Brainstorm Of Ideas

We had a great number of ideas as to what to do for our documentary, some of them were good and others would not be feasible to do, we chose to do something that was a talking point in today's society and would be received well by the viewer.

Some of our ideas were;

The NHS

Childhood Influences

Binge Drinking

Antisocial Behaviour

Drugs

Smoking

What Supermarkets Really Sell You

Fashion

Education System

Phones

Ipods

Celebrities

Tattoos

Death

Murder

Piercings

Scotland

Monkeys

Zoos

Farms

House Prices

The Government

Inflation

Cameras

TV Programmes

That Thing-Lara Croft

This documentary is a mixed one as it combines a voice over despite it only being a small part of the narrative with interviews which make up a majority of the narration and game footage of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider.

The themes shown in this documentary are Post Feminists and their opinions of how Lara is portrayed as a strong specimen of a modern woman who is completely independent and a role model to young girls, media effects and how Lara has evolved over time and from a character in video games to a global marketing product.

The narrative structure is fairly linear as it starts by introducing Lara Croft to the audience as a female hero and that the gamer will see the game through Lara's eyes. The middle shows how she has been modified to suit male interest, this being that Angelina Jolie was selected to portray Lara in the feature film of tomb raider, it also introduces the ideas of gamers becoming sexually attracted to her as she is a strong independent character. The end of the documentary explains that Lara is now classes as a good role model for girls to aspire to be like and is celebrated by both men and women, feminists in particular think Lara is a good female character as she is unmarried and is not oppressed by the expectations of the state as she goes on adventures carries weapons and doesn't need a man to be there to rescue her when she gets herself into a bad situation, she is the perfect self sufficient woman.

The camera angles used give the audience a sense of involvement as they see the game from an over the shoulder perspective of the gamer.
Canted camera angles are also used to make the interviews with the game creator and Angelina Jolie more interesting and the image of putting the clips inside a laptop screen frame is an obvious attempt to make the documentary seem more cool and in touch with the younger generation. The shot of peoples hands on the keyboards playing the game is used to show just how addictive the game is and how popular it is with young people.

The mis-en-scene is fairly surreal and abstract, the location of the gamers is dark and shadowed, this makes the audience feel like they are part of the game, this is relevant as the gamer feels like they are right with them playing the game and controlling Lara, the game footage also makes the audience feel like they are there as it looks very realistic and the only people who are shot in normal light are the game creator and Jolie, but their colour looks harsh and overly bright as they are such a contrast to the rest of the documentary.

Most of the sound used in the documentary was soundtracks from artists such as Madonna and techno music, and a large portion of the rest was game music such as Lara speaking in a British accent and making slightly sexual noises such as breathing heavily and gasping as she is jumping off things and climbing a cliff, there is hardly any natural sound and the only time natural sound is present is in the interviews with Jolie and the game designer.

The editing is very fast paced and modernised as the documentary is trying to seem cool and up to date, this would attract gamers who most likely play the game too as the editing is similar to the actual game.

The only archive footage used was trailers of the up coming film and game footage, this would attract fans of the game as it is furthering the Lara Croft storyline.

The graphics seem themed as the words "That Thing" are constantly used to describe Lara e.g. "Creator of that thing" "Fan of that thing" the titles also seem very basic so as not to distract from the interviews/game footage.

Music Biz-Meat Loaf

This documentary was mixed as it used a lot of interviews along with voice overs and archive footage of both music videos and TV shows, its main purpose was to explain to the audience about Meat Loafs comeback and his release and production of his second major album Bat Out Of Hell II-Back into hell.

The themes addressed in this documentary were that of Meat Loafs marketing campaign and the difficulties faced trying to sell him to a different generation of listeners than he had 16 years previously. It also shows the audience the expectations put on artists to produce a good single, and the competition seen in the buildup to christmas and how serious it is to be christmas number one.

The documentary follows a fairly linear scheme as it first addresses the issue of M

eat Loaf deciding to resurrect his career and get back into the music industry after a long ammo

unt of time during which his previous listeners have most likely gotten married and had children who may be at an age where they would listen to his music, thus also showing the struggle to gain a new and improved image to attract not only his old listeners but also newer and younger ones.

The middle of the documentary focuses heavily on Meat Loaf and his team being way over budget and under schedule on their new music video "I would do anything for love (but I wont do that)" it is also at this point in the documentary that when asked about his combeback Meat Loaf states that "I havent been anywhere", this is contradicted by the voice over informing the audience that Meat Loaf had filed for bankrupsy during his break from fame and had been sued by his former songwriter Jim Steinman, this s

hows the audience part of the conflict in the documentary, another conflict shown was also the resurrection of the Village Peoples car

eer as they paid promoters to try and re-release their single YMCA. The equilibrium of the conflict comes at the end of the documentary where the audience see the line up of who could be christmas number 1 with Mr Blobby winning and it being revealed that Meat Loaf spent 8 weeks at number 1 and gaining number 2 over the christmas period.

Camera work within the documentary was fairly similar to Making Movies as in a majority of the interviews a static camera was used to gain better focused head and shoulder shots of the interviewees. Panning shots were also used when showing a conversation between Meat Loaf and the Director Michael Bay. Fairly unconventional shots were used during the on location interview of Meat Loaf as he askes the camera if he looks good and the camera moves in a nodding motion. Two shots were also used to show a power str

uggle between Bay and Meat Loaf.

The mis-en-scene was fairly relevant to the subject as when the mixng process was mentioned for example there was an image of a soundboard in the background and when certain aspects of Meat Loaf's career were mentioned there would also be an image for that too.

There was a number of shots of Meat Loaf during takes on location and the Red Carpet in London, this was good as it kept the focus of the audience on the topics being discus

sed and held their interest. The footage of Pat Sharpe in the radio studio also linked back to the topic as it shows that the promoters are going all out adverising the Village People.

There was not a lot of sound used as there was no sound bed encorporated and it was mainly naturalistic sounds where the only times music was actually played was when it was directly mentioned by an interviewee, this m

ade parts of the documentary tedious and very plain, this would lose the audiences attention, the heartbeat during the budget interviews was the only sound effect which was used to show tension.

The editing in the documentary is interesting as the constant use of cutaways keeps the audiences attention as they always relate to what is being shown on screen, newspaper cuttings are being used when discussing Meat Loaf's bankrupsy and when also talking about his past albums. Shot reverse shot is used between Meat Loaf and Bay to show the constant power struggle between them, shots of HMV's christmas window and betting shops odds on who will get christmas no1 show that this is a serious thing for artists as if they get christmas no1 then it is a major boost to their career.
Dissolves are used between shots, this is bad as it looks tacky and unprofessional which is not good for the documentary as it makes it look cheap and like they did not have enough time to put a good cut in.

Archive materials are used very wisely as they are always linked into whats been mentioned, award ceremonies show that Meat Loaf is a success and is very popular with both young and middle aged generations. Footage of both old and new music videos from not only Meat Loaf but Mr Blobby and the Village People shows that the documentary tries to focus on not only one point but also on other areas to further their arguments about Meat Loaf and his music.

Top of the pops is used to show that it is related to British music charts not only American.

Graphics are used to lighten the atmosphere in parts but also to inform the audience about who the interviewees were, celebrities and music professionals were superimposed into a magazine cover to make the documentary seem more cutting edge and up to date, also when a new interviewee is shown a grey band with their details in it is put across the screen, this looks professional and official as it is quite muted and does not distract from the interviews being shown on the screen.

The Devil Made Me Do It

This is a mixed documentary, it combines both voice over observations and interviews with both archive material and footage shot for the documentary.

The main focus of this documentary was on murder, religion, Gothic music, the youth of today, the influences of the media and the influences of celebrities as Marilyn Manson is blamed for influencing the murderers of a nun, this shows that even in a small rural area there is still media and celebrity influence on the youth and their behaviour.

The narrative structure of the documentary is fairly linear as it explains the subject of the documentary, how it happened and the consequences of this. The beginning of the documentary shows the conflict of the death of the Nun and the uproar that it caused, the middle introduces the media influences and the prospect of Manson being a puppet master to the youth, the end of the documentary ensures that all audiences questions are answered with the town being righted once more and the teenagers being incarcerated.

The camerawork of the documentary is very relevant to the way the director wants the audience to see certain aspects such as the way that there is a low camera angle on Manson during his concerts, this could be so that the viewer see it through a spectator point of view but it could also be so that the viewer feels submissive to Manson and that the is in control as he is in a dominant position. Handheld cameras are also used during the reconstruction so that the audience feels uncomfortable as they are seeing the attack from the point of view of the victim.

Two shots were also used to show the interviewees at the same time, this helps the audience get a better idea of who is putting what point of view across.

The psychologist is seen to be power dressing in the introduction to her as she is seen to be amongst commuters who are wearing dull muted coloured clothes whereas she is wearing a red suit which connotes power and professionalism. Also during the reconstruction as the audio is coming to a close a stone in a pool of bloody water is shown to anchor the severity of the situation to the audience.

The reconstruction is mostly shown audibly rather than visually, this unnerves the audience as they can hear the events such as each blow of the stones and the drawing of a knife followed by the distinct noise of stabbing and blood flowing. Many of the sound effects used at times such as the nuns funeral are designed to create empathy from the audience. Also the use of religious music when Manson is on the screen is used to create a juxtaposition and show some conflicting ideas.

The editing in the documentary is fairly slow in places as it uses a lot of long takes and establishing shots especially in reconstructions, it also uses a lot of cutaway shots of the town and match on action and shot reverse shot in the case of the audience and Manson at the concerts.

There is a lot of archive footage used throughout the documentary as many Manson music videos are used to show how shocking the singer can be, footage of the nuns funeral was also archive footage, this would be used to gain sympathy from the audience. A segment of news footage from the Columbine shooting was also used to show that this is not the first time Manson has been blamed for the murder of innocent people.

The opening titles are shown in a religious font to emphasise that the documentary will be heavily influenced by the church and it is an important part of the documentary, the text is in white which is basic but professional and also does not draw away from the action on screen.

Research & Planning

The main purpose of a documentary is to document events and put them into a way that the viewer will understand and be interested in.

Many documentaries use authentic footage of the topic or event they are based on, unless there was no way of the events being visually recorded in which case they will use reconstructions to help create meaning to th

e audience, this usually happens in documentaries about historic events or criminal behaviour.

There are many different definitions of what a documentary is as there is so many different typ

es of documentary available to the public, the most accurate des

cription of a documentary is

"What distinguishes documentary is the portrayal of the recorded sounds and images of a

ctuality"-John Corner 1995.

Many documentaries also advertise a "Factual account" of an event although this doesn't necessarily mean that they need to include actual footage of the event. As the earlier documentaries were made to be shown in cinemas to boost morale and create propaganda for the British public, so many of them would take very long time to make so that they were suitable for the public to view, nowadays documentaries don't take as long to make but there is a lot of construction put into them so that they will give the audience the information they want and also will be interesting enough to stop them from dismissing it and turning it off.

The scheduling of a documentary is also very importa

nt as if a documentary is put on too early then it may offend people but also if it is put on t

oo late then it may not attract as many viewers as anticipated. Panorama is the only documentary to regularly have a prime time slot on a mainstream channel, this is because it regularly produces documentaries based on subjects that are heavily in the public eye and are a main topic of conversation, they can also be very focused on emotional or overly sensationalised stories as the public likes to know about emotional issues like poverty and disaster. Also British documentaries are renowned for being very investigative and gritty as they oppose the views of the government and intend to investigate the governments claims and expose them if they ar

e false.
One example of a documentary that opposes the governments actions was Ken Loach's "Cathy Come Home" as it shows the effects of homelessness in 1960's B

ritain.Many documentaries offer a balanced viewpoint on many issues in today's society by interviewing people with conflicting ideas and playing them in tandem.

Some documentaries are emotional and sensational in order to gain a biased opinion. These documentaries are getting rarer however, as we live in a media conscious world, and viewers today are aware of when they are being

persuaded to a certain opinion. Opposing this, they do not have to have analysis – they can be descriptive and leave the viewer to decide their own opinion. British documentaries are famed for their investiga

tive journalism – they oppose the government and sometimes society in order to try to stir up debate between people. As long as documentaries are exposing hidden truths and constructing others, there will never be total consensus in society.

Dennis O'Rourke- "It is critical that film maker

s be rid of the fantasy that the documentary can be unproblematic representation of reality and truth can be conveniently dispensed and received like valium"

A majority of the documentar

ies shown on TV nowadays focuses on either

Crime- because the public enjoy the shock factor of seeing what crimes other people in their society commit.

Sex-because the public find the details of other peoples lives interesting and also documentaries such as Teenage and Pregnant makes the audience shocked at the way that teenagers are acting in today's society

Violence-this makes the audience feel thankful that they are not part of such a antisocial community

Law and Order-this piques the audiences interest on how criminals are treated and also how the government is dealing with problems in society.

Current affairs programmes such as Panorama and Dispatchers are often perceived as documentaries when there actually many differences between them

Current affairs programmes only take a fe

w weeks to make whereas documentaries can take months, up to a year to make as they can be very difficult to get interviews and footage depending on the subject as if it is a controversial subject then many people might not want to voice their opinions as they may be scared that there will be repercussions on their part, also if it is controversial the chances of getting any footage is very low. Current affairs programmes however are made for specific TV channels such as BBC, his means that their quality of interviews and the chances of the

m getting authorised footage is much higher.

Different types of Documentary

Fully Narrated

These are usually about nature or animals, they are completely voiced over in a "Voice of God" style, they are also usually narrated by David Attenborough or other experts in the documentaries specific field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0E6geAq1k8

Fly On The Wall

These type of documentaries usually have a lot of undercover footage and subtitled interviews, they also use guerrilla footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saKaKKZadg4

Mixed

These are usually in a news reporting style where the presenter speaks to the camera in a "Voice to camera" style, this is done to create some meaning in the audiences minds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upsIvfp0j6k&feature=fvst

Self Reflective

These are mostly where the presenter will speak to the camera about their life experiences, this can be very confusing to an audience as the documentary ends up focusing on the pr

esenter rather than the specific topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHb7HDSSi_A&feature=fvst

Docu-drama

In docu-dramas there are usually reconstructions to try and explain to the audience what the documentary is about, however these can be misleading and factually dangerous to make as facts, figures and events could be wrong.

Docu-soap

Docu-soaps are documentaries that have staged segments, these are usually cheaply made and of low quality.

Marketing Movies

This documentary is also mixed as it is combining the voice over with archive footage and interviews.

The main themes in this documentary are how to market, produce and merchandise movies and how the public react to it, it focused on the basic idea of why is marketing important, this is important as many members of the wonder what the importance of this is.

The main narrative of this is fairly straightforward as t

he opening poses the question Why Is Marketing Important?, this will spark the audiences interest as they will want to know what is so important about the marketing of films and how the marketing is done for things such as this. The middle brings up the conflicting topic of what to do if you receive a bad review and how to overcome it, the d

ocumentary also introduces the aspect of the impending release of Mouse Hunt and the preparations that are going into that and how it will be received by the audience. The ending poses a question from the viewer as they ask was Mouse Hunt a success or not as the documentary was made just after its release so there is still a matter of if it is going to be a hit or a box office flop.

The camerawork was very simplistic and easy to watch as it was very entertaining for the audience seeing cutaways of the films they loved. During all the interviews the background image always linked back to the specific topic being discussed e.g. when the interview is about mouse hunt there is a film poster in the background for the film, the majority of the interviews seems to be filmed with a static camera as the camera doesn't move at all, this means that there was a constant head and shoulder shot of the people being interviewed. There is a high angled shot used of London as it is the capital of England and all the major box office films are premiered in Leicester Square.

The mis-en-scene is very much situated around the box office and what that means in a film perspective, also a lot of the shots are from film sets and premiers. Footage of London is specifically used as it is considered the film capital of Europe

e and is very important. A majority of the experts had a very plain backdrop so the focus was not distracted away from what they were saying to the camera.

The introduction to the documentary uses a very upbeat, cheery type of music as it wants to engage the audience from the beginning and make them take an interest in what is being said in the documentary. It also uses the same sound whilst the cutaways are being shown as to hold the audiences attention and to bring the music and footage together more. Natural music is predominantly used during the interviews so that the viewer will not be distracted from the interview and what is being said.

The editing used a great deal of cuts and cutaways as during the interview if the expert was talking about ticket sales or merchandise then there would be a cut away to footage of that specific thing. Also there were a few fades used to change form segment to segment, this looked fairly amateurish and not very good as in most cases a simple cutaway would have looked much better.

There were many different examples of archive material used to further some of the points made by the experts and critics as there were many different film trailers used and footage of celebrities at premiers and clips of the actual films themselves, this was interesting for the audience as they could see what a good trailer looked like for a film ad what a bad trailer looked like and what the celebrities who starred in them thought of the actual film.

Graphics in this were fairly overused as many different introductions for the critics experts or directors had exaggerated colours and graphics and whenever a segment was changing the image of a small man with a clack-board was constantly used.

AS Practice Documentary

Many documentaries use different variations of the traditional codes and conventions such as:

Voice over
The voice over is seen in many documentaries, usually to explain the footage that is being shown at that time and to give the audience more information on the subject.

Footage of the event/subject
All documentaries will have footage of the subject or event specified, unless the subject was before any type of electronic documentation in which case reconstructions are used.

Interviews
Many documentaries will contain interviews to give the documentary a sense of addressing the audiences opinions.

Planning

The planned locations for our documentary are
The college smoking area: This is because it is a major social point within college and is always guaranteed to have at least 5 people sat on their phones

The college cafe: This also is a large social gathering area and many people can be found texting and ringing people.

We intend to film cutaway shots of various people on their mobiles and use this between questions in our documentary. We also intend to ask random people to answer questions for the documentary.

Filming

We filmed mainly in the smoking area and found two people willing to be interviewed, we found that there was a lot of background noise whilst filming so some of the questions had to be asked again.
We also noticed that our interviewees had to continuously re-film some of the questions as they had difficulty putting the question into their answer.
A further problem we had was after moving the interviewees to another part of the smoking area we noticed that the lighting was not as good as we had originally thought and they had some dark shadows across their faces.

Editing

Having looked at the codes and conventions of a documentary we edited our documentary to follow the guidelines as much as possible by inserting cutaways that were relevant to the answers given, we also inserted images to make the documentary seem more interesting.

Evaluation

Whilst evaluating the documentary I noticed that some of the images needed to be changed to some that were more relevant and to the point. We changed them and now they fit in with the theme more than the originals.