Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products
Dvd commentary- Script
We decided to use the song teenage kicks by the undertones as it would successfully represent teenagers and also in our target audience it would remind them of their teenager years
We used black and white coloured pictures to show the way teenagers have changed dramatically in the past 50 years
We interviewed Mr Jeff Hughes as he is a highschool headteacher and so deals with teenagers every day we decided to use relevant cutaways during his interview to break it up a bit and keep the audience interested
We then interviewed Mr Ron Stromberg a parent of teenagers on his opinions of teenage violence
We decide to use cutaways of teenagers as they would relate to our documentaryWe then used a series of cutaways and footage of the Millbank riots to show how the media portray teenagers and how this effects the overall impression of teenagers in general
We then cut to our voxpops as we find it important that the public should be able to have their say on topics such as this.We then cut to images of teenagers as we were presenting important information in our voice over about the statistics of teenage antisocial behaviour
We then cut back to Mr Stromberg to get a parents view on if there is more teenage violence than in the past when he was a teenager an how the influence of weapons has changed the outcome of teenage fights
We then cut to Mr Hughes as his opinion is a complete contrast to that of Mr Stromberg
We cut to Miss Emily Patterson to get a teenage perspective
Then we cut to Mrs Margaret Marshall to get a grandparents view
Followed by Mr Steve Patterson to get another pa
We used a clip of Worlds Strictest Parents to show how teenagers are stereotyped as drunk louts which are irresponsible and only care about getting drunk playing games and having sex
We then cut back to Mrs Marshall to ask her what she thinks teenage violence is caused by and how this effects her, we used cutaways to further te point of teenage violence
We then asked Ms Susan Ashurst a teacher at a local highschool on her opinions of teenage violence and how teenagers act whilst in school we used relevant cutaways to break the interview up as it might have been t
We then used a clip of Kidulthood a fictional account of teenage behaviour which brands itself to be as close to real life as is possible.
We then asked Mr Andrew Marshall on his views of teenage stereotyping and teenage violence
We finally asked Mr Patterson on how teenagers could improve their stereotyped image to one of a better nature
*Unfortunately blogger and Youtube do not accept WAV. files, I am currently working to convert my commentary audio into another format to upload*
We found from our target audience research that our audience’s favourite colour was red so we used red in our titles to relate to
We also left space for introduction titles to be inserted so that our audience would be able to identify with the interviewee. We also used a majority of plain backgrounds so that our interviewees would be the main focus of the documentary rather than the images and shapes in the background.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The construction of our documentary was fairly technical too as we used editing software, photo editing software and a DV camera, tripod and clip on microphone. We used Adobe Premier to create and edit our 5 minute documentary on teenagers through the years, we also used the same software to create our radio advert, we were not entirely familiar with the software used and so had a few problems filming vox pops as our microphone stopped working so some of our vox pops were considered useless and so we had to refilm some of them. We had no problems in the latter stages of filming which was fortunate as if we had lost an interview we would have had difficulty trying to refilm it. We used photo editing software to create our poster for the documentary as it created a more professional flawless look, we were not used to using this software so many things on our poster had to be redone as we familiarised ourselves with the programme.
The editing process contained a lot of technology as we used Adobe Premier; we used a lot of the features in this programme to enhance our documentary to the best of our abilities. We used a basic drag and drop to move our film clips onto the editing box to choose the segments we wanted to use and the segments we could delete such as the interviewer reading the questions out or when the interviewee was looking at the camera or other things which would not be suitable to use in the documentary. We used the cut tool to shorten clips and to make the cuts smoother, we also inserted archive footage and images from elsewhere by using the import tool, we also used graphics to explain to the audience who the interviewee was and how old they were in some cases and if they were a parent or grandparent so that the audience would recognise that the person had experience both as a teenager and in some cases in bringing teenagers up. I found adding graphics easy to do but at the same time complicated as the components of the colours must be a set number and the position and size of the graphics must also be a constant as if the graphic is to large and is positioned in a corner when another one is small and in the centre it makes the documentary look less professional in shabby. The creation of the radio advert was a lot easier as we took sound from the archive footage of our documentary and changed the sound levels to make the advert sound better. We used Photoshop to create our documentary poster, this was slightly difficult as we had little to no experience with this software and did not know how to use it to the best of its abilities and so we kept re-doing a lot of our elements for the poster so that they were done properly
Monday, 6 December 2010
Audience Feedback
Audience Feedback Questionnaire
1.) After watching our documentary, do you feel like anything could be Improved?
2.) If so what would they be and why?
3.) What aspects of our documentary were good and bad?
4.) Was the music chosen appropriately to suit the style?
5.) Does our documentary challenge the codes and conventions of a documentary?
1.) Does our print advert for our documentary advertise our product well?
2.) If so what do you like? also what could be improved upon?
3.) Does it stand out amongst real print adverts?
4.) Does it appeal to you?
5.) Does it work well with our documentary as a package?
1.) Does it advertise our product well?
2.) If not what could be improved and why?
3.) Was everything in the radio advert relevant?
4.) As a whole was the radio, documentary and print advert packaged well?
5.) What did you like about it/dislike and why?
We found that a majority of our target audience found that some of the interviews were a bit long and could be improved by having the responses shortened a bit and made more to the point. They also said that the balance between adult and teenager was a good concept but that there was a majority of adults interviewed and so this made the documentary slightly biased. According to them the music was good but more recent music could have been used to make it appeal to teenagers more. We found that they tought our documentary conformed tom a majority of documentary codes and conventions and that it worked well.
The target audience thought the concept of using four faces to create one teenage face was very good and worked very well to advertise our documentary, they thought the use of a red font was good as it was what we found to be the target audiences most prefered colour. However they claimed that it did not stand out but fitted in with most channel 4 documentary posters. A majority of the target audience stated that the poster did appeal to them and that they would watch the documentary as the poster and documentary worked well together.
The target audience felt that our radio advert worked well to advertise the documentary but that the voice over artist sounded bored and rushed in places, however they did also say that everything said in the advert was relevant and all linked back to the documentary and its content. They thought that the radio advert, print advert and documentary was packaged very well and everything was very closely linked. A majority of our target audience thought that music could have been added to make the advert sound more exciting and grab the audiences attention.
Newspaper and Radio
Codes & Conventions Of A Newspaper Advert
- Logo
- Schedule
- Image relating to the documentary
- Website
- Date and time
- Simplified images
- Colour Schemes
- Items located to the bottom of the advert
- Logo usually located to the bottom right
- Photoshopped images to enhance and make changes to imagery
Creating our Newspaper Advert
We looked at other newspaper adverts to get a sense of what was expected of us, from this we identified the codes and conventions shown above. We debated some ideas within the group and looked at the type of newspaper it would be advertised in as this would affect the elements of our documentary immensely, we also looked closely at the codesand conventions and decided which ones we should conform to to enhance our advert.
We decided to use four images of teenagers and cut certain aspects out of the pictures to mould together to create a typical teenager thus posing the question are all teenagers the same despite their different stereotypes, looks and ethnicity. We also used simple fonts and colours to accompany the image to tie the advert together and make it look professional.
Codes & Conventions Of A Radio Advert
- Extracts from your documentary
- Opening with a voice over explaining and introducing the topic
- Sometimes can ask a question
- Ident at the end of the advert
- Usually last no longer than thirty seconds
- Subtle but effective music bed
Radio Advert Script.
Sex, drugs, games and alcohol, all in a typical teenage day, but are all teenagers like this?
[extract from documentary-My lifestyle is playing Xbox, getting hammered and having sex] Teenage Evolution is going to find out if teenagers are all that the media says they are [extract from documentary- Yeah I went to anger management...got kicked out of anger management...for being angry] do teenagers need to grow up, or do they have too much too young? you decide, Teenage Evolution, Channel 4, 9:00, Friday.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Edit decision list and Logging sheets
Shot 2 - Title shot with voice over - 8 seconds
Shot 3 - Title shot with voice over 2 - 4 seconds
Shot 4 - Interview 1 with Jeff Hughes including cutaways - 36 seconds
Shot 5 - Interview 2 with Ron Stromberg part 1 including cut aways - 15 seconds
Shot 6 - Millbank riot cutaway shot 1 - 2 seconds
Shot 7 - Millbank riot cutaway shot 2 - 2 seconds
Shot 8 - Millbank riot cutaway shot 3 - 2 seconds
Shot 9 - Millbank riot footage - 4 seconds
Shot 10 - Millbank riot footage - 4 seconds
Shot 11 - Vox Pop Interview with member of the public - 11 seconds
Shot 12 - Vox Pop Interview with member of the public - 7 seconds
Shot 13 - Cutaway with voice over - 6 seconds
Shot 14 - Interview part 2 with Ron Stromberg - 12 seconds
Shot 15 - Interview part 2 with Jeff Hughes - 1 minute
Shot 16 - Interview with Emily Patterson - 9 seconds
Shot 17 - Interview with Margaret Marshall - 7 seconds
Shot 18 - Interview with Steve Patterson - 8 seconds
Shot 19 - extract from 'The Worlds Strictest Parents' - 13 seconds
Shot 20 - Interview art 2 with Margaret Marshall - 10 seconds
Shot 21 - Interview with Susan Ashurst - 30 seconds
Shot 22 - Cutaway shot with continued voice over from interviewee - 7 seconds
Shot 23 - Interview continued with another cutaway - 14 seconds
Shot 24 - Extract from 'Kidulthood' - 7 seconds
Shot 25 - Interview with Andrew Marshall - 8 seconds
Shot 26 - Interview part 2 with Steve Patterson - 14 seconds
Friday, 5 November 2010
Filming Records
Today I emailed Penketh High School to ask permission to interview their Headteacher Mr Jeff Hughes and head of Media Studies Ms Susan Ashurst.
Today I recieved replies from both Mr Hughes and Ms Ashurst confirming both their consent to the interviews.
We filmed the headteacher of Penketh High School- Jeff Hughes
We asked him the following questions:
1.) During your time as a teacher, have you noticed at what point the children change in their personality and behavior and possibly what caused this change?
2.) What does your son/daughter do for their hobbies, and where they similar to yours as a teen?
3.) What seems to be the most common recurring issue when dealing with teenagers?
4.) Who is the most influential person who influences you?
5.) During break/lunch/after school times, have you noticed their being much more violence between the teens?
6.) Do you think that no matter what your parenting technique, teenagers will do whatever they want whenever they want?
7.) Do you think youth clubs help to prevent teens from hanging around the streets and causing trouble?
8.) Has the rise in cheap alcohol and more lenient shop owners helped to increase the number of antisocial behavior cases in teens?
20/10/2010
Today we filmed the head of Media at Penketh High School-Susan Ashurst
We asked her the following questions:
1.) During your time as a teacher, have you noticed at what point the children change in their personality and behavior and possibly what caused this change?
2.) What seems to be the most common recurring issue when dealing with teenagers?
3.) During break/lunch/after school times, have you noticed their being much more violence between the teens?
4.) Do you think that no matter what your teaching technique, teenagers will do whatever they want whenever they want?
5.) Do you think youth clubs help to prevent teens from hanging around the streets and causing trouble?
10/11/10
Today as a group we filmed Thomas (15) and Jessica Yates (13) and interviewed them both on their perspective of being a teen and other teens around them, getting a variety of backgrounds on types of teenagers.
12/11/10
We filmed both Mr Andrew Marshall and Mr Ron Stromberg, both parents of current teenagers on what their opinions are on the stereotyoing of teenagers by the media and if it is similar at all to the stereotypes were branded with when they were teenagers.
13/11/10
The next day we decided to film a member of society who is a little older than those already interviewed. Margeret Marshall a grandparent shares her experiences as a teenager, being a parent to a teenager and also as a grandparent.
14/11/10
Today we filmed both Stephen and Emily Patterson. Stephen is a parent of teenagers so he also had clear opinions on teenagers today and Emily is 19 years old so by interviewing a teen we could get her opinions also.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
Vox Pop Questions
1. What is your opinion of teenagers?
2. Do you get intimidated by teenagers?
3. Do you think teenagers are more violent now than they were in the past?
4. How do you think teenagers could get a better image?
5. Do you think teenagers are stereotyped too much?
6. What stereotype were/are you as a teenager?
7. Do you think teenagers are going to get worse in the future?
8. Do you think there are more gangs now than there were in the past?
9. What did/do you do at weekends as a teenager?
10. Do you think something should be done to get teenagers off the streets?
11. What type of teenager were you?
Codes and Conventions of Documentaries
• Facts and figures
• Always have a problem in the middle of the narrative structure
• Voice over’s
• Cut away shots
• Natural shots
• Sometimes reconstructions
• Evidence
• Eye line needs to be a third down
• Relevant mise-en-scene
• Music bed
• Sound effects are often added for dramatisation
• Opening titles
• Simple and sometimes formal graphics
• Experts are named
• No opposing questions
• Vox pops
• Archive footage
• Variety of different camera angles
• Exposition is made clear either at the start or throughout
Research Record
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/crimejusticeandthelaw/crimeprevention/dg_4001652
We selected the list on what is classed as antisocial behaviour.
We wanted to use this information because many people don't understand what classes as antisocial behaviour.
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100413151441/crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/asbos/asbos2.htm
We wanted to use some of the statistics from the table in our documentary as evidence.
We chose to use this table because it is accurate accounts of how many ASBO's were given out between 1999 and 2007.
Interview Questions
Interviewees: Teachers, Parents, Youth Workers and Teenagers
1.) During your time as a teacher, have you noticed at what point the children change in their personality and behavior and possibly what caused this change?
2.) What does your son/daughter do for their hobbies, and where they similar to yours as a teen?
3.) What seems to be the most common recurring issue when dealing with teenagers?
4.) Who is the most influential person who influences you?
5.) During break/lunch/after school times, have you noticed their being much more violence between the teens?
6.) Do you think that no matter what your parenting technique, teenagers will do whatever they want whenever they want?
7.) Do you think youth clubs help to prevent teens from hanging around the streets and causing trouble?
8.) Has the rise in cheap alcohol and more lenient shop owners helped to increase the number of antisocial behavior cases in teens?
9.) What do you think should be done to improve the current situation? i.e. bringing back national service.
10.) Are you intimidated by the youth of today, and if so what stereotype would you consider them to be?
11.) In your opinion, would you consider yourself to be the ideal role model for your child?
12.) What are the differences key between todays youth and the youth of your generation?
13.) Are you fearful that your children may turn out to be like the youth of today through no fault of your own?
Running Order
Channel: Channel 4
Scheduling: November 10th 8:00pm till 8:30pm
Duration: 27 minutes (including advert break)
1.) CCTV Footage and news report articles of antisocial behavior by teenagers cut together slow at first but gradually getting quicker and quicker to emphasise the large number of cases. - 10 seconds
2.) Opening credits and titles of teenagers and their change in appearance i.e. stereotype, age group etc. - 5 seconds
3.) First shot panning in close up of teenagers, their parents and their grandparents with a voice over giving facts and figures about antisocial behavior through the generations and how it differs. - 15 seconds
4.) Voice over introduces the topic and introduces a case study of whether the youth of today are more violent and the main differences between todays current youth and the youth of other generations. - 15 seconds
5.) An expert on the topic gives information on what causes this behavior. -40 seconds
6.) Cut away shot to the case study a troubled teenager who ives an interview on what got he/she where they are today and what should be changed etc. - 40 seconds
7.) Interview with parents of the teen and information on what things were like when they were teenagers. - 1 minute
8.) Voice over talks about aspects of why teenagers behave this way, shots used of archive footage and the way teenagers are presented in the press. news reports and headlines from newspapers. -1 minute 15 seconds
9.) Next the camera moves to the side of teenagers that the media don't show, the good side from working to help the elderly to youth centres that have been set p to help struggling youths. - 45 seconds
10.) Street team go out and ask members of the public to share their thoughts and opinions. - 2 minutes
11.) Reconstruction of one persons account of antisocial behavior voiced over by themselves. - 1 minute 30 seconds
12.) Moving back to the expert to diagnose the problems and why this happened. - 1 minute
13.) Cut away shots of blanked out teenagers hanging around street corners drinking taking drugs, then merging them into the credits before going to an advert break. - 30 seconds
14.) Opening credits and titles set against news headlines- 5 seconds
15.) ADVERT BREAK - 3 minutes
16.) Opening credits and titles - 5 seconds
17.) Voice over introduces some statistics with a montage of website clipings, news headlines and reports with interviews from people who created the surveys and stats. - 1 minute
18.) Case is brought up by the voice over on a police matter involving a teenagers death, then information is introduced that will link in with the next shot. - 1 mintue
19.) Police views on the matter and members of the police sharing their accounts of their run ins with the youth of today, using archive footage, teenagers in cells etc - 2 mins
20.) A look back through the years on ways of which the authorities dealth with teenagers causuing trouble on the streets and whether or not they worked and had an impact on their behavior. - 1 minute
21.) Camera moves back to the case study and applies some of the techniques that were used back in the olden days to the youth of today to see if they will work like they did back then. - 40 seconds
22.) Footage of a week with the case study and how they got on during the week having implamented some of the rules. - 2 minutes
23.) Interviews with the parents of the teenagers to see if they noticed any changes in behavior or their attitudes during the past week. - 30 seconds
24.) The teenagers themselves are interviewed about their experiences and are asked whether or not they thought some of the things that were tried would work if roled out nationaly. - 45 seconds
25.) Static camera of all teenagers walking together with all different sterotypes towards the camera then breaking up and going off in different directions. - 30 seconds
26.) Experts, teenagers, parents and grand parents are all brought together to discuss what they have done and seen whilst making the documentary. - 1 minute
27.) Voice over summarises what has been seen throughout the documentary, with cut aways of footage already seen linked together linking to what is being said by the narrator. - 45 seconds
28.) End credits in the same style as the opening titles, using different colours brighter - 30 seconds
Formal Proposal
The main topic of our documentary is teenage subcultures and how teenagers have changed over time from the mods and rockers of the sixties to the chavs and moshers of today. Everyone will have an opinion on this subject as everyone was a teenager at some point in their life and many people were part of the subcultures at this time. Another topic in our documentary is how the public feel about teenagers today and their opinions on certain issues such as stereotyping of teenagers and how teenagers behave in today’s society.
Our documentary will be mixed as it will be combining a voiceover with interviews, vox pops and both archive and new footage. This will be good as it will show the audience how they were teenagers as many people tend to forget what they were like as teenagers and how they were treated by people at this time.
We intend to show our documentary on Channel 4 as it is renowned for its selection of documentaries and how they target certain issues of society and a majority of its documentaries are mixed, we also intend to show our documentary at 8:00pm as it is late enough for children to be in bed and their parents to have finished any jobs they may have but still early enough that teenagers will still be downstairs with their parents.
The main target audience of our documentary is 15-50 as most people at this age will have children/teenagers of their own or will still be teenagers or young adults. This would be beneficial as many people in this target audience will understand better the conflicts of social prejudice towards teenagers and the stereotyping of them by the media better than a slightly older audience that may have older children.
The primary research we will do will include finding out about teenage subcultures throughout time, this will be done by visiting exhibitions about mods and rockers in the 1960’s and by interviewing people about their memories of being a teenager and what they think of teenagers in today’s society. Our interview locations will be relative to the subject of teenagers as we intend to film in a youth centre, this is so we can speak to both teenagers and the volunteers that work with them.
Our secondary research will consist of archive footage and pictures of Woodstock in 1969, Mods and Rockers fighting in the 60’s, footage of Skinheads causing trouble in the 70’s, Punks, Deathrockers and Goths of the 80’s and the 90’s grunge movement and how that affected the teenage audience and also some footage from now as to how teenagers are behaving in today’s society, we also intend to use various clips from music videos and sound clips from different music eras such as Elvis to show the music Rockers listen to and Nirvana to show the grunge movement.
Our narrative is basically going to show the audience how teenagers have changed through time and how there are still some similarities between the teenagers of the past and now such as many hippies in the 1960’s were taking drugs and living promiscuously, much like many teenagers today taking drugs and living promiscuously. We will look at footage of different subcultures and determine where different modern subcultures have evolved from.
Outline of content
Intro section, 5-10 minutes:
Opening credits will be set against a black background, with the title contrasting in white in a very standardised font. By doing this it won’t detract from everything else that is going on in the shot, for example we hope to be able to fade the black background into close ups of teenagers faces starting with the current youth and changing them through to their parents faces and then their grandparents faces. Over this we will put a music bed that relates to the topic in question so either a currently popular music track, or one that suits the documentary best. The first shot would contain photo clippings, news reports and archive footage of teenagers causing antisocial behaviour with a voice over giving facts and figures out about antisocial behaviour, crime rates and the links between that causes this behaviour in teenagers.
Each subject that would be brought up an expert would be introduced to give his views and opinions then cut away shot would be used to go to items that he says that relate. Street team would go out and ask members of the public from varying generations a few questions on the topic and if any had a bad experience with teenagers and we expect this to be the elderly we will conduct a dramatic reconstruction to make the audience feel how they felt so a few camera techniques and angles will be used for that. During the reconstruction the music used would mirror the action that was going on, dark, dramatic tones possibly even operatic with perhaps sound FX of things that were there at the time for example breaking of glass and the sound of someone being hit. Cut aways would be used again of police reports of incidences of underage drinking, binge drinking and drug taking all with a voice over explaining the relation between this and behaviour.
Middle section, 10-15 minutes:
Interviews would be conducted with parents and their parents to see what differs from the youth of today and the youth from their generations. No music beds during any of the interviews just the natural ambiance of them. The expert would be brought back in again to help piece together the views of the parents etc and would move us to the next shot which would see a case study of teenagers and their families from a poorer social background, a middle class background and an upper-class background and how each one differs from one another. The way they behave in school/college, what they do at the weekends, hanging out with their friends, everything along those lines.
What will also be looked into would be where the younger generation get their influences from, be it their friends, the music they listen to, or even their parents. Interviews of their influences from the music industry and from this we would get their views and opinions and also why they think that their music and themselves are such big influences on younger people. Next the narrator will pose a question which will be answered nearer to the end of the film allowing time for all information about the question to be presented, allowing the audience to decide an answer for themselves before the answer is revealed.
End section, 5-10 minutes:
Towards the ending of our documentary, the question that was posed in the middle section will be answered by all parties involved, giving a variation on the end result which hopefully will mimic the viewer’s ideas and feelings. The same graphics that were seen at the beginning of our piece will be used for the end credits as well although there will be a colour change depending on the outcome, bad - font colour will change from white to a gradual red but if it’s good then we will keep the font the same colour as before. The voice over summarises everything that has been said and presented to the viewers in a small period of time, giving a brief overview and then steering the audience to the answers for the questions arose in the film. Music bed would return for the outro and would stay the same
Resource Requirements
Camera
Tripod
Microphone
Headphones
Brainstorm Of Documentary Content
Possible ideas to be included in our documentary:
During the intro we would use music that relates to the subject directly.
With it being teenagers we expect to use either rap, rock or pop and by using this we will draw in the younger crowd to watching our documentary.
Music would be different during reconstructions, dark and dramatic.
May or may not decide to use a music bed throughout the documentary.
Simple graphics when introducing someone so it doesn't distract from the rest of the shot, most likely white standardised font.
Eye catching opening credits and end credits.
Interviews with members of the public with varying generations, todays youth, their parents and Grandparents.
Questions on antisocial behavior,
Experts brought in to share views and their opinions on the topic.
Voice over with a steady pace, presented in a news reporter style.
Male or Female well spoken.
Archive footage of items relating to the topic, CCTV and news reports.
Cut away shots to segments that the voice over talks about.
Background information and stories on the youth of today.
Dramatic reconstructions including those that would be brought up my members of the public who had been asked prior.
Eye witness accounts
Production Schedule
Directors: Rebecca Marshall, Lucy Patterson and Jack McLoughlin
Producers: Rebecca Marshall, Lucy Patterson and Jack McLoughlin
Client: OCR
Date production started: 27th September 2010
Formal Proposal started: 6th October 2010
Formal Proposal Completed:8th October 2010
Storyboard started: 8th October 2010
Storyboard Completed: 12th October 2010
Shooting started: 4th October
Date Completed:
Post production started: 1st November
Date Completed : 15th November
Rough cut submitted: 15th November 2010
Final show tape completed: 22nd December 2010
Sent to Client: 17th December 2010
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Escape From Auschwitz
Type Of Documentary- This is a mixed documentary as it combines a powerfully worded informative voice over with authentic footage of the concentration camp itself and interviews with experts on this subject.
Themes- The main themes of this documentary are the deaths and treatment of the Jews whilst at the camp and the war seemingly forgetting them, the issue of guns is also raised, the documentary is set in a very dark way as it shows the authentic footage with a sinister edge to everything. The authentic footage also gives the audience a feeling like they can see what the Second World War was really like and they can empathise with the soldiers and the Jews.
Narrative Structure- The documentary poses many questions from the beginning such as Did anyone escape from Auschwitz? Who escaped? What happened to them? This is what the audience would be thinking at this time during the documentary. The middle begins to answer these questions as it explains to the audience that 400 people managed to escape from Auschwitz but asks the question Will people ever become free of Auschwitz? This question is answered in the ending of the documentary as it informs the audience that on the 27th January 1945 Auschwitz was liberated and all the Jews freed, this gives the audience a sense of closure but also saddens them as so many people have died.
Camerawork-There was a lot of tracking and panning evolved in this documentary as part of it was following interviewees around the camp. The interviews used a static camera to ensure a good head and shoulder shot of the interviewees, this enabled the audience to see the emotion on their faces and the tears in their eyes. Long shots were also used to show the audience the extent of the conditions that so many people had to suffer, this makes the audience grateful that they did not have to suffer these consequences and brings about a sense of thankfulness.
Mis-en-scene- The main location for the documentary was Auschwitz camp itself so it was unnerving enough without the added factor of snow masking some of the horror. The interviews were conducted with a black background so as not to distract from the interviewee speaking to the camera, this made the audience focus on the interview and see the emotions flash across their faces as they spoke. A majority of the footage was black and white as it was mostly from the 40’s and so before colour television.
Sound-The majority of the sound in the documentary was an unnerving music bed which made the audience really think about the actions on screen, the interviews were conducted with mostly natural sound except the polish interviews which had English dubbing to help the audience to understand them , also on some of the archive footage archive interview audio was also used in scenes such as the gas chambers and a voice over narrated the rest so that the audience would understand the footage better.
Editing-The editing used a lot of cuts between different archive materials to keep the audience’s attention and to explain more about the camp, fades and dissolves were also used to separate parts of the documentary and to lighten some of the atmosphere as it got a bit heavy in places.
Archive material- A lot of the archive material used was form the 40’s so it was all in black and white to show the audience the camp as it was years ago and how it worked.
Graphics- Graphics were fairly basic during the majority of the documentary, the font of the titles was fairly macabre as it was designed to look like a wall around the words as if you might find the titles scrawled on a brick wall under one of the beds, this scares the audience slightly as it is a basic reference to the Jews scratching their names into their beds and walls in order to be remembered.
9/11 State Of Emergency
Type Of Documentary-This is a mixed documentary as it uses interviews with a voice over and both archive footage and reconstructions.
Themes-There were a number of themes put forward in this documentary such as the events of 9/11 and the devastation that is caused worldwide , other themes are the presidential reaction to this and the emergency services helping manage the aftermath.
Narrative System- The story of 9/11 is known globally and is told to the audience with the help of a reconstruction of the events happening inside the first plane up until its crash, the conflict is shown from the very beginning as many people were saying that it was just another calm normal day, until the planes were hijacked. The middle continues with the conflict as it begins to introduce conspiracy theories and how that affected the people of America, also photographs and videos of the crash and its devastation are continuously shown to the audience to further the point of who would do this to innocent people. A reconstruction of the first alert of terrorism is also shown to the audience of an airhostess calmly phoning down to ground control to inform them that someone n business class has been stabbed and she thinks they are being hijacked, the phone call is then terminated as the plane hits the tower and the operator can be heard to say “I think we’ve lost her” this would shock the audience as both the hostess and the operator were very calm up until the end. The ending of the documentary gives the audience a sense of closure and leaves them with some bittersweet satisfaction.
Camerawork-A lot of high angles are used to show long shots of the country to symbolise the unity of the country and the collective grief that will be felt at this disaster. High angles were used during the reconstruction to show the airline workers as dependant and helpless in the face of impending doom, low angle shots were used of the planes as the threat of terror was bigger than America expected and America are powerless to the actions of the terrorists as they are still in a mass state of shock including the President. Hand held cameras are used to show point of view shots of the emergency workers and the victims as this would be more powerful to the viewer and they would feel humbled by the heroic acts of the emergency workers and astounded at the lengths some of the victims went through in order to stay alive.
Mis-en-scene-In most of the interviews the interviewees are filmed with a black or red background to make it seem professional and not to distract from what is being said, they are also wearing suits or smart clothing to give the documentary an air of professionalism and seriousness. Also close-ups of their faces are used to show the emotions that are evident on their faces when they talk about what was going through their minds at that specific moment.
Sound-There was a lot of natural dietetic sound used as it was a majority of sirens and screaming, this could be to show the panic that ensued after the original attack, however in the interviews there is only the person speaking as what they have to say is very important to the documentary and they do not want focus to be drawn to something else, during the reconstructions especially a lot of thought provoking sounds are used such as people screaming to god and wailing of children to make the audience understand fully the seriousness of the situation, as the voice over explains that “2,605 people died in and around the world trade centre that day including 411 emergency workers” soft music is played over footage of people scouring the wreck for bodies to create a reaction from the audience of shock and despair.
Editing-A majority of the editing as regards archive footage and reconstructions is very fast so as to engage the audience and to get their adrenaline pumping and make them feel anxious as to what is going to happen to the people on the screen as there are shots of people falling hundreds of metres and hitting other buildings and the floor. Long shot are used for important parts of the reconstructions such as when the air hostess is reporting the hijacking the camera stays on her explaining what happening and when the emergency workers are rescuing people from the buildings and it collapses on them, this is done to shock the audience and make them understand the full extent of these situations.
Archive Material-A lot of the material used was archive as many different news show and the public filmed the planes hitting the towers and the towers collapsing, also the reconstruction of the plane crash uses the actual recording of the hijacking report from the air hostess and the operator’s reaction to this. Archive material of President Bush being told about the second plane crash whilst in a children’s school also is shown to explain why he did not act immediately on this information as he would have alarmed the students and also would have been shown by the media to be a wreck.
Graphics- Graphics were used sparingly as a lot of the interviewees were introduced in the voice over, one of the reasons graphics weren’t used a lot was to keep the audiences focus on the events unfolding on screen rather than on who the person is.
Friday, 1 October 2010
Research Questionnaire
- What age are you?
............................................................. - What gender are you?
Male [ ] Female [ ] - What times do you usually watch television at?
.......................................................................................................................... - What genre of TV programme do you usually watch?
.......................................................................................................................... - What channels are your favorite?
.......................................................................................................................... - As a teenager what stereotype were you?
.......................................................................................................................... - What influenced you most as a teenager?
.......................................................................................................................... - Do you think teenagers are influenced by
Celebrities [ ] Media [ ] Friends [ ] Games [ ] Other [ ] - Do you think teenagers get bad press in the media? Why?
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... - Does/has teenage antisocial behaviour affected you at all?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - Do you think there are any major differences between the youth of today and that of the past? Explain your answer?
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... - Should something be done to keep teenagers off the streets?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - Are/were your friends in the same stereotype as you?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - Do you think teenagers today are given too much freedom?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - Did your upbringing influence your stereotype?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - Do you think there are certain behaviour aspects associated with each stereotype?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - What do/did you do at the weekends as a teenager?
.......................................................................................................................... - Do you think teenagers are more violent now?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - Do you ever get scared when you see a large group of teenagers?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - Do you think there are more gangs of teenagers than in the past?
Yes [ ] No [ ] - What do you think could change the way young people are thought of?
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... - Do you think narcotics are more freely available to teenagers than in the past?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
Although the numbers are quite close, the majority do think that teenagers are given to much freedom and the public think that this might be the cause to anti-social behaviour.
We asked the general public what their ages were, and the common age range was 10-20 years old. We want to aim our documentary to this age range but we dont want to limit ourselves on target audience because we believe that a lot more people of an older age would be interested in our documentary topic and would watch it.
When we asked the public did they think that social behaviours effected the behaviour of teenagers the majority of people answered yes.
When we asked people if they thought teenagers are more violent than they used to be, the majority answered yes. We asked a range of ages so this result is a good because we know its a fair result
Most people we asked thought that yes teenagers do behave differently
This is a pretty varied view of what influences teenagers in todays society but the media is only slightly the largest
BBC is a trusted channel to most older people as it is the one with the best news programmes and is reguarded as a british institution and so many people in our target audience will watch this.
Although the numbers are very close there is a slight inclination to yes there is a cretain behaviour linked to each stereotype.
A majority of our target audience spent their weekends socialising and having fun with their friends.
A majority of our target audience were not effected by anti-social behaviour despite the idea of teenagers being so threatening
A majority of our target audience were chavs when they were teenagers, this is a surprising discovery as many chavs are blamed for the problems with society.
We asked slightly more women than men