CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF DOCUMENTARIES
what exactly makes a documentary a documentary?
Voiceover
- Almost all documentaries feature a voiceover (narrator) to guide the veiwers learning experience. This voice is always authoritative in someway, making the veiwer believe that they have superior knowledge and 'correct' opinions that people should pay attention to.
Interveiws
Documentaries always feature interveiws, some of them with 'experts' who share their informations and opinions on the subject matter. These make the programme seem a lot more authentic and generally reinforce the message of the documentary.
Archive (B roll) footage and images
These are included to add further information which the producer may not have been able to capture for themselves. Documentaries on past events are heavier on archive content because the film maker cannot travel back in time.
'Real' footage and images
Documentary footage is generally percieved to be real by its audience, although it can easily not be. However, documentary makers often make an effort to create a strong sense of realism and make people believe that the footage is unaltered in any way.
Use of text and titles
Text that is featured onscreen is edited in and is used to quickly inform veiwers of dates, times, locations and peoples names and occupations (at the beginning of interveiws). These small details also tend to be believed unquestioningly by the audience.
Visual codes
Documentary makers will use misc-en-scene to their advantage. Interveiwees may have been asked to wear clothing relevant to their role and the interveiw itself will be shot in their place of work, and things will frequently be exaggerated. For example, an interveiw with a doctor would require them to wear a lab coat and be filmed in a doctory looking room surrounded by medical equipment. Documentary makers often go to lengths to make this happen, another example is filming an interveiw with a homeless person in the street, opposed to any other location, and being sure to catch him there.
Sound
Importantly, most documentaries feature a lot of non-digetic music to create atmosphere, bridge between scenes add effect to any situatiom. Example of this is the menacing drone-based music that often plays in Ross Kemp documentaries when he is facing an element of danger.
Thursday, 29 November 2012
CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENTS
Codes and Conventions of Newspaper Advertisements
CODES AND CONVENTIONS
OF NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS
OF NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS
All of these advertisements have been taken from newspapers, magazines and leaflets, having a full page in a magazine is a massive opportunity for broadcasters to show off their documentary, in aim of reaching a mass target audience. Advertising in newspapers and magazines such as the Sun, the Daily Mirror, OK magazine, HEAT, HELLO, TV Guides.
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| Daily Star, Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mirror. |
Advertisement for 'Seven Days', new reality programme on channel 4.
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| Advertisement for 'This Is England '86', new drama on channel 4. |
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| Advertisement for 'My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding', ongoing series on channel 4. |
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| Advertisement for 'Insomnia: The Girl Who Cannot Sleep', new story a part of the mind detectives on channel 4. |
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| Advertisement for 'China's Stolen Children', a dispatches special on channel 4. |
RESEARCH FOR DOCUMENTARY
Research for Documentary
Justin BieberBieber fever may have caused a parental headache or two, but we don't mind our kids looking up to him (or having crushes on him). He recently took a stand against underage drinking by banning alcohol at his 17th birthday party and he spent his Valentine's Day visiting sick kids at a hospital.
Emma Watson
At just 19, this Harry Potter star was named the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, but instead of letting the fame go to her head, Watson decided to use some of that money to pursue an education at Brown University.
Teenagers today look up to celebrities for their everyday fashion tips, movies or albums and even their bodies. But what happens when you take looking up to someone to a whole different level? And sometimes very tragic things can happen. When teenagers turn on their televisions and see Lindsay Lohan or Nicole Richie in photos looking frail with all their bones sticking out, that sends out a powerful message.
ROLE MODELS
Justin BieberBieber fever may have caused a parental headache or two, but we don't mind our kids looking up to him (or having crushes on him). He recently took a stand against underage drinking by banning alcohol at his 17th birthday party and he spent his Valentine's Day visiting sick kids at a hospital. 
Selena Gomez
The 18-year-old Wizards of Waverly Place star might play a smart-mouthed underachiever on TV, but in real life, she’s anything but. Gomez is also a budding businesswoman with a K-Mart clothing line, which makes sense to us; her impeccable sense of style is always age-appropriate.
Emma Watson
At just 19, this Harry Potter star was named the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, but instead of letting the fame go to her head, Watson decided to use some of that money to pursue an education at Brown University.
Teenagers today look up to celebrities for their everyday fashion tips, movies or albums and even their bodies. But what happens when you take looking up to someone to a whole different level? And sometimes very tragic things can happen. When teenagers turn on their televisions and see Lindsay Lohan or Nicole Richie in photos looking frail with all their bones sticking out, that sends out a powerful message.
Teens think, "look how beautiful she looks and she's skinny as a stick." They think that just because they are celebs and get comments that they can go and starve themselves to death just to look like them. Knowingly there's a lot of pressure out there for these Hollywood Starlets to stay thin because they think it's in and the fact that they are getting paid major bucks to grace the pages of Elle and Maxim magazine with the hottest bodies on earth. What teens don't reconize is that their bodies take a lot of work and crash dieting to look like that, it's certainly not naturally, we all know that if you want to look hot you have to have work, dedication and pressure which is why some starlets begin to fall downward turning toward eating disorders. Anorexia is a when you starve yourself in order to lose, or maintain your weight.
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| Lindsay Lohan |
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| Nicole Richie |
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
TARGET AUDIENCE RESEARCH
Target Audience Research
Our documentary is about role models, the majority of young people today have role models, therefore our target audience will be aimed at young adults ages 16-25.
Our documentary will be adressed to both males and females.
We will interview people of simlilar ages (both genders) so our target audience can relate to the topic we're discussing.
This is our target audience, because after conducting research we reached the conlusion that older adults don't really have role models, but younger people do as they have a lot to aspire too.
Youth Marketing is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 12 to 34.
More specifically, there is: -Teen Marketing, targeting people in the 8 to 12 year-old range, -Teen Marketing, targeting people age 13 to 19, -College Marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 23, -Young Adult Marketing, targeting young professionals, typically ages 22 and above.
Young people are our target audience for our documentary as it is a celebrity-centred documentary.
-More than 90 percent of Young Adults own a computer.
-Over 80 percent of Young Adults use social networking sites.
Our documentary is about role models, the majority of young people today have role models, therefore our target audience will be aimed at young adults ages 16-25.Our documentary will be adressed to both males and females.
We will interview people of simlilar ages (both genders) so our target audience can relate to the topic we're discussing.
This is our target audience, because after conducting research we reached the conlusion that older adults don't really have role models, but younger people do as they have a lot to aspire too.
Youth Marketing is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 12 to 34.
More specifically, there is: -Teen Marketing, targeting people in the 8 to 12 year-old range, -Teen Marketing, targeting people age 13 to 19, -College Marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 23, -Young Adult Marketing, targeting young professionals, typically ages 22 and above.
Young people are our target audience for our documentary as it is a celebrity-centred documentary.
-More than 90 percent of Young Adults own a computer.
-Over 80 percent of Young Adults use social networking sites.
-Smartphone ownership by Young Adults reached 67 percent in February 2012, up from 39 percent in May 2011.
This shows that advertising on facebook and other social networking sites can reach the majority of our target audience.
Questionnaire and FeedbackOur group created a questionnaire to help us clearly predict wgo our target audience would be, the questionnaire included questions such as;Who is your role model?
The most common answer for this question was Adele, Adele is one of the richest, most successful young singers in the world, winning dozens of awards from Billboard Music Awards, MTV Music Awards and Grammy Awards. People tend to look up to her because she's a very down to earth person and isn't obbessed with being famous, like a lot of celebrities are. Adele is also plus-sized which a lot of young girls look up to, considering most celebrities are dying to be skinny, when Adele doesn't really care about her weight and sees it as a positive thing.
Why are they your role model?
We asked this question in order to find out exactly why young people have role models, most of the answers we got for this question were because of their fashion sense and style and that they are very inspirational.
In what ways do you aspire to be like your role model? (fashion, style, lifestyle)
This question was asked to find out what parts of being a celebrity are most desireable, most people answering said they want to be successful like their role model, or they like to dress like their role model.
Is your role model a well known celebrity?
All of the answers to this question were a 'yes', this shows that big name celebrities are more so young people's role models rather than less famous celebrities that may actually be more inspiring and successful.
How long have they been your role model?
The average answer for this was between one and two years.
How did this person become your role model?
There were a range of answers for this question; albums/songs, good looking, TV programmes, watching sport, simalarity in hobbies - dancing, music interest, relating to celebrity, good actor/actres and similar experiences in life.
Do you watch TV and which channels do you watch?
We gave options for this question - BBC1, ITV1, BBC3, E4, Channel4, Channel5 and MTV/Viva, the most popular answers were E4 and Channel4, therefore we are considering using either of these channels to show our documentary on.
Have you ever met your role model? If so, how many times?
Most of the answers were no but a few said they had seen their role model in concert.
What occupation does your role model have?
This was a good question to ask to find out how their role model had become famous. Answers were; Singer, Football Player, Actress, Rugby Player, Dancer, Music Producer/DJ and Actor
Would you watch a documentary on your role model?
Every answer for this was a 'yes' which clearly shows that if we were to make a documentary on celebrity role models people would watch it, especially if it had their role model starring.
What time do you usually watch TV?
We gave options for this question; 7am-11am, 11am-2pm, 2pm-5pm, 5pm-7pm, 7pm-9pm and 9pm-midnight, the most popular time slot was 7pm-9pm, which is prime time television, this is the time we would broadcast our documentary.
Do you collect merchandise related to your role model?
We asked this question in aim to find out how much money is spent on merchandise as it could be interesting to include in our documentary. The majority of the answer were a 'yes' merchandise included are mainly - posters, perfume, DVD's, CD's and T-shirts.
What is your favourite genre of TV programme?
Comedy and Drama were the most common answers for this questions, therefore we aim to make our documentary shocking but with a little humour.
What's your favourite genre of music?RnB and Pop were the most common answers for this question which tells us that people listen to the radio or watch music programmes as pop is most commonly played on the radio and music tv.
This shows that advertising on facebook and other social networking sites can reach the majority of our target audience.
Questionnaire and FeedbackOur group created a questionnaire to help us clearly predict wgo our target audience would be, the questionnaire included questions such as;Who is your role model?
The most common answer for this question was Adele, Adele is one of the richest, most successful young singers in the world, winning dozens of awards from Billboard Music Awards, MTV Music Awards and Grammy Awards. People tend to look up to her because she's a very down to earth person and isn't obbessed with being famous, like a lot of celebrities are. Adele is also plus-sized which a lot of young girls look up to, considering most celebrities are dying to be skinny, when Adele doesn't really care about her weight and sees it as a positive thing.
Why are they your role model?
We asked this question in order to find out exactly why young people have role models, most of the answers we got for this question were because of their fashion sense and style and that they are very inspirational.
In what ways do you aspire to be like your role model? (fashion, style, lifestyle)
This question was asked to find out what parts of being a celebrity are most desireable, most people answering said they want to be successful like their role model, or they like to dress like their role model.
Is your role model a well known celebrity?
All of the answers to this question were a 'yes', this shows that big name celebrities are more so young people's role models rather than less famous celebrities that may actually be more inspiring and successful.
How long have they been your role model?
The average answer for this was between one and two years.
How did this person become your role model?
There were a range of answers for this question; albums/songs, good looking, TV programmes, watching sport, simalarity in hobbies - dancing, music interest, relating to celebrity, good actor/actres and similar experiences in life.
Do you watch TV and which channels do you watch?
We gave options for this question - BBC1, ITV1, BBC3, E4, Channel4, Channel5 and MTV/Viva, the most popular answers were E4 and Channel4, therefore we are considering using either of these channels to show our documentary on.
Have you ever met your role model? If so, how many times?
Most of the answers were no but a few said they had seen their role model in concert.
What occupation does your role model have?
This was a good question to ask to find out how their role model had become famous. Answers were; Singer, Football Player, Actress, Rugby Player, Dancer, Music Producer/DJ and Actor
Would you watch a documentary on your role model?
Every answer for this was a 'yes' which clearly shows that if we were to make a documentary on celebrity role models people would watch it, especially if it had their role model starring.
What time do you usually watch TV?
We gave options for this question; 7am-11am, 11am-2pm, 2pm-5pm, 5pm-7pm, 7pm-9pm and 9pm-midnight, the most popular time slot was 7pm-9pm, which is prime time television, this is the time we would broadcast our documentary.
Do you collect merchandise related to your role model?
We asked this question in aim to find out how much money is spent on merchandise as it could be interesting to include in our documentary. The majority of the answer were a 'yes' merchandise included are mainly - posters, perfume, DVD's, CD's and T-shirts.
What is your favourite genre of TV programme?
Comedy and Drama were the most common answers for this questions, therefore we aim to make our documentary shocking but with a little humour.
What's your favourite genre of music?RnB and Pop were the most common answers for this question which tells us that people listen to the radio or watch music programmes as pop is most commonly played on the radio and music tv.
FORMAL PROPSAL FOR DOCUMENTARY
Formal Proposal
Title: I Wanna Be You. We chose this title because its attention grabbing and sums up what the documentary is about.
Topic of programme: Celebrity Role models. The programme will be a exploratory/ expository documentary and will be informal in style.
Title: I Wanna Be You. We chose this title because its attention grabbing and sums up what the documentary is about.
Topic of programme: Celebrity Role models. The programme will be a exploratory/ expository documentary and will be informal in style.
Target audience: Our documentary is about role models, the majority of young people today have role models, therefore our target audience will be aimed at young adults ages 16-25, although anyone with an interest in societal issues may be watching the programme.
Our documentary will be adressed to both males and females.
We will interview people of simlilar ages (both genders) so our target audience can relate to the topic we're discussing.
This is our target audience, because after conducting research we reached the conlusion that older adults don't really have role models, but younger people do as they have a lot to aspire too.
Our documentary will be adressed to both males and females.
We will interview people of simlilar ages (both genders) so our target audience can relate to the topic we're discussing.
This is our target audience, because after conducting research we reached the conlusion that older adults don't really have role models, but younger people do as they have a lot to aspire too.
Channel and scheduling: BBC 3, at 7PM (primetime for television). We chose BBC 3 because it appeals directly to our target audience.
Content: The programme will feature a mix of interveiws, informative narration and video montage with B roll footage.
Thursday, 22 November 2012
INITIAL PLANS
Initial Plans
Topic of programme: Celebrity Role models. The programme will be a exploratory/ expository documentary and will be informal in style.
Target audience: Age range 16 – 25 year olds, for both genders (anyone with an interest in societal issues)
Channel and scheduling: BBC 3, at 7PM (primetime for television). We chose BBC 3 because it appeals directly to our target audience.
Title: I Wanna Be You. We chose this title because its attention grabbing and sums up what the documentary is about.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
9/11 Documentary - Analysis
9/11 Truth Rising1st 3 minutes: montage with music - Americans giving their veiws about 9/11 and conspiracy thoreys
Editing: cutaways
next 3 minutes: 9/11 facts displayed over footage of debris and interveiw with a citizen about air saftey
music plays throughout
Footage of american citizens protesting at the site of 9/11 (B roll speeches play in the background suggesting conspiracy)
9/11 investigation gruop members giving speeches
interveiws with 2 people about family members
Camera
Sound
Editing
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