The document discusses conventions used in the student's media documentary on binge drinking. It examines documentaries like "Ready, Steady, Drink" that also cover this topic. The student's documentary uses conventions like a voiceover narration, interviews, and background music to set different moods. It challenges conventions by not using a presenter and not having student directors participate in drinking experiments. The documentary and promotional materials like a TV listing follow genre conventions to engage audiences.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
The brief we were given in the beginning of our A2 course was to create the opening five
minutes of a television documentary of a subject of our choice. We brainstormed these
ideas as a group and I put forward several such as binge drinking, teen pregnancy and body
image and in the end we chose to do binge drinking. Along with the documentary we were
to produce two ancillary tasks, a radio trailer and a double page spread for a listings
magazine to advertise our documentary. Most documentaries are about an hour long so we
had to ensure we researched and planned what goes into the first five minutes of one to
create a professional looking documentary of our own.
While researching for our documentary we looked at Bill Nichol’s theory for documentary
modes which consisted of; Expository, Observational, Participatory, Reflexive and
Performative mode. Our documentary is expository as it addresses the viewer directly to
advance an argument, for example the name of our documentary includes the question,
‘Fun or fatal?’ which sparks an argument for the audience to decide for themselves what the
outcome of binge drinking is. This type of mode is characterised by a hidden narrator,
whose voice is supported by images rather than the other way round. Our documentary
follows this convention as we had Zoe do the voiceover and have the footage supporting
what she says which I think is effective as our documentary is aimed at mostly at students so
by having the voiceover of a female and of a similar age to the viewers, they may relate to
her better than a authoritative male voice. However a convention of this mode is that it’s
subjective and often polemical and our documentary challenges this as it is more of a
rhetorical question so that the audience can decide for themselves what they think of binge
drinking, rather than having an intrusive narrator with a one sided view. This mode is also
criticised as being overly didactic and preachy which our documentary challenges as we
didn’t want to be preachy but rather show the audience equal amount of
information/evidence for each half of ‘fun or fatal’.
There are also different types of Narrative Structure which basically means the plot of the
documentary. Our documentary is multi-strand as it has more than one main plotline which
is, is binge drinking fun or fatal. It will be a series, so in each episode it will follow the
structure of looking at the fun effects of drinking in contrast with the fatal effects. This
means that it will follow a realist structure because as directors we wanted the audience to
believe what they are watching is real life. Following the realist structure, because we
wanted viewers to feel involved, I suggested the opening sequence and introduction was
edited to be faster than it was filmed and accompanied with upbeat music to create the
impression the viewer was in a club/bar environment. Our documentary was linear which
meant the events happen on screen as they would in real life; hence our documentary was

2. structured like a story in two halves; the fun, and the fatal effects of binge drinking. We
started with showing the fun effects of drinking by interviewing students at a college and
then went on to film formal interviews with serious information leading into the fatal half
and ending as if we were about to go into a Doctor’s room. This will then follow onto the
next episode of the series, starting in the Hospital.
There are also components of narrative structure which is the beginning, middle and end or
problem, quest and resolution. Todorov (1997) was a theorist who studied stories and said
that each one followed a structure.
Equilibrium – introduced to normal life
Opposing force/disruption – life is disrupted e.g. evil force
Unifying force/quest – some sort of journey e.g. hero going on a quest
Resolution – normal life is restored
Our documentary is similar to this as our opening sequence and introduction into binge
drinking is the equilibrium, the opposing force is alcohol, as directors we go on a journey
into looking at the effects of binge drinking and eventually if we finished our documentary
there would be a resolution.
Levi strauss introduced the theory of Binary Opposition which is when characters/themes
are in direct opposition to one another e.g. hero and villain/good and evil. Our documentary
follows this idea as our two contrasts are ‘Fun or fatal’ which are binary opposites, and
hopefully will create a debate whether to which one binge drinking is or isn’t.
TV documentaries also come under different styles and influences which are; Direct Cinema,
Cinema Verite, Institutional, Docusoaps, Public affairs, Video Diaries and Drama. Our
documentary is a public affairs style as it’s the most traditional format and an example is
Panorama. They are usually shown on BBC or Channel 4 and explore current affairs and
issues which is a convention of our documentary as it is on Channel 4 and explores the binge
drinking epidemic of Britain that is constantly in the media.
In preparation for making our own documentary, we had to research
other documentaries and see what the conventions of them were. In
class we watched the documentary ‘Supersize Me?’ by Morgan
Spurlock but we thought it would be a good idea to research similar documentaries
to our own. We researched several documentaries which can be found on our blog
such as, ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’, ‘Party Paramedics’, ‘Teen Trouble’ and
‘Booze-a young person’s guide’. I thought that instead of commenting on the
conventions in ‘Supersize Me?’ I would focus on a documentary that is more
like our one on binge drinking.
The documentary ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ is narrated by Emily Attack as she takes a look at
the culture of drinking in the UK. A convention of this documentary was that the

3. background footage shown related to binge drinking and what the narrator was saying. Our
documentary followed this convention as we linked what the narrator was saying to the
images on the screen. This was effective as it backed up what the narrator was saying, whilst
also keeping the audience’s attention because the footage was interesting whilst being
factual and true.
Another convention of this documentary was that Emily Attack was telling her own story
and showing the audience her journey making the documentary, which is what Morgan
Spurlock does in ‘Supersize Me?’ as he takes a personal approach throughout the
documentary. Our documentary challenges this convention because we couldn’t personally
take part in the experiment because it would be too risky to be around intoxicated people in
case something dangerous happened.
Another convention of ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ was that the title at the start of the
documentary was shown on top of a background of a deck of cards and glasses of alcohol on
a pub table. We adhered to this convention as we put our title on top of posters about binge
drinking blowing in the wind which we thought was a clever and appealing way to present
our title as ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ did.
In ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’, Emily interviewed groups of friends informally whilst they were
drinking which was effective as the target audience would relate to this atmosphere. Our
documentary followed this convention as would have interviewees speak amongst friends in
some interviews so that they would be relaxed as they were in groups. We found that this
was effective as the audience found it entertaining and funny because the interviewees
were being themselves but also got some serious points.

4. We challenged the convention of this documentary as Emily Attack took part in experiments
for her documentary such as using a breathalyser, and we didn’t. This is because it would’ve
been too dangerous for us to do because some of our group are under aged and it could be
too risky to be around intoxicated people on a night out. However we did improvise and
show wine being poured into a glass and have the narrator say what happens after each
glass of wine. This was a good eye opener for the audience as it showed the realism of how
quickly the number of units affects the human body.
‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ had formal interviews with a number of professionals such as an
alcohol specialist to show the seriousness of alcohol. We followed this convention as we
interviewed a number of professionals, such as a Policeman, Psychology teacher and a
Student Development Officer. The best formal interview we did was with PC Patel as it was
the most hard hitting and serious which would affect the audience and make them think
about the outcome of binging on alcohol. PC Patel also wore his uniform which made him
more authoritative as it showed he was in a serious profession and had a respected job role.
‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ interviewed the alcohol specialist in her work place which we didn’t
manage to do for PC Patel as he offered to come into College for us but as we were filming
the footage for our ‘Hospital’ rooms, a science teacher in her white lab coat walked past
which we took advantage of and filmed her walking down the corridor and into a room of
our ‘pretend hospital’. This chance happening has allowed our documentary too look
professional and appear to have an experts place of work filmed, like ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’.

5. Another convention in ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ was that they interviewed celebrity Russell
Kane who expressed his views through humour. Our documentary breaks this convention
because we couldn’t film a celebrity but we did however follow the convention of comedy
and used vox pops that were funny and comical. For example one student we interviewed
said, “I have sex with people I wouldn’t usually”. This clip has been used in our documentary
as well as our radio trailer and as a quote in our TV listing magazine article because it’s
comical and attracts our target audience as they can relate with this student’s behaviour.
Documentary
Other conventions in our documentary that I found were things such as the use of camera,
such as shot types, sound and special effects. In our documentary the most common type of
camera shot was the medium close up in order for the audience to get a good view of the
person’s facial expression and how they felt, in order to provoke an emotional connection
with what was happening on screen and the viewer.

6. We used the tripod a lot for shots such as an establishing shot of the College and of the
Police Station in order for the audience to know where the next scene was about to take
place and to link with what the voiceover was saying e.g. ‘We went to Solihull Sixth Form’
and a long shot of the college would follow.
Using a tripod in our formal interviews was important as we needed the camera to be
steady and follow the rule of thirds when setting up the screen.
The interviewee should be looking out into space and positioned a
third of the way in with their eye level at a third of the way down.
Using a tripod also meant that we could use skills such as panning,
tracking and zooming to make our documentary look professional.
We also used the handheld camera in our documentary to make
the viewer feel as if they were there, as well as for our informal
vox pops. It was important for the vox pops to be filmed hand
held as we wanted these to feel ‘real’ and on the spot as the
students were speaking honestly of their experiences and
laughing with us about them etc. This was good as it made the
footage look like the students felt that we as directors were
reliable and they could open up to us, this made our documentary have an honest insight
into the life of a student who binge drinks.
Another convention in our documentary was the use of sound such as background music,
voiceover, presenter, diegetic and non-diegetic sound. In ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ they used a
presenter (Emily Attack) and had a voiceover but we felt that our documentary didn’t need
a presenter so we only used a voiceover. We thought this would be more effective as we
didn’t want it to be too intrusive by having a presenter because we wanted the audience to
decide their own opinion about binge drinking. We also thought that having a presenter
wouldn’t work for our humorous student vox pops because the students would feel
pressured and scared if a microphone was pointed at them by a loud and confident
presenter and in fact just having a voiceover would work better as the footage would be
better too. We also thought a presenter wouldn’t work in the serious half of our
documentary as it would be difficult to talk about the ‘fatal’ effects of binge drinking face to
face on camera and that a voiceover would work better.
Background music was something that we used in our documentary just like ‘Ready, Steady,
Drink’ did. Because our documentary was in sections of binge drinking being either fun or
fatal we needed two different types of music. For the fun half we wanted an upbeat dance
song and for the fatal half we wanted a slower, sombre instrumental as shown below.

7. I created a Prezi presentation which can be seen on the blog where I looked at different
types of music for our documentary. ‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ uses the dance song ‘I’m not
alone’ by Calvin Harris at the start but for interviews doesn’t use any music. This carries on
throughout the documentary as the next footage of a night out uses a Gorillaz song but
there is no background music for the interview with a Taxi driver. Because we couldn’t use
copyright music in our documentary we had to use non copyright music provided by us on a
website used by our College. We selected a upbeat dance song for the fun half to mimic a
‘night out’ but chose a darker, sad song for the fatal half. We challenged the convention of
‘Ready, Steady, Drink’ where they didn’t use any background music in interviews but instead
kept the music running throughout but faded and changed the sound level of the music so it
was quieter. Our documentary also used diegetic sound for example background noise in
the canteen when doing vox pops and the sound of cars. We didn’t use any non-diegetic
sound in our documentary because didn’t want too overcrowd it with sound effects etc. but
rather keep it simple.
An additional convention was the use of special effects in our documentary. In ‘Ready,
Steady, Drink’ the title uses the effect of changing focus as the focus is on the pint of beer
on the table surrounded by playing cards and the drinks behind it our out of focus. The
speed also changes when as the students drink, the camera zooms into them and their drink
and then speeds up after each person has their drink. In our documentary we changed the
speed of certain clips, for example the opening sequence was sped up so that the footage
mimicked a fast paced, drink fuelled ‘night out’ and put the viewer into the position of a
student binge drinking on a night out straight away.
We also used the zoom a lot on our actual camera, for example zooming out on the
Skeleton in the Science lab. Using these special effects keep the audience intrigued in our

8. documentary as the speed and zooming creates an element of fun if it changes. It allows the
audience to be ‘kept on their toes’ and remain interested in the documentary.
TV Listing Magazine article
This is our final TV Listings magazine which we produced for ‘What’s on TV’ magazine. Each
TV listings magazine differ from one another, for example ‘Radio Times’ is more serious and
formal whereas ‘What’s on TV’ is more colourful and fun but they still all follow similar
conventions. As our documentary was based on a serious UK epidemic, there had to be
elements of seriousness, hence the simple layout and appropriate images but because our
documentary is titled ‘Fun or fatal?’ there has to be an element of fun and therefore the
bright colours blue and red are used as well as a comical pull quote, “I get mashed, I’m a
mess”.
A masthead is the headline or the title of the magazine page and is a common convention to
be used. Some TV listing magazines use quotes or plotlines etc as the headline but
sometimes the title of the documentary is used, especially if it’s a one off series.

9. Drop cap is nearly always used in TV listing magazines to show the beginning of the text as it makes
it look more professional if it sticks to the conventions, as shown in our article.
A pull quote is used to grab the reader’s attention and lure them into reading the article if
the pull quote is interesting enough. We have used a quote from our documentary which is
comical and suits the target audience we want to read the documentary. The quote will
attract teenagers aged 15-20 because it’s humorous and they will relate to the situation, it
will make them reminisce and laugh whilst pulling them into watching the documentary.
Although it’s comical, this pull quote will attract the attention of our second target audience
of parents of teenagers because they will read it and be shocked that teenagers allow
themselves to get into that state. It will influence them to watch the documentary and see
what people their child’s age get up too.

10. Articles are also conventionally written in columns which we have done to make our
magazine fit the codes and conventions of a professional TV magazine listing, but also to
make the layout look clean and clear to read. By having columns and making sure the text
isn’t hyphenated, our article looks professional. They are also separated sometimes by
subheadings as shown in our magazine article and an article in ‘What’s on TV’.
We also conventionally added the date, time and channel that our documentary will be
aired on at the end of the article, as well as at the start on a banner. This is conventionally
used by ‘What’s on TV’ in the article that I annotated and therefore to make our article look
suited to ‘What’s on TV’ I added one to ours.

11. Radio trailer
For our radio trailer, we listened to other student’s radio trailers who did the same task that
we are doing, as well as other professional ones such as ‘Five Live Sports Extra’ on the BBC.
This helped us get an idea of the conventions that they use and what makes them effective,
however I thought that in order to get the best idea of the conventions used, I researched
another radio trailer similar to ours. I found a radio trailer about binge drinking done by
another student in a different college wish can be heard below.
https://soundcloud.com/#tags/ancillary%20task-%20radio%20trailer
The advert starts with an opening of slow, moody and dark instrumental music which carries
on throughout. It then plays short clips of conversations, one being, “Come on then, do you
want some do ya?” which is an argument where someone is suggesting a fight. It is then
followed by a conversation between a drunken girl and a boy who is trying to take
advantage of her by suggesting she comes back to his house because she is alone wandering
the streets. A sound effect of someone being sick follows this. The trailer then ends on
information being given about where those listening can watch to find out more about the
dangers of drinking, such as the channel and time of the documentary.
Our radio trailer follows these conventions as it has background music throughout which is
the same music that was in our documentary, with the split between the dance music and
the slower music.
We then used a voiceover like this radio trailer, but ours was to tell a sort of story as we
asked rhetorical questions such as, “A night to remember?” or “or one crazy disaster?”
followed by a clip of either a vox pop or an interview which contrasts or answers the
voiceover. For example, our trailer starts off with, “A night to remember?” and is answered
by a vox pop of a student saying, “You’ll probably forget the night your experiencing”. We

12. thought this was very effective and an attention grabbing way to advertise our
documentary. We use elements of fun such as the comical vox pops which students will
relate with, as well as serious quotes such as those from PC Patel which will shock our target
audience. These rhetorical questions are personal so that the listener will want to answer
them and find out more about the documentary. We also follow conventions as we end the
trailer with the channel, date and time the documentary is on, but before that we use the
declarative sentence, “Find out for yourself”. This immediately draws the listener in as it
addresses them personally so they feel involved. A convention of radio trailers are that they
are normally between 20-40 seconds. Our trailer is 30 seconds long which is a good as it’s in
the middle of the two but also is enough time to sell our documentary without it being long
and boring.
Overall I think we have used and developed forms and conventions of real media products
and I am pleased with what we have done.