My documentary team:
- Alberto Santos Pinto 6129: The director/Editor
- Ronan Guia 6057: The Presenter/Editor
- Jason Cueto 6029: Main Editor/ Cameraman
- Panos Karachalios 6155: The Presenter/Editor
Introduction: Moving from AS to A2
Since I am now starting A2 the transition between media AS level and A2 level is vastly different due to the fact that A2 is requirements are much more to a different scale than AS requirements. In A2 media I have to work in a Production group to either create a documentary, music video or Film in which it requires substantial teamwork in order to create these media products. When moving from AS media to A2 media the time to take to complete each task is much more different than it was in A2. This is because even though both take a vast amount of time to complete, the difference in A2 is that we needed to plan our production thoroughly. Whereas in AS we needed to stick to a strict schedule in order to complete each individual task while at the same we had to be prepare beforehand when completing the task at hand.
Additionally, as the A2 task is to create either a documentary, music video or Film compared to AS in which the task was to create News Bulletin the roles of the my production would be immensely different. This is evident by the fact that in AS the require roles of the production team would be a presenter, a editor, a researcher and a script writer, however in A2 our roles are now a actor, a producer, a editor and a director in which clearly shows the difference between AS and A2. Therefore, when moving from AS to A2 I had to considered the fact that I will be doing something completely different and thus needed to make sure I am prepared to complete this task. Since we have chosen to do produce a TV Documentary, it would mean then we have to follow the requirements that are needed in order to produce a TV documentary.
Moving from understanding the concept of genre from AS to A2
Moving from understanding the concept of genre from AS to A2
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| A book published by Theo Van Leeuwen called 'introducing social semiotics' in which describes about understanding genre. |
The difference between understanding the concept of genre from AS to A2 is that in A2 we must research and refer to theories that describes and explains about understanding genre within TV documentaries whereas in AS is about understanding genre within news bulletins. In the image above it shows a book which is one of the theories based on understanding genre called 'introducing social semiotics' made by Theo Van Leeuwen. In this book he explains how meaning is created through complex semiotic interactions. This will suggest that in order for TV documentaries to share meanings or messages towards their audience , they need to use certain signs or symbols within the documentary in order to express this.
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| A book published by John Frow called 'Genre' in which it describes understanding the concept of genre. |
Furthermore, in A2 we also needed to refer to the book called 'Genre' which was created by John Frow which is another theory based on understanding the concept of genre. From his book he explains it is important to understand genre as it helps to generate the knowledge of the world of film and television and how understanding genre is more of an dynamic process than a set of stable rules. From this it would imply that TV Documentaries would need to be able to emphasis the concept of genre to their audiences and as a result, be able to effectively transmit their message to their audience.
My understanding of genre within a TV documentary
Here is an example of a TV documentary, in which shows their use of genre. When analysing this TV documentary we must refer to the theories that Theo Van Leeuwen and John Frow made on genre in order to show my understanding of genre, which are:
Understanding genre within BBC Three's TV documentary called: ' Conspiracy Files: Murder in Washington'
- Shapes the audiences (and producers) expectations of what a TV documentary should look like.
- Circumscribes what topics they should be about
- Who they should address and how.
- What background knowledge is required to understand the genre (TV documentary.)
- Their purpose- what they designed to do.
- Where might we encounter them.
Understanding genre within BBC Three's TV documentary called: ' Conspiracy Files: Murder in Washington'
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| Conspiracy Files: Murder in Washington TV documentary |
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| An interview within the documentary |
It shapes the audiences expectations of what TV documentaries should like through it's extensive use of interviews within the documentary. This is because interviews is one of most important and basic codes and convections that are typically expected within TV documentaries. As of such, it is then certain that the audience would be expecting to witness some forms of interviews within the documentary in order to show the extent of the producers research regarding on their topics. Therefore, this documentary does this quite well by providing interviews straight at the start of the documentary. Thus, suggesting that TV documentaries show their understanding of genre by using multiple of interviews which in the case of this documentary the genre of politics and murder through very serious interview talks.
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| The title sequence of the TV documentary |
Being able to circumscribes what topics they should talk about through it's title sequence. This is evident as the title sequence within the documentary makes it clear on what the documentary is about . This is done through showing the city of Washington which is mostly associated with politics due to the white house being located there. Also, the title contains the word 'Murder' which is surrounded in a night-sky background which would demonstrate that the documentary contains some dark elements within that it will be covering. This is also emphasised upon how the documentary shows constant images of the 2016 American presidential campaign within it and therefore clearly foretelling that the documentary is involved around politics. As such, this would imply that the documentary is only limited to those who are interested with politics along with murder mystery. This therefore, shows that TV documentaries show their understanding of genre by circumscribing the topics shown in their documentary through direct images of specific content being shown.
Being able to show who they are addressing through the use of archive files in their documentary of the American presidential election. This is apparent as within the documentary it uses multiple of archive files that show footage of the American presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, particularly on Clinton's leaked emails scandal. This would imply that the documentary is trying to address to those who are interested with Clinton's leaked emails scandal and more on how they may have an potential link with the murder of Seth Rich, as such emphasising the genre of politics and murder within it. Therefore, TV documentaries show their understanding of genre through how they address who they targeting by the use of displaying specific types of content within their documentaries.
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An image from the TV documentary of Clinton's Presidential Campaign in 2016
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An image from the documentary on where Seth Rich was murdered.
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- Additionally, being able to show what background knowledge is required to know their genre through how they describe the murder of Seth Rich within the documentary. This is important as it establishes to the audience on what type of genre that the TV documentary is focusing on. In the case of this TV documentary it would be politics and murder due to how it provides detail accounts of the murder of Seth Rich and how it could be potentially linked in with the American presidential campaign in 2016. This would suggest that TV documentaries shows it's understanding of genre by showing the background knowledge that is required to know their genre through detailed descriptions of the context of the topics within their documentaries.
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| Image showing protests about the Seth Rich's murder conspiracy |
Furthermore, the TV documentary was also able to show it's purpose through constant images of protests regarding on Seth Rich's murder case near the end of the documentary. This is significant as it shows the overall purpose of the documentary which is to discover any significant clues or information regarding on Seth Rich's murder conspiracy. This can be seen in the media images of the protests shown in the image above to represent their final message of recovering anything significant from the Seth Rich case. As such, this suggests that documentaries show their understanding of genre through displaying their purpose of why they are showing this content towards their audience through the use of archive files that display their overall message of the documentary.
Lastly, the TV documentary also shows how it can be encounter as throughout the documentary it displays the logo of BBC within the top left side of the screen, implying that the documentary can be found in BBC's official website.
Understanding the concept of Narrative
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| A book published by Gerard Genette called 'narrative discourse' which describes the concept of narrative |
For my next task we must be able to understand the concept of narrative within TV documentaries and for me to be able to perform this feat we must need to understand and refer to an another theory which is Gerard Genette's theory, which is called an 'narrative discourse' (1980). According to his theory on narrative, there are 3 ways in which narrative can be understood. These are:
- Form of Narrative
- Succession of events
- Methods of telling the story
Understanding narrative through TV Documentaries
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| 'Supercharged otters: Natural world' documentary for narrative |
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| A skeleton model of an otter in the documentary |
This is a heavily based narrative documentary called the 'Supercharged Otters: Natural World'. In the documentary the narrator/ presenter of the documentary (Charlie Hamilton James) is showing the survival secrets of three orphan sea otters along with the way they live among each other. Within the full documentary he explains how the otters biological structure such as their flexible spine, tail and so on, allows them to hunt effectively in water and thus giving give a good chance to hunt their prey within water. He also explains within the documentary how sea otters are endanger and how their population is slowly recovering but are still far below original population numbers due to the fact that the majority of sea otters were hunted for their highly wanted fur. This narrative technique of capturing the life of sea otters, along with using facts to explain the otters endangerment helps to make the audience sympathize with the otters situation and would make the documentary seem as a 'call for help' for the endangered sea otters.
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| An otter in the documentary trying to catch it's prey |
Succession of events
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| The presenter explaining sea otters special abilities underwater |
From the documentary, it is easy to understand the succession of events that occur within the documentary due to the fact that it is very heavily narrative documentary. Therefore, from this I was to summarise the succession of events that occur within the documentary. The first part of the succession of events in the documentary is at the beginning where the narrator is explaining the sea otters survival techniques and hunting capabilities. The second part of the succession of events in the documentary is when the narrator is explaining how sea otters are endangered creatures due to wanted luxurious coated fur. The third part of the succession of events in the documentary is when the narrator is describing the sea otters special features and abilities. Lastly, the last part of the succession of events in the documentary talks about how sea otters have become settling within cities such as Singapore .
Methods of telling the story
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| The camera moving in synch with the otter |
One method that the documentary used to tell the story is through the camera movement and positioning. This is evident as one example within the documentary showed that while the camera was focusing on the otters in the water, the camera moved very steadily whilst the otters were moving in the water. This shows how this method was telling the story of the documentary as the camera movement had synchronize with the movement of the otter. This would suggest that the camera was trying to act like the otter within that moment, which would then provided an in-depth perspective of the otters to the audience and allow them to understand how it lives and behaves. This will then fit the entire narrative of the documentary of how it is showing the life of the otter. This is also emphasis through the camera position of the camera as the camera had a very fixed position when observing the otters playing with each other. This shows that it provided a high quality view of the life of an otter which would reinforce it's realistic narrative on wanting the audience to feel as if they are with the otters. Additionally, it's fixed camera position also makes sure for the audience to view the otter's full behaves and movements so they can emphasis their realistic aspect that the documentary is trying to achieve.
Secondly, another method that the documentary uses is the close proximity between the camera and the otters. This is evident as the within entire full documentary the camera had very close camera angle of their movements, bodies, locations and so on and this was done from the beginning towards the end of the documentary. This will therefore, suggest that this close proximity between the camera and the otters was able to tell the story of the documentary as it demonstrated an accurate view of otters surviving. Thus, this was done through showing what the otters do in a close perspective and the way they hunt in a zoom camera shot which allows the audience to fully engage with the otters. This once again reinforce their realistic narrative aspect of wanting the audience to experience what otters are experiencing.
Understanding the concept of Audience
Theories relating to audience
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| A book published by henry Jenkins called 'convergence culture' in which describes the concept of audience |
For my next task, we must also need to understand the concept of audience in TV documentaries for A2 which is far more different to audience in AS. This is due to the fact that in AS in order to understand the concept of audience we needed to understand the demographics of the audiences and how this affects our news bulletin. Whereas, in A2 we must now refer and research upon the book called 'convergence culture' which was published by Henry Jenkins. He argues that there has been shift from traditional media which is one form of communication to the audience to now a convergence/participating culture. This means that the audience is able to create multiple ways to share things to others instead of the media doing it, making them prosumers.
Here is the diagram I created of the encoding and decoding model:
This model shows the basis of Stuart Hall's theory where it talks about how the audience approach's a certain message through the use of different factors such as personal experiences, cultural background and so on that can affect the audiences encoding and decoding. For example an older person's frameworks of knowledge would be partly different to a younger person's framework of knowledge. In summary Hall's theory of encoding and decoding helps to enforce the idea of how the audience would communicate differently towards certain things or messages. Thus, he argues that the audience receive media messages in three ways:
Dominant reading
Dominant reading or preferred reading is the reading that seems to be, for the majority of people in society, the natural or normal way to interpret a text. For example if someone provided money for a charity everyone would 100% agree that would be a good thing to do. This will suggest that people decoding with dominant reading would have a less chance of misunderstanding or have different opinions regarding on the message the sender sends to the receiver as the receiver would easier interpret the text.
Cultivation Theory
Additionally, another theorist named George Gerbner is also important to note on when understanding audience especially within TV documentaries due to his theory on 'cultivation'. His theory on cultivation argues of the idea that continued exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way in which people perceive the world around them such as cultivating particular views and opinions. He also adds on how cultivation reinforces mainstream values in which helps the media to transmit their dominant ideologies towards the audience far more easier through the process of cultivation. When applying cultivation into TV documentaries it would appear to be a slightly difficult task to implement, due to the process of cultivation seems to work effectively over a long period time e.g TV soups, News, series. and so on in order for ideas or media messages to fully shape the audiences' perception of particular subjects. Nevertheless, Gerbner's theory of cultivation is still very much relevant to TV documentaries in general as it merely means that the content that they produce must be fairly accurate along with containing vast amount of appropriate content that can easily influence their audiences.
Understanding audience within a TV documentary
The Encoding and Decoding Model/ Audience Reception
Other theories also includes Stuart Hall's theory of 'encoding and decoding' which is represented via the encoding and decoding model.Here is the diagram I created of the encoding and decoding model:
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| Model of Hall's theory of encoding and decoding that describes the topic of representation |
Dominant reading
Dominant reading or preferred reading is the reading that seems to be, for the majority of people in society, the natural or normal way to interpret a text. For example if someone provided money for a charity everyone would 100% agree that would be a good thing to do. This will suggest that people decoding with dominant reading would have a less chance of misunderstanding or have different opinions regarding on the message the sender sends to the receiver as the receiver would easier interpret the text.
Negotiated reading
Negotiated reading is when the reader partly believes the code and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes modifies it in the way which reflects their own position, experiences and interests. For example someone may find a Big Mac from McDonalds delicious but only buy it rarely because they know it is very unhealthy. This will suggest the receiver does understand the code given by the sender however the receiver ultimately decodes the message through their personal opinions and experiences which will therefore make them either agree or disagree with the message.
Oppositional reading
Oppositional reading is when the viewer social position places them in an oppositional relation to the dominant code meaning they reject the reading. For example the viewer finds reality TV horrible as it is fake and ridiculous to them. This will suggest that the receiver rejects the message given to them and instead provides their own meaning of the message to the sender.Cultivation Theory
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| An illustration of George Gerbner's cultivation theory |
Understanding audience within a TV documentary
The documentary above is called 'Queer Britain' in which explains how queers are treated in Britain and their stories and feelings about being an queer. When analysing this TV documentary I was able to identify that this TV documentary by following Henry Jenkins theory of an participating culture. This is evident as the documentary itself is an example of an participating culture due to the fact that it was created by an individual in which he was able to share this documentary to multiple of people. This will reinforce the idea of the audience being prosumers due to the fact that many of them are able to create their own piece of media in which can be distributed to many others in which a TV documentary is an example of such. Additionally, within the documentary it is also contains a video taken by an mobile phone, which is an another example of an participating culture due to the fact that an audience member produced an piece of media in which can be shared to many people as people use also use mobile phones to take videos. This will therefore, suggest that the audience is actively trying to share their content through the use of different technological mediums, which allows them to produce their own kind of media and by the fact that it is relatable to what the audiences do with their phone. This as a result, reinforces the idea of the audience being prosumers in which Henry Jenkins argued of.
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| Another example of 'participatory culture' |
Furthermore, another way in which the documentary shows their understanding of audience is by the laptop that the presenter uses. This is evident as the presenter uses he's laptop to watch a video, which is important for knowing more about religious views on queers in which the audience also uses their laptops to watch videos. This shows that the documentary is using the use of digital technology in order to emphasis the concept of participating culture by the fact that it presents a relatable image to the audience by using an laptop to watch videos in which they would also do the same with an laptop. As a result, this will show another way in which the documentary shows their understanding of audience by the fact that it follows Henry Jenkins theory of an participating culture.
Understanding the concept of representation
When understanding the concept of representation it is important refer to Stuart Hall's theory of media representation. He follows on the idea that media representation is the production of meaning through media language along with the idea that stereotyping is used assert power to reinforce inequalities of power on how stereotypes reduces people to a few simple characteristics or traits. When applying this into TV documentaries he's theory of representations helps us to identity certain ways in how TV documentaries would use stereotypes when trying to represent a certain meaning to their audience and in what ways they would this to enforce this certain representation that are trying to create.
Understanding the concept of Media language
Roland Barthes theory in semiotics argues how texts (in the case of media) can communicate their meanings through the process of signification, which involves conveying a meaning through a certain medium. He also explains how these signs can be understood due to detonate which means the 'literal' or common-sense meaning of the sign, and also being connate which involves meanings associated with or suggested by a sign. When applying this theory into TV documentaries, it can be said that documentaries uses codes and conventions and camera techniques in order to convey certain meanings or themes via making these specific techniques or scenes detonative or conative in order to transmit a certain message to their target audience
Another theorist that would be also useful in understanding media language would be postmodernist jean Baudrillard who also supports Barthes idea of semiotics. He argues of the idea of 'hype reality' in which postmodern media images have created blurred boundaries between what is 'reality' than the reality that the media have supposedly represent. Thus, he believes this is possible by ways such as the use of semiotics and media language in order to create this 'hyper reality'. When applying Baudrilard's theory into documentaries it does seem plausible that idea of 'hyper reality' can occurred within this type of media medium. This is evident as TV documentaries (especially nature ones) usually seem to present top quality scenes that look like to the audience were taken in a very short amount of time but in reality took much longer than what it seems.
Understanding the concept of representation
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| Stuart Hall's Theory on representation |
Understanding the concept of Media language
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| Roland Barthes theory of semiotics that describes the concept of media language |
Roland Barthes theory in semiotics argues how texts (in the case of media) can communicate their meanings through the process of signification, which involves conveying a meaning through a certain medium. He also explains how these signs can be understood due to detonate which means the 'literal' or common-sense meaning of the sign, and also being connate which involves meanings associated with or suggested by a sign. When applying this theory into TV documentaries, it can be said that documentaries uses codes and conventions and camera techniques in order to convey certain meanings or themes via making these specific techniques or scenes detonative or conative in order to transmit a certain message to their target audience
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| Jean Baudrillard who came with the term 'hyper-reality' |
Understanding media language in a TV documentary
The documentary above is documentary that is featured in BBC called 'Hospital' which describes how there was a huge influx of patients into the emergency department at Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham in February 2018, which resulted in dozens of people lying on trollies waiting to be admitted. In which NHS bosses advise every hospital in England to cancel all operations that are not clinically urgent or for cancer. As such, the documentary explores the lives of both patients and staff at this urgent period within a NHS hospital. As such, from this documentary I will show my understanding of the concept of media language within TV documentaries through applying Barthes's theory of semiotics.
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| One of the interviews within Hospital |
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| A low-angle wide shot used in Hospital |
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| A wide-angle establishing shot used in Hostipal |
Auteur Theory
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| An image showing an example of the auteur theory |
The auteur theory is the theory of filmmaking in which the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture. It was a rising in France in the late 1940s, during the novella vague movement. and the director is considered the 'author' of the movie than is the writer of the screen play. In other words such fundamental visual elements as camera placement, blocking, lighting and scene length, rather than plot line which conveys the message of the film. To show our understanding of this theory I will use an example of a documentary that applies this theory and then analysis specific parts that shows how this is effective within a TV documentary.
Understanding the Auteur Theory within a TV documentary
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| Werner Herzog, the director who I will be analysing on his use of the auteur theory within his documentaries |
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| 'Lo and Behold: Reveries of the connected world' |
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| 'Into the Inferno' |
Firstly, one of distinct fundamental elements of his use of the auteur theory is that in every one of his documentaries: he is the one filming and editing the entire documentary. This is evident for things such as him occasionally taking shots of scenery that he finds interesting, him being the interviewer of the documentary and along with the fact that the film shots seem rather more natural (e.g always zooming into places without any editing) which are clearly shown within each documentary. These defining features overall would fit the concept of the auteur theory as he is being in control on what is being film and what approaches and shots that he wants to take in order to make it clearly visual towards the audience. This heavily implies the reason that Werner does this is in order for the audience to know the things that he wants to portray to them and showing specific visuals that he likes to the audience, so that representations he tries to emphasize within the documentaries are clearly being viewed by the audience.
Secondly, another example of him applying the auteur theory is that in each of these two documentaries he would in a few occasions he would take part in conversations. This is indubitable in his interviews in which he usually likes to actively engage with the interviewee and occasionally like to make some joking remarks towards the interviewees as well. This would therefore show that Werner is applying the auteur theory as in each of these documentaries has a unique habit of being vividly engage in each of these documentaries which once again shows how much in control he has over the documentaries fundamental visual elements. This suggests that is done in order for him to show the audience his enthusiasm toward the documentaries and how he clearly enjoys making them, in which accurately portrayed by these habits.
Lastly, another example in which it shows him applying the auteur theory in each of these documentaries that he has done, are very narrative. This is clearly apparent after each of documentaries intros, along with narrative being follow through after interviews in each of these documentaries. This shows how he is applying the auteur theory due to the fact that he is prioritising the majority of his documentaries to be narration based and therefore reinforces how much control he has over the type of content he wants to produce in which clearly follows the principles of the auteur theory. This demonstrates that he done this in order vividly explain key aspects of the documentary to his audience in which the audience is able to know the most significant things that he wants to portray to the audience.
Primary Research
Adobe Spark
First Video
First Video
For showing evidence of me developing my digital production skills, I've done some primary research in which I have used Abode Spark in order to achieve this. The reason I used abode spark was in order for me to further improve my editing skills. In terms of this video I created a 40 second video where I added pictures relating to the topic in which I wanted to talk about (in my case the rock band Skillet) along with adding music. From using abode spark it had allowed me to give a basic introduction in editing in which would help me to able to use these techniques that I've learned from using abode spark to be put it into practice when editing my documentary.
There were many techniques in which I learned from using abode spark, which were:
- I was able to understand how it is important to check the duration of the video due to the fact that at one point my abode spark video was at 1 minute and 30 seconds in which was already too long for my intended 40 seconds. Therefore, it allowed to understand the importance of knowing how much content I need to add within my video. This as a result, would allow me to implement this into my documentary editing skills, as duration is an important part of my documentary since it is only meant to be 5 minutes due to it being an extract.
- Furthermore, I was also able to understand how adding effects is also important within the editing process of my adobe spark video as it provides a very appealing effect towards the video. This is evident from me adding captions within the video in which helped make the pictures being shown seem more easily understood which overall made the video very effective. This therefore, helps me to incorporate these ideas into the editing process of my documentary as it would contribute in to making my documentary very high quality material as a result.
Second Video
Secondly, in order to further show evidence of me obtaining primary research I have also created a another Abode Spark video, but this time I made it with someone else. This was done this way in order for to have a greater grasp of understanding editing tools, in which would help me to apply this during the editing process of my documentary. The video that we created was titled 'Sonic the Hedgehog: A Brief History' where we talked about the history of the video game franchise called 'Sonic The Hedgehog'. We had gone through the basic synopsis of the game, who created it, published it and what different gaming platforms it was available on and why it was moved to different types of platforms.
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| The script that we created, for my second abode spark video |
Therefore, there were 2 key skills that I've learnt when making my second video in abode spark:
- The first would be practicing our voice-overs which was an important skill when making our documentary. This is because the majority of our documentary would we based on voice-overs over certain scenes. This therefore, suggests that by practicing using voice-overs in abode spark, it would certainly help us when recording our voice-overs during the editing process.
- The second skill that I've learnt would be adding certain videos or pictures in a video slide that relates to what the voice-over in that slide is talking about. This is because, before recording my second video we had to get pictures which matched the topic of an individual line within the script for each video slide. This was done in order for the video to look consistent and therefore, a overall aesthetic pleasing video. This as result, would help us during the editing process of my documentary by the fact that we would be more mindful on knowing if the videos or pictures we took for our documentary matches on what we are going to say in our voice-overs and if certain videos/pictures we gotten is good enough quality to be in our documentary.
Comparing my digital skills in adobe spark to my digital skills in audacity in AS:
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| Comparing my digital skills from AS to A2 |
Secondary Research
Documentary Research
Additionally, I have also conducted secondary research, in order to get more in depth knowledge of documentaries so that I can implement my research into my documentary so that I can make more effective. My first secondary research task was for me to perform research regarding on the time's in which documentaries are broadcast in TV channels of BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 and then explain the reason for this. I believe this is important because it helps to establish the documentaries main objectives from looking at the time it is first shown in TV, as it can helps to distinguish objectives such as demographics in which I can infer their target demographics just by looking at the time the TV documentary is schedule to broadcast. As such, this is useful upon my documentary by the fact I can take upon the research that I have conducted from the TV schedules in different TV channels and would overall help me in deciding what time and channel show our documentary should be place in and what specific time would benefit or clarity our audience much more easier.
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| Shows 2 documentaries that are going to broadcasted in BBC 1 after 10:30 |
When conducting my secondary research on the time that TV documentaries are shown in TV channels, I used BBC 1 TV guide to be able to identity the time in which documentaries are shown in certain. The first TV documentaries that I was able to uncover were 'Saying Goodbye' starting at 10:45pm, and 'Life and Death Row' starting directly after it at 11:35pm on Tuesday. This suggests that the documentaries were shown after the 9pm watershed as the TV documentaries themselves at targeting adults due the fact that it is been shown late at night which mostly adults would be up at this this. Therefore, by the fact that the documentaries are targeting a more older audience it would imply that the documentaries contain more mature content and imagery, suggesting that the documentaries are presenting a very serious subject matter that only adults are more eligible to witness.
Secondly, in BBC 2 I had a found a documentary called the 'Exodus: Our Journey' that is going to be shown in BBC 2 at 9pm which where the watershed starts. This implies due to the documentary being shown right when the watershed starts would indicate that the documentary is also very mature and not targeted at children, but more to teenagers and young adults as starts at time in which it is moderately still early for them. Additionally, the documentary starts on a Thursday which would mostly indicate that it mainly targeting at young adults by the fact most young adults come home late at work and therefore would emphasis the maturity level of the documentary and not really being eligible for children to watch.
Thirdly, in ITV I had found documentaries that are being broadcasted at completely different times with one called 'Gino's Italian Coastal Escape' that is seen in 8pm and 'Gone to Pot: American Road Trip'. This set of documentaries are interesting as ''Gino's Italian Coastal Escape' as it is been shown at 8pm which is right before the watershed, suggesting that the demographic it targets are at all ages since it shown before the watershed. This would imply that the documentary is kid friendly and would have some light humour and therefore presented as a entertaining documentary. However, compared this, 'Gone to Pot: American Road Trip' in which is shown at 9pm after the watershed contains more mature tone to its and therefore are targeting at a older audience, for the same reasons as the previous documentaries.
Furthermore, in Channel 4 I was able to find 1 documentary that is being broadcasted in a late time called 'working class white men' in which airs at 10:00pm which is right after the 9m watershed. From this we can clearly tell that the target audience age which is being targeted at are adults due to it being pass the watershed. Additionally, from the title of the documentary along with the description of the documentary helps me to identify that the prime audience that are being targeted by this documentary are the demographic of working class men. This would suggest that the documentary would contain certain issues or content that would only be understood or be directed to working class men in which shows how this documentary clearly presents it's audience well through the time, title and description it presents in Channel 4.
The main TV network that we used for our documentary
Identifying our TV documentary audience
Before creating our documentary we had to do secondary research in helping us identify our target audience in order to know who will be watching our documentary. This therefore, would help us to implement the type of content that we would like to display in our documentary. An Example of the research we had did was watching a YouTube video of people cosplaying a range of different characters from different fandoms e.g Anime, Comics and so on. As a result, were to identify that our general audience is people who are related to media pop culture which suggests that the demographic of our audience is very diverse and as such can be anyone.
When identifying our target audience it was more difficult do research upon the fandoms in comic con for our documentary rather witnessing them in person. This is because our target audience is very diverse with different types of people attending comic. Therefore, part of our schedule during the filming process was to get a solid perception of what group of people our audience is really. However, we believe that this helped our documentary through us going to there to witness most popular cosplays that were displayed along with the statistics that were revealed in their Facebook page that showed the type of people who had went into comic con. As such, allowed us to know what things to include within the documentary that satisfied our target audience.
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| Screenshot showing a documentary in BBC 2 being broadcast at 9pm |
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| Screenshot showing documentaries in ITV that are going to broadcast at 8pm and 9pm. |
Thirdly, in ITV I had found documentaries that are being broadcasted at completely different times with one called 'Gino's Italian Coastal Escape' that is seen in 8pm and 'Gone to Pot: American Road Trip'. This set of documentaries are interesting as ''Gino's Italian Coastal Escape' as it is been shown at 8pm which is right before the watershed, suggesting that the demographic it targets are at all ages since it shown before the watershed. This would imply that the documentary is kid friendly and would have some light humour and therefore presented as a entertaining documentary. However, compared this, 'Gone to Pot: American Road Trip' in which is shown at 9pm after the watershed contains more mature tone to its and therefore are targeting at a older audience, for the same reasons as the previous documentaries.
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| Screenshot of an documentary that is going to be broadcasted at 10pm |
Furthermore, in Channel 4 I was able to find 1 documentary that is being broadcasted in a late time called 'working class white men' in which airs at 10:00pm which is right after the 9m watershed. From this we can clearly tell that the target audience age which is being targeted at are adults due to it being pass the watershed. Additionally, from the title of the documentary along with the description of the documentary helps me to identify that the prime audience that are being targeted by this documentary are the demographic of working class men. This would suggest that the documentary would contain certain issues or content that would only be understood or be directed to working class men in which shows how this documentary clearly presents it's audience well through the time, title and description it presents in Channel 4.
The main TV network that we used for our documentary
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| The Ethos of ITV2 |
Overall, after finishing my research onto TV channels in which TV documentaries are presented, me and my production had decided that the TV network that would be suitable for our documentary to be broadcasted would be ITV 2. This was decided by the fact the general ethos of ITV 2 matches with our overall narrative themes within our TV documentary due to it's main ethos focuses on light-hearted and fun entertainment. This as result, corresponds with our themes of light entertainment regarding on comic con in our TV documentary as well. Additionally, ITV 2 overall audience demographic of 16-34 year olds gender neutral audience also matches with our demographics of our target audience. As while in terms demographics for our documentary there isn't a really specific type of individuals we targeting due to the overall demographic of our audience is generally anyone who is part of a pop media fandom which doesn't account for specific types of people since anyone from any demographic can join in. Nevertheless, we decided that ITV 2 demographic was appropriate for us to be as a TV network broadcaster since in most cases in terms of age range, typical comic con attendees would be much more younger people compared to older people. However, when comes to gender ITV 2 target audience fits completely well with ours since everyone in our target audience are gender neutral.
Identifying our TV documentary audience
Before creating our documentary we had to do secondary research in helping us identify our target audience in order to know who will be watching our documentary. This therefore, would help us to implement the type of content that we would like to display in our documentary. An Example of the research we had did was watching a YouTube video of people cosplaying a range of different characters from different fandoms e.g Anime, Comics and so on. As a result, were to identify that our general audience is people who are related to media pop culture which suggests that the demographic of our audience is very diverse and as such can be anyone.
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| Attack on Titian cosplays |
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| Cosplays of Marvel Characters |
When filming for our documentary it made it easier for us to actually identify the demographics of our audience through us witnessing cosplays that were displayed in comic con which the majority that were presented were Attack on Titians cosplays. Additionally, with the help of statistics from comic con London 2017 Facebook page which had showed that 68% of cosplayers were Marvel characters compared to 32% of DC characters. This helped us established our target audience due to the fact that we were able to identity the dominant type of people that were within our target audience (Marvel and anime fans). As such, this would help us include certain things within the documentary that suited for target audience.
One of the media concepts that we had implemented into our documentary was audience and we used two theories to apply the key concepts of audience into our TV documentary. The first theory we had used was Stuart Hall's encoding and decoding in which describes that there are 3 ways in which the audience decodes messages, which are the dominant negotiated and the oppositional reading. In terms of our TV documentary we want our reading to being encoded and decoded as was a dominant reading towards our target audience. This was because we believed that having our audience agreeing with points made along with facts in our TV documentary would help to ensure a more positive experience when attending comic con. However, it was clear from the feedback obtained from our target audience on documentary that they had decoded our documentary into a negotiated reading. One of the reasons of this was due to not everyone watching would be too interested into pop-cultures, which is emphasised by how we target to a wide diverse target audience meaning opinions would differ from different types of individuals within our target audience. An example of this was in the TV documentary our presenter Ronan had mentioned how comic con was the "largest annual self-acclaim biggest modernised popular culture show" across many major cities in world which can be agreed and disagreed on by how others may argue this isn't the case as there examples that far better and popular than comic con. Nevertheless, while it did turn as negotiated reading we had adjusted to the overall encoding of the documentary and therefore our audience could either enjoy comic con or not believe it's right for them from watching our documentary.
The second theory that we applied into our documentary to show our use of the media concept of audience was Henry Jenkins's idea of a 'participatory culture', which argues that he audience does not consume media but also produces or contributes to its production. In our documentary a 'participatory culture' is clearly visually present throughout in our documentary due to how audience in the documentary contribute to the production or make out of it. This is seen in the scene above which someone dress as a shock trooper from a famous series called 'Star Wars'. This would show our understanding and our use of audience by the fact how the audience cosplaying as certain characters helps to present our overall narrative of comic con in our TV documentary since cosplaying is one the main activities you do in comic con. Therefore, showing how we use Jenkins's 'participatory' since the audience is contributing to the overall creation of our production and therefore also showing how we had used audience.
Research and Planning
Using media concepts in our TV documentary
How we use audience in our TV documentary
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| Using a negotiated reading in this particular scene |
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| A scene in our documentary showing an example of a 'participatory culture' |
How we use narrative in our TV documentary
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| The narrator of the documentary called 'Jane' |
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| How we had used narration through voice-overs. |
How we use Genre in our TV documentary
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| 'Finding love online' BBC Three documentary |
Before using Genre into our TV documentary I had to conduct secondary research into the topic of it so that I was able to contain a good detail of Genre as whole and how I can incorporate this into our documentary. This research included watching documentaries such as 'finding love online' that is shown in BBC three which the premise of it is about success and bad encounters that people find when using dating apps. This was great documentary in helping me into helping me find ways in using genre as the documentary uses certain forms of symbols or talk that relate to the genre of love/romance such frequently using heart emojis when someone is texting some else in a dating app or making jokes at typical romantic gestures in order to reinforce the genre of love/romance. This is supported John Frow explanation of genre in TV documentaries in which they should circumscribes what topics they should be about, in which this documentary does this by limiting the documentary's content only relating to dating and such to reinforce their genre of love and romance. Therefore, overall helping me in knowing ways in using Genre in our TV documentary.
When using Genre in our TV documentary an example of its effective use was when using Ronan who was one of the presenters of the TV documentary to be cosplayed as Batman. This is because throughout the documentary Ronan was clearly one of the predominant figures within the TV documentary in terms of him being shown in range of different scenes in the documentary with his Batman costume in order to emphasis this costume among the audience watching our documentary. This demonstrates how we used Genre in our TV documentary as the Batman cosplay to represent our genre of media- pop culture more visually to the audience in which the cosplay itself represents a certain genre trope such as action. This itself fits with the genre of media-pop culture due to the nature of documentary also focusing certain fandoms of that category (like Marvel) and as such would help to enforce our media- pop culture genre upon our audience.
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| How we used genre in our TV documentary |
When using Genre in our TV documentary an example of its effective use was when using Ronan who was one of the presenters of the TV documentary to be cosplayed as Batman. This is because throughout the documentary Ronan was clearly one of the predominant figures within the TV documentary in terms of him being shown in range of different scenes in the documentary with his Batman costume in order to emphasis this costume among the audience watching our documentary. This demonstrates how we used Genre in our TV documentary as the Batman cosplay to represent our genre of media- pop culture more visually to the audience in which the cosplay itself represents a certain genre trope such as action. This itself fits with the genre of media-pop culture due to the nature of documentary also focusing certain fandoms of that category (like Marvel) and as such would help to enforce our media- pop culture genre upon our audience.
How we used media language in our TV documentaries
Lastly, one other media concept that we had used within our TV documentary is media language in which we had applied Roland Barthes's theory of semiotics through the use of the code and convention and camera technique of the rule of third. This is evident as near the end of our TV documentary we had interviewed someone called Neil Gibson who was a author of a book called 'Twisted Dark', where during the interview we made sure the interviewer and the background behind can be clearly seem within the interview. As such, we applied Barthes theory of semiotics as we had used the rule of third that had contained a detonated meaning in it. This was due to it providing a literal meaning of the scene by showing how Gibson was an author of an popular book to audience by displaying the cover of his book right behind him to indicate his ownership of the book.
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| Using the rule of third as denonation |
Construction
Planning
At the start of the planning our documentary, me and my group have initially discuss to do a music video instead because at the time we thought we had the resources to do so. However, after further discussion we had decided to do a documentary on Comic Con by the fact that it was a much easier, manageable and relatable task to do. This was a good decision because in the long run we were able to manage our planning for the documentary effective and smoothly.
Facebook Messenger group chat
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| Our team group chat in Facebook messenger |
One of the first things that me and my group had done before planning/filming for our TV documentary was creating a group chat within Facebook messenger. This was imperative as it was important for our group to have communication with each other when making decisions on certain things of the construction and editing stages of our documentary along with accessible means in asking questions to each other in double checking on something that we decided earlier on the day. The Facebook messenger team group chat had function as a means to discuss new decisions and updates made by me as the director of the TV documentary along with ideas putted out by my teammates. This was one of the important elements of the success of our completion of our TV documentary because without any form of accessible communication with each other it would have made it increasingly more difficult to decide upon decisions which as a result would dampen the pace of our production work.
Story Board
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| Example 1 |
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| Example 2 |
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| Example 3 |
For our first task in planning our documentary we had made a story board beforehand so that we could get a clear image of our documentary and therefore a clear direction in what we like to do on the day we start filming. From the examples above it some of the slides we used for our storyboard, in particular it dictates the filming process of our introduction of our documentary. It is where we start from the stairs in the main entrance of the Excel Centre and from there we walk our way up to the top of the stairs, while our cameraman films us from different angles in which is clearly depicted in example 1 and 3. When creating the storyboard the only limitation upon it is that it had lacked specific tools in making the perfect scene that we planed for. Such as having customs that were similar to what were wearing in Comic Con in order to make it more accurate and less confusing when looking back at it. However, overall it was very useful to us when planning for our documentary.
Risk assessment
 Furthermore, we had also created a risk assessment where we had listed worst case scenarios that could possibly happen during the day that we film for our documentary and created measures in order to either prevent the situation from happening or finding an alternative way to solve it. This very effective in terms of helping us film for our documentary due to the fact during the day their were some incidents that were expected from our risk assessment that we needed to sort out. For example, when were going to begin filming using our drone to make an particular camera shot we were unable to use due to venue being a no-air fly zone. Thus from the information provided by our risk assessment we able to undertake another course of action in which we had inside made that particular that camera shot inside the venue instead using our video camera instead of the drone. Moreover, another example was that transport route that we planned take to comic con was closed down, so from the risk assessment we were able to use another transportation route to get to comic con instead. These examples had clearly demonstrated how useful the risk assessment was when were filming our documentary and therefore a effective part of our plan. Camera shot Description List  Additionally, me and group had also created a shot description list where we had listed the order of each individually camera angle/focus/shot type and then give the description of that type of camera shot along with a image of the scene in order to make the camera angle/focus/shot type easier to identify. For example in the image above in the second shot that is listed is a Ariel shot in which we gave a brief description on how we are going to do and what we were using with, along with sketch of the actual camera shot that we are going to perform in that scene. This was effective overall when filming for our documentary as on the day we filmed, we were able to know what type of camera angles and camera shots that we wanted to perform in a specific scene during the day and also had laid out a clear-cut chronological way in knowing what things comes first and what things that would come later on and therefore made us prepared when filming for our documentary. Filming equipment contracts  A few days before we had began filming through our equipment checklist we had realised that their were specific equipment that we needed in order to film our documentary, which for certain reasons weren't able to obtain. Therefore, we had decided to borrowed equipment from people that we had know in order to film proper during the day of our documentary but due to borrowing the equipment we had to commissioned a signed contract with the individual that we were signing with just in case the equipment was damaged in any way. Equipment that needed a contract signed was our camera due to the fact that didn't had a camera to film with, another was our microphones and voice-recorder as it was initially expensive to buy and so we had borrow these equipment from our school's media and music departments. As a result, through the signing of these contracts had greatly benefited us overall in filming for our documentary by the fact that without these contracts it wouldn't had been possible to be able to film for our documentary at all. Documentary Script     When creating the script for our documentary the people who mostly partook into it's creation were two of the presenters of our documentary. This is due to the fact that we believed that having them create it for themselves would make it much more easier and natural for them when they are recording their voices for the documentary. The majority of the lines spoken within the script heavily contain hints of upbeat and liveliness. This was due to the structure of the script being extremely important for the effectiveness for our documentary as the script needed to send out our overall theme of light-heartness to our target audience so that they can indicate what type place comic con is. |
Starting the filming process
Past experience:
When starting filming for our documentary I had to take into account of all of the past experience that I have done in filming so that nothing goes wrong during the filming process. For example I had past experience in filming when I went to school trip to Sussex University in which we done a media workshop there, in trying out different filming equipment such as cameras, microphones, and so on. I was told tips in how to make an effective film and I was also told to make the short film 3 minute film with a group on a subject that we liked. This past experience of filming had overall benefitted me when filming for my documentary, by the fact that I was able to help my groups' cameraman on what thinks he should film for our documentary and what certain camera angles he should try out to make the scene look more effective.
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| Where we watched the documentary |
Another thing that I also needed to take into account when I started filming is the things that I've learnt about filming so I can be able to use this knowledge when I filmed. An example of this is that I went to the BFL London Film Festival on October 10th 2017 in which me and my group watched a documentary called 'Jane'. The documentary was able a British primatologist called Jane Goodall who went to Gombe Stream national Park in Tanzania in 1960 to research the chimpanzees there. When watching the documentary I was able to learn a range different camera angles from angles such as good positions used when interviewing, good establishing shots since many of the scenes were taken in a jungle and many more. This as a result, had helped me to able to incorporate this knowledge when I started filming as before we went to film our documentary I was able to add all of the ideas that I gotten from watching 'Jane' into a camera shot list that we made prier to the filming of our documentary.
The Filming Process:
During the filming process of the documentary regarding on comic con, things had fairly when went well in which we able to record over 5 minutes of film of the documentary. This meant we had enough to edit effectvely when it comes to the editing process. Also, along with the fact that that we have gotten enough interviews to be able to be added to our documentary in which all with high quality film and sound and no interferences when interviewing whatsoever. However, the only problem that we had was that we weren't able to film with the drone that we had due to the fact that comic con was a no air fly zone in which meant that we couldn't fly our drone there since the venue was near a airport and it would therefore could potentially interfere with planes flying there.
Post Film Session:
After looking back at what we filmed for our documentary, it really highlighted key issues in which we should have though about earlier when we were filming for our documentary so that we could have been able to prevent those issues from happening. The first problem was unable to film with drone since the venue was a no air fly zone. This massively affected our documentary by the fact that all initial introduction of our documentary was having of outside shots of comic con using the drone. However, the introduction was demolished since we couldn't fly the drone, so it resorted us to make an introduction inside comic con and we have to also use archive shots of the venue but the majority would probably camera shots and angles that we didn't plan for and could have poorer quality compare to our drone. From this it shows that we should have been more readily equipped on how to use a drone by the fact that the drone was also rented which meant that we wasted money on a drone that we couldn't, so therefore we should of had more knowledge of the drone. Additionally, our interview set up at the beginning was slow by the fact that we didn't properly adjusted the microphone of the interviewee and recorder no so well in which we wasted time in fixing this problem during the filming the documentary. But overall we did of the necessary scenes and interviews that we wanted for our documentary.
Feedback: A draft version of our TV documentary
After doing some early edits of our documentary we had decided to post a draft version of our documentary on youtube so that we were able to receive some form of feedback from anyone in our comment section (especially comments from members of our target audience). This was done so that we could be able to act upon the improvements given to use and as such helps us to develop our documentary into a much more professional and engaging higher tier piece of work. One of the feedback given to us was that it would be good for us to use a better format for the statistics that we present in our documentary along with showing the comic con convention through archive footage rather than a simple image as it would make the scene look boring.
What is next:
What is next for me now is to know how to edit effectively in premiere pro in which means both me and group have to have a lot of practice in editing before it comes to the editing process in which we would begin editing our documentary. I will also, with my group be looking back at footage that we think is needed for documentary and overall check we thinks we do need to improve. From the footage would be checking if there is any footage that we think to need to record more of, especially scenes such as aerial shots in which we couldn't do because of the problems that we had we our drone.
The Filming Process:
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| Where our documentary took place |
During the filming process of the documentary regarding on comic con, things had fairly when went well in which we able to record over 5 minutes of film of the documentary. This meant we had enough to edit effectvely when it comes to the editing process. Also, along with the fact that that we have gotten enough interviews to be able to be added to our documentary in which all with high quality film and sound and no interferences when interviewing whatsoever. However, the only problem that we had was that we weren't able to film with the drone that we had due to the fact that comic con was a no air fly zone in which meant that we couldn't fly our drone there since the venue was near a airport and it would therefore could potentially interfere with planes flying there.
Post Film Session:
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| The Mavic Pro- The drone we were going to use to film our introduction of our documentary |
Feedback: A draft version of our TV documentary
After doing some early edits of our documentary we had decided to post a draft version of our documentary on youtube so that we were able to receive some form of feedback from anyone in our comment section (especially comments from members of our target audience). This was done so that we could be able to act upon the improvements given to use and as such helps us to develop our documentary into a much more professional and engaging higher tier piece of work. One of the feedback given to us was that it would be good for us to use a better format for the statistics that we present in our documentary along with showing the comic con convention through archive footage rather than a simple image as it would make the scene look boring.
What is next:
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| Our next plan of action |
Post Production
Learning to use premiere pro |
Premiere Pro
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Before I started editing, I first needed to know how to use the software editor that I was going to use to edit my documentary, which was premiere pro The reason we had decided to use premiere pro is because it enables us to build our storyline of the documentary fairly simple and quickly. Along, with the fact that with it's added features and tools helps us to create a overall perfect representation of our documentary, once we had finish the editing process. One thing that we learnt before using premiere pro or any sort of editing software is that we needed to backup all of my video files that filmed for my documentary, This is because it was important for us to have backed up our files in case if one of our files have gotten corrupted or some sort of malfunction had occurred. Therefore, it is crucial for us to have backed up our files before editing our documentary in premiere pro.
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| What Premiere Pro looks like |
Furthermore, we were was also taught the basics when using premiere pro so that we could have a good start in the beginning the editing process of our documentary. One thing we were taught was that there were 4 four different pallets that would help us to edit our documentary clips. The first pallet is the effect controls pallet(top-left hand side), the second was the main viewer pallet (top-right hand side) which can only viewed by the timeline, the project pallet (bottom-left hand side) which is where you place all media files within it and the timeline pallet (bottom-right hand side) which is where you arrange all of the video clips within it. This helped us to give a grasp on what to do in premiere pro so that we could have good start in editing our documentary and therefore, would help us in the long run when we begin to learn more advance techniques.
Practice documentary- Using Premiere Elements
Before editing our documentary we wanted to have hands-on experience in editing a piece of film using an editing software such as adobe elements. This was because we wanted to develop the skills necessary to edit in premiere pro and have a overall knowledge of the tools and effects of premiere pro. As such, it make it easier for editing our documentary in the long run. The way we did this was through making a short interview of me talking about why I enjoy my hobby, where we had used filming equipment similar to what we had in the filming process of our documentary. We also did different pan-shots of me playing my hobby and then edited the footage we had made into a short documentary.
When editing in abode elements one of the first essential tools that we had to learn was using the rendering tool. The rendering tool is that a tool that allows us to smoothen a particular clip or clips that are out of focus. This was important for us to use as it allowed our footages to look clean and high in quality, which in turn made our clips seem more presentable and efficient. This therefore, gave our short documentary a perfect aesthetic look. An exampled of this being used was when in one clip where my friend in the documentary was placing a card down on the table, it had look quite out of focus. Therefore, by using the rendering tool it had made the clip seem more clearer and sharp when being played out afterwards, thus was a important asset in the documentary process.
Additionally, another thing that we had learnt when using abode elements was how to insert a caption within a clip. This was done through clicking the symbol that had the 'T' symbol on the bar at the right-hand side of the screen in abode elements. This allowed us to insert a caption into the timeline and then move it towards a particular clip that we wanted to have a caption on with and as such, would appear in the clip afterwards. This was useful to us by the fact that at one moment in the documentary we wanted to use a caption in order to create a life point gauge, which was a is something in my hobby in the documentary. Therefore, by using a caption it had allowed us to be able to use things that are specially only suited for my hobby (such as the life point gauge) and as a result a very useful tool.
Lastly, another effect that we had learnt when editing in abode elements was the fast-forward/slow-down effect. This effect had enabled us to increase or decrease the pace or speed of a certain clip that we wanted. This could happened through clicking the tool button and then click 'time remapping', which will give you the option on being able to increase the pace of the clip by dragging it to the right or decrease it by dragging it to the left. This was effective as it had made our documentary seem more efficient and professional through the different ways that fast-forwarding or slowing down does for the clip as a whole and therefore, effective in the scene that the clip is place in.
The editing process: Premiere Pro
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| The Rendering Tool |
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| The caption tool |
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| The Fast forwarding tool |
The editing process: Premiere Pro
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The various of tools that I used to edit in Premiere Pro
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| Managing the volume of audio recordings in Premiere Pro |
The editing process: After Effects
Furthermore, whilst editing in premiere pro we had also used another another piece of software to help to edit certain pieces of footage which was called after effects. The reason we used after effects to edit some of our footage was due to how after effects had contained extensive amount of tools that premiere pro had did not obtain and therefore, greatly benefitted me and production group with the amount of resources to enhanced our footage quality. By now it is already clear that A2 in terms of the editing process is more vastly difficult than it was in editing in AS by the fact that we also needed to edit in another editing software which is also required us to have the time for the basics in understanding on how to edit within after effects. Thus, unlike in AS where we only edited in audacity in A2 it requires us to edit within 2 different complicated softwares which include both the audio and filming footage instead just one of the other.
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| The After effects logo |
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| The effects control in After effects |
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| Editing the '32nd annual London comic con' title in After effects |
One of the things that we had edited in after effects was the '32nd Annual London Comic Con' title during this scene in the documentary. The particular part of it was the colour layout along with its transition effect as well, in order to edit this aspects of the title we needed to use the effects control in order to find the right colour and movement effects that I wanted to use in the title. One of the first things that we had edited was the transition of the text in which we used the 'transition' section in effects control, where there were a range of opinions in which we could choose from. The type of transition that we selected was a quick-paced falling letters sequence due to the fact it matched well the overall scene as as at one point in the scene the presenter in the right-side of the image above had put his hand up while at the same the letters were falling down which made almost look like Ronan was holding that individual letter. This had as a result, made the scene both visually and effectively pleasing to our audience watching this particular scene in the documentary.
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| The tools that I needed to use to edit the line graph |
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| Editing the line graph using after effects |
Additionally, one other thing that we had edited in after effects was parts of the line graph for our documentary, specifically the layout of it not the actual colours or added images into it. When editing the layout of the documentary we had watched a youtube video in helping us understanding the process of doing this due to creating the line graph was difficult and long process. One of the key tools that had used was the 'anchor point', 'position' and the 'scale' tool that can be seen within the right-hand image, these tools had helped us adjust the different positions that we wanted the line graph to be. This include things such as expanding or shorting the line, adjusting it's width and moving the line more closer either to the X-axis or to the Y-axis.
Additional research for editing purposes
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| Our statistics that we are going to use in our documentary |
One of our ideas beforehand was presenting specific statistics regarding on comic in relation on the type of people who had went there and what type of particular group are most the dominant in terms of participating within comic con. From the images above we decided that would use the statistics of age, gender, comparing the popularity of Marvel and DC, attendance and most favourite device to view content. This was important because it who had presented to the audience watching that claims are backup with evidence which will indicate our in-depth research towards others, therefore would contribute in making our documentary much more creditable. As such, I decided to find official statistics from the official London 2017 Facebook page itself rather than from other sources in the internet as I wanted the information that we provide in the documentary to be as accurate as possibly so that there wouldn't be any inconstancies or incorrectness within the statistics that we provide.
Ancillary Task 1 (Radio)
First Draft
This is the first draft our actually ancillary task in which like our other ancillary tasks it would be open to feedback in order to improve the quality of it and thus produce a better radio advertisement overall.
Feedback
After posting our first draft of our radio advertisement we were decided to receive feedback from our target audience in order to know on what type improvements should be made into our ancillary task. From the feedback we had gotten the responses were relatively positive with the exception on mentioning the date and time of when our documentary would be broadcast. While this made seem little, it is actually one the most critual things that must be added within our radio advertisement. This is because without the audience knowing when the documentary would be broadcasted then people would find it difficult to watch our documentary due to the little information given on it's release. As a result, it leads us in achieving our aim in attracting our target audience and therefore we quickly acted upon this is now final version of our radio advertisment.
Our final version of our ancillary task
How we us narrative in our radio ancillary task
When creating the radio advertisement it is important to note that the number of media concepts that could have been used in our ancillary task was very limited due to the nature of the actual radio thus the most appropriate one that be seen as effectively used in our radio advertisement was narrative. Like our documentary me and my production group had to applied Gerard Genette's theory of narrative in which the only way narrative of an general media medium can show their understanding of it, is by including at least 3 of the following things: forms of narrative, succession of events and the method of telling the story. This can be listened within our radio ancillary task through how we showed our forms of narrative within the radio advertisement. This is evident by how we the form of narrative of our ancillary task was our presenters speaking about comic con through pure audio. This shows that we applied Genette's theory of narrative as while the ancillary task would be inherently audio, it still nevertheless presented a way of us narrating within the radio advertisement. This is through things such as providing dates and times, commenting on specific things on comic con and many more which displayed attributes of forms of narrative.
Additionally, another way in which we had used applied Genette's theory of narrative to show our understanding and use of narrative within our TV documentary was through including the method of how we told the story through our music soundtrack. This is apparent by how we contain a constant upbeat and energetic music soundtrack throughout the radio broadcast. Therefore, while music itself can't directly tell the method of a story, the soundtrack here had worked more effectively in this case of a pure audio media medium. This is due by how the upbeat feel to the music provided a consistent atmosphere of fun and relaxation throughout the radio advertisement. This helped to establish to the audience that the radio advertisement was clearly a light-hearted broadcast, and as such provided the overall narrative of what our radio advertisement is suppose to be. Therefore, showing our understanding and use of narrative in our radio advertisement.
Script
Before recording our Ancillary Task we needed to create a script in order to effectively produce a clear and punctual radio trailer so that our audience or anyone interested would be able to clearly know what we are saying in our radio trailer. When creating the script itself we needed it to be as short as possible due to the minimum recording time to be at least 30secs long. However, while that was the case we also needed to lot a of key details about our documentary so that audience could have a clear picture of the content that is going to be shown in our documentary. Additionally, at the same time we also wanted not to give too much detail as we wanted to create further suspense and excitement of what is to come. An example of this was that near the end of the script we had included a list of a few groups of people attending comic con but didn't go into too much detail on it so that our audience would have taste of whats to come in our documentary. As such, this would further drag more attention of our documentary to people listening to the radio trailer and therefore increasing the overall popularity and viewing rate of our TV documentary.
Editing Process/Decisions made
When editing our Ancillary task there were few important decisions made during this process in which involved around our soundtrack and positions of our radio tracks. This was because that during the editing of my documentary we had too used a soundtrack that fitted with the overall energetic theme that we wanted to present in our radio advertisement. As such we had gathered at least 5 different types songs that fitted into the category of fun and energetic which included instrumental music that were called Alexi- smooth R&B instrumental 2018, Paradise Summer R&B, (Pop Bright)- End of summer, Pop Rock Instrumental music, Motivational Pop Rock instrumental /Uplifting Background Music. However, when coming into the decision in which soundtrack we put with our radio ad, we had decided that the (Pop Bright)- End of summer soundtrack would fit perfectly with the contents within our script as well as it contain a very uplifting and exiting theme that we were looking for in our radio Advertisement. Additionally, while we had decided what soundtrack we wanted, we also had to take into consideration of the positioning with first audio track as we had decided to space each audio track accordingly. This was done due to the fact that we wanted the audience a portion of soundtrack for a back 1.5 secs at least so that the music could reinforce the energetic theme in our Radio advertisement to our audience and therefore with more portions of the music being heard by our audience the more engaged they would be in continually listening to our radio advertisement.
Outcomes
Overall, we were able to create a effective radio trailer for our documentary which had included upbeat presenters that kept the entire radio broadcast seem lively, along with our exciting music that helped provided a consistent theme of light-heartiness among our audience. Additionally, the outcome of our decisions had also played in the effectiveness of our ancillary task due to how we founded different types of music to chose from as a group, along with positioning audio tracks during the editing of the ancillary. This had overall created better outcome of the radio trailer as it made it seem professional and therefore, fitting the criteria of the overall energetic and upbeat theme of our documentary through of which was clearly portrayed within our ancillary task.
Ancillary Task 1 (Radio)
First Draft
This is the first draft our actually ancillary task in which like our other ancillary tasks it would be open to feedback in order to improve the quality of it and thus produce a better radio advertisement overall.
Feedback
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| Feedback gotten from our first draft our radio advertisment |
Our final version of our ancillary task
How we us narrative in our radio ancillary task
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| One of our presenters reading his part of the script for the radio advertisement (Panos) |
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| One of other presenters reading his part of the script for the radio advertisement (Ronan) |
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| A music soundtrack in a forms of waves |
Script
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| The script of our radio advertisement. |
Before recording our Ancillary Task we needed to create a script in order to effectively produce a clear and punctual radio trailer so that our audience or anyone interested would be able to clearly know what we are saying in our radio trailer. When creating the script itself we needed it to be as short as possible due to the minimum recording time to be at least 30secs long. However, while that was the case we also needed to lot a of key details about our documentary so that audience could have a clear picture of the content that is going to be shown in our documentary. Additionally, at the same time we also wanted not to give too much detail as we wanted to create further suspense and excitement of what is to come. An example of this was that near the end of the script we had included a list of a few groups of people attending comic con but didn't go into too much detail on it so that our audience would have taste of whats to come in our documentary. As such, this would further drag more attention of our documentary to people listening to the radio trailer and therefore increasing the overall popularity and viewing rate of our TV documentary.
Editing Process/Decisions made
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| Editing our Ancillary Task |
When editing our Ancillary task there were few important decisions made during this process in which involved around our soundtrack and positions of our radio tracks. This was because that during the editing of my documentary we had too used a soundtrack that fitted with the overall energetic theme that we wanted to present in our radio advertisement. As such we had gathered at least 5 different types songs that fitted into the category of fun and energetic which included instrumental music that were called Alexi- smooth R&B instrumental 2018, Paradise Summer R&B, (Pop Bright)- End of summer, Pop Rock Instrumental music, Motivational Pop Rock instrumental /Uplifting Background Music. However, when coming into the decision in which soundtrack we put with our radio ad, we had decided that the (Pop Bright)- End of summer soundtrack would fit perfectly with the contents within our script as well as it contain a very uplifting and exiting theme that we were looking for in our radio Advertisement. Additionally, while we had decided what soundtrack we wanted, we also had to take into consideration of the positioning with first audio track as we had decided to space each audio track accordingly. This was done due to the fact that we wanted the audience a portion of soundtrack for a back 1.5 secs at least so that the music could reinforce the energetic theme in our Radio advertisement to our audience and therefore with more portions of the music being heard by our audience the more engaged they would be in continually listening to our radio advertisement.
Outcomes
Overall, we were able to create a effective radio trailer for our documentary which had included upbeat presenters that kept the entire radio broadcast seem lively, along with our exciting music that helped provided a consistent theme of light-heartiness among our audience. Additionally, the outcome of our decisions had also played in the effectiveness of our ancillary task due to how we founded different types of music to chose from as a group, along with positioning audio tracks during the editing of the ancillary. This had overall created better outcome of the radio trailer as it made it seem professional and therefore, fitting the criteria of the overall energetic and upbeat theme of our documentary through of which was clearly portrayed within our ancillary task.
Ancillary Task 2 (Poster)
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| The finished poster |
Research and Planning
Before, we had created the poster, which the purpose of it was to advertise our TV documentary we needed to know what kind of design, colour schemes and effects we would like to include into our poster. As such, we had looked upon different types of comic/cartoon designed backgrounds since it fits with the overall nature of our documentary and how these type of designs helped to emphasis the concept of comic con. Therefore, we were able to find a few images that fitted the requirements of what we were looking for, which included a comic book sun ray design and along with a pitch black London background. These images were perfect for our poster by the fact that it included elements that we be present within our documentary. This included things such as how the comic book sun ray design helped to foreshadow comic book characters appearing in our documentary along with how the London background helped to reinforce where comic con would take place.
Construction
The editing process
During the construction of our poster one of the requirements of showing progress within our the creation of our poster was through creating a multiple of draft examples of our poster with each needing to have one visual difference between each of them. As such, with our first draft we had started with different images of Ronan in different sides of the poster with his facial expressions being identical to that of his other image of him that is directly opposite from him. Also, the captions within the poster had a very standard text with little to none unique colour schemes that had matched with the posters' entire background. Overall, the first draft of poster help to demonstrate that it was a simple designed poster, with little editing done among the content within it, along with its basic standard of text to help emphasis it was merely a first attempt on creating a poster.
When creating the second draft, instead of just leaving a poster of Ronan with his costume on one side and one where he's wearing his normal clothes on the other, we had decided to add a more bigger cast within the poster. This was done as we believed it would help to demonstrate who would be the main focuses of the documentary and what type of costumes that the audience would typically expect within comic con. We also decided to include all of the presenters within the documentary so that our target audience could feel familiar with the presenters more and as such make the documentary seem fun and entertaining due to how all the presenters are giving friendly smiles. Furthermore, another change that was done within the poster was that Ronan's facial expressions and body language is much more visual seen compared to how it was in the first poster. This was changed as we thought having Ronan be clearly seen as authoritative and dominant within the poster would fit the character that he is dressed as. Therefore, this would help to provide a good representation of what type of characters DC fans who wear these characters within comic con would be perceive as. Nevertheless, while the poster was a massive improvement from our last poster it was considered moderate between us and others who were providing feedback.
Our final version of our poster had shown considerable amount of improvement from our second draft. This is because the entire format of the presenters within the poster had completely changed in to a more cartoonish style art instead of just having a standard image of us. We had decided to make this change as the cartoonish format help to emphasis our documentary's theme of lightheartedness and entertainment by how the cartoonish style helped to make the presenters seem quite friendly which helps to remove any forms of seriousness from it. Another change was that we had decided to add in a dark blank London silhouette in the background so that it adds in some context of where the documentary would be taking place. Additionally, the colours of the background match with the colour scheme of the comic con logo. Lastly, one last change we made from our second draft was that the text within the poster is much more bolder than it was before. This was done as it had made the writing in the poster more clearly seem by our audience along with us using very light colour schemes within the text so that the text can be more visually by people who look at it.
Before, we had created the poster, which the purpose of it was to advertise our TV documentary we needed to know what kind of design, colour schemes and effects we would like to include into our poster. As such, we had looked upon different types of comic/cartoon designed backgrounds since it fits with the overall nature of our documentary and how these type of designs helped to emphasis the concept of comic con. Therefore, we were able to find a few images that fitted the requirements of what we were looking for, which included a comic book sun ray design and along with a pitch black London background. These images were perfect for our poster by the fact that it included elements that we be present within our documentary. This included things such as how the comic book sun ray design helped to foreshadow comic book characters appearing in our documentary along with how the London background helped to reinforce where comic con would take place.
Construction
The editing process
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| The first draft of our poster |
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| The second draft of our poster |
When creating the second draft, instead of just leaving a poster of Ronan with his costume on one side and one where he's wearing his normal clothes on the other, we had decided to add a more bigger cast within the poster. This was done as we believed it would help to demonstrate who would be the main focuses of the documentary and what type of costumes that the audience would typically expect within comic con. We also decided to include all of the presenters within the documentary so that our target audience could feel familiar with the presenters more and as such make the documentary seem fun and entertaining due to how all the presenters are giving friendly smiles. Furthermore, another change that was done within the poster was that Ronan's facial expressions and body language is much more visual seen compared to how it was in the first poster. This was changed as we thought having Ronan be clearly seen as authoritative and dominant within the poster would fit the character that he is dressed as. Therefore, this would help to provide a good representation of what type of characters DC fans who wear these characters within comic con would be perceive as. Nevertheless, while the poster was a massive improvement from our last poster it was considered moderate between us and others who were providing feedback.
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| Final version of our poster |
Outcomes
Overall, the process of creating the poster was very successful, with us having little to no problems that hinder anything when we were editing and as such allowed the editing process to have a very good steady pace. One of the things that we had learnt was that was how our text and images needed to be very flashy so that it could get the attention of our audience. This was needed to match the ongoing outlook of comic con, which is overall people wearing bright diverse customs along with people having fun within the event. Therefore, we learnt that our poster needed to have a better representation of what should be expected when watching our documentary along with the general view of what comic con actually looks like when attending it.
Using media concepts in our poster
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How did we use genre in our TV poster
When using genre in our TV poster we made sure to applied John Frow's theory of genre in which he argues that in order for forms of media such as TV documentaries, or TV posters to effectively show their understanding of genre should include at least: how they shaped the audiences (and producers) expectations, circumscribing what topics that they should talk about, who they address to and how, what background knowledge is needed to the understand the genre, their purpose and where might we encounter them. In terms of our TV poster we had at least contained some of these topics when understanding genre within our TV poster.
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| The presenters within the TV poster |
One example of how we applied Genre into our TV poster was through how we circumscribed on what topics we would talk about due to the overall make-out of the TV poster. This is evident as the poster is made in a cartoon type format along with the presenters within the poster cosplaying as different characters. This would show how we had limited topics within the poster by how the content within it was purely cosplays and cartoonish which directly associates with the topic of comic con and no other topic, thus maintaining the overall theme and genre of the TV poster which is media-pop cultures.
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| The title of our TV poster |
Another example in which we had applied Frow's theory of genre was through how we address who we are targeting at. This apparent by how the presenters in the TV poster were cosplaying as popular media-pop culture fandoms along with the title of the poster saying 'MCM London Comic Con' which corresponded with the London background of the poster. This would show how we were focusing on the cosplays of the poster as it would indicate to people that the entire premise of it is targeted at these who love to cosplay as media pop-culture characters thus directly at those who attend or want to attend comic con itself. Furthermore, the use of the TV poster title had also helped to indicate on what type of people we would be targeting at. This due to the title displaying the words 'Comic Con' and 'London' which would clearly indicate to the audience that the entire focus of the TV poster and documentary is targeting at those who is interested into attending comic con.
How did we use representation in our TV poster
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| The presenters representing as different stereotypes of our target audience. |
When showing how we used or understood representation within our TV we made sure to apply Stuart Hall's theory of representation in which he argues that media images uses stereotypes to either to assert power over groups of individuals or to reduce them to simple traits or characteristics. In the case of our TV poster it was the latter, however this was due to us wanting our TV poster and documentary being relatable to our target audience along with limiting the types of topics we would be talking about so it that it makes it clear who we will be addressing to. The way we had used stereotypes was how each of the presenters had characteristics that resemble typical people attending comic con. This included our first presenter panos taking a picture to represent the people who constantly takes pictures with others in cosplays, our second presenter Ronan who acts confident within the poster which represents the type of cosplayers in comic con who take the event very seriously and participating in different cosplay contests. Also, me as the third presenter cosplaying as Pikachu while holding a video camera to represent the type of people who film every parts of their experience in comic con. This follows Hall's theory of representation by how all of these characteristics are stereotypes of typical attendees of comic con and therefore, we trying to reduce our target audience to simple traits in order for our entire poster and documentary seem relatable to our target audience.
Final Product- TV documentary
This is our full version of our documentary in which included all the final improvements that we had made on it, thus a standard and professional TV documentary.
Evaluation Questions
1. In what does your media product use, develop or challenge codes and conventions of real media products.
When creating evaluation question 1 we had simply recorded using a video camera at each person speaking in front of a white blank background and then edit it using premiere elements. The reason we did this was due to include a evolution question that all of our faces can be clearly seen along with being about to include different images next to each person speaking to demonstrate the extent of our editing skills in this evaluation question.
Evaluation Question 1: Part 2
The video above is the second part of evaluation 1. The reason this was created was due to being told to add more example for the 'use' section of the evaluation question.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and main ancillary text?
When creating evaluation question 2 I had used abode spark to record it due to how abode spark had offered a more creative and interesting way in creating a presentation. It was also due to how I experienced on using abode spark before which I had demonstrated in my blog, thus I wanted to show my progression and understanding of it through the evaluation question.
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
When creating evaluation question 3 we had used a presentation software called 'activInspire' due to how it was a fundamentally different way in presenting the evaluation question compared to others. This because it involved both the presenters speaking in the evaluation question be quite interactive when speaking, which would mean that they needed to make the information given short and but precise at the same time as having less information within the presentation would make it less boring.
4. How did we use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
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| The link to our evalution question 4, which was done in TimeToast |
For our last evaluation question we had used the website called TimeToast to present our evaluation question due to how TimeToast presents our information in a form of a line graph thus it makes it useful in showing our progress overtime. Additionally, we had found TimeToast fitting for the question, as since the question is regarding on what type of media technologies would had used in different stages of the creation of documentary, having a timeline demonstrating the things we had used made it extremely useful to present our hard-work and efforts when creating the documentary.
Evaluation Question 4: Additional Analysis
Unfortunately , our Timetoast version for the evaluation is only a free version and thus, we limited the amount of content that we could put in. In order to fix this issue, we were recommend to continue the evaluative analysis of our answer by expanding the answer on to our blogs so that we can illustrate the quality of our reasoning. The following images shown below are the extended answer.
TV Documentary construction: Equipment Part 1
TV Documentary Construction: Equipment part 2:
TV Documentary construction: Equipment Part 3
(Continuation answer for the image above) The use of this equipment was significant for the documentary because good audio quality is part of what makes highly marked documentary. The reason for this is because documentarian's believe that sound offers a way of capturing the auditory sense of space in a manner complimentary to the camera's visual recording. In today's generation, a considerable part of video content is today consumed with headphones, so clear sound is crucial. There's nothing more annoying in these cases than poor quality sound content being projected to the audience. If the sound is poor, the quality of the video is compromised and this might lead viewers to stop watching it.
Preliminary editing of TV documentary using Adobe Elements Part 2:
(Continuation answer for the image above) This was significant for the overall construction of the documentary because when we constantly seek audience feedback from our peers it is easy monitor the growth and adjust the product to ensure continuous improvement.
Ancillary task: Print Advertisement construction in Photoshop Part 1:
(Continuation answer for the image above) The reason why this was useful for the first draft of the TV documentary was because this was useful for our TV poster as we could demonstrate the fact that our target audience who live a typical everyday life can feel free to dress up as their favourite pop culture character that and instil the empowerment. Hence, we that Comic Con is a place where people will not be judged no matter what they wear as cosplaying is crucial part of Comic Con.
