Evaluation of Documentary

While making this documentary I have not only found out things about media conventions of documentaries and how they are sometimes challenged but I have found out that making a documentary is not as easy as it looks, it needs a lot of team work and love and care. Our documentary is about how eating vegan can change your current lifestyle and whether it is better or worse for you in health and other aspects.

During the planning stages of this documentary we came up with some different ideas on how we would like to convey this one was to get several different interviews with vegans and health experts, another was to do only video diaries, in the end we decided to go the proactive route and have one of us become vegan and use video diaries to track how it effects us while also including interviews with health specialists.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our documentary follows the media conventions of a typical investigative documentary such as using interviews and video diaries, as seen in these images we used typical name plates and interview styles, we also placed the name of the day at the top of each video diary.

How effective is the combination of your main product and and ancillary tasks? 

I believe that my ancillary tasks link into the documentary perfectly as they both convey what we are trying to show, the double page spread has a nice interview with the film maker while including pictures of the cast and main character holding the contrasts of a burger and a stick of celery, my poster is just one lone object, that being a chicken bucket filled with fruit that conveys the message we are trying to get across which is a meat eater suddenly becoming vegan for an extended period and how different these 2 things are. In both our ancillary tasks it is clear what we are trying to advertise and when the show shall air and what channel it will be on, they are simple to read with the poster containing little writing and just one picture to impact the viewer.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
To gather our audience feedback we uploaded our documentary onto YouTube and Facebook to see what our audience thinks about it, the feedback was overall positive with one saying that it could easily be on BBC Three, but we also learned that we could have done more as there was demand for the documentary to continue as most of the comments wandered "what happened next?"

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
We used multiple new media technologies to help us edit and complete our documentary and ancillary tasks, we started with the internet and computers using them to aid us in the planning and research aspect of the documentary, we only used one camera and a tripod to do the filming as it was all we needed. We also used lots of different software such as iMovie and Adobe Photoshop to do the editing and design of our documentary and ancillary tasks respectively, these technologies were very important when it came to editing as without it we wouldn't have been able to create our documentary to such a high standard.

Shooting Schedule

Storyboard

Ancillary Task: Poster

Ancillary Task: Double Page TV Magazine Article

Ancillary Task: Pictures

Ancillary Task: Drafts

Annotated Article

Photos From Filming

Research Into Final Idea

Our final idea is Becoming Vegan, the documentary about a student going from being a meat eater to eating a strict vegan diet and to see how it effects him in several ways. To research this area we actively searched on several websites to see what foods were acceptable for a vegan to eat and we found that there were a lot of every day items that were not in a vegan diet. We also searched for stastics on how may people in the UK are actually vegan, and we researched what effects we could expect to get from switching to such a different diet. We also went into Brighton to look for a health specialist to interview.

Analysis of Questionnaire Results

Whilst conducting our questionnaire we found that 8/10 people enjoyed watching documentaries once a week,
we also found that the majority (9/10) of teenagers would prefer to watch a documentary on BBC Three after 9pm. The preferred day of the week varied with Tuesday getting the most votes by 1.

Questionnaire

Documentary: Initial Ideas

Becoming Vegan

A documentary about one students struggle to see what it is like to go from a meat eater to a strict vegan diet and to see ho it effects his health, social life, and how cost effective it is in comparison. Can include interview with diet expert, video diaries of the student showing how it is effecting him mentally and physically.

Britains Teenagers: A Drinking Society

A documentary about teenagers in Britain and how many are underage drinking, go out in Brighton on a Friday/Satuday night to see how many teenagers are out, interview policemen on patrol and maybe interview help agencies.

 Teenage Pregnancies: A Fashion Statement

A documentary documenting the journey of a pregnant teenager and a teenager who has recently given birth and how teenage prenancies have effected them at these stages, could include interviews with pregnant teenagers and interviews with the parents and how it effects them, could also interview parents who gave birth when they were teenagers and what they did to build a life for themselves.

Louis Theroux Essay

How does Louis Theroux use documentary conventions to bring the genre into the mainstream?

 Louis Theroux isn’t afraid to convey his own opinions to the ‘characters’ and the audience in his documentaries, he actively says what he feels and usually what the audience most likely feels aswell. 

His interview with ‘Gramps’, the head of the Phelps family, contains a lot of tension with Theroux asking questions he knows will get his desired controversial reaction. 

The picketing so close to the funerals of the fallen soldiers creates a sense of awkwardness and anticipation, having built up the Phelps’ as the ‘most hated family in America’ and then they are doing something so disrespectful helps build the anticipation towards an expected confrontation.

Louis Theroux develops an audiences knowledge by presenting his documentaries from a side that most people wouldn’t normally see, in ‘The most hated family in America’ he documents the families everyday life, how life is for them in school and their local community, almost to build some sympathy towards them and present them as ‘normal’ people so the audience can relate to them, as well as their activities to do with the church. 

Theroux, while presenting these documentaries and getting involved in certain aspects, is generally less confrontational than someone like Michael Moore as he mainly watches from afar observing instead of being in the forefront of the ‘action’. Using such conventions like drama and suspense Theroux exacerbates certain situations to create tension and sometimes there is a sense of narrative in his documentaries making them aesthetically look like a drama program instead of an informative documentary, which I think brings it into the mainstream.


Louis Theroux Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Theroux

Louis Theroux Notes

The Most Hated Family In America, Under The Knife, Behind Bars

•  Louis Theroux uses interesting characters in his documentaries such as the Phelps' and the prisoners in Behind Bars
• He pushes his opinion in a lesser way than Michael Moore
• He gets involved in what the Phelps' do even though he doesn't believe in it
• Deliberately makes himself socially awkward and asks questions that he knows the answers to such as asking 'Gramps' how many children he had because some didn't believe in the same things anymore
• He also has plastic surgery in 'Under The Knife' to get a first hand perspective on things

Michael Moore Essay

Evaluation "Bowling For Columbine"

Michael Moore, the director of “Bowling For Columbine”, acts throughout the film in a very proactive mode as he gets involved in front of the camera as well as behind, doing things like opening a bank and receiving a gun and campaigning with Columbine victims to ban the sell of ammunition at Wall-Mart stores; he does this as it firmly puts his views across to the viewer, and in certain aspects it may also shock them (anybody can get a gun easily in America)

Moore is deliberate in his use of visual conventions as he shows a childish cartoon about Americans being scared and a comedy sketch of Chris Rock joking about guns this adds an uncomfortable feel to the documentary and makes the topic less serious as he is using comedy to emphasis a very serious event. Moore also uses editing by using two points that juxtapose each other i.e. cutting from someone saying “America only makes weapons to defend” and then showing how America has used weapons to kill many innocent people. He also uses jump cuts in “Fahrenheit 9/11” to show and put emphasis on how many times George Bush says something like “Osama Bin Laden”, “Saddam Hussein” and “weapons of mass destruction” this not only make Bush look stupid but shows how many times he has tried to distract from the oil reasons for invading.

I think that sometimes the narrative of the documentary can simplify complex issues i.e. if Bush did this, it could have avoided that and if the school had this program then the shootings wouldn’t have happened, this shows that Moore is trying to say that these situations could have easily been avoided when in fact the situation is much more complicated than that. On the other hand he looks deeply through the situations usually not focusing too much on the situation itself but focusing on how this could have happened and how it can be prevented in the future.

Moore positions the viewer behind himself so they are watching him conduct the investigation and highly stresses his viewpoints on the situation; this could be seen as a vanity project of sorts as many of Moore’s films have a portion focusing on his home town of Flint, Michigan.

The argument in Columbine is obvious as it is clear what Moore is backing and what he is trying to achieve whereas in Fahrenheit the argument is more unclear and it seems as though Moore is just searching for the truth. “Bowling For Columbine” creates a false sense of closure in the conclusion of the documentary, it does this by showing the Columbine survivors winning their petition against Wall-Mart and the selling of ammunition for handguns, but it hasn’t resolved the fact that it is still very easy to get a handgun in America.

Michael Moore Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_moore

Michael Moore Notes

Fahrenheit 9/11

• Solemn music to set a melancholy mood
• Use of archive footage
• Narrator who is also the presenter Michael Moore
• Soundtrack of 9/11 events from recordings
• Unseen footage
• Juxtaposing George Bush and terror threats
• Jump cuts of similar scenes to add emphasis

Bowling For Columbine

• Sets up event like a story, with his viewpoint immediately put forward to the audience
• Sarcastic humour
• Childish music in the background (mocking)
• Even seeing him is putting his view forward
• Archive footage is used
• Family footage of Michael Moore is also used
• Chris Rock comedy sketch about guns
• Juxtapositions
• 'Indiscriminate killings' - nuclear weapons being made in the same town 'only making weapons to defend' then showing how America has used weapons to kill loads of people
• Use of CCTV footage
• "from my cold dead hands" - Charlten Heston
  

Documentary Conventions

Voiceover - The voiceover will usually be authoritive in some way, encouraging the audience to think that they either have some kind of specialist knowledge or, as is the case with Michael Moore the 'right' opinions that people should pay attention to.
Archive footage - To aid authenticity and to add further information which the film maker may be unable to obtain themselves
Interviews - These are used to authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. Sometimes they will disagree with the message of the documentary but will be disproved by the filmaker
Sound - Use of non-diageic sound usually to set a mood or to contradict what is on screen

Documentary Modes

Expository - The expository documentary aims to inform and educate the audience about a certain subject. Screened material can include original and archive footage, and the camera and crew are usually invisible to the audience. The material is tightly scripted and is usually accompanied by some sort of voice-over narration. Example: Natural History programmes.

Observational - The observational documentary aims for a greater degree of naturalness as it is used to observe someone or something in its natural habitat with minimum disruption. Camera and crew are invisible to the audience here also.

Fly-On-The-Wall - Fly-On-The-Wall documentaries are an extension of the observational mode, it aims to blend into the background as the subjects go about their daily business. Filming is usually done during a lengthy time period and aims to give the audience and unmediated access to the world. Example: Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Outta Here.

Interactive/Reflexive - In this mode the filmakers presence is fully acknowledged and maybe even emphasized. The film maker is both the author and character in his or her own movie, often appearing in front of the camera and interacting with others. The film might offer surprises, play with conventions and usually aims to provoke reactions from subjects and audiences. Example: Michael Moore Documentaries.

Poetic - This documentary mode emphasizes on creativity as the film maker may explore the beauty in everyday life.

Drama Documentary - In the absence of archive footage or access to witnesses, the film maker might stage a dramatic reconstruction of events.

Mockumentary - These are fictional films which parody the forms and conventions of documentaries, often for a humorous effect. Example: The Office, Confetti.

Personal - These are often shot on video and genrally feature the maker addressing the camera directly, expounding or sharing his views with the audience.

Mission Statement

For my the A2 advanced media portfolio I have to make a section of a documentary, this will last approximately 5 minutes long. In my group we decided to do an investigative docucumentary on the effects of becoming a vegan called 'Becoming Vegan' which is similar to Morgan Spurlock's documentary 'Supersize Me'.
Our documentary will have me presenting and Dan Hatcher will be the test subject, experiencing what its like to be a vegan and actually eating only veagn, and Matt Fox will be conducting interviews.
This documentary will combine the personal mode in 'video diaries', talking heads of health experts, and expository modes as we seek to inform and educate our audience on whether or not it is healthy and better for you to eat vegan.
We believe that the USP is the documentary itself as nobody has really approached the idea of switching from a meat diet to a purely vegan diet in the space of a month, our target audience is 14 - 25 year olds as we aim to help inform the younger generation on how cost effective and more healthy it is to eat vegan. We hope to fit this demographic by filling the 9pm prime time slot on BBC THREE.