed us to develop an existing convention, as it is not

traditionally found in this type of documentary, but in something that relies on the visual

experiencesuch as cars and other methods of transportation.

One way we challenged conventions was by using the sound from an interview and lapping it

over background footage. We had not come across this while watching any of the existing

media productions, which reflected our creative instinct as a group. This allowed our

documentary to be quite entertaining even though the topic was serious. Another way we

challenged conventions was overlapping the sound from the montage at the start, while

presenting the title of the documentary MySocialNetworking on a phone. We did this by having

someone type the title on their twitter and uploading as a new tweet. This was quite successful

as we used the appropriate mise-en-scene such as the phone and the quirkiness of the title

made it suitable to post it onto twitter due to the hashtag being a vital part of the application.

The documentary features a voiceover, which is a common convention within documentaries.

This means that we address the audience directly. We used a mixture of both primary and

secondary research for example the thetop 5 used social networking siteswas information we


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retrieved off the internet during the planning and researching stage. Whereas, the interviews

were mainly primary research as everything our intervieweessaid was brand new information

we retrieved ourselves.

In regards to the music, we used one of the existing songs on garage band for our backgroundmusic. We used the same song throughout the whole documentary to challenge existing media

productions that use the different ones according to the mood. For example in SupersizeMe

they would add copyrighted songs such as FatBottomed GirlsBy Queen to add humour and

comic relief and set an amusing tone to the documentary whereas, the music we had chosen

suited the more serious tone of our documentary as we hoped that the audience would focus

more on the documentary without the music overpowering it.

Radio Trail

In regards to the radio trail, we listened to a range of professional existing trails to get an

idea of what conventions should be included. We listened to ones off of bbc one, capital

radio and others that play advertisements. We were also given the opportunity to listen

to ones that students produced.

We used a rhetorical question cant seem to stay off your phone? Are you a regular

social network user? Not aware of the effects it can have on young peoples lives? we

used personal question and referred to young people as it was a way for us to reach outto our targeted audience, this would also put them in a situation where they would be

intrigued to watch the documentary as it is specifically aimed at them.

We used upbeat background music and an enthusiastic voiceover to appeal to a younger

audience.

The approximate length for all the radio trails we listened to lasted between 20 to 40

seconds long. This is to ensure that it is not too long so that listeners would not get bored

while being an appropriate length to get the point across. Ours was 38 seconds long, webelieved that it was an suitable length as we were able to share all the valuable

information concerning the documentary.

We also added clips from our documents, such as things that both the students and

experts said. We also added a voxpops of students favourite social networking sites to

intrigue the listeners as they would be able to relate to it.


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This was our final magazine

double page spread, which

would be published in Radio

Times. For inspiration, we

analysed different existingmagazines articles for

publications such as Radio

Times. This allowed us to

retrieve general conventions of

magazine articles Such as

mastheads, pull quotes, text and images. The magazine articles for Television

documentaries always had more than one photograph and usually had a main one with

a few smaller ones on the side. We utilised this convention by using still clips from our

documentary as who would be featured as our expert

interviews to inform the readers who to expect to hear

from.

A masthead is always displayed and is used as a

title/headline in newspapers and magazines. We

decided to use the title of our documentary as the

masthead, which challenges some articles as they use

characters or puns and we believed using our title wouldreinforce the serious tone of our piece.

A drop cap is used in nearly every magazine article.

We used this to make ours look professional.

The length of the articles varied between short and long. However, we decided to have a

short text as we wanted to keep the readers intrigued by making it more visual rather

than wordy.

The articles are also always written in columns, we decided to follow

this convention as it allowed our publication to look neat and

organised making it easier to read.

There is always a number page and usually the name of the publication presented at the

bottom right of the magazine. We decided to follow this convention as it looks

professional and allows the readers to know what page

they are on.

We also used a statistics within our text to reinforce the

power social networking has on todays society.

There was always a caption at the bottom of the photos which would describe what istaking place, or who is in the photo and etc. we developed this by using a quote from the


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interviews which gives the readers a little taste of their views on social networking. We

also used a statistics within our text to reinforce the power social networking has on

todays society.

Overall, we stuck to the main conventions of each piece where we felt appropriate

including the interviews, camera use, text, and music. We did develop some existing

conventions where suitable and challenged few conventions such as using the same

music for both the radio trail and the documentary as we felt it would suit the mise-en-

scene.

evaluation question 1 in what ways does your media product use (2)

Documents