Evaluation

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

D O C U M E N T A R Y
Bill Nicholls (2001) documentary modes was something we considered when making our documentary, a
documentary mode is a conceptual scheme developed by Bill which looks to differentiate particular conventions of
various documentary styles. Documentaries are able to have a mix of different modes within them as
documentaries often return to themes and devices from modes prior to them in the chronological order. The
different documentary modes are; poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, and performative.
-poetic mode is the subjective type of documentary, stressing mood and tone more than the displays of
knowledge and acts of persuasion. As the subject of the documentary we were making, not displaying
knowledgeable content would be damaging to the effectiveness of our documentary.
-expository mode addressed the audience directly, using titles and voices that propose perspective, arguments
and recount history. This mode would be a good, effective one to use as titles and voices would reinforce the
information and knowledge being put forward by the professional's and vox pops.
-observational modes simply observe, allowing the audience to draw their own conclusions. Camera moves with
the subjects but remains unobtrusive from the subjects actions. Although this would be a good way to portray the
quality of education, access to schools and lessons where we could just film the happenings around us was unlikely
to achieve effectively.
-participatory mode is where the film makers appear in their own work, appears to openly discuss and argue
his/her perspective on the subject of the documentary being made. This could also be done by a voiceover which
we included in our documentary therefore we could argue we used this mode partially.
-reflexive mode considers the quality of the documentary, reveals the making of the documentary to make the
audience see the documentary in a more objective way, this mode would have been unachievable because we
didn’t have the means to do so.
-performative mode is similar and easily confused with the participatory mode, performative mode involved the
filmmaker directly gives a deeply personal insight into filmmakers actions and intentions. Supersize me is an
example of this mode and when applying this mode to our subject area it wouldn’t be appropriate.

The modes present within our documentary are:


In doing research and planning we discovered and noted the main conventions of a documentary, being familiar with
these conventions meant that we knew how to produce a documentary that was realistic and effective. The
conventions we found present in most existing documentaries were:
-voiceover
-interviews with experts
-text/titles
-sound/music
-archive/found footage
-realism (real sound and lighting)

We used the relevant codes and conventions in our documentary to get the most effective reaction from the
audience, I am going to compare the conventions we included in our documentary to the ones present in ‘Supersize
me’ by Morgan Spurlock.

In supersize me, the producers included captions (text/titles) at the beginning of every
professional interview. This gave the audience a clear indication of who they were and
which area of the topic they were going to address. For example William Klish works at
the children's hospital department so the audience know he is going to be talking
about children's diet and the issues around child obesity.

In our documentary we also used captions to introduce ‘Alison Spicer’ and ‘Claire
Shuttleworth’, the captions told the audience who was speaking and what their
profession was, meaning when Alison, the deputy head was discussing academies her
words were taken seriously and presumed to be truthful information.


Professional interviews are essential within a documentary, they give the documentary
a sense of realism and contribute to the audience believing what is being said. For
example the opinion of ‘how healthy eating is put into educating children’ is much
more believable coming from someone that works for the Board Of Education as
opposed to anyone that could be found at the time.

Professional interviews were a big part of our production process as we wanted to
approach the subject in a professional way. We considered the mise en scene,
interview questioning and camera angles when deciding on where to do the interviews
and who with. We recorded around 5 interviews that way we knew we had enough
footage and had the scope to pick the best two interviews to include in our
documentary. The interviews were an effective convention because they gave across a
professional opinion, this meant it was perceived a more valuable information as
opposed to a vox pop. We placed the interviewee on 1 side of the screen to ensure
they were looking into the dead space and not directly at the camera which is an
evident convention in all professional interviews.
Vox pops are important when making a documentary, they portray the opinions of
people real people, not professional's who may be biased. Vox pops add to the
actuality of a documentary, footage of real life events, places and people. Meaning the
audience can relate directly to the opinions instead of feeling intimidated by a
professional interview where the interviewee is adequately educated on that subject.
Vox pops were also featured quite a lot throughout our documentary, we used them to
portray the opinions of students on the quality of their college, we also asked some
teachers/staff about their opinion. We asked all of our vox pops two questions ‘what
do you think about the quality of your college?’ and ‘what suggestions or improvement
would you make to your college?’. We then edited together their answers to make a
succession of vox pops. This was a useful in the sense that it added to the realism, it
gave the audience an honest portrayal of what real students thought about education
and the quality of it.


Found/Archival footage is often used in existing documentaries to portray a scene that they
could not access/film themselves. In supersize me the found footage they used was of a
McDonald's website displaying the nutritional information of their products. As a result of
McDonald's refusing to speak to the programme producers they had to film the website in
order to get the information in their documentary, they didn’t have direct access to it
themselves in order for them to film it. If McDonald's has spoken to supersize me and
offered an interview, the found footage wouldn’t have been necessary as they could've
asked the McDonalds spokesperson to address it vocally.

We had to use found footage in our documentary to show David Cameron's opinion and
plans for academies, we felt the need to use found footage because we knew it was
impossible to get a direct interview with David Cameron and get him to talk about
academies. We found the video on YouTube and filmed if best we could from the screen,
although the footage isn't the best quality it is still clear and relative to our documentary
subject.

Montage of pictures if also often used in documentaries in order to create a different
style of portraying information. In supersize me a montage of images is used to
emphasise young girls being bombarded with the need to be skinny, it pictures a young
slightly overweight girl talking about the pressures of being skinny, whilst images of
skinny women are being thrown into the screen 1 by 1 covering her.

We also used a montage of images to portray some information, we had footage of a
class of computers with images of subjects 1 by 1 covering the shot. This reinforced the
topic of education and different subjects coinciding with the voiceover. We had the
images wipe in from the bottom of the screen 1 by 1 so we could show off the editing
skills we had learnt during the process of making the documentary. We felt it would be
effective to use this convention in our documentary as it makes it more realistic and
professional to the audience.


We had one clip that we weren't happy with the speed of, we used special effects to change this and make it look
better. It was a clip of people walking in and out of a canteen inside a college, we used the features in final cut to
adjust the speed of the clip and changed it to a faster pace.

The script we used for the voiceover was
researched well before being recorded. We
researched the facts we included in our
voiceover so we could ensure they were
truthful and the audience was satisfied with
the information we provided them with.

http://a2columnc4.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/
education-documentary-script.html


The music we used also followed the codes and conventions of existing documentaries, we wanted to find a beat that
would not only go with the topic of the documentary but also sound as though it was made for the documentary. This
proved a challenge as a lot of the music in ‘supersize me’ was copyrighted which we couldn't have. We picked an
original beat off the garage band selection, it was quite slow but upbeat and almost had a western sound to it. We
had it playing throughout the documentary just at different sound levels depending on what else was going on in that
scene, for example at the opening few seconds the music was quite loud in order to introduce the sound, but when
the voiceover was playing the sound levels on the music was turned right down so that it didn't interfere with what
the voiceover was saying.


R A D I O
In the radio trail we took time to listen to existing radio cuts in order to get a feel for how they sounded, what kind of
things they addressed, how much detail they went into and how they put all the aspects together. For example the
voiceover, clips from documentary, music all need to be included and put together whilst still sounding pleasing to
the audience.
We used the sound of a school bell at the beginning of the radio trail, this was the first
sound the audience heard so that straight away before hearing any dialogue the
audience knew what the topic of the documentary/radio trail was. We thought this
was an effective way to grab the audiences attention and give them an idea of what

T R A
they were going to be listening to. We got this idea from the bbc radio 1 newsbeat
radio trails, they often use a short beat to grab the readers attention for example when
reporting about crime they play a few seconds of police sirens etc. We thought using
this convention would ensure we got the interest of the audience and gave the topic of

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the documentary away without even speaking or playing any voiceover.

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The voiceover in our radio trailer was essential, without the voiceover it
would have been hard to portray all of the information we needed to. We
used the same voiceover as the documentary so that the audience could
recognise it was the same programme, this also adds to the realism of the
product by starting the branding of the programme. The voice over as well as
vox pops taken from the documentary told the audience what was going to be
included in the documentary, what time it would be on and what channel. We
had this information at the end of the radio trail in order for it to stick in
peoples minds.

Most of the radio trail was clips from the documentary, clips from professional interviews and vox pops giving
peoples opinions on the quality of the education they get and their opinion on their school/college. This gave the
audience an insight into what the documentary was about and we thought it would be effective as it will attract
the right audience and maybe even entice a niche/unusual audience to watch it because they hear some of the
content and are surprised or intrigued by it.


R A D I O
T R A
I
L
The music we used in our radio trail was all chosen from the garage band selection, we chose music from the same
sort genre, apart from the school bell ringing which was more of a featured sound. Synths was the chosen genre we
chose the music from and we put different tracks together to make an original piece of music. This way we knew no
other documentary or programme would have the same sound to it. Where as in supersize me they used existing
songs that would be recognised by the audience, we couldn't do this due to copyright so had to make our own, we
thought that even though this was more complicated it would work to our advantage as the attention isn't drawn
away from the radio trail/documentary but overpowering music. The music we chose was playing throughout the
whole radio trail but was only on a low volume so the audience could hear the voiceover and clips from the
documentary, we didn't want the music to overpower the content of the documentary.
We used typical codes and conventions like rhetorical questions, persuasive language and a welcoming tone of
voice to entice the audience in, because although the radio trail was a separate task in its own right, the purpose of
it was to get people to watch the documentary. We achieved that by picking out the best quotes from the
documentary and carefully writing a voiceover script using the right language to engage listeners in the absence of
visuals. Our radio trail was around 40 seconds which we saw as appropriate after looking at other radio trails like
bbc radio 1’s newsbeat.


R A D I O
Elements for analysis Comments/analysis This is the grid we used to analyze
existing radio trailers in order to
AUDIENCE: local, regional, national “UK” – national get ideas for our own. We listened
18-24 years old, women with kids to a radio 1 newsbeat and noted all
Weather – England and Wales
England football team
the typical conventions that it
CONTENT/ SUBJECT e.g. business, Employment – top story
included. Whether the news was
lifestyle, sport, consumer Policitcs – money and economy being reported over music in the
Sport – football background or with silence, what
Tv – the voice, strictly come dancing the subject was and how they

T R A
Crime
addressed it and what the pace of
Health - NHS
the newsbeat was.
CONTRIBUTORS: interviewees, Interviewees – people in the town at the time
reporters, correspondents, experts, Reporter for each topic ; sport, politics etc.
One problem we did face when

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politicians, vox pops Clips of commentator and quotes from the
game – library footage (old footage) doing this research was that our

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radio trail wasn't going to be
PACE: for mood, expression,
understanding
reporting the news, so conventions
like a reporter or correspondent
LANGUAGE (ACCENTS) AND London accents
didn't apply, instead we had a
VOCABULARY Simple vocab
voiceover and vox pops to replace
DELIVERY: over music or dry, kind Over music, official music for news beat – that and issue the audience with
of music jingle the relevant information.
Over music, recognised, played on radio 1

On the other hand this research
LOCATIONS: face-to-face, location, Face to face interviews
studio, Some reporters in studio
did give us a clear indication of
telephone, pre-recorded Interviews of football and the boy from the how to go about the delivery of
voice = pre-recorded the information we needed to get
WHY SUITABLE FOR Not very complex into our 40 second radio trailer and
AUDIENCE Music playing in background is what they also made us think about the type
play on the station
of audience it would need to be
Newsbeat jingle – radio - identity
appropriate for.


M A G A Z
I N E
A R T
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C L E
This is the final magazine article we produced, we felt it looks a lot like the articles in ‘what's on tv’ magazine,
which is the existing magazine we looked at prior to making it. We looked at other magazine articles but
decided to have the layout like this because although our documentary was quite serious and educational we
didn't want it to look boring and dull. Also this layout fitted in perfectly with the rest of the ‘what's on tv’
magazine with the use of colours, fonts and images.


M A G A Z
Captions are more or less always used in magazine articles to tell the
audience what is going on in the image or to summarise what the rest of the
article is about. We used captions to explain what was happening in the
images we used, this is the caption from the main image of
Jake doing some work, we used a specific language which
we had seen in existing magazines, pleasing to the audience
and precise, to the point.

I N E
The stand first we used it practically the same as the one in ‘what's on

A R T
tv’ magazine, we used such an obvious convention because we thought it was an effective way of highlighting
the name of the programme and the date, time and channel it was
on. Also the colours used in the stand first were very eye-catching
and would definitely grab the attention of the audience/readers.

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C L E
We also used these text box conventions in order to display some more information about the documentary.
We used the colours of the boxes and font in order to grab the reader attention and make the overall layout
look more appealing.


M A G A Z
We also used this convention which is popular in a lot of the ‘what's on tv’
magazines, we used it to show that the documentary was new and their
hadn't been an episode the same previous to this one. This would entice
audiences that might read the magazine often and may be interested in a
new documentary. Although the grab quote/label isn't exactly the same
we thought our label was more modern and fitting with the genre of the

I N E
article.

A drop cap is also regularly used within magazine articles, where the first letter of the article
is capitalised by bold and a larger sized font. We used this convention within out article to
make it look more professional and add to the realism.

A R T
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The masthead is also a typical convention in a magazine article, also known at the title of the article. It is the main

C L E
focus along with the main image of the page, it is the feature that the audience tends to look at first. In which
case we wanted to make it clear and simple but also eye-catching and appealing to the audience. We made the
‘good’ transparent to add a bit of character to the look of the layout and although
this doesn't follow typical conventions is was something alternative to try and
engage different audiences as well as our obvious audience.

We also used columns when inserting the text of the article into in design from
word, we used columns because that is the conventional way to display
magazine/newspaper articles. To make it looks more realistic and professional
we stuck to this convention using a simple black font and displaying it in 2 wide
columns on the right hand side of the a3 page.


M A G A Z
We used the idea to layer 3 original images all at
different angles to add to the fun, eye catching
layout instead of having the images we used next
to each other in a straight line. We used this
idea, like other magazines like ‘whats on tv’ and
‘radio times’ which we thought contributed to

I N E
the professional layout but also allowed it to
appeal to a younger audience (students). We
recycled stills from the documentary montage in
order to save time and make it easier to import
into in design, the quality of the images was still
good and they weren’t placed big enough for

A R T
anyone to notice they had been reused.

The main image we used was original and not used in

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the documentary at all, the fact that the main image

C L E
was taken specifically for the article meant that it was
very good quality and make the article more realistic
because ideally no images should be re-used unless
the caption states it is a still from the programme.
Using an original image also meant we could choose
the mise en scene and use it to our advantage, we
chose to have Jake sitting at a table looking as though
he was doing some work, we then used the cover
lines to reinforce this and make it clear to the
audience what he was doing. The big bold image we
used is a typical magazine convention reflected in
‘whats on tv’ examples.

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

When making the documentary we knew there were 2 ancillary texts to follow, a double page magazine spread and
a radio trail. Knowing that the magazine article and radio trail were going to be a source of advertisement for the
documentary we made sure that the 3 products combined productively and created a brand. We used colours,
language and the content to achieve this making it evident that all 3 texts were done by the same people in relation
to the same documentary.

The target audience for our documentary, article and radio trail were quite a broad range of people, because
education is such a wide topic and could interest and involve such a large number of people we didn't really have a
small, specific, niche target audience. Pupils age ranging from 13-21 could be interested in our documentary as they
are a part of the education system, they are living it now. Also the parents of these children would be interested to
see what their children think about the education they are getting and parents with small children wanting to know
about the education their children will soon be a part of. Teachers who want to see how their line of work is being
portrayed, whether it is being shown as fair or too harsh. As well as those obvious target audiences we also did a
few minor things that would interest people who wouldn't normally watch something about education, for example
people in a line of work completely different to education, no children and no interest in education. We tried to
make out article colourful and eye-catching along with the persuasive voiceover in the radio trailer to entice an
unusual audience. I would say our initial target audience was parents and students but after making the
documentary and analysing who else might be interested in watching the documentary, we think the real audience
would be a lot broader than we first thought. This is a good thing because the subject of the documentary alone can
ensure such a wide range of people, the features and skills we used within the documentary, double page spread
and radio trail are reinforcements, putting across the detailed opinions we collated. In terms of social group target
audience, we cannot really narrow it down to one, there is no one race, ethnicity, region or class we specifically saw
as our target audience. Gender we aimed it at both and the age range could vary from teenagers to the parents of
those teenagers or even elderly people interested in how the education system has changed.


In terms of the Young and Rubicam psychographic audience profile our documentary was targeted at the suceeder
and the mainstream, I would say this because the suceeder is someone who has strong goals and works hard to
achieve them to gain the credit in society they deserve. The mainstream are people who are the middle of society,
they are the largest group and depend on a daily routine e.g. Families. Because our documentary is about education
both of the psychographic profiles need and are involved in education to achieve the lifestyle they have.


R A D I O
The radio trailer definitely combined well with the documentary because we used clips from the documentary in
the radio trailer. This helped to create a brand identity because after listening to the radio trailer, people will
recognise the clips in the documentary. I know from personal experience that seeing an advert with a clip from
the whole programme has enticed me to watch the programme at a later date and seeing the clip from the
advert in the programme gives the audience a sense of familiarity and comfort. We thought it would be
important to also achieve this to add to the sense of realism and make the radio trailer effective to increasing the
number of people who watch the documentary because although we have our target audience we wanted as
many people as possible to be interested.

T R A
We also used vox pops in the radio trailer, taken from the documentary so there was the background noise of
people talking in the canteen included. This added to the authenticity of the radio trailer and make it clear that
in the documentary we were talking to and dealing with real people, current students, getting honest involved
opinions of students. This was an excellent way to demonstrate to people that the documentary wasn't just a

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series of facts about education, it made it evident that we got involved with the education system and made the

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audience want to watch the programme to find more out. We played a clip from ‘Alison Spicer’s interview that
we thought would leave the audience in suspense and make then want to watch more, we thought that choosing
the right clips would mean that the radio trailer would combine well with the documentary and do well to sell it.

Also the music we used in the documentary, we used as part of the track we put together in the radio trailer, this
also added to the brand identity by allowing the audience to recognise the song from both products making it
familiar to them. The music is an important feature because although it is played quietly, it can determine the
mood of the entire radio trailer and we thought the upbeat track from the documentary was perfect for this and
would ensure the radio trailer combined well with the documentary. The radio trail is also very fast paced so that
it appeals to the younger end of the target audience because we felt the topic alone was enough to entice an
older audience, the pace of the editing for the radio trailer would contribute to attracting the teenage audience.
The point of the radio trailer was to sell the documentary and we thought we achieved that by including the
things I have mentioned above the content we chose to include was relevant and carefully picked in order to
create a brand identity and satisfy the audiences expectations, the radio trailer supported and sold the audience
by making them want to watch the documentary


R A D I O
When choosing the radio station we researched several stations and looked into what kind of things they distributed
and how they did so. We looked at how long adverts for tv programmes lasted and concluded they tended to last
around 30-40 seconds with a short summary of the programme,. They all included clips from the programme itself and
then a voiceover to tell the audience what time the programme was on, what channel and what day.

T R A
I
L
We chose to distribute our radio trailer on bbc radio 1, looking back now I realised that choosing this radio station
wasn't the best choice. We chose bbc radio 1 because after doing the research we found it was the most listened to
station, bbc radio has several stations each aimed at a different audience, bbc radio 1 is aimed at the young adult and
adult audience therefore has the biggest audience and this includes our target audience.
But considering the channel we chose to broadcast our documentary, it was channel 4 and logically bbc radio 1
wouldn't advertise a documentary that was being shown on a rival channel. If the documentary was on channel 4 we
should chosen another more neutral radio station to host our radio trailer like capital fm as they don't also have a tv
channel that would be in competition with channel 4.


M A G A Z
The magazine article/double page spread also combined well with the documentary, we made sure we achieved
the right balance between the layout and house style of ‘whats on tv’ magazine and the brand identity we were
trying to create for the documentary, radio trailer. Although the layout of the double page spread was of a
different style to the way we put together the documentary and radio trailer we thought it still worked well and
was effective when delivering it to the audience. The style of the documentary and radio trailer was quite
professional where as the layout and colour scheme on the double page spread was quite extravagant and more
appealing to young people. Despite there being a difference in style we thought we had the balance right

I N E
because although the use of reds, greens, yellows, blues and other bright colours demonstrated a sense of youth
and fun, the content of the text and details on the page was still very professional and intellectual which
reinforced the educational style of the documentary and radio trailer. We felt it was more important for the
magazine double page spread to fit in with the actual existing magazine rather than the documentary and radio
trailer because in real life situations, the programme doesn't get to decide the layout of the advert/article for

A R T
their show, the magazine does. Meaning the same colours,
fonts and images would be used as the examples we had
looked at in other ‘whats on tv’ articles.

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C L E
We chose to use the popular tv listing magazine to distribute our article in because it appealed to such a wide
range of people and specialised in tv programme articles. We also thought it was achievable to create a magazine
article that fitted in with the rest of the magazine but was also relevant to our other products (documentary and
radio trailer). By producing a magazine article for ‘whats on tv’ we thought we could attract the younger side of
our target audience because the older end to our target audience would already be interested from the subject
of the documentary. ‘What's on tv’ magazine doesn't just advertise documentaries, it features the soaps and
gives a day by day guide of what on the tv, so the audience of the magazine is people who are interested in the
music that will be on the following week. Therefore we could be sure that the audience of the magazine was
intending on watching television and by having a double page spread for our documentary we knew if we got the
layout and content of the copy right we could entice more people to watch it than if we had put the advert in any
other magazine.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After completing the 3 products, we put together a questionnaire for a sample audience to fill out after watching the
documentary, listening to the radio trailer and looking at the double page spread. We composed questions that
would tell us the successful aspects of our work and point out any improvements that would need to be done should
we repeat the task.
1.Do you think the
documentary relates to
When asked if they thought the documentary related to the topic of
the subject well? education well, the whole sample class answered yes. This is
20 extremely positive as no one thought the documentary was
irrelevant or off topic. This means the content we chose to include
15
and film was necessary and no time was wasted filming or editing
10 unnecessary content. Some people elaborated saying the interviews
and shots of books were particular aspects that stood out as very
5 relevant and had close relations to education. Also the found footage
0 we used of David Cameron talking about academies was noted and a
relevant aspect of the documentary.
Yes No

2.Does the documentary use the typical
We also got 100% yes from the sample class when conventions of a documentary?
asked about whether our documentary used the typical
conventions. This tells us we researched and noticed
the relevant conventions and used them in our work
effectively. Watching ‘supersize me’ gave us most of the 100% Yes
ideas we used in our documentary and judging by the No
results from the questionnaire the conventions we did
use were evident and successful. This is also a clear sign
that the finished documentary came across as
professional.


3.What do you like most about the documentary? Explain.
-formal/professional interviews, very relevant
-montage
-good choice of music throughout
-professional shot choice
-the documentary flowed well
-informative nature
-vox pops

These were the selection of answers we received on this particular question, this showed that there were a variety
of aspects that people liked most about the interview. Majority of the answers mentioned the interviews and said
they made the documentary look very professional and added to the realism of it. Also people commented on the
informative nature of the documentary, they said it was helpful to gain so much information from the documentary
and they enjoyed watching it as a result.

4.Does the music work well with the
documentary?
When asked this question, 16 of the sample class said yes the
music worked well with the rest of documentary, this means
that they thought it was appropriate and sounded well 2 0
coinciding with the footage we had. 2 people said they didn’t
feel the music went well with the documentary, these results Yes
showed that although the music may have been an unusual No
choice and not to everyone preference, most people liked it.
16


5.Do you think the shots are well
processed between each cut? 18 out of 18 people thought our documentary shots
were well processed, meaning they thought the
continuity of the documentary was really good. This
No
reinforces the response from question 3 where one of
the reactions was that the ‘documentary flowed well’. I
Yes was surprised by the response to this question because
although I feel the documentary did flow at times I felt
some of the transitions could have been improved and
0 5 10 15 20 done better.

6. Are the voiceover’s clear
and concise?
When asked about the quality of the voiceover, the sample class of 18
people mostly said they thought the quality was good and agreed to it being 16
clear and concise. Only 2 people disagreed and thought the voiceover was 14
clear enough to have on a documentary. I am surprised at this result because
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when listening back to the documentary we thought there may have been
times when it was fairly hard to understand what the voiceover was 10
saying, but overall we were happy with how the voiceover sounded. We 8
recorded the same script several times so that we could pick and choose bits
that sounded the best so that we ended up with a good voiceover. We didn't 6
really have to adjust the sound levels too much when doing the voiceover 4
because they were all done by the same person and in the same
2
environment, if we did have to adjust the sound levels it was only slightly.
0
Yes No


7. Is there anything that you dislike about the documentary? Explain.
-quality of David Cameron interview
-camera pan too fast (library)
-speech too quick
-music not needed all the way through the documentary

Although most people didn't answer this question suggesting they didn't have any problems with the
documentary, above are the aspects the sample class didn't like about the documentary. We were expecting
people to criticise the David Cameron interview (found footage) because it wasn't the best quality but the an
actual interview with David Cameron was impossible and we filmed it the best we could. We felt it was vitally
important to include the interview because it gave a sense of authority and power to the documentary because
we had David Cameron giving his opinion on the topic of our documentary.

8.Has this documentary taught you anything new?

Those are the answers we collated from question 8, it seems that the sample audience learnt a lot from the
documentary that they didn't know before. This shows our documentary was of the informative type and did the
job successfully. This also means that the research we did on the topic paid off as the audience was left educated
about the topic.


9.Are the interviews and vox pops
With this question only 1 person disagreed that the professional
interviews and vox pops were well frame, by this we were addressed well framed?
how the interviewee was placed in the shot. We took time to set up
each interview because we wanted not only the mise en scene but 1
also the interviewee’s position in the frame to be perfect. We ensure
that the interviewee was sitting at one side of the frame, looking Yes
across the dead space towards to opposite side No
of the shot. This is a typical convention we knew
is evident in all interviews not only documentary 17
types.

10. Were the volumes consistent?

12
10
This was the most shocking result, we felt that we had
8 the sound levels all correct and they were level from
scene to scene. But the sample audience, 7 out of 18
6 people disagreed with this and said they weren't
4 consistent. This is something we would need to look at
I'm even more detail and take more care when
2 changing the sound levels if we were to re-do this
project.
0
Yes No


11.Do you think this was a good
subject choice? We chose this subject because we thought it was very present in
today’s news and society, we also envisaged a lot to address
within the topic. Personally education wouldn't be a preference
in documentary type but that said more or less most people
have some relations with education during their life so can relate
Yes to it. I think this was a good response and the 2 people that
No voted for no on this question may have just not been interested
in education and felt they couldn't relate to it. The majority of
people felt it was a good

12.Are there any suggestions on how we could improve the documentary?
-not have music all the way through
-have music at a lower volume
-better footage for David Cameron interview
-sound levels
-more entertaining
-interviews with gcse level teachers
-more montages

If we did re-look at the documentary I am sure we would be able to make these improvements to make the
documentary completely successful, they are simple changes that could have been addressed if we had more
time to do so, the David Cameron interview I completely agree with because in the final documentary it did
look blurry and sound a little distorted.


R A D I O
1.Does the trailer make you want to watch the
documentary?
16 I think this is a positive result for this
14 question, the majority of the sample audience
12 said that the radio trailer made them want to
10 watch the documentary and the proportion of

T R A
8 people that didn't was only small. I am pleased
6 with this result as the whole point of doing the
4 radio trailer was to advertise the documentary
2 and persuade people to watch it.

I
0

L
Yes No

We felt we had the sound levels for the radio trailer 2.Are the sound levels consistent
perfect but when listening to the radio trailer in the throughout the trailer?
main speakers and out loud we could have
improved a few seconds of sound, this is why 4 of
the 18 people said the sound levels weren't
consistent. This is due to listening to the radio Yes
trailer through earphones during the editing stage
and could easily be recovered if the task was done No
again.


R A D I O
3.Does the music work well with the
All of the audience thought that the music and
voiceover in the trail? voiceover worked well together which is a positive
result, we actually put together several tracks to
make a catchy tune for the radio trailer and we
Yes thought it worked effectively, reinforced by these
results. The tune added to the feel of the radio trail it

T R A
No gave it a more upbeat feel, almost like we had
18 created a jingle like in the bbc radio 1 newsbeat
example we had looked at previously.

I
L
4.What do you like the most about the trail? Explain.

The answers for this question are satisfactory, I think these were the aspects of the radio trailer that we made
sure were effective and did the relevant job. A lot of people from the group of 18 said that the bell ringing at the
beginning was very effective and they liked it which is what we intended to do, we chose to put that sound at the
beginning because it would grab their attention for the rest of the radio trailer.


R A D I O
5.Do you find the extracts gave you enough
information about the show?
The results for this question are also very positive, all
of the 18 people said that the extracts chosen, the
answer to this question was already slightly evident as
No

T R A
some people said their favourite aspect of the trail
was the extracts in question 4. This result shows that
the clips from the documentary we chose were the
Yes
right ones, they informed the reader and gave them a
good idea of what the programme consisted of.

I
0 5 10 15 20

L
6.Is there anything that you dislike about the trail? Please explain
-too many vox pops
-music too loud
-voiceover talking fast
-David Cameron extract

In terms of things to improve, this is a good result because there isn't a long list of things people wanted to us to
change, and the improvements are only minor and can be achieved easily within a short space of time. We would
definitely be able to consider these improvements if we did this project again because it would contribute to
making the radio trailer completely successful.


M A G A Z
Out of the 18 people in the sample
1.Does this magazine feature the normal audience, everyone thought that the magazine
conventions of a television magazine? featured the usual conventions of a television listings
magazine. This is very positive feedback as we looked
closely at which magazines advertised which
100%

I N E
programmes and how they did so. We also wanted to
achieve the relevant house style, so we wanted to
50% 18 conventions to match those of ‘what's on tv’
specifically, and they did. We werent shocked by this
0% 0 feedback because we were confident that the double
page spread consisted of good aspects and looked

A R T
Yes No very realistic and professional.

I
Everyone but 1 person agreed that the double page 2.Does the double page look appealing?

C L E
spread looked appealing, we tried to use colours and
appropriate images in order to create a realistic, eye
catching and attractive double page. Although we are
aware that the layout isn't to everyone's taste we
took a risk to make a double page spread for ‘what's Yes
on tv’ to ensure we appealed to the younger audience
as well as the adult audience. I think we achieved the No
balance correctly and the results for this question are
positive and a good indication to what the rest of the
public would think.


M A G A Z
3.Does the double page spread convey enough
When asked whether they thought there was
information? enough information displayed on the double page
spread, everyone within the sample audience said
they thought there was. This is promising as we
carefully wrote the article so that it gave people an

I N E
insight into what the programme was about and told
Yes the audience what they could expect. It is pleasing to
No know that the sample audience were pleased with
the amount of information we gave, proving we
18 didn't give too much away but we didn't hold too

A R T
much back that it put them off watching it. The
details on the page was enough for them to know
about the programme and allowed them to watch it
easily.

I
4. What do you like most about the double page spread?

C L E
-informative
-ripped paper
-colourful
-photos
-layout

This feedback shows that there were a variety of good aspects to our double page spread, the colour was a
highly mentioned aspect and i agree with this feedback. We felt that the colours we used were relevant to the
house style of the magazine itself and complimented our topic and what the article was trying to convey. The
colours helped to give the documentary a more young feeling instead of it being boring black and white which
the audience would expect it to be. I am pleased with the results for this question as i think it is a good
indication for what the rest of the public would think about it.


M A G A Z
5.Is there anything you dislike about the double page spread?

I N E
In terms of how many criticisms there are I am pleased because there are only 2 suggestions for improvement
which is a good result for us. In regards to the use of colour I understand a more high brow layout would have
been expected because of the topic we chose, but we wanted the magazine article to appeal to the younger
audience we might not have appealed to in the radio trailer and we achieved this by using the colour scheme we

A R T
did. Only one person gave this criticism and also elaborated that they thought an article in the radio times would
have been appropriate, although we would definitely take this on board we did look into the radio times before
producing the double page spread and make a conscious choice to use ‘what's on tv’ magazine.

I
C L E
6.Is there any suggestions you would make in order to improve the double page spread?
-change the colour scheme used
-masthead (colour)
-change the main image

The improvements the sample audience suggested are valid and we would take them into consideration if doing
the task again, the colour scheme used we felt was very effective and essential to whether the magazine double
page spread was successful or not. The colour scheme can very much come down to a matter of opinion and
when asked about whether they thought it was appealing 17 out of the 18 people said yes so the colour scheme
is probably one thing we would keep the same. Looking back now at the masthead, it was an unusual choice but i
think the whole point of ‘what's on tv’ is they use very extravagant layout styles and the yellow did tie in with
this, either way most of the suggestions for improvements would be considered if we were to repeat the task.

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

In the research and planning stages we researched into everything we would need to know about documentaries, we
looked at the type of documentaries there were already broadcasted, we looked at the channel they tended to be
on, how long they were, what they consisted of and the typical conventions of them. This gave us a clear framework
to work with and gave us an idea of where to start with the production of the documentary.

In order to research the channel documentaries were
on we watched a documentary and used an analysis
table to record what we found. We watched several
programmes in order to gain the information we
needed; “dispatches: lessons in hate and violence” and
“educating Essex”. Lessons in hate and violence was
useful to watch because it showed a different style of
documentary, broadcasted on channel 4 it was the
undercover type that investigated the behaviour inside
Birmingham's mosque schools. Educating Essex
addressed 2 areas we needed to research, it was on
channel 4 but was also about education so by watching
this we could get a feel for how education has already http://a2columnc4.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/lessons-in-hate-and-violence-research.html
been documented and then decide on the appropriate http://a2columnc4.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/educating-essex-research-into-topic.html
channel.

We watched existing documentaries on the internet on ‘catch up’ websites so that we could get ideas for how to

produce our documentary. This meant we were watching documentaries that has already been broadcasted so we
had to be careful not to copy any idea we had to make our own documentary using the conventions we had seen
doing this research. Although we looked at documentaries on all channels the most useful website for this was
channel 4 documentaries on youtube, this had endless lists of documentaries dating back to 2010 so we had a lot of
choice of which documentaries to research in detail.

In terms of researching the topic we chose, education was an
easy accessible topic to research. We found facts and figures
on Wikipedia after typing relevant searches into Google. This
gave us information we could put into our own words and use
in the voiceover throughout the documentary.
We also used the NUT website and NASUWT website to
acquire the facts about academies which is how we came
across the footage for David Cameron's interview, this meant
we had the honest opinions and facts about academies and
could be sure that we were inputting truthful information into
our documentary.


http://a2columnc4.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/documentary-storyboard.html

We used storyboards to document and plan what we were going to do so that we didn't have
to make it up as we went along. This meant time was saved by planning what we would put in
each shot, how long they would last and the editing techniques we would use. When
constructing the documentary we could just refer back to the story
-boards to remind ourselves of what we were doing next, this was
useful considering we had to do some, then come back to it at a
later date. After drawing up the storyboards we used a scanner to
upload them onto a PC and then transferred them onto our blog,
this was a quick and a very easy way to display our work.


In the construction stages of our documentary we used a variety of media technologies to produce an efficient
piece of work. We felt is was necessary to use a variety to demonstrate the variety of skills we had learnt. We
used a Canon HG20 HD Video Camera to film all of the footage for out documentary, therefore it was important
that the camera was of a good quality and would be
able to produce footage of a good quality. The camera
was essential hardware to our documentary, we used
different tools on the camera to improve the diversity
of shots we recorded, we used the zoom tool to change
the size of a particular focus in the shot, for example
in some of the establishing shots we zoomed into the
building to emphasise the rest of the filming was going
to be inside that building. We also changed the focus of
certain shots using the functions on the camera in order
to use for a background of text in the documentary.

As well as the camera we needed other equipment to work alongside this, we used the microphone, earphones
and tripod. The tripod was used to ensure we had steady shots and enabled us to do so at any height we
wished. This meant if we needed to do a high angle shot we could do so without someone having to hold the
camera for a long time which would make the shot unsteady and look unprofessional.


When we had finished doing all of the filming we needed, we took our
focus to the Apple Mac’s which would now be the main hardware for
our work. We copied the footage onto the computer in order to edit it
by connecting the camera to the Mac via a lead. When the footage was
on the computers we opened up ‘Final Cut Express’ which is a well
known editing software specialising in video making and editing. We
had to ‘log and transfer’ the clips we had filmed into the programme in
order for them to register in the software programme itself. We then
selected the clips we wanted to use in the order we wanted to use them
and dragged them onto the timeline to edit.

This is the box where the clips were transferred
to, we could organise and select the clips from
here and drag them down to the timeline to edit.
This made it easier for us to see what we had
already used and what we still had to include in
the documentary. We renamed our footage so that
we could group similar footage together for
example all of the vox pops were together, the
establishing shots were all grouped together to
make a more efficient work space.


When editing the clip of students walking in and out of the college refectory

we weren't happy with the speed of the clip. We decided to speed the clip up
to make it a little more interesting and also blur the clip so that the audience
could concentrate on the voiceover over the clip. We did this by selecting on
the clip we wanted to speed up, we then MODIFY>SPEED and changed the
speed of the clip to 200. All this did was speed the clip up in order to add pace
to the documentary and make the shots less similar.

We also constructed a montage in Final Cut Express, we went out with the
camera and took lots of stills to do with education, books of
topics, library, college kids working, computer room and classrooms. Once we
got the photos we copied them onto the Mac (similar to how we copied the
footage) and put them together to make a montage. Although this was a
lengthy process we thought it paid off well, we put in image by image on a
different layer, so each photo entered the screen one by one.

This is how we inserted the tracks to put each photo
in, we went to SEQUENCE>INSERT TRACKS and then
put the image onto that track

We used the razor tool a lot on

Final Cut Express in order to cut
clips where we wanted them to
finish, so we could work around
how to transition one clip to
another smoothly.
Noise cut out at start to
make the transition more
free-flowing

We used the preset transitions in Final Cut to edit the transition from shot to shot, whilst the title shot was
showing we had a dip to colour from the establishing shot to the title page paired with a dissolve and the same
again when the title shot exited.

The cross dissolve was used to
make the transition from the
title shot to the beginning of
the documentary more
smooth and welcoming as
opposed to a straight cut. The
change from still to footage
didn't seem so sudden and
dramatic.


After putting all the footage together and finishing up the transitions and order of clips, we had to adjust the
sound levels to make the documentary sound consistent throughout. We didn't need to adjust the sound
levels too much just a little where a noise had occurred in the background of someone has accidently
touched the microphone whilst recording.

After getting the sound levels right we had to find some suitable music to insert
onto the documentary to act as the background music. We used garage band to
find the track we wanted to use, then we exported the track we had chosen as an
mp3 into Final Cut and repeated it throughout the documentary. We had the music
at different sound levels as in the introduction where the title shot was, the music
was loud and where the voiceover and interviews were playing the music went a
lot quieter. It is clear from the image above where the music was loud or not
because of the sound level line (pink line) varying in height.


R A D I O
We began the radio trail in Final Cut because we used clips from the
documentary in our trail, we thought it would be easier to create
another sequence on final cut and then when we had the clips in order
and cut appropriately we could export the sequence into garage band.

When we exported the sequence of extracts into garage band we placed them on their own track in order to
pair it with music using the garage band features. The ‘trail extracts’ shown in that image refer to the clips

T R A
from the documentary and voiceover recordings.

I
L
We chose music from the preset tracks on garage band, we looked into all of the genre’s of music on there in
order to find an appropriate track for our radio trail. Majority of which being unsuitable this did take quite a lot
of time, we looked through and finally decided we were going to construct our own track using a number of
different beats. In the end we used tracks from the Synths genre and also used a Foley sound of the school bell
ringing and the beat to go under the Synths tracks.


R A D I O
The time bar told us how many seconds our whole radio
trailer, it also allowed us to click anywhere along the timeline
and it would tell us how many seconds along that point was.
This was useful because that way we could easily add

T R A
something in or remove a few seconds because we could
measure the time by the time bar.

We also used this bar to control the radio trail, we used this to stop
the trail and fast forward it on. We didn't really use the fast forward

I
button because the trail was only 40 seconds long but we did find

L
this tool helpful. For example when we were listening through to
ensure the sound levels were right, we could stop it easily at any
point in order to fix the sound levels and proceed. This bar made it
easier to do so as it was always at the bottom of the screen.

This was essential when checking the sound levels
because we needed to check on the sound meter whether
the sound levels were jumping up in between the clips.
This tool made it easier for us to measure our sound
levels as the bar fills up as the louder the sound levels.


M A G A Z
We constructed the double page spread using several programmes, we used in design mainly to put the
double page spread together but we also used Microsoft word and Photoshop in the process.

I N E
A R T
I
C L E
The photos we used in our double page spread were taken with the same camera we filmed the documentary
with, CANON HG20 HD Video Camera, we took several photos and chose the most appropriate for the double
page spread. On the right hand side of the double page spread
we re-used images from the documentary because they were
only small. The main image we took as an original because
we knew it was going to take up the majority of the page
and would need to be of good quality.


M A G A Z
The main image we chose, we actually edited it in Photoshop before putting it in in design because we wanted the
image to look good. We adjusted the contrast and brightness to make the photo look more appealing to our
audience. The original picture we took was quite dark so by adjusting the brightness we made it a little brighter and
the contrast helped to even out the detail and colour in the picture.

I N E
A R T
The masthead was also constructed on Photoshop, we inserted the masthead by using the ‘text/type tool’ to

I
type out ‘IS IT GOOD ENOUGH?’ we then selected the word ‘good’ and adjusted the opacity of it, after making
the outline yellow like the rest of the text the masthead had an unusual

C L E
look to it. It emphasised exactly what we were investigating in the
documentary.


M A G A Z
After importing the main image and the masthead into in design we then made a start on designing the space for
the text to fill. We came up with the idea to write the copy onto a black piece of paper with the effect it had
been ripped out of a book. To do this we took a photograph of a piece of paper, scanned it onto the computer
and changed the levels on it to make it completely white. This left it clear for us to put our article onto it whilst
reinforcing the idea of schooling and education.

I N E
A R T
We used the ripped paper effect on the 3 smaller images at

I
the top of the page too, just to maintain the topic of
education and schooling. Although we repeated the

C L E
technique I think it came across effective and relevant.


M A G A Z
After doing research into other magazines we noted that a lot of magazines used a drop shadow to emphasise
what was on the page, the drop shadow almost gives the page a more layered look. For example main cover
lines with a drop shadow are much more effective than a cover line without.

I N E
We wrote the article in word and copied the text into in design using

A R T
the column format. We did this because it was easier to see the layout
of text, the only problem we could've faced here was whether the text
fit the space we had provided for the text to go in.

I
C L E
For the evaluation
questions 1-4

To convert word documents and
likewise to go onto the blog.

For the graphs used
to collate
To convert word documents and questionnaire results.
likewise to go onto the blog.

Evaluation

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