Formation Environnement et réglementation bancaire
Media evaluation question one
1. 1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
2. • When creating my documentary I used my existing documentary research in order to explore what
conventions my product needed to have, then incorporated various conventions into my running order to
ensure I remembered to include them. From my audience research I found that 23/30 people I
interviewed in my target audience research would be between the ages of 16 and 18, and the other 7
were above the age of 19. Using this I created a documentary that would appeal to young people of this
age. I took into account various factors that would relate to these age groups for example the attention
span of a 16-18 year old may be a lot shorter than someone ages 30. Taking this into account I ensured
that I used various factors and conventions to make sure my audience were entertained throughout. By
watching existing documentaries and analysing them thoroughly I found that the main conventions of a
documentary were:
• Voiceover
• Archive footage/Stills
• Real life footage
• Interviews
• Text on Screen
• Re-enacting
• Sound/music
• Using this research I took into consideration that during my documentary I would have to incorporate
these various different areas into my documentary. During the editing process I ensured to have a
montage of images with a variety of music that suited the topic of the documentary. Within the editing
process I researched different transitions and sounds to use in my editing process. This helped to ensure
that I was using the correct codes and conventions within my media product.
• To complete my existing product research I used http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/ to find various
documentaries that may be similar to the documentary I wanted to create. I also searched different
conventions
3. In order to follow the conventions of a
I used images from the internet to represent the
documentary I decided to use a
topic of the certain area of my documentary for
montage of footage related to the
example smoking.
topic of my documentary (Everyday
Addiction) I also used cross dissolves
between the different pieces of
footage to follow the generic
convention of a documentary opening
scene.
After the montage I
used a fade to black to
introduce the
interviews from the
montage.
I used a cross dissolve in-between all
the shots in my montage, this is also a
I filmed various cut-away shots to generic convention of a documentary
place in-between my interviews and all the documentaries I analysed
and footage. All my cutaways and watched within my research
related to the specific part of the process all included a cross dissolve at
documentary I was focussing on at some point during the film.
any one point. When I researched
the conventions of a documentary
I found out that cutaways were a
main element of a documentary
which is why I ensured that I used
them For the audio levels I added a fill right into the audio to ensure
that it would sound smooth and have a good flow with all the
songs.
When I edited the music of the beginning montage I added a constant The music I used in the opening montage of my documentary was a song
gain at the end of the song so it would run smoothly into the other called “addiction” I decided to use this song as it related to the topic of the
song. This also fits the conventions of a documentary as they all documentary and I thought it was a well suited piece of music. To add this
include some sort of music. music to my documentary I downloaded the song from YouTube and edited
it to suit my specific area within my documentary.
4. When filming my interviews I used a classic rule of thirds to position my
interviewee. This creates a professional style interview that will be
respected within a documentary as it subconsciously allows the viewer
to pay full attention to the interviewee by following the main line of
interest. The interviews that were filmed on the white background
looked more professional and the levels were easier to edit to make the
background colour look clearer and more eye-catching. Also using a
white background keeps the audiences attention to the interviewee to
ensure that they are following what is going on and the answers to the
questions. Using a clarified background is a convention of existing media
products as I researched many documentaries and I found that it is a
good way of keeping the eye of the audience focussed on the main
points.
The sound of my interviews also had to be edited
The sound for my interviews was all recorded using a standard clip mic. I with levels as the clip mic only records the sound
decided to use a clip mic because from my research I found that it would through one headphones so using the fill left and fill
make the sound clearer and easier to understand. Each interviewee was right tool I altered the sound for it to sound more
asked 3-4 questions and from watching existing interviews I found that it smooth.
was essential for the interviewee to incorporate the question into their
answer so that the audience would be aware of the topic of
conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee.
I used a montage of voxpops from the various interviews that I filmed towards the beginning of
the documentary to give the audience an insight as to what featured within my documentary.
Using the pink background wasn’t as effective as using the plain white background however due
to a lack of resources and time it was essential to use this background. Although the background
wasn’t a successful choice I still remembered to incorporate the rule of thirds and the clip mic to
ensure the audio and visual were balanced and interesting for the audience to watch.
5. • By researching existing documentaries I I used the same style interview to this
found that using a plain white backdrop for one in my documentary as I thought it
filming interviews created a professional was a good layout and the black writing
and serious outlook on the interview and on the plain white background was very
was a great way of ensuring the attention effective.
was all focussed on the interviewee and not
what was going on around them.
The text is used to inform the
audience who the interviewee
For the sound of this is and what her purpose is
interview I had to edit the during the interview, this shows
sound in order for the audio the audience why she is being
to play through both interviewed.
headphones as the clip mic
only recorded sound through
one side. To do this I used the
audio levels and used the fill
left tool in the audio editor.
I edited the levels and colour The font of the text over is a I used a clip mic for my interview
of the shot in premiere to get standard sized font which is to ensure the sound would be
rid of any shadowing on the easy to read and clear for the clear and clarified as from
white background. I also audience to understand. watching previous documentaries
positioned Kate using the I noticed that the majority of the
rule of thirds with just a sound was imbalanced and a lot of
medium close up shot of her. interviewers didn’t use a clip mic.
Also this fits in with the codes and
conventions of a documentary.
6. I also used the screen recorder to record blogs on the internet
One way I challenged conventions within my documentary was
which included key words that related to the topic of my
by using a screen recorder. This was a different approach to get
documentary which again made the audience want to engage
information and statistics across to my audience. Also because
with the documentary and makes them question their everyday
there is reading required it gives the audience a chance to
routine.
engage with the documentary and creates inquisition.
http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/
Using facts and statistics within my documentary was decided by
watching a variety of documentaries and discovering that facts helped
to show the audience the importance of the topic that is being covered.
A very popular convention of a documentary is a
Using the screen recorder made the facts and statistics stand out to the
voiceover however I didn’t use a voiceover within my
audience whilst challenging and altering a convention of a
documentary as I didn’t have the time to incorporate
documentary.
one. Using a voiceover is to help the audience
understand and follow what is going on within the
documentary however watching and editing my
documentary I feel that it works and runs smoothly
without the voice over so this is also a way that my
documentary challenges the conventions of a
stereotypical documentary.
Using cutaways over the audio of the interview is also a way I
have challenged the conventions however I feel that it is
effective as the cutaways are related to the interviewees
answers. From my research I found that this is sometimes used
however it isn’t as common as most conventions.
7. I used archive footage when editing my documentary to follow the codes and
conventions of a typical documentary. This just gave the documentary some
existing footage and facts that it could be related to and also helped to break
up the footage and interviews. Many existing documentaries use archive
footage in order to give the audience the reassurance that the facts and
information being presented to them is legit and that there are other videos
and people that agree with the point that the documentary is trying to get
across. Archive can also be used to represent historic footage or footage that
may be hard to capture.
I used archive to split up the interviews and give extra information about the topic being discussed at different points within the
documentary. I added my own choice of music over the archive footage for the majority of the documentary, however I used some American
archive as it would be too hard to film myself.
I decided to use the song “Teardrop” as it has a sinister background sound and it portrays the fact that even though the
previous sound was happy and upbeat, the topic of the documentary is in fact a serious topic and the facts that are
being portrayed are effecting the lives of various people.
8. • The name bars for my documentary didn’t work out as well as they were
expected to as I was responsible for all the editing within my group the last
minute touches such as name bars didn’t get completed properly as I ran out
of time, however I have used a generic text name bar to show the audience
who the person being interviewed is and to follow that convention of
existing documentaries. Using name bars within a documentary isn’t
essential however it is a key to informing the audience who is speaking and
why.
The mise-en-scene of this interview is related
to the topic as the topic is make-up and beauty
which is a girly topic and relates to the flowers
and floral background. Also the rule of thirds
has also been incorporated. The name bar
shows the purpose of the interviewee and why
she is being asked the various questions.