Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Watching many documentaries over a variety of different channels helped me develop my work. Watching BBC, Channel 4 and five was very useful as each individual channel had it's own way of distributing information through documentaries.

After analysing the different types of documentaries, i decided that Channel 4 was the style i like best and was better suited for my target audience.

I think my media product did challenge some of the forms and conventions of other media products, it's a very sensitive subject, so the fact that my focus is on younger people is a challenge it itself and i think it has affected their lives more than most, the event of 9/11 shaped the whole world, but the biggest group of people affected were the younger generations, this is why i wanted their opinion.
However it does use the classic concept of a documentary which is to inform. My documentary shows people that people are trying to make a change, rebuilding Ground Zero is a huge step for America and i think the younger generation need to realise that the world does overcome tragedy and it's not wrong to voice you views and opinions.

The way my documentary is filmed follows the forms and conventions of a documentary mainly in the focus of in the interviews.The person being interviewed is either situated to the left or the right of the screen and their attention is not on the camera but on the person they are talking to. Also the use of informative subtitles, introducing the person talking and what subject they study as that could have an impact on their opinion.

The use of cut-aways is also apparent and follows the forms and conventions of a documentary, as due to the fact my documentary is about 9/11, i have several still images and clips of NewYork and Ground Zero itself. Cut aways are used to split up all the different types of footage, the cut aways that i have used are relevant about the issue being raised and talked about.

This is a shot of New York screen-shot from my documentary.

This is also ashot of New York screen-shot from my documentary.

This is a shot of some of the rebuild at Ground Zero screen-shot from my documentary.











In my documentary i didn't use a voice over, which is challenging a form and convention of a documentary. I let the voices of the people being interviewed do the work. However to modernise my documentary i did use music to play over some of clips to help younger people relate, this song was 'Empire State of Mind Part II' - By Alicia Keys.





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


I think they connect really well due to the fact that the opening shot of my documentary is an American flag. The

Also the fact that my ancillary background is an American flag, that instantly links the two together.

The quotes featured on the advert are taken from the documentary which if the audience who see the advert decide to watch the documentary will understand this.

The reason i did this print advert in a landscape design is that due to it being advertised in a newspaper, they may only buy a certain section of the page and landscape's are easier to divide.

The fact that my listings advert has pictures of New York and pictures of young people help the audience to understand that the documentary focuses more on the younger generation and New York sets the scene and links to the subject of 9/11 as that is where parts of my documentary were filmed and seeing as 9/11 took place in New York i think they all fit together very well.




What have you learnt from your audience feedback?


My main source of audience feedback was through a questionnaire.

Circle or tick the answer that apply to you
What age category do you fall under?

16- 16-25  26- 35  36-45  46-55  56+

What is your gender?

Female Male

What is your occupation?

Student   Unemployed   Professional   Retired

What style of music do you prefer?

Pop  Rock  Classical  Indie  RnB

Other………………………….

What TV channel is your favourite?

BBC1 BBC2 ITV1 Channel 4 Five E4

Other ……………………………….

Do you often do you watch documentaries?

Always  Often  Sometimes  Never

When would you most likely watch a documentary on TV?

6pm-7pm   7pm-8pm   8pm-9pm   9pm-10pm

Would you prefer a male or female voice over?

Female   Male   Either

Would you like expert interviews included?

Yes   No   No preference

What documentaries do you prefer to watch?

Factual  3 minute wonders  Mainstream  One-off’s  Series

And with the results given, this helped me develop my documentary. It helped me make key decisions like the time slot of my documentary and what my target audience would generally be. 

But by gaining audience feedback i realised some changes need to be made, i did originally have a voice over, but when focusing on the younger generation they would prefer music to keep them engaged and follow the documentary by the views and opinions of the interviews, so i decided to take out the voice over. 

Showing my documentary to a group of my friends they thought the narrative was easy to follow, some commented on the fact it was like a path, showing the destruction at the beginning and how that had affected everything then the ripple effects caused, kind of like aftershocks after an earthquake, but then the rebuilding process, the footage of Ground Zero being rebuilt. 

Then showing it to my parents are they are an older generation, they focused more on the interviews themselves and the information, views and opinions being distributed and how they contributed to the documentary itself.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used many different technologies during the different stages of making the documentary.  The use of New Media Technology (NMT) throughout constructing my media product was useful, i used a sony SLR camera with full HD movie, which meant my footage itself was very clear, and the sound quality impressive. 

When researching my product i used web 2.0, which included Google Images, Facebook and Youtube to source inspiration and ideas. It helped know what would be appropriate within my documentary as it focused on a sensitive subject.






Also the use of imovie during the editing process helped with the making of my product and the use of Photoshop for my ancillaries.






All the different levels of technologies that I used was very useful an effective. Different programmes and light weight easy to handle equipment made it easy to film, record and editing in the easiest more effective way.

Cutting Footage

After uploading my footage onto a mac, i have decided to get rid of the footage that i don't need and cut down the stuff that is relevant and that i do need. I thought about this before i went to New York as i knew they are several downsides to filming in a location you can't go back to, sound quality could be poor, or the filming blurry or shaky, so i decided to film some footage several times so to avoid this as much as possible. However when looking at my footage when getting home, there is some that isn't of very good quality i did discard these clips or cut them down and only used the good parts.

Filming

I went to New York during the half term holidays, this is one of the main reasons i based my documentary on 9/11. I filmed loads of footage over there while thinking about the techniques i can use.

I have filmed people walking through Grand Central Station.

Traffic driving through traffic lights.

People walking.

I have decided to time lapse some of these clips to make them faster.

I also flimed alot of Ground Zero as this was where the 9/11 attack took place  but is now being rebuilt so i has a completly different feel to it.

There are also skyline shots, shots of artitecture and Central park, which i will infiltrate into my interviews to give the viewers the atmosphere and the beauty of New York.

I also have taken alot of pictures of icocnic places of New York, Times Square, view frm Top of the Rock (Rockafeller Centre) and Empire State at night so i can create some of my montage's and use them in my ancillary.

My filming for my interviews has been done infront of white wall in my school hall, my interviewees are seated on a chair in front of the wall.

Audience Repsponse.

I went around my school and asked teachers and students of varying ages a question.
'When i say the word 9/11 to you, whats the first word that comes in to your head?'
Everyone had a variety of different, however i did find it interesting that some of them were the same.

Holly Ainsworth.
Student at The Kings School.
18
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Death'

Ben Dawe.
Student at The Kings School.
16
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Planes'

Julie Miller.
Teacher at The Kings School.
40's.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Tragedy'

Richard Gerry.
Head of Sixth at The Kings School.
40's.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'America'

Rachel Sherlock Bateman.
Student at The Kings School.
17.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Murder'

Lois Vanstone.
Student at The Kings School.
17.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Devestation'

Sam Snell.
Student at The Kings School.
17.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Death'

April Windle.
Student at The Kings School.
17.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Evil'

Mike Garrick.
Teacher at The Kings School.
40's.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'America'

Jo Elliot.
Media Teacher at The Kings School.
40's.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Tragedy'

Lisa Rogers.
Religious Education teacher at The Kings School.
40's.
Q - 'When i say 9/11, what pops into your head?'
A - 'Religion'

Interview Questions

How do you think 9/11 changed your life?
How do you think it changed our generation?
How do you think it has changed our future?
Have you ever been to Ground Zero? If so, what was your reaction?

After asking these questions, i edited together the answers of the different people together so they f;lowed with each other and the documentary itself.

Running Order

Documentary= 9/11:My Generation
Channel= Channel 4
Scheduling= Thursday 9-9.05
Duration= 3 minutes, with Channel 4 introducing it.


All times on average.
- Shot of American Flag - 5 seconds
- Twin Towers clips - 25 seconds
- Interview Snippets 'it changed everything' - 10 seconds.
- Clip on New York - 10 seconds
- Interviews - 10 seconds
- Clips of New York - 5 seconds
- Interviews - 10 seconds
- Still images of New York (taken by me) - 5 seconds
- Interviews - 30 seconds 
- Clip of New York - 5 seconds
- Interviews - 50 seconds
- Still images - 5 seconds
- Interview - 5 seconds
- Clips of New York - 15 seconds 
- Interviews - 5 seconds
- Ground Zero footage - 15 seconds 

3 Minute Wonder

I was struggling to put toegther a 5 minute clip of a documentary and after doing more research on Google, i discovered a genre of documentary called a 3 minute wonder. After looking at my footage of New York and what i had already filmed of my interviews the footage pieced toegther and fitted the genre of a 3 minute wonder really well. Most 3 minute wonders appear on Channel 4 between programmes, normally showcasing a young persons talent in a hobbie, a place or something about their life.
I choose to do this as it is a induvidual genre of docuemtary and reflected my work well.

Storyboards

We had to put together storyboards and plan out and idea of what we wanted our documentary to look and like and how we wanted it sequenced, including timings.

Results

After handing out 5 questionnaires to each of the age categories i discovered that the age category of -16 don't really watch documentaries, but the ones who did watched them on Channel 4 and  they preferred 3 minute wonders and one-off's. The 16-25 age category watched a lot more documentaries, however that did occur more within females, preferring Channel 4 and the time of 9-10 with a male voice over and would like to have expert interviews. This age category also preferred to watch 3 minute wonders, series' and one offs .
The 26-35 and 36-45 age category the results were pretty much the same, males and females both liked to watch documentaries and preferred BBC1 and Channel 4, the time slots 9-10 and 10-11 with a male voice over and liked to watch series' or one-offs.
The 46-55 and 55+ results were also very similar to the ones above, but with the time slot being 8-9.

Questionnaire

Circle or tick the answer that apply to you
What age category do you fall under?

16- 16-25  26- 35  36-45  46-55  56+

What is your gender?

Female Male

What is your occupation?

Student   Unemployed   Professional   Retired

What style of music do you prefer?

Pop  Rock  Classical  Indie  RnB

Other………………………….

What TV channel is your favourite?

BBC1 BBC2 ITV1 Channel 4 Five E4

Other ……………………………….

Do you often do you watch documentaries?

Always  Often  Sometimes  Never

When would you most likely watch a documentary on TV?

6pm-7pm   7pm-8pm   8pm-9pm   9pm-10pm

Would you prefer a male or female voice over?

Female   Male   Either

Would you like expert interviews included?

Yes   No   No preference

What documentaries do you prefer to watch?

Factual  3 minute wonders  Mainstream  One-off’s  Series 

Youtube

A convention of documentaries is footage found from other places. Even though 95% of my documentary will be orginal filming, i am using YouTube clips featuring some events of 9/11.

One is of the second plane hitting the South Tower at 9.03.04 on September 11th
9/11 second plane

Location

My filming will take place in New York as i am going there for a week in October. However there are difficulties with filming in a location that i am not able to re-visit. The sound quality may be poor or filming shakey or blurred, to help me avoid this i am shooting my clips several times so it allows me to choose the best one. I aim to shoot a variety of differnt places in New York, choosing iconic places such as Central Park and the top of The Empire State Building, but my main focus will be shots and filming of Ground Zero and gathering as much infomation as i can.

 

Inspiration

We have been asked to find three texts that have either inspired us or that have given us ideas for our chosen brief.

Even though my chosen brief is a documentary, one of my three texts is a music video.

Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z and Alicia Keys

This video has so many different shots of New York, in a wide range of camera angles and shots. I liked the use of black and white. Also a convention used in the music video is a montage of pictures, i would like to use this in my documentary using stills of New York.

Photographers

We have been set a task to research some photographers that would help us develop our idea or that link with our chosen brief.

Seeing as some of my filming will be in New York i searched for photographers that specialize in taking pictures of New York. I found one called Andrew Prokos. He has taken some amazing skyline photos, and photos of induvidual builings.

http://www.andrewprokos.com/

I then found a portrait photographer which i liked.

http://www.chrisgloag.com/

This photographers have helped me visulise my shots and have helped me develop my idea.

Mood Board

We had to create a mood board on our chosen brief and subject.
This was mine containing images and infomation about 9/11

Devloping My Idea

After watching all my documentaries, i have now developed a new concept. I am still doing the subject if 9/11 but have re-thought my idea so the majority of filming is taken plave in the UK. Instead of focusing on 9/11 i have decided to focus more on the people, and their opinions on how it changed our world and more importantly, how it made them feel.

I can do all my interviewing in the UK but would maybe like to include some people from New York in there to. I have asked a friend who has been to New York and Ground Zero if the people who work in the mermorial and the museum are happy to share their experiences. He said they were so now i would have to see if they would be willing to let me film them talking about it.

This means only 20% of my filming would be done in New York, that consisting of shots of the city, shots of Ground Zero and hopefully some interviews.

9/11

As we are in September and have just passed the 9th anniversary of 9/11 there have been alot of films, programmes and documentaries on 9/11. I recorded them, watched and studied them. They are very honest, emotional documentaries. Alot of them had people being interviewed. This inspired me to change my idea and helped me develop it. There was not a voice-over in hardly any of them, and one of the most frequent concepts used was inter-titles. A wide range of shots were used. Close up's for the interviews, panoramic or establishing shots were used when showing the events of 9/11 or when showing the skyline of New York. Long shots were also used when showing New York.

Documentary Conventions

After watching things like the news and other documentarys, i have noticed certain conventions that i would like to use in my coursework. Watching the BBC news and looking at their interviews i have noticed the person being interviewed doesn't look at the camera, they look in the direction of the person interviewing them. I will use this convention in creating in my documentary. Documentary (clips of interview style) 

Also, the use to titles, they are very subtle as to not draw away the attention of the documentary. When people are being interviewed, their names and ages are also displayed across the scene as an information convention.

Research/First Idea

I have spent time watching and studying documentaries. I prefer to watch Channel 4 documentaries, however i have been watching ones of Channels such as BBC1/2 and Five. I prefer the style of Channel 4 documentaries and the way they are presented.

A subject that has always had my interest has been 9/11 and seeing as i am going to New York in October i thought doing and extract from a documentary about 9/11 would be different and challenging but rewarding and exciting. My initial idea was to focus the majority of the documentary around 9/11 and do 90% of my filming in New York. I pitched my idea to my teacher and she loved it, but she did have one problem. She thought i shouldn't do 90% of my filming in New York incase it didn't come out right, for example there was too much background noise or the lighting wasn't quite right.

I had to go away and re-think.

Documentary

Even though the coursework demands alot of time attention, not forgetting the fact it is a lot of work, we have been given the choice to work in a group of two or on our own. I have chosen to work on my own. I feel i'm more focused and commited, also i feel like i have accomplished more.

The brief i have chosen is Documentary, with my Ancillary tasks being a double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary and a newspaper advertisment for the documentary.

The first thing we have been asked to do is to research our chosen brief. I have been asked to watch and study documentaries. I have to look at different styles, genres, concepts and what appeals to what audience. I also have to decide on what i would like my documentary to be on and the audience i would like to aim it to.

Brief

For my A2 coursework this year i am required to complete one of the following three briefs.

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

- a website homepage for the band

- a cover for its release on CD

- a magazine advertisment for the CD

2. A promotion package for a new film, including a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

- a website hompage for the film

- a film magazine front cover, featuring the film

- a poster for the film

3. An extract for a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options:

- a radio trailer for the documentary

- a double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary

                                              - a newspaper advertisment for the documentary