In What ways does tour Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of real Media Products

Q1.

The start

By watching professional documentaries at the start of the course, this gave us a clear understanding of how to communicate the codes and conventions though our own products. We watched; ‘The Devil Made Me do It’, ‘The Music Biz: Meatloaf’ and ‘That Thing: Laura Croft’.

We also went away watched and analysed some other documentaries of our own, so that we had a much accurate idea of what the codes and conventions were.

The Type Of Documentary

Our documentary was a mixed as it uses a combination of; interviews, observation, achieve material and graphics. All of our interviews were observational, as the interviewee would look at the person asking the questions rather than the camera, making it look as if the camera was not there. Also we used achieve material from the film; ‘Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory’ intending to add variety and depth to our product. We also viewed that many other documentaries used achieve footage, and they also used observation.

We also had a narrator known as the voice of god, as you cannot see them, but they explain what is happening in important parts of the documentary.

Our Chosen Theme

Are documentary’s main focus was confectionary , however we also added conflict into our product, to show the different effects sweets can have on you. This was used in documentaries such as ‘The devil made me do it’ The documentary is about how Marilyn Manson influenced the minds of three young teenager girl’s, to feel it was right to murder an Italian nun. This became clear through the documentary as there was achieve material from one of his concerts and he expressed a lot of violence towards god through his actions and lyrics.

However this doesn’t necessarily mean that our audience will be influenced to eat sweets by seeing a celebrity eat sweets, but show that the media has the power to influence anybody to do anything.

Achieve FootageIn our product we decided to use achieve material; ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ this helped add depth and also added to the conflict of chocolate being good, as it give a better insight into how much people enjoy sweets and chocolate. Also almost everyone knows the film Willy Wonka, so it makes it more attractive and more professional to watch. Below is a shot of one of the pieces of achieve material we used.

In ‘The Music Biz: Meatloaf’ there was different types of achieve material used, some of him in interviews, him singing at the Grammy Awards, but most of all, from his music video’s such as; ‘I’d Do Anything for Love But I wont do that’. This achieve material added a lot of depth to the documentary and gave it audience a better insight to what they were watching. It also keeps the audience entertained and catches there eye.

The Construction Of Interviewing

Here is a shot taken from my product and also a shot

taken from ‘The Devil Made

me do it’We identified that throughout the documentaries we had watched, that most of the interviews were framed with in a Medium close up. There for we made sure that Greg (the dentist) was framed the same way. Also their eye level is at least a third of the way down the screen, meaning that as well as having communication with the interviewer, they are also communicating with the audience. As you can see clearly in ‘The Devil Made me do it’ The interviewee is looking in the opposite direction to the camera, as he would have been focusing his attention on the interviewer, which is what we have done with Greg, we asked him if he could make sure that throughout the filming of the interview that he remained focused on the interviewer . By doing this our interview looks much more professional.

This is a shot taken from my

product and a shot taken

from ‘The Music Biz: Meatloaf’

In most documentaries, for example ‘The Music Biz: Meatloaf’ They use graphics to show the names and occupations of the individual(s) who is being interviewed, In the image above the writing is white and in a very formal font to show seriousness and importance, this font, colour and sizing with remain to appear the same for other interviewees, however is only come up on the first time that individual appears and not every time. Similarly we have also used graphics to show the name and occupation of our interviewee, we have placed it opposite to were she is framed in the picture so it seems more professional and it is a better position to be read clearly. The writing is in a very bubbly font, its bright blue as this was one of the most suggested colours on our questionnaire, its bold, with thin black lining around the letters. We chose to have this font as it continuers to bring out the fun side in sweets and shows that everyone has an inner child no matter what age.

SoundOur voice over was done by a adult woman , who spoke clearly and her voice fitted well with the tone of the documentary as she was able to be serious when we wanted and she was able to be soft when she needed to be. We have also used music; ‘Lollipop’ by Mika, this was used in our opening credits. We filmed each letter individually , and in time with the beat of the music each letter would appear. We have also used sound in one of our

cut-aways, for when the dancer is talking about needing to be fit. We ensured that the music was low and then we increased the volume of the interview slightly so that the music did not over power the interviewee talking. This was also used in ‘The Music Biz: Meatloaf’ when people where talking about Meatloafs music and his achievements some of his music video’s would be cut in as well as some of his performances. This catches the eye of the audience and makes them become more involved.

EditingWhen we were editing there was a lot to think about. For example we filmed cutaways to ensure that we could break up interviews. We wanted to break up some of the interviews as they were very long and by having these small cuts it allows the interview to flow, and not drag on too long. It is also a good way to keep the audience entertained.

These are shots showing a cut-away we have used to break up the interview, not only does it break the interview up, but its also revering to what she is talking about. This is also a good shot showing the mise-en-scene of the sweet shop, which gives the interview more meaning.