Documentary Pre-Production

Pre-Production & Part 3 of Research Dossier

Risk assessment 

Minutes

Budgeting sheet

Talent Release

Location Release

Script

Narrator (Brandon): 

Since technology has progressed, so has the dynamics of our music industry. Just as the Z1 computer became the iPhone 7, the grand piano became a synthesisor. Led Zeppelin became the Arctic Monkeys and we discovered the way to manipulate frequencies of sound through music. 

Progression in music is inevitable in a world where people imagine, inspire and create. This progression is leading to an exponential change in the way music is produced. 

An opportunity arrived, to travel to London, to speak to the inspirational music producer,Nigel Godrich, where he explored his observations of the changing world of music production. 

Documentary Research Dossier: Part 1 and 2

Research Dossier

Task: Conduct primary and secondary audience research/market research into the viability of your concept and present findings on your blog post under the post title 'Research Dossier' and using the three subheadings below:

1. Secondary Research
As shown in an article by Business Insider[1],  Kendrick Lamar’s beat, in the song “Pride” (found on Lamar’s triple platinum album “Damn”), produced by Steve Lacy, was actually made on an iPhone using GarageBand. The technological world of the music industry has made it so everybody has their own studio right in their pockets.
[2]The 19^th Century gave to an exponential growth of technology within the music industry. In this era; recorded music became a popular means of production, whilst listening methods switched from live performances to at home listening. People needed actual places to record music, so music studios became the hub for all musicians. This allowed a plethora of creativity within music, as people weren’t bound to instruments and could manipulate sound through technology. It granted musicians, such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd, to make their mark in shaping the way music is today.
Now, as home computing has become a development that the West can take an advantage of, studio recording has become less of a norm for music production.
This is for many reasons.
1. Recording Studios Are Expensive

Figure 1: Recording studio prices

In even just one example we can see that the price for a recording studio can be quite a lot, especially if you’re a young budding artist who either; works part time or doesn’t work at all. On average it costs around £70-£80 to hire a studio to record your music at Sound Gallery Studios. Additionally, according to recordingconnection.com[3], hiring a studio can cost you anywhere from $50-$500 an hour.
On the other hand, GarageBand, the recording service made by Apple, is free for all iOS and Mac users, with only extra instruments costing $4.99 which you can keep forever. Additionally, there are, also, other recording services such as iMPC which only costs £4.99 on the AppStore and it stays on your phone for as long as you want it, in addition to Remixlive (free) and Launchpad (free).

Figure 2: Locations of Recording studios near me

2. At-Home Recording is More Accessible
We live in a time where everyone has a mobile phone or computer at home but not everyone has access to a recording studio. There may be more within a city, however, as shown in Figure 2, when you look at more rural areas; recording studios are hard to come by.

Additionally, music isn’t bound to certain times and it can make it easier for musicians to record music wherever they are. For example, in an interview with Wired Steve Lacy (who wrote Kendrick Lamar’s song “Pride”) explains that "I like to make music wherever I am,"[4].

3. Time Constraints With Recording Studios

If you are able to finally get a recording studio then you only have a limited amount of time in there (unless you hire one out for the day). Usually, a recording studio will charge hourly to use. This means that you’ll only have a couple of hours to be able to get down and record as much as you can. When you have a recording device at home you have all the time in the world to create as much music as you want to without any time constraints.
Additionally, if a musician lives far away from the recording studio then they have to spend extra time and money on travel.

2. Primary Research
For my primary research I decided to interview my uncle, Nigel Godrich, who is the producer of Radiohead. I contacted him over the phone on the first day of my planning to see if he would do it and when he was available. I told him I wanted to know his thoughts of the music industry now, what he’s seen change and whether he thought that the change was good or bad and he agreed to do the interview with me.  
When conducting the interview, I wrote down some questions that I would ask him.
1. When you started, what equipment did you use?
2. What kind of equipment do you use now?
3. In your opinion, what’s better?
4. Are you seeing a change in the way music is being produced?

However, whilst in the interview, I asked different questions that reflected what he was saying. This made the interview more casual, but also more authentic, because it was like a conversation.
Additionally, I didn’t feel I needed to ask him too much because when he started speaking about music, he got quite passionate and said things I, maybe, couldn’t have got out of him if it were a rigid interview.

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[1] Leswing, K. (2019). One of Kendrick Lamar's producers makes beats on his iPhone — but he has a problem with the iPhone 7. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/kendrick-lamar-damn-producer-steve-lacy-iphone-beats-garageband-2017-4?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].

[2] Dixon, A. (2019). How Has The Recording Studio Affected The Ways In Which Music Is Created? | Classic Album Sundays. [online] Classic Album Sundays. Available at: https://classicalbumsundays.com/how-has-the-recording-studio-affected-the-ways-in-which-music-is-created/ [Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].

[3] Petulla, J. (2019). How Much Does A Good Music Studio Cost To Use? | Recording Connection. [online] Recording Connection Audio Institute. Available at: https://www.recordingconnection.com/reference-library/recording-entrepreneurs/how-much-do-music-studios-cost/ [Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].

[4] Pierce, D., Goode, L., Kelly, C., Baker-Whitcomb, A., Goode, L., So, A. and Rubin, P. (2019). The Guy Who Produced Kendrick Lamar’s Best New Track Did It All on His iPhone. [online] WIRED. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2017/04/steve-lacy-iphone-producer/ [Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].

3MW Research Post

Research into 3 Minute Wonders

Go to the Channel 4 website and conduct research into 3 Minute Wonder, e.g.,

What is a 3 Minute Wonder?
3 Minute Wonder is television show comprised of short documentaries, allowing first-time directors and assistant producers produce a piece of work that will be broadcasted to a large audience. Channel 4 offers the new film-makers £4000 and assistance in their film-making. It is then broadcast, every weekday, at 7:55pm.

What is the aim / purpose of a 3 Minute Wonder?

The purpose of a 3 minute wonder is to help new directors/producers break into the industry by showcasing their talent and it works in the same way as Channel 4’s other talent schemes; FourDocs and the Channel 4 Sheffield Pitch.

What sort of topic would you expect to see on a 3 Minute Wonder?

I would expect to see 3-minute documentaries covering a range of different topics, such as; social, political and environmental issues, news events etc. However, it can be humorous (as shown in Karl Pilkington’s 3 Minute Wonders, which tend to be anecdotal), so the creativity is boundless when making a 3 Minute Wonder as there are no specific guidelines to make them.

2. Watch at least five 3 Minute Wonder episodes.
3. Select your three favorite 3 Minute Wonder episodes and briefly explain:
why you like them
what you have learned from watching them

Three Minute Wonder – Elise
In this 3 Minute Wonder you discovered that the interviewee has developed cancer. At the beginning you don’t expect cancer to be the point of conversation, as Elise is talking about the view from her window. Maybe if you lived in London you could guess where she is, but if you aren’t familiar with the area then the short documentary makes you believe that you’re looking out of her bedroom window. This is an component that I really enjoyed in the 3MW – the element of surprise. The documentary forces you to see in a different way – especially when Elise talks about how people should appreciate life more, even just taking a simple walk. They also do this within the camera shot types; within the whole 3MW you are looking at the world within the hospital room, and not once does the camera leave Elise’s hospital room – meaning that you are literally seeing everything from her point of view, even when you are watching the B-roll of people walking, you are watching them from the hospital room.
Although I didn’t learn anything new about cancer, it broadens your view of being a cancer patient and forces you to be more appreciate of the life you are given.

Three Minute Wonder – The Wall – Burning Candy
This 3MW series you a different side to graffiti art. Instead of looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, you’re looking at the graffiti artists themselves. This challenges people’s stereotypes of graffiti artists as being young, working class, high school dropouts.
Burning Candy shows 4 men (around their 30’s) who all studied art at university and are currently working selling paints and trying to make their way into the art world. In their eyes, they see graffiti as a peaceful protest to the middle and upper classes and do it in their spare time. Their views were eye opening as they talked about how graffiti art doesn’t hold any value until it is seen as a commodity and is turned into ‘street art’ – that is when the art is taken seriously. This really changed my view on graffiti, and art in general. I learnt that you never know who has done a piece of graffiti and that - instead of looking at it as spoiling the landscape – it should be seen for what it is; a piece of art that should be celebrated.

Three Minute Wonder – This is Our Youth: ONM (One Note Music)
This is Our Youth is a 3MW mockumentary series that seems to take an abstract look at young people by showing things that young people are definitely not doing.
In this 3MW; we follow 2 teenagers who want to make music using only 1 note. I found this one really funny and the teenagers acting were really talented. This shows that 3MW’s don’t have to be serious and, as previously mentioned, there are no strict guidelines that have to be followed. I really enjoyed the humorous element of this 3MW and how light-hearted it was. You could tell they were poking fun at the stereotypical expository documentaries – with the; fast shot changes, close up angles and un-steady camera shots (which is meant to show spontaneity within a shot). The whole 3MW series is overtly sarcastic, so the purpose of this docu-series is to entertain rather than inform or educate.

4. Market research into the documentary format and its current viability:
Look at the TV listings for two channels (one should be C4) over the course of a period of time (a day to a week - the more you do the more reliable your primary research findings!). What percentage of television output on your chosen channels is documentary?  How many are shown at peak time?

Go to the BARB website and find the viewing figures for factual programmes in general and then some specific documentaries.

Figure 1: BARB Viewing Figures

As shown in Figure 1, on the week beginning 10^th of February 2019, documentaries made up 15.72% of the viewing figures, making documentaries amongst one of the most watched forms of entertainment on TV.

Out of the 26 TV shows on BBC 1 on the 20^th of June 2019 11 of these were headed as either a documentary or the news; both of which are factual programming[1]. This means that on this day; 42.3% of the TV shows were factual programming.

On Thursday 21^st of June 2019 there are 28 TV shows and 1 film being broadcasted on BBC1. Out of these 28 shows, 11 are considered factual programming (documentary and the news). This means that 39% of these shows are factual programming.

Given this information we can assume that, on average, around 40% of BBC 1’s broadcasts are factual programming. However, it could be considered more. My information was taken by what they considered a documentary and news programme. However, shows such as; ‘Homes Under the Hammer’ are considered as lifestyle programmes, even though it does have elements of factual programming. Nonetheless, I think that there are some grey areas when considering factual programming, because there are no guidelines as to what a factual programme is, and if any TV programme that shows a hint of being a factual programme is considered a documentary then documentaries would take up a large portion of screen time.

According to the Channel 4 TV Guide[2] there were 35 TV shows broadcasted on the 20^th of June 2019. Amongst these 35 TV shows only 5 would be considered as factual programming. This means that on this day; 14.2% of the programmes shown were factual programming.

On Friday the 21^st of June 2019 31 programmes were broadcasted on Channel 4. On this day only 3 of these were factual programmes. This means that on this day 9.6% of the TV shows shown were factual programming.

Although Channel 4 is famous for broadcasting popular factual programmes such as; Dispatches and 3MW, they don’t broadcast as many documentaries as the BBC. At first, this surprised me as I always thought of Channel 4 as a good place to find documentaries, however it doesn’t surprise me that the BBC have more.
There was a varied result between Thursday and Friday’s factual programme showings, with Friday showing 2 less factual programmes than on Thursday. I believe that the reason for this is because, generally, on a Friday night people want easy-watching TV programmes and documentaries hardly fall in to that category (depending on what the documentary is about).

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[1] BBC.com. (2019). BBC1 – TV Guide. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/guide [Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].

[2] Channel4.com. (2019). All 4 - TV Guide. [online] Available at: https://www.channel4.com/tv-guide [Accessed 27 Jun. 2019].

Introduction to the News Report

An Introduction to The News

Part 1 (using the news broadcast you have watched)

Watch a news broadcast and state which one you watched, e.g., Look East Monday 18th March 6pm.

The news broadcast I decided to watch was BBC Newsroom Live on Tuesday the 25^th of June 2019 at 11:00am.

What stories were covered and in what order were they shown?

The stories that were covered (in order) were;

1. The Hillsborough Retrial

2. Borris Johnson’s EU Campaign

3. The ‘Conservative Leadership Race’

4. Prince Harry and Meghan Markles Refurbished Home Costing £2.4 mill in taxpayers money, Plus a Royal Spending Review

5. Southern Waters Spilling Sewerage Into the Local Environment

6. Iranian Presidents Conflict With US President

7. ‘Natasha’s Law’ – New Legislation for Food Businesses After Pret Et Manger Food Labelling Crisis.

8. British F35 Stealth Fighter Jets Take Part in First Mission to Find ISS.

9. Naomi Campbell’s Statement That; Although Diversity in Fashion Industry Has Improved, There’s a Way to Go.

10/11. MET Office Give a Yellow Weather Warning Following Flash Floods in Scotland and East England/Whereas There’s a Heatwave in Europe.

12. Rescue Dog in America Retires

13. Weather

As shown; the news is often presented in order of relevance to the people that are watching. Within the first three news stories, two of them are about who is going to lead the conservative party. This is something that is going to effect the whole country so is something that is of higher value to the public, as well as the news room.

The first story shown is about a retrial of the Hillsborough disaster. I believe this was first because, under Galtung and Ruge’s ‘News Values’, this story reaches both negativity, meaningfulness, size and unexpectedness.

The news is then followed by ‘smaller’ news stories (Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Southern Waters, British Fighter Jets and Naomi Campbell) which are seen as less important because, under Galtung and Ruge’s ‘News Values’, they lack; Frequency, meaningfulness, size, continuity or simplicity.

What happens in the starting sequence and why do you think the visuals and audio have been used?

The start of the broadcast had the main news reporter, Joanna Gosling, reading out the main news topics of the day, roughly in the order in which they are being presented. At the start of each short description of the news event was a drum sequence. This gives a sense of urgency within the opening sequence and almost wakes you up and says “You need to pay attention to what is being said”. The opening sequence uses quick cuts to, again, give a sense of urgency and immediacy which represents the broadcaster as a source which gives you news that you will hear first, before any other broadcaster. This is accompanied by a strip of main titles at the bottom accompanied with the title of the news story being talked about. The headlines are all in bold, capatalised font which signifies that it is important. There is always footage of the people, place or correspondant involved in the story, with, sometimes, a clip of them speaking on the subject (for example, when Gosling describes Borris Johnson’s EU Campaign there was a short clip of him talking about it). This is all followed by the familiar footage of the BBC opening sequence, which is a depiction of the world, but in strips of red. This is meant to represent the fact that they are showing news coming from all around the world and the visual effect, of the world being in strips, could symbolise; a reel of footage, showing that this is a TV broadcast that you watch, whilst the red shows emergency. The sound that accompanies this is similar to a countdown which, not only forces you to quickly get ready to sit down and watch the news, but is also very energetic and, again, gives a sense of emergency.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxYXyIjpQcQ)

Part 2 (using a story from the broadcast you have found)

What was this story about and what was the structure of the report (lead in, main content, final comments)?

The story I have focused on involves Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spending £2.4mill, of taxpayer’s money, to renovate their house.

Lead in: The story started with the news reporter, Joanna Gosling, giving a short description of the event by using hard facts. Gosling then invites the royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, to report on the matter.

Main content: Witchell then narrates over a series of images of Harry and Meghan starting by talking about how they decided they wanted to live in Windsor. Witchell gives more of a storyline as he starts by mentioning the royal wedding and how they decided straight after their wedding to move to Windsor. He then goes over some of the facts whilst standing in front of Buckingham Palace. He details how; they decided to take 5 cottages and strip them out to become 1. Then; there’s a small graphic in which he explains how the overall cost of the Sovereign Grant this year was £82.2 mill.

Final comments: Gosling is then accompanies by Witchell in the newsroom to discuss the story in more detail. They give extra information about the house itself (stating that it’s a Grade II listed building). They also go over some misconceptions that have been made by the renovations, such as the rumour that there was a yoga studio installed, as well as some truths; that there was a floating floor installed, as they couldn’t rip up the original flooring, as it was a listed building. Then they speak about the Sovereign Grant as a whole and it’s controversies; the amount of CO2 emissions they generate with their travel etc.

How are the people in the story represented?

The Royal Family, within this story, was represented quite neutrally, given the controversial nature of this topic. The report focused mainly on the facts of the house and money, however in the final section when they do a short summing up of the story they try to make sure they represent both sides. On one hand, you have Gosling representing the publics thoughts, asking (in regard to the CO2 emissions) “They could do more scheduled flights” in which the royal correspondent, Witchell, replies saying the older members of the royal family are less likely to want to take scheduled flights and that “they can’t always control how much travel they do”. Although Gosling is representing the public thoughts, she is also the main reporter so it’s her job to keep things neutral and not make things too controversial. This means there was only one side to the argument; they royal correspondents side who may not be completely ruthless with the facts.

How did you feel about the people in the news story? Why? Use the following terms where relevant: accuracy; balance; impartiality; objectivity; subjectivity; opinion; bias; access & privacy

I felt angry when I first saw the news report because, in my opinion, £2.4 mill is a lot for the taxpayer to be paying for a house renovation. Although the report was looking at it objectively, by only representing the facts, I still felt angry at the facts and my judgement on the royal family was imbalanced. However, I did my own research, after the news report was put out, because I was interested in how much the royal family makes over a year, compared to how much they spend, and I was really surprised. Going off the news report alone, I’d still be pretty angry, but because of my own research I feel more neutral about the situation (even though I still find it to be a lot of money).

Was the news story narrativised? i.e., was there a construction of a narrative to help the audience follow the news event.

When it was in the main content of the news report, there was somewhat a narrative as Witchell mentions the royal wedding and sets a scene that Harry and Meghan were at their wedding and, as newlyweds, decided they want to move to Windsor, making the story more romantic. However, the end comments and the facts of the story make the whole story more neutral.

Part 3 (referring back to the Anglia News documentary)

Who are the newsreaders / presenters in the broadcast you watched? (Name, age, gender, etc.)

Joanna Gosling, 48 years old, female

Nicholas Witchell, 65 years old, male

How do newsreaders address the audience? Why?

Newsreaders usually address their audience in third person with direct address to the audience using second person pronoun “you” (especially when asking rhetorical devices as a persuasive technique).

What is the role of the newsreader / presenter in a news broadcast?

The role of a newsreader is to report on the news to a wide audience. Sometimes the broadcasts will be live so the newsreader will have to be able to speak in a way that everyone can relate to.

What skills are necessary for newsreaders / presenters?

Newsreaders must be clear and concise with their punctuation (so that everyone can understand what they’re saying) and be able to speak in a way that everyone can understand. Additionally, they need good communication skills as they’re speaking to guests and interviewees and the best way to get good information out of someone is to be very personable.

what is a field reporter and what do they do?

A field reporter is a newsreader who is on the scene. You usually see field reporters in the live broadcasts where they’re interviewing real people or reporting what they’re witnessing. They’re the news reporters who go out there and get the news story.

Who else is involved in a broadcast and what do their roles entail (3 more with 3 bullet points each).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/16584065

Directors

-Make sure the broadcast goes smoothly by doing all the editorial business and preparing the technical side of the broadcast.

-Make decisions about lighting, camera angles and shots, the graphics and mise-en-scene.

-Tell the staff what they should be doing.

Editors

-Choose what stories are going to be aired and in what order.

-Oversee the direction of the broadcast.

Camera Operatives

-Take all the footage that will be put in the broadcast (can involve going out with field reporters to film).

-Take footage of the broadcast.

Part 4 News Ordering - 'What Makes the News'? (research)

What is meant by the term news ordering?

News ordering is a term given, simply, to the order in which the news is presented.

What is the term given to the list of stories that will likely appear on the broadcast?

Special reports/bulletins/top stories.

Which story is likely to be shown first and how / why is it selected?

The story with the largest impact; whether that be on how many people are affected, where

Why is the ability to think and act quickly important in news?

Because the news always changes and there may be additions added, last minute, which may mean you have to change the whole broadcast. Additionally, if something significant were to happen in the world at that instant then the people involved in the broadcast would have to change the entire tone of the broadcast.

What is meant by the term 'slow news day'?

A ‘slow news day’ is when there aren’t any significant features to report on in the world, apart from what Galtung and Ruge would describe as news with ‘continuity’ (a news item that is of a continuous event and is seen every day, such as; Brexit).

What is meant by the term 'news values' and which G & R wrote about them?

‘News values’ is a term coined by Galtung and Ruge which states that there are 10 main functions of a news story (the news story doesn’t have to follow every one);

- Frequency is when important news is reported on immediately as ‘breaking news’.

- Size is when the news story is bigger. For example, it may have affected a large number of people or a large area. The bigger the news story; the better.

- Continuity, as mentioned before, continuity is when there’s an ongoing news story (like Brexit) that appears in the news every day.

- Simplicity is the fact that stories that are simpler are easier to understand than more complex ones, making it more watchable.

- Elite nations or people may make the news before less influential countries or people (possibly because it would have more of an impact on us as a nation).

- Predictability. A journalist will choose to cover an event that they can predict will be a big news story. This means that; sometimes, when a journalist is reporting on something that doesn’t seem like a big story, they’ll be reporting on it because there is a potential for it to become a big story.

- Unexpectedness. On the other hand, something that is nexpected will make the news more than something that occurs every day.

- Negativity is more likely to make headlines.

- Personality. The public will prefer a story over a celebrity or public figure as it makes the news more personal.

- Meaningfulness. If the story is close to home, then the audience will relate to it more. 

BTEC 3MW: The Changing World of Music Production

Documentary Mini-Task

Documentary ‘mini-task’

Introduction

A documentary is showing the reality of something through the means of a presentation, visual document or record. However, it is questionable whether footage can be an accurate representation of reality because you will never know whether someone is being 100% natural on camera. Documentaries can be controversial as you are mixing both reality with entertainment. This is questionable because when the camera is switched off; the thing that is being documented on is still happening. On the other hand, there may be over-exaggerations and hyperbolic undertones that aren’t a true reflection of reality, to make the documentary ‘exciting’ and give people a story, which can lead to false/misinformation. 

There are 5 main types of documentary (coined by Bill Nichols);

-Expository 

-Observational

-Interactive

-Reflexive

-Performative

Expository Documentaries

Expository documentaries usually commentate on what’s going on in the documentary directly to the viewer, acting like a running commentary and is usually non-diegetic. This can be done through voiceovers or subtitles. Expository voiceovers or subtitles are meant to be objective, and do give that effect, however, as described before, there is always bias when something is being made from a person’s point of view. An expository documentary states facts and arguments that complement what is being depicted in the documentary. 

An example of this is Channel 4’s ’24 Hours in A&E’ where they use hidden cameras inside A&E’s around the UK and show, not only the patients when they come in, but also their reactions to what’s happened to them and the relationships they have with, not only their friends and families, but also with the staff. You can tell that the patients/patient’s family have given consent as there is usually interview clips that accompany the footage. There is also a voiceover explaining what has happened to the patients and other details about what’s going on in the footage. Although we can tell that the documentary makers have used raw footage and that there is authentic emotion and reactions coming from the people being filmed, there is still bias. This is because the documentary makers are squeezing 24 hours of film into 1 hour, so a lot of patients will be missed out as well as certain practices. This means that, although you are seeing a glimpse of what it’s like in A&E for 24 hours, you aren’t seeing the whole thing and there may be things in the A&E that they didn’t show us which may have swayed our opinion a different way. Although, there may be some bias within this documentary series, it is probably one of the least bias expository documentaries as it verges on a observational documentary.

Observational Documentaries

Observational documentaries are ‘fly on the wall’ which means that they are simply made to observe the spontaneity of life, without any intrusion or direction. The documentary filmmaker is meant to stand back as an observer and watch what is happening and is usually hidden from the audience. This is seen as a more neutral way of making documentaries because of the aspect of it being ‘fly on the wall’ allowing the audience to make up their mind on what was going on within the documentary. This mode of documentary making started in the 60’s when technology allowed more movement leading to more spontaneity as handheld cameras and portable sound recorders were invented. 

A popular example of an observatory documentary is ‘MTV Cribs’ where people show off their extravagant homes. Whilst there are no interviews, the homeowners explain what is in their houses whilst walking around the house. There is no obvious obstruction from the documentary filmmaker, however the one thing that is focused on is the expensive elements of the house. This does make the documentary less realistic than traditional observational documentaries, as it isn’t about getting the spontaneous and actual sides of reality and more about someone showing off their home. Additionally, as the homeowner will know that they’re going to be on TV they will, most definitely, clean up their houses and could even buy things in preparation for the documentary.  

Interactive Documentaries

Unlike observational documentaries; interactive documentaries clearly show who the filmmaker is as they are participating within the documentary. Within these there is usually an interaction between the interviewer/filmmaker and the interviewee/subject. There is usually a strong argument that is being expressed by the filmmaker and is a lot less neutral than observational documentaries. These types of documentaries are usually criticised for being ‘manipulative’ because they show a clear argument but, it can be argued that; it is more important to show what is going on in the world than to look at the objective elements of that topic. 

One example of this type of documentary filmmaking is; ‘Ross Kemp: Extreme World’. Ross Kemp is well known for his reporting on war-torn countries and the extreme violent nature of humanity. In ‘Ross Kemp: Extreme World’; Kemp and his crew go around the world to explore different hardships that people face such as; homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, illicit trade and violence[1]. Although Ross Kemp will be witnessing real people and talking about real issues that are going on in the world there is a lot of bias. For example, there is no way that he could fit all of the facts about a topic within 1 hour. Additionally, the people he’s interviewing know that they are being filmed and so stories may be exaggerated or, even, made up (depending on what it’s about there may be no way to tell if the story is true or not). It may not be the intention of Ross Kemp, to have a bias documentary, but it is inevitable when; editing is involved, you are relying on peoples own accounts of stories and you can’t fit all the information in to 1 hour.

Reflexive Documentaries

In this type of documentary, the filmmaker shows how they constructed the documentary and where they got the facts from. These types of documentaries rely on the construction of the documentary as you follow the filmmaker on their journey to making the documentary. This reflects John Grierson’s quote that documentaries are “the creative treatment of actuality” as it shows that instead of being a window to reality, they are representations of it. 

An example of reflexive documentary could be ‘Blue Planet’; a documentary narrated by legendary David Attenborough, casting light on the intricacies of nature. I think this could be seen as reflexive because the ending always involves an explanation of how they filmed it. Although it is unlike traditional reflexive documentaries which allow the viewer to go on the journey with filmmaker, it does have an element of being quite transparent as it shows how the documentary was made. This can eliminate some of the bias because it shows how scenes may have been manipulated to the viewers, making the documentary completely open in respect to the footage. However, as this documentary, as a whole, is expository there is bias through the arguments of climate change that are made throughout the whole series. However, as I’m focusing on the last couple of minutes that can make this documentary reflexive, there seems to be little bias within the actual footage.

Performative Documentaries

Performative documentaries stress the representation of an event rather than the facts. This emphasises the role of documentaries entertainment purposes rather than the educational and informational purposes. These types of documentaries always include a re-enactment of some sort to express the topic of the situation. This can often be exaggerated and can be seen as manipulative as it uses emotion to relay information. Dramatisations/re-enactments can be used, as it may be hard to express a situation through speech or text, a visual representation can make it easier for viewers to picture and understand. It may also be used to hypothetically to give the viewer an experience of a different perspective. These are most popular in crime/history documentaries where it may be harder to talk about a scenario without a physical depiction. However, re-enactments and dramatisations can be used to create an emotional response by the viewer, which can be highly manipulative. Additionally, it may also be as an entertainment technique so that the documentary can be more exciting. This means that re-enactments/dramatisations should be taken with a pinch of salt as there’s no way to tell whether they are accurate or not, so shouldn’t be taken seriously. 

For example, BBC’s ‘World War II Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West’ uses re-enactments throughout the entire documentary, with the first scene being a re-enactment of a conversation between Stalin and Winston Churchill. This is done to give a face to the people that are being talked about and makes the viewer feel like they have a real representation of what that scenario may be like. As the people who are being spoken about aren’t alive anymore, there is no way to tell whether the re-enactment is 100% accurate or not and so, like all re-enactments, shouldn’t be taken seriously. Additionally, this is a good way to give life to those who aren’t living anymore by re-enacting the moments that made history. This does give some bias, as the people who are acting aren’t really the people they are depicting, so their mannerisms and speech may be exaggerated a long with everything inside the shot that creates the mise-en-scene.

Conclusion

John Grierson described documentaries as “the creative treatment of actuality” which is something I can stand behind. I think documentaries should be taken with a pinch of salt, as there’s only so much you can argue, about a subject, within a limited time frame. This means that although the main points of the topic may be covered, there may be details within that subject that can’t be covered due to; a limited time frame, limited access to all the information and the documentary makers own bias (whether the bias is intentional or not). 

I think a documentarist has a duty to let the viewer know whether what is presented is the complete truth and that there should be some element of transparency between the documentarist and the viewer. It is okay if someone makes a documentary to entertain, rather than inform and educate, but it is up to the documentarist to make that distinction to the viewer. It is not the documentary itself that creates misinformation, it is the way the viewer watches it that creates misinformation. Therefore, if the documentarist is honest with the viewer that some bits may not be completely accurate, then there can be a different way of watching the documentary leading to less misinformation.

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Kemp:_Extreme_World

TV Advert Evaluation

TV Advert Evaluation

1. The brief

a. What was the brief?

b. What was your chosen product and how / why did you decide, as a group, to choose it?

Joel had the idea of creating a rebranded advert for Surf Laundry Capsules after we were asked to change the target audience of a Unilever product. After watching Joel’s presentation and hearing his ideas we decided, as a group, to do his advert concept.

The thought was to have a male student doing his washing and, being unable to work the washing machine, recalls a flashback of his mum telling him how to work a washing machine and what detergent to use (Surf). The advert then returns to the present where the student is happy, with the knowledge of how to work a washing machine and to use Surf. We decided that the new target demographic would be young students, contrasting with the ‘stay-at-home-mum’ demographic Surf is currently targeted towards. We chose this rebrand as it’s a polar opposite to the target audience now and we knew the outcome would be achievable. 

c. Who is the current target audience for the product and who did you decide to appeal to? Why?

The current demographic for ‘Surf’ is, from advertising, mothers and women. The secondary target demographic would be men and husbands. We decided to appeal to a younger audience – students – to expand the audience and reassure young people that it’s easy to do your washing with ‘Surf’. We decided to do this because we understand what young people want, being young ourselves.

2. The finished product & feedback

a. How did you collect the feedback (comments / responses from others) on your finished advert from your target audience? Provide a summary of the main points.

Our survey; https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-PJNB2X35V/

We have used ‘Survey Monkey’ to get feedback from peers and have each sent out a survey to 3 of our friends to get feedback. The survey is in a questionnaire form and uses simple ‘agree’/’disagree’ answers to gain feedback, however we do have one question (“What do you think we could do to improve?” that requires a typed answer. We gained very positive feedback from the questionnaire. Additionally, because the people who completed the survey were young adults, we felt that it was a good representation of our target audience. Amongst some of the questions, we asked the recipient;

-whether they though the message of our advert was clear

-whether they thought the advert reached a student demographic

-what age they thought the advert was aimed to

-what we could’ve improved

-how likely they were to buy the product after watching the advert

b. Appropriateness to audience: do you think you managed to get the main message to your target audience you specified in pre-production. Would the advert have an appropriate impact on them?

I think that we achieved in creating an advert targeted towards our choice of demographic; young students, evident in our choice of actor and plotline (which is something that students can relate to). I think it could have been more student-targeted if it had a faster paced energy. Our advert felt quite slow because of the duration of some of the shots and, as the narrative made it more of a story, it didn’t have any cut scenes or shots that would make it more snappy. On the other hand, at the end of our advert we used quick point of view shots around the 00:40 second mark after Joel has the flashback, which adds speed to the advert.  Especially after reading the feedback left on our ‘Survey Monkey’ survey, I think we did a good job at getting our message resonate with a younger audience.

c. Think about the technical and aesthetic qualities of your advertisement. Analyse your use of: mise-en-scene; camera; editing and sound.

As our advert was targeted towards the student demographic, we used a teenage boy (Joel) as the main protagonist so that other students may relate. Within our advert we used light atmospheric lighting to symbolise freshness, of both the product, ‘Surf’, and the age of our protagonist. This juxtaposes with the harsh, grittiness of the flashback memory, showing an aged memory and a time when the protagonist didn’t know how to use a washing machine. Before the Surf product was officially announced, within the advert, we placed it on the top of a washing machine along with a line of other washing detergents as an ‘Easter-egg’ to what the product may be. Furthermore, we made sure that Joel was in the same position in front of the washing machine before, after and during the flashback to show that Joel was feeling the same confusion now as he did when he was younger.

d. Effectiveness of content: Do you think your finished advert effectively sells the product to the specified audience through its storyline/narrative? 

I think the narrative tells a struggle that most students can relate to and does it in a comedic way (when the flashback shows Joel’s mum telling him off). When someone can relate to an advert, I think they are more likely to buy it and the fact that we’ve used Joel, who’s around the student age, shows that the product isn’t only limited to older people. Additionally, humour is always a good way to get people on side, as your striking an emotion in people. Therefore, I think it would be effective in reaching a student demographic.

e. What was the effectiveness of the persuasion techniques you used to sell the product? 

We were able to use humour in advert, which is a good persuasion technique as everyone reacts well to humour. On the other hand, we used a more formal description of Surf at the end of the advert, showing that although Surf isn’t meant to be taken too seriously, the advert takes itself seriously which makes the advert more trustworthy.

f. Clarity of communication: what was the message you were trying to send to the target audience? What were the main techniques you used to send that message? e.g., I wanted to tell teen audiences that drinking Bovril is not just for older people so I used younger actors and hip/colloquial language to appeal to them in the hope that young audiences would identify with them. 

We wanted to show young people that something as complicated as washing your own clothes can be completed easily by using Surf. This is why we used a young actor, Joel, to play the student so that the viewers can relate to our advert. We also achieved this by having a scenario that most students can relate to as our plotline.  

g. Overall, do you feel your advert is fit for purpose? i.e., does it look professional and does it comply with advertising regulations? You must extract information from the ASA / BCAP code here as it will meet the requirements for Unit 2: GC1. 

I think our advert does look professional as it follows the main conventions of an advert. Additionally, to make sure we followed the BCAP code we made sure the advert wasn’t misleading in any way (sections 3.1 - 3.53) and also made sure that the advert would be recognised as an advert, so not to mislead the viewers (sections 2.1 - 2.5)

3. Personal reflection

a. How does the final advertisement compare with your original intentions? Reflect on your documentation, e.g., you storyboards and other pre-production, final advertisement and audience/peer/tutor feedback. 

Our advert was a good representation of what we aimed to achieve. However, there were some variations from the shot-list. For example, we wanted to zoom in to Joel’s face before the flashback and zoom out after the flashback however this wasn’t something we included in the final version of our advert.

b. Self-evaluation: Reflect on how satisfied you are with your final advert. Would you do anything differently if you were to undertake the task again? Finally, evaluate your own involvement in the project.

If we were to re-do the production of our TV advert, I would probably make sure there were no continuity errors. For example, in one of the shots that was used in the advert Joel didn’t have the washing basket by his feet. However, in a shot, that we decided not to include, we wanted to show Joels frustration by tapping his feet but the washing basket was by his feet. This was a random decision that resulted in a continuity error but, gladly, it didn’t make its way into the scene and didn’t create any problems with continuity. 

I think we all made a good team when producing the advert. I thought I played a key role in the delivery of the advert. For example, I made sure that all of our pre-production was done properly, as I had previously struggled in a group where our pre-production wasn’t at a good standard, and I made a good effort at editing, being creative with sound decisions and mise-en-scene. One area I could’ve payed more attention to was the actual camera work, as I’m not used to being behind a camera I didn’t have much involvement on the technical side of camera work (aside from pressing the record button, making sure shots were in focus etc).