2. Introduction For my A level coursework I have decided to create a 5 minute extract of a documentary on Youth Crime. The extract will be just after the opening titles, which will allow me to give more detail on the subject itself.
3. Conventions of a TV documentary Voice over Visual coding (mise-en-scene) Real footage of events/reconstructions of events Technicality of realism (natural sound and lighting) Archive footage/stills Interviews Use of text Sound – sound bridges/non-diegetic sound Narration
4. Institutions The two institutions that I am comparing are BBC and Channel 4. OR I have chosen these two because both institutions have produced a lot of documentaries and are suitable for my own documentary.
9. Censorship issues – Channel 4 Documentaries Chasing the Cumbrian killer – Channel 4, 9 pm. The program documented disturbing events that would not be suitable for younger audiences. Watched by 1.5 million on Monday 21st June 2010
10. Censorship issues – Channel 4 Documentaries The Rise and Fall of Tiger Woods – Channel 4, 10 pm. The documentary had scenes with a mature nature that would not be suitable for viewers younger that 15. However the target audience for this documentary from 15 to late 30’s.
11. Censorship issues – Channel 4 Documentaries Being N-Dubz Channel 4, 11pm. Post watershed due to a strong use of language. Being N-Dubz has a target audience of 16 to late 20’s as the documentary mostly targets the group’s fans.
12. Censorship issues – BBC Documentaries Autistic superstars BBC3, 9pm. Has a target audience of 16 to 30 year olds as this is the normal target audience of the channel. Autistic Superstars had a rating of 408,600 (1.8%)
13. Censorship issues – BBC Documentaries The Fox Attacks Twins BBC1, 7pm. Has a target audience of 20 to 40 year olds as even though the documentary is pre-watershed it is based on a news article that will not appeal to a younger audience. The documentary had 4.3 million viewers.
14. Censorship issues – BBC Documentaries Panorama – Can I sack my teacher? BBC1, 8.30pm. Has a target audience of 20 to 50 year olds for the documentary series. However this particular episode may appeal to a younger audience as it is based topic focused around youth. The series has an average of 2.7 million ratings.
15. My Target Audience I have decided to focus my documentary on the topic of Youth Crime. As a result I am aiming the documentary at 15 to 30 year olds. This is because it could interest the youth on how they are being represented as well as interesting the older generation. I think the institution I would like my documentary to be showed on is BBC as they provide more factual and serious documentaries. Whereas Channel 4 are more lifestyle and light-hearted documentaries.
16. Title’s These are the following titles that I have considered. Youth Crime The Struggles of Youths Youth Crime Uncovered Troubled Teens Teens of Today I have decided to go with “Teens of Today” as I will have more freedom and be able to explore the other problems of teens as well as youth crime
17. Locations I have chosen to use locations that are stereotypically youth, this is because they will represent youth. The following slide shows some picture I have taken of one possible location (school).
18. Photos OF PLACES The Sixth form common room – used for montage clips and interviews
19. Photos of Places The Pathway to the Sixth Form Common Room – used for narrator scenes and some montage scenes
20. Feedback from presentation Think more about the locations and how they would fit into your documentary. Decide whether to show young teens getting more and more involved with underage drugs and drinking as well as teen pregnancy, or whether to show the more violent side of youths like gangs and drugs.
21. Questionnaire To get a better understanding of my target audience I am handing out a questionnaire to the intended age of audience I plan to achieve. This will help me shape my documentaryaround the target audience.
22. Results These are the results from my questionnaire. I asked 10 males and 10 females to complete my questionnaire. Mostly between the age of 15 to 20.
23. Results A lot of the people asked said the biggest youth problem is underage drinking or teenage pregnancy.
24. Audience Theory The audience theorythat I have chosen to is Todorov’s theory and Levi Strauss’ Binary oppositions. Therefore I will put some negative stories of youth against positive stories. I will also you visual and audio oppositions. For example tense, fast music next in calm scene. I also want to use the hypodermic syringe theory, as I want to inject the audience with my beliefs about youths.
25. Narrative For my 5 minute extract I want to focus on the problems within youth and how they are affected by the media. I will then bring in the consequences of these problems, which involves youth crime. I also will use interviews to get some youth viewpoints, as well as some parent viewpoints, on the subject. Another convention that I could use are voice-overs and montages that will focus on youths and add some stylistic features.
27. Filming locations Keynsham Park – under the bridge (has lot of graffiti, which will show the youth theme) for montages School – For positive stereotypes (shows the other side of youths) for interviews and montages Home – For a parent perspective for interviews Bristol Cabot Circus – (for montages and clips)
30. Scene Synopsis Scene 2 – The Narrator will introduce the audience to what the documentary will show. I want the setting to be under the Keynsham bridge as it connotes the negative side of youths and then will help the documentary flow into the montage. Scene 3 – The montage will show mainly the negative sides of youths, therefore will hold clips from Bristol, Keynsham park. There will be a voice over from the narrator explaining the negative stereotypes of youths.
31. Scene Synopsis Scene 4 and 5 - Interviews with youths, to get their views of the negative stereotypes . Both set in the park, as it will be in the same place as the narrator. Scene 6 – Back to the narrator explaining and introducing the other sides of youths both negative and positive, like teen pregnancy and high achieving students. Set in the park, to end the park setting.
32. Scene Synopsis Scene 7 and 8 – Montages of negative and positive stereotypes, both with voice over and quiet soundtrack, this is to balance both stereotypes as well as ending the negative and starting the positive. Scene 9 and 10 - interview with youth about the impact of media. Set at home or in Bristol, as both are connected with youths. Narrator introducing students, set in school as it will flow into the following interviews/montages.
33. Scene Synopsis Scene 11 and 12 – Interview with parent, to show what they think of the youth and the media and school, set at home. The montage will be of school students, with the voice over from the interview. Scene 13 – Narrator introducing a teen story, set in the school to carry on from the last narrator scene.
34. Scene Synopsis Scene 14 and 15 – Teen story, two teens telling a real life story that is connected with the youth theme, like achievements they have done. Quiet soundtrack in the background Scene 16 - Narrator ending the story and stereotype section of the documentary, set in school to carry on from where the last narration scene was.
35. Interview Questions How do you feel about the representation of youths in media? Are you like the Representations in the media? Why do think youths behave the way they do with gangs and drink and drug abuse? Do you sometimes feel pressured by your friends to do stuff you don’t want to do? What is the worst thing you have done? Have you ever tried dugs?
36. Interview Questions What do you think most impacts the audience and the youth? Do you really think that your teenage kids behave like that? When you were a youth were you similar to the stereotypical youths? When you were younger did you try drugs?
38. Newspaper advertisement These two are adverts from a magazine that are promoting a Channel 4/BBC documentary. The BBC advert has the name of the documentary, the times and date it is on as well as the logo of the institution. Also there is a picture of the main person the documentary is focused on. The picture does not give much away but the tagline shows that the documentary is partly about wakeboard . The Uses and Gratifications theory relates to these adverts as they both attract the audience by giving small amounts of information. As they are only small amounts it creates enigma. The channel 4 advert is quite simple and doesn’t give much away. It shows the title of the documentary, the times and the day it is on as well as the institution logo in the corner. It also uses the idea that when you can’t sleep, you count sheep, which gives an idea of what the documentary is about. The theory also helps the audience relate to the man in the picture as he looks like an ordinary man.
39. A double page spread The picture used in the background has been darkened but the original colours are shown through the titles. The two pictures used have been blended, as well as one of them being blended on the background. Again the Uses and Gratifications theory is used. They use pictures of Jamelia to entertain and appeal to mostly men. However the article may entertain the women as well. The audience also gets some information about Jamelia herself which may appeal to them as they are learning about her more rather than her music. There are two colours used for the text, both stand out on both background pictures, both define which are questions and which are answers. I could use some of the design from this article for my own double page spread as it attracts a younger target audience, as Jamelia is more popular with a younger audience than older, which is what I need to achieve.
40. My Logo The title of my documentary is “ Teens of Today” therefore I have to produce a logo that reflects the theme of youth. These logos below all appeal to the audience as they each have a different representation of youth as well as being interesting. Most of the fonts look similar to graffiti, others look like handwriting, as well as one of them looking like mobile phone text. Teens of Today Teens of Today Teens of Today Teens of Today Teens of Today Teens of Today Teens of Today
41. My Logo These are the three fonts that I like the most, out of the previous ones on the slide before. Out of these three I have decided to chose the last one, as I think this font will most appeal to my target audience. This is because the font sill represents youths, but also looks more professional and would appear on a newspaper advert. I like this one because it shows a youth theme, as it looks like graffiti. However I don’t think it promotes a serious documentary. Teens of Today I like this font because it looks like a youth has written the font, and as I am doing a documentary on youth I think it is appropriate. Teens of Today I like this font because, firstly, I have used it throughout my PowerPoint, and secondly, it is modern but still it is appropriate for a serious documentary. Teens of Today
42. Fonts I plan to use ”Boopee” font on the Newspaper Advert for the tagline as well as the time, date and channel. This is because I think that this font represents youths the most as it looks like it is handwritten by a youth. I also plan to use this font for the quotes in the Double Page spread. For the double page spread I plan to use “Candara” font, for the body text, as it more modern but still looks professional. The heading and sub heading for the double page spread will be in “Ravie” as again I believe that this font represents youths well, also the font is quite different and will hopefully grab the audience’s attention and therefore using the Uses and Gratifications theory.
43. Colour Schemes For the first idea, I think that a white font on black/grey background. These colours will also promote a serious documentary. This style, of white on black, has been used on many serious documentary title cards. For example The Rise and Fall of Tiger Woods. These colours, together, also connote crime and mystery, which will be good for my documentary as I am trying to create mystery for my audience and also show in some ways teen crime. Teens of Today Teens of Today
44. Colour Schemes The second idea is to use more youth orientated colours, For example white font on a purple/blue background. These colours keep a serious tone but with a youth theme. These colours connote different genders, the blue connotes the boy gender whereas the purple connotes the girl gender. Teens of Today Teens of Today
45. Newspaper Advert layout Institutions logo Background Pictures Time, Date and channel of documentary Title of documentary
46. Newspaper Advert Layout For my newspaper advert I like the idea of using the second colour scheme, with a the Title like the one shown in the Jamelia double page spread, as in it being bold. The writing that explains which time and channel it is on will be a different font: “Boopee”, and different size to the title of the documentary. Also with a simple pictures of teens, like maybe one with a hoodie on and the hood up, one maybe drinking alcohol and the other maybe smoking. I plan to put the pictures in black and white as to stand out from the background. I will also include the institution’s logo, as it will show which channel the documentary is on. As well as making the audience familiar with the style of the documentary. For this audience theory I plan to use uses and gratifications theory and maybe some binary oppositions with the pictures and the colours scheme of the text. This will hopefully gain the audience’s interest and make them wonder what the documentary will be like.
47. Double Page Spread layout Title of documentary Background Pictures Magazine article
48. Double Page Spread layout For my double page spread, I will use similar pictures with the newspaper advert. As well as them being in black and white again. I will also use the first colour scheme again (black and White), as I think the colour scheme will mirror a documentary style. This is because it is serious but still has a youth theme, which will be shown through the use of fonts. The text will be black, with the Candara font, on a white background in front of the pictures on the background. The title should be in the Ravie and should be spread of the double page. The theory that I will use on this double page spread is for one the uses and gratifications theory. This is because it will allow the audience to engage with the text by finding it entertaining and hopefully due to them being able to relate to the text.
