Coursework Evaluation

Benjamin Mills

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

Introduction
As a class we all studied together common codes and conventions of TV documentaries, looking specifically at supersize me which contains a vast array of codes and conventions typical of TV documentaries and also provided examples of where conventions were challenged. Our group (three in total) were therefore able to bring together a vast mixture of knowledge of codes and conventions from TV documentaries, both learned in class from year 12/AS level, year 13/A2 level and also from own personal experiences of documentaries outside of the classroom. Our aim was to create a documentary that replicated as closely as possible a real life documentary, therefore implementing as much professionalism as possible from the knowledge each member of the group could offer. Therefore we ensured that each member provided as much input to every section of the coursework as possible as to exaggerate our use of understanding and reach our aim. Also the use of further research into real life documentaries helped to guide our own creation of our three media texts and again to create a professional piece of work.

Opening the Documentary

One of the most difficult decisions our group had to make was deciding how to open our documentary as the first 30 seconds are crucial to grabbing the onlookers interest and creating a theme and atmosphere for the rest of the documentary to flow from. We created story boards to help put all our ideas down and to figure out the best way to start the documentary and the best way to grab and hold the onlookers interest. The use of a story board helps to provide images to get a better feel for how the opening will turn out and if the combination of clips would work well together.

Through research on our topic we found that many documentaries begin with a fast montage of clips which usually involve the target audience/the audience that the documentary is featured around. After studying the documentary series Embarrassing Teen Bodies (Binge Drinking dangers episode) we saw that introducing the target audience in the opening clip was a popular convention. Therefore our documentary begins with a fast pace edit of students at Solihull Sixthform College.
FYI Binge Drinking

http://www.youtube.com/ watch?feature=player_e mbedded&v=acMduh4p mN0#!

Embarrassing Teen Bodies

What we found from studying super size me:

We took guidance from Morgan Spurlocks use of media codes and conventions during his formal interviews to create the appropriate mise-en-scene in our own. Head close to the top of the frame use of medium camera shot Interviewee is not looking directly into the camera Use of a title and a subtitle, informing the onlooker of both the name of the interviewee and their profession. Half of the frame used to provide space for; mise-en-scene; appropriate to the profession of the interviewee as to provide assurance of their line of work, in-turn giving greater value to what they are saying.

Both subjects dressed appropriately as to signify profession and formality of the interview.

We also used many other techniques shown in supersize me which help to create documentary: continuous flow and fast pace, this provides the onlooker with lots of information in a short space of time and keeps speed in the documentary as to prevent boredom and monotony.

http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=oHK Cb0_2oD0

The use of increasing footage speed (x4) and fast cuts gave the documentary a fast pace. This is a media convention learned from watching supersize me and other related documentaries as they all aim to keep onlooker interest and attention.

Also the use of an establishing shot was a convention that we observed in our research stage of the documentary creation process. The establishing shot is used in many professional documentaries as it offers a short introduction to a clip, such as an interview, showing the surroundings and setting the scene. Similar to Morgan Spurlocks documentary; Supersize Me, our documentary FYI Binge Drinking also uses establishing shots to provide an introduction and the setting of the scene to an important clip, as it is important to provide the audience with as much imagery about the upcoming clip as possible as it exaggerate its significance.

Vox-pops
The use of vox-pops in our documentary, FYI Binge Drinking allowed us to gather masses of opinions and attitudes of young people (our target audience) vox-pops often accomplish gathering the opinions of the public and those who the topic affects directly. We, like many directors of documentaries used the vox-pop convention to portray how unaware our target audience were of the affects of binge drinking and how easily it can become a major problem therefore providing a basis for the creation of our documentary.

Voice over
The use of the voiceover in our documentary was to offer an introduction to certain topics and the different sections, the voiceover also helped to provide additional information on top of what was already being portrayed, however was not used as the main source of providing information as we focused mainly on the information we had gathered from professionals and the opinions of those young people, our target audience, gathered through Vox-pops. When studying and evaluating Morgan Spurlocks documentary supersize me we found that he used lots of voice over on top of; background footage, images and animation. We however have stayed away from this media convention and have used the voiceover to the effect of piecing the documentary together smoothly rather than be a basis of providing deep information. Morgan Spurlock both does the voice over in his documentary and features as the main theme/character throughout his documentary, in our documentary however I provide the voiceover and I do not feature in the documentary, therefore in supersize me the voiceover is more diegetic as Spurlock is often in the shot and the voiceover is accompanying what he is doing. In our documentary FYI Binge Drinking however the sound is classed as non-diegetic as we are not present on-screen during the voiceover or at any point throughout the documentary.

Codes and Conventions: Magazine Article.

Large image dominating the page

Content text well spaced out, in columns with images incorporated as to help break it up. This makes the magazine more appealing for a reader as it appears a lighter read. Smaller Images of character/s featuring as to relate to the onlooker. Also helping to

Relevant title in large text

No large spaces left uncovered. As to make the page appear full, interesting and exciting.

Codes and Conventions: Radio Trailer

We used the program Final Cut Express to create our radio trailer, the same program we created our documentary on, therefore having all the necessary tools and footage in the format which we required.

The redline shows the sound levels that have been adjusted in each clip as to maintain a constant level of sound throughout.

Extracts taken from the documentary, following the codes and conventions of advertising radio trailers.

Voiceover- same voice used as in documentary. Voiceover is sharp providing the listener with quick need to know information as not to confuse them with an information overload.

Voiceover script: "For your information: Binge Drinking" "1 in 4 teen drinkers will become alcohol dependent" "Channel 4, Thursday the 16th February, 9PM. Be there - Become aware."
We studied the above conventions as to create a radio trailer that would be suitable for our chosen topic (Binge drinking) target audience (13-23year olds) and radio station (Capital FM). From the majority of radio trailers that we studied they included clips from the documentary/program that they were advertising therefore we also included this convention in our own piece, using a variety of different clips from the documentary that would create an exciting and shocking radio trailer.

Target Audience
The target audience we chose was both males and females between the ages 13-23. Binge drinking is something that affects both males and females all over Britain (and in many other counties across the world) and we saw that it could begin with those as young as 13, young teens experiencing their first parties involving alcohol. Therefore we believed it was best to tackle the issue right at its root as to prevent the issue starting and then becoming more difficult to control. We found that binge drinking tended to peak towards the later teenage years therefore these were also a group we were keen to target to offer information to help them become aware before the problem became threatening, causing direct damage to their bodies or leading to alcohol dependency. Therefore appropriate media codes and conventions were used in order to target this group in particular, involving quick camera cuts, pans and fast zooms to encourage a feeling of pace and movement in the documentary. The radio trailer also had many fast, informative, shocking clips and quotations with a serious voiceover as to provide a balance of light-heartedness when needed and also seriousness around the topic as a way to relate well with the target audience.

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

Documentary

We chose a fast upbeat soundtrack to play throughout our documentary as to provide pace and continuation, filling in any silent areas such as background footage. The fast pace and upbeat track we chose specifically as it is young and trendy and fits well with the target audience 13-23year olds. This track was also used in the radio trailer as to ensure continuation through the media texts.

Upbeat voiceover helping link the different pieces of footage together, the same voiceover used in the radio trailer.

Professional interviews with biology teacher, student development officer and representative of a health campaign, who provided us with information that we turned into shocking facts which were used in both the radio trailer and the magazine article also.

The main product/document ary was the basis for our ancillary texts which were created around it.

The Radio Trailer

I believe that the three projects fit together well, with many factors from each intertwining into the others. The documentary was the first project that we completed and we then created the radio trailer and magazine article around that, using sounds, clips, quotations, voiceover and images to help create a brand image. In the radio trailer the same background music was used as in the documentary this helps the onlooker relate to the documentary after hearing the radio trailer as they will recognise the music and therefore will encourage them to show interest in the documentary. The same voiceover (myself) was also used in both the documentary and radio trailer, again this helps the onlooker relate to the documentary. These factors also help to build a brand image/identity which then allows your target audience to become interested in all the ancillary texts surrounding the documentary, purchasing the article about the documentary and perhaps taking interest in the producers/producing company to see if they create any further documentaries.
Quotes from documentary Statistic taken from documentary

Same voiceover used

Same voiceover used

Radio Trailer

The same background music from the documentary used in the radio trailer as to ensure consistence and brand identity Short, fast pace, shocking clips/quotes taken from the documentary itself, used at the start of the radio trailer to grab the listeners attention.

Sound of smashing bottle, loud and shocking, grabs listeners attention before the listings information is given such as the time and date of the documentary showing. Shocking statistic taken from the documentary and used in the voiceover script, to add both brand identity and also consistency and regularity throughout the three media texts.

Voiceover states the channel that the documentary will feature on, channel 4. This channel often broadcasts documentaries with a similar/same target audience to our own

The Magazine Article

The magazine article also combined well with the other two texts and the documentary specifically. The use images of significant vox-pops and professional interviewees enables the onlooker/target audience to make reference to them if they happen to watch the documentary after reading the article, providing information to fill the cliff hangers that we created throughout the article as to encourage the reader to watch FYI Binge Drinking. Quotes from the article feature also in both the documentary and radio trailer giving reference and relation to those also.

The article aims to provide three different factors;

To be both informative and shocking with scary facts about binge drinking. To inform the reader that our documentary is different to any other! It takes a student/young light hearted approach but also focuses upon and highlights the importance of preventing binge drinking. Overall to encourage the reader to watch our documentary as to find out more about the problem of binge drinking.

The use of our strapline in the documentary; are you aware? was used as the title to the article instead of the name of the documentary (FYI Binge Drinking) the strapline features in both the radio trailer and documentary also and we considered it a more catchy title for the article. The use of this image, taken from the documentary shows the light-hearted approach we have created as the character in the image is wearing eye distortion glasses which replicate the feeling of drunkeness on the eyes and the bodies spacial awareness. This is light-hearted theme is something we have aimed to create throughout all three of our media texts.

The content of the article makes reference to the formal interviews and highlighting the serious side to the topic. Providing the reader with enough information to gain interest and encourage them to watch the documentary.

Significant vox-pops and formal interviewees. Familiar faces in our documentary as the subjects both occur multiple times throughout. This therefore gives relation and significance to the reader if they then choose to watch the documentary

Shocking facts/quotes taken from the documentary and from our research and development stage of the project.

The main large image of a smashed bottle used on the article is in one of our first clips to the opening of our documentary when the title appears on the page, therefore a significant image that links the documentary and magazine article together.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback- The Audience

This was the group that we showed our three media texts too and asked for audience feedback from. We specifically chose to gain information from the 17-24 year olds as we thought that although our target group was 13-23 we thought that this was the more refined target audience and the ages in which binge drinking is most likely to occur.

16 and under = 10%

Males = 40%

17-24 = 80% 25 plus = 10%

Females = 60%

There is always the issue when producing products in media that you can influence them to appeal to your own age group/a target audience that you would fall into, this is known as director bias and can therefore prevent the documentary appealing to people you have included in your target audience who are on the boundaries of the scope, for example the youngest or oldest in your chosen group. Therefore we made sure that we included the 16 and under target group when collecting audience feedback as to ensure that our media texts did appeal to them also.

Audience Feedback- Documentary.

We asked our audience: Of what interest did you find our documentary? Interesting = 70% Little interest = 20% Not very interesting = 10%
70% of our audience stated that they found the documentary interesting which is a good result. 10% stated that they though the documentary was not very interesting however we later found that this 10% didnt drink alcohol, therefore they are less likely to be interested in our documentary as they do not desire to become more aware about the affects of binge drinking, this may be because they are already aware of the damaging affects which has led them to that choice in the first place.

We asked our target audience: Do you think our documentary is appropriate for our target audience?
The most appropriate people to judge whether the documentary is suitable for our chosen target audience (males and females 13-23 years old) is the audience themselves and 100% of them though it was. This means that even though 10% of people stated that they didnt find the documentary interesting they still thought it was appropriate for the target audience explaining that their disinterest was due to personal choice/individual differences.

Yes = 100%

We asked our target audience: How professional do you think our formal interviews looked?
Professional = 80% Average = 15% Unprofessional = 5%
80% of our feedback stated that the formal interviews looked professional and that of a real life documentary. the other 20% suggested that the formal interviews seemed only average or even unprofessional. We allowed a space on the feedback questionnaires in which we asked the participant to state why they made that decision. Some of them did not state why, therefore not helping with our feedback research as it doesnt inform us what we would change and alter as to improve our product. However from the ones that did provide an explanation we found that: The mise-en-scene could have been more creative

We ensured that our professional interviews were in an appropriate environment as to reflect their profession. For Victoria (from white ribbon) we set up binge drinking awareness boards behind her. For Richard the Biologist teacher we uploaded images of the liver on a computer behind him, and Julie was in her office, her natural place of work as the colleges student development officer.

We also conducted some verbal feedback from a class of students (approx 25 people) as to gather some more qualitative feedback rather than just the quantitative feedback from the questionnaires. Some of the main points were as follows:

Clear voiceover A fast pace keeping interest A good opening sequence grabbing interest from the word go Appropriate background music Good consistent sound levels

Some points were also made on how we could improve our documentary: More formal interviews from people external from the college -we did attempt to get formal interviews from doctors at local surgeries and from the local police however we were
unsuccessful.

Some of the statistics were not on the screen for long enough
-This is true and the fault was made due to attempting to keep the documentary fast pace, however if we were to do this project again Id make sure the statistics were left on the screen for long enough to read them properly as they are there to shock and make an impact.

Audience feedback- Magazine Article

We asked: Is our magazine article appropriate for our target audience ,13-23 year olds? Appropriate = 90% Not appropriate = 10%
90% of our audience believed that our magazine article was appropriate and good enough for a professional magazine. Appropriate
Not appropriate From verbal

feedback we found that:

We felt that our magazine was appropriate for our target group and our feedback audience agreed, some stated that the article was quite text heavy, however others disagreed and made the point that the text is well broken up with images and appears light to read. We suggested that our magazine article was suitable for the radio times. Our audience agreed that it was however that they didnt regularly look at the radio times and that the radio times was not necessarily a times listing magazine that is appropriate for our target audience of 13-23year olds.

They particularly liked the broken bottle that scattered, from the bottom right, across the page The mixture of images and text and how the images were imbedded into the text. The use of quotes in large red font across both pages to help break the article up when reading. They liked the use of a question in the title as to make them think Am I Aware??

Audience Feedback- Radio Trailer.

We asked: do you think the radio trailer is appropriate for its target audience 13-23 year olds? Yes = 80% Somewhat = 20% No = 0%
The majority, 80%, of the audience thought that the radio trailer was appropriate for the target audience (13-23year olds) The audience said that they especially liked the use of the smashing bottle as to add a shocking effect. Appropriate
Not appropriate The audience also liked the way that the radio trailer infused both feelings of humour and light heartedness, appropriate for our target group, and a sense of seriousness also as to create interest and concern about their own health.

The audience also liked the upbeat music used and said that it fitted well with the pace of the radio trailer and was appropriate for the target audience. Overall the audience agreed that the sound balance was good.

Those who stated that the radio trailer was only somewhat appropriate for the target audience went on to explain why: Some thought that the voiceover was too mono-tone and believed that a radio trailer for young people should have an upbeat, bubbly, positive voiceover Some believed that the voiceover spoke too slow
- There was a reason behind the slower speech, than in the documentary, and this is because we wanted to ensure that the listener heard every word that was said.

Overall:
I am very pleased with the results that were concluded from the audience feedback. The results show that the target audience are happy with the three products we created and enjoyed watching, listening and reading them. Therefore they were a success. However we have also been given very fair valid points that explain how we could improve the three media texts. This is very useful and is taken as constructive criticism and has helped guide my learning in media, providing me with knowledge of what I would do differently next time. Many of the audience stated that the products looked as though they could be real life media texts from professional producers, this was one of our aims and I feel that we have succeeded this objective to the best of our ability with the knowledge we had and the equipment we used.

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

Research and planning

In the research and planning section I used a whole variety of media technologies however all of which I was very familiar with and had good knowledge of using. Such technologies as; Television, Radio, Youtube, Channel 4oD (online), and BBC iplayer all helped with the gathering of research, providing our group with the relevant information as to be able to start planning and creating our own documentary. The use of the internet allowed us to create very specific searches, through Google, and therefore we could access material that would be highly significant to the planning of our own documentary influencing many ideas and decisions made.

Blogger
The college provided Blogger as the blogging platform we must use to share and log all of our research and findings onto. Blogger is a useful website allowing us to upload; text, images and videos, therefore being much more efficient than paper use and much more technologically advanced. We used blogger to its full capabilities uploading lots of information broken down with images, videos and hyperlinks to provide as much evidence of research and planning as possible. Blogger also allowed us to upload images that we had scanned onto the computer. This was very useful as we often made mind-maps, bullet points and notes in class or on the go when a computer may not have been accessible. Therefore another media technology that we found helpful was a scanner.

Production
During production we were introduced to some equipment that we had used previously, inside and outside of college, and some equipment which was totally new to us. We were provided with a digital video camera, we all had previous experience with a video camera inside or outside of college, our experiences were all different and therefore we had a mixture of knowledge to bring to the table and offer each other. The video camera had a variety of complex settings allowing us to make the image perfect for each situation, from dark rooms to bright and sunny outdoor shots. The video camera also has an inbuilt hard drive which was very useful as it allowed us to upload our footage really quickly at the end of a session. Due to the camera the footage gained was of a high quality which helped to create a more professional looking documentary. We also used a directional/shotgun microphone, this was a new piece of technological equipment to all of the group, however the microphone was simple to use and conveniently plugged into the video camera. The directional microphone aims to pick up the sounds in which the tip is directed towards and then block out background noise. We found this very useful when interviewing vox-pops as often the interview was done in a loud crowded place. However the microphone was not effective at cutting out the sound of wind and in some of the footage we collected the wind was to disrupting to the shot forcing us to be unable to use that footage. We also used headphones. This is an item we had all used in the past and were very familiar with. They again conveniently plugged into the video camera and helped us to monitor the sound levels, ensuring that the microphone was working properly and we were picking up the desired sounds from each shot.

Editing and Creation

All of the editing and creation of the documentary took place on the Apple iMac. This highly technological piece of hardware allowed us to manipulate our footage in many different ways through several different programs as to create our final product. The majority of the work was done on a piece of software called Final Cut Express. This program was new to us all and at first we found it quite overwhelming and complex. However after familiarising ourselves with all the tools and the functions we found that the intricacy could be put to great use to manipulate our footage in the best way possible to create a smooth flowing documentary that replicated as closely as possible a professional piece. Final cut express allowed us to do complex editing to many pieces of our documentary right from the start to the end: at the opening using a tool that sped the footage up as much as we wanted as to create a fast pace, which was suitable both for our theme/topic and target audience. Using fades during formal interviews as to create smooth transitions from clip to clip. The ability to overlay video footage with text as to offer a caption or title to a formal interview. The ability to mix together different components in a well arranged time line so that the soundtrack, video footage, text and voiceover can all be viewed and controlled so that they work well along side each other to create a well mixed piece. The ability to alter the sound levels on footage and voiceover tracks as to ensure that a constant sound level is kept throughout. The ability to cut/select pieces of footage in the middle of a piece so that unnecessary video footage could be removed.

Final Cut Express- Documentary

The browser contains the imported footage before it has been edited or manipulated More tools in the drop down menus; Modify, Effects, Tools This window allows you to view what you have created/placed on the timeline so far.

The tool bar offering a vast variety of tools to manipulate footage.

The top section shows the footage and the bottom section shows its sound and any added sound tracks

The time line, with a zoom bar allowing you to view certain clips close up or view the timeline as a whole.

Sound level monitoring bars

Final Cut Express- Radio Trailer

We were given the option to create our radio trailer in either Final Cut Express, or in Garage Band. I had used garage band before for a previous media project and was therefore fairly familiar with the software, however after working on Final Cut Express for a long period of time on the documentary we had become very familiar with the software and the best way to use the tools and manipulate the footage therefore decided that we would also use Final Cut Express to create our radio trailer.

Final Cut Express offered all of the tools necessary for the creation of a radio trailer and was the most efficient way of producing one as all of the footage from the documentary was on the system so it was very simple to access and the format did not need to be altered. We could therefore take any piece of footage sound track from the documentary and simply drag it into the new timeline for the radio trailer. An advertising radio trailer, like ours, often takes sound tracks, quotation and clips from the documentary as to offer a glimpse of what the listener could be watching.

Final Cut Express- Radio Trailer

Browser containing all the footage we required, made more simple due to already having all the footage imported onto final cut express during the creation of our documentary. Tool bar providing the ability to clip, move and manipulate the footage.

Sound level monitoring bars crucial. A tool that was crucial in the creation of a radio trailer as the sound levels must be consistently perfect throughout. Timeline- the quotations and clips on the top line and the background music on the bottom. Redline allows you to alter the sound levels. Crucial in a radio trailer as the sound must be consistent throughout.

Adobe InDesign- Magazine Article

The creators of Adobe InDesign state that it is: software lets you design and preflight engaging page layouts for print or digital distribution with built-in creative tools and precise control over typography We therefore though that Adobe InDesign would be perfectly appropriate for the creation of our magazine article as we aimed to design an engaging page layout and wanted to ensure precision throughout. Adobe InDesign is a piece of software that we had all used before to create a magazine article, therefore we were all very familiar with all of the tools and the necessary techniques to create a well designed magazine article. The program allowed us to create a magazine that we believe suitable for our target audience The use of the colour coding in the swatches shows the professionalism of the software and how it is often used by professionals working in the media industry, signifying to us that it was an appropriate program to use.

Adobe InDesign- Magazine Article

Size altering tool bar, as to change sizes of text and images. Swatches- used to apply colour. Having the use of different layers as to make movement and manipulation easier and to prevent layout formation being disturbed.

Cursor tool bar, allowing for the movement and manipulation of different components on screen.

Layout guidelines as to help direct the arrangement of all the components within the magazine article.