Final Products

Documentary

Radio Trailer

Print Advert

QUESTION ONE -

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

The video below explains and compares the forms and conventions we have used in our documentary which show how they are similar to a professional documentary. For example, Cutaways, Graphics, Framing, Archive Material, Voxpops and Stop motion animation.

"The codes and conventions all form to real codes and conventions of real media products in my documentary. We used cutaways a lot like real media products do, these were all broken down and edited to fit in with the topic onscreen. They were used to open the sequence and to move one sequence on to another, for example in between interviews.

I have also followed regular forms and conventions in that within the interviews, we have framed it so that either the interviewee is always opposite to the interviewer. Also the interviewee looks not directly at the camera but at the interviewer.

Also onscreen text appears in the bottom left/right hand corner when the interviewee appears, the text introducing them and their occupation, this is a regular code and convention of real media products.

Additionally we used stop frame animation to film our title sequence. This is no used in every documentary however it is a code and convention.

Also when interviewing the mise-en scene has connotations of the subject. We also edited out questions to avoid any jump cuts."

Cutaways

Our Documentary

We have used cutaways a lot throughout our documentary to avoid any jump cuts, like a professional documentary would do. The cutaways were always made relevant to the topic onscreen. This is a regular convention of any documentary.

Graphics

Our Documentary

We used graphics in the edit to introduce the interviewee and their occupation to the auidience. This is also a regular convention of professional documentaries.

Professional Documentary

Framing

Our Documentary

We framed our interviews so that the interviewee was either on the left or the right of the screen, they are also looking not at the camera but at the interviewer, the eye line is also a third of the way down the screen. This is conventional of a professional documentary.

Professional Documentary

Print Advert

Our Print Advert

Above shows an analysis of my print advert in comparrision with a professional print advert for channel 4 below.

Professional Print Advert

Radio Trailer

Above i have analysed my radio trailer script, and shown how i have followed regular forms and conventions of real radio trailers to make my own as professional as possible.

QUESTION TWO -

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

Voiceover

We have made sure that the same voiceover is used in both the documentary and the radio trailer.

Slogan and Title

We have also made sure that the title and the slogan are clearly stated on both the Print Advert and the Radio trailer.

Print Advert

Radio Trailer

We have made sure that we have used clips from the documentary in our radio trailer.

Example shown below;

Theme and Tone

We have made sure that the theme and tone comes across in the radio trailer and the print advert by using bright colour and a happy tone of voice.

Our programme would be advertised in national newspapers such as 'The daily express' and it would be advertised on local radio stations such as merseyside local station 'Juice Fm, or Radio City', dependant on what area of the UK you live it.

QUESTION THREE -

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

QUESTION ONE

'From watching the first 5 minutes, does that make you want to watch the rest of the documentary?'

Kelly Partridge - 17 Years Old - Nursery Nurse

100% of the people asked said 'Yes' they would watch the rest of the documentary.

QUESTION TWO

'On a scale of 1 to 5, did you find the subject of Happiness entertaining? 1 being Not at all and 5 being Very much.

Rosie Jones - 18 Years Old - Student

1 Quarter of the people asked said Very much, 1 fifth answered 4, 3 people answered 3, 2 answered 2 on the scale and 1 answered Not at all.

Rosie Answered "5 Very Much, i would find the subject of happiness very entertaining."

QUESTION THREE

'How does our programme compare to real TV documentaries? How is it similar?'

Deborah Partridge - 45 Years Old - Care Home Manager

QUESTION FOUR

'What do you think the strengths and weaknesses are of the first 5 minutes?'

Stephanie Cook - 16 Years Old - Student

"I think that the documentary has many strengths, such as the music, as it suits the topic of happiness, however a weakness is the fuzziness in the sound quality behind interviews."

60% of people said there was good use of interviews

70% said good cutaways

20% said good music

and 10% answered good title sequence

QUESTION FIVE

'Do you think the camera shots and music used are suited to the topic of happiness?'

Sarah Watt - 17 Years Old - Student

"I think the music suited the topic very well because it was upbeat, and the camera shots used could have been closer in the interviews but overall they were both well suited."


80% said the music was well suited to the topic

25% said the camera shots varied to professional

QUESTION SIX

'Do you think the documentary is appropriate for channel 4?'

Lauren Harvey - 17 Years Old - Student

"Yes, i think the documentary is appropriate for channel 4."

100% agree Yes it is appropriate

50% answered because it is because it has the same target audience

QUESTION SEVEN

'By listening to the radio trailer and seeing the print advert does that make you want to watch the documentary? Why?

Doreen Carter - 68 Years Old - Retired

100% answered Yes the print advert and radio trailer would make them want to watch the documentary

50% said because the print advert was eye catching

Below show some images we took when presenting our documentary to our target audience

We uploaded our documentary onto YouTube to gain feedback and below shows one of the comments.

QUESTION FOUR -

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

"Within the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages of making my product i used a variety of new media technologies. I used the internet to gain ideas after doing research on search engines such as Youtube and Google. I also constructed a questionniare on Microsoft Word, to hand out and gain feedback from peers, this would help me make decisions when constructing my product, for example what colours are morepopular than others, i would take the majority answer and use this as onscreen text and in my print advert.

Additionally in the construction stages i used equipment such as a digital video camera a tripod, and a microphone to film material for my documentary, things like interviews,cutaways, stopframe animation and voxpops. I used a digital stills camera to capture the images for the print advert, and afterwards i used a USB cable to transfer it onto the computer where i would go on to edit the product in Adobe Photoshop. To edit the production i used Adobe Premier to cut things out , like interview questions, to add graphics, introduce an interviewee to audiences.

We also adjusted sound levels so they ran the same throughout, which is an important feature in any documentary. We used the radio station to record the voiceover which would eventually link our documentary together. Also the radio advery was recorded in the studio, it being important that the same voice was used for both.

Finally for the evaluation stages i have used the sound recorder on my laptop for audio in answering the questions. I have used Youtube to get screengrabs from other channel 4 documentaries to show comparisions with mine. I have used paint to crop the screengrabs and finally moviemaker to finalise the evaluation, in constructing my answers in a multimedia form."

Here are some attempts of the Print advert image

However these images were not used, after deciding we needed to use a more striking image., changes were made.

Codes and Conventions of Radio Trailers and Print Adverts

Print Adverts

• Channel Logo
• One main image - relating to the programme
• Title of programme
• Slogan
• Scheduling
• Words kept to a minumum

Radio Trailers

• Channel
• Average length 40 seconds
• Clips from programme
• Ocasionally music bed
• Voiceover - Can be used to pose questions that will be answered in the show. The voiceover also narrates and outlines what the show is about.