To make sure that we applied and used different codes and conventions of

documentaries lots of research had to be carried out. For this research I

began by watching different types of documentary, for example: fly on

the wall and reality and took notes, looking for things that they had in

common. I also watched documentaries that had been produced in the

past, some professionally made and some that where made by other A-

level students. We also looked and theories that had been put together

by different theorists so we could apply these theories later on in the

hope that we would achieve a better final product. After some research

we decided to research Todorov’s theory of equilibrium as it seemed to

be the most applicable.

IMAGES OF RESEARCH THAT WAS CARRIED OUT

Here we have an image

of the research that I

carried out for different

Narrative Theories,

including Todorov’s

theory of equilibrium.

Here is an image of the research that

was carried for different

documentaries (amateur and

professional)

HOW WE COMPLIED WITH TODOROV’S THEORY

OF EQUILIBRIUM

Todorov’s theory of equilibrium states that any story should contain a beginning a

middle and an end. When beginning the production stage of our documentary we

tried to make sure that we followed this format as it would result in a better end

product. Despite having a five minute time limit we made sure that it contained these

three parts. Below are how we encompassed the start, beginning and end sequence

into our documentary.

Beginning: At the beginning of my documentary we opened with multiple shots of the

town of Ryde and delivered a summery of what was to come.

Middle: The middle sequence was an important part of our documentary as this offered

a real basis for our documentary. In this part we explored and questioned members

of my target audience, getting their opinions and reactions to my questions.

End: The end concluded our documentary with shots of the isle of Wight festival, which

I narrate over and ask the audience a direct rhetorical question.

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

PRESENTER

Over this process we looked at many different documentaries, a lot of them had

presenters and a lot of them didn’t. Where we decided that our documentary would

be a channel 4 documentary we looked at them in depth, and we found that

commonly channel 4 documentaries do not have presenters . This is something that

we chose to challenge and develop. We felt for our documentary to come across as

interesting we needed someone to guide the audience through this documentary and

typically that person had to be a presenter. I, myself ended up presenting the

documentary, this was good as I come from the island and I am with in our target

audience age group. When I presenting it was almost like I was sticking up for it

and telling people that there is more to do than meets the eye and it isn’t ‘boring’ like

some people suggest, and there is things for they younger generation to do.

IMAGES OF ME PRESENTING

Here we have a presentation period

where I talk about what there is to do

in Ryde, a popular destination on the

island

Here I appear again, but here I am

discussing Newport, another popular

destination on the island.

RESEARCH INTO PRESENTING

If I was to do a professional job when presenting our documentary we had

to make sure we researched different documentaries where a presenter

is used. In the end we took great inspiration from Alan Whicker who

presented his own show, ‘Whicker’s World’ which ran from 1958- 1994.

I also looked at more modern shows to see how modern day presenters

go about informing their audience. For this I looked and Sir Trevor

McDonald who had recently presented a documentary about death row.

NARRATION Despite channel 4 documentaries not usually having presenters we found

that every documentary that channel 4 have produced contained

Narration in one form or another. This would direct the documentary

and would also be there to inform the audience. We also chose to use

narration as it developed the convention of a real media product, which

we felt was important. When scripting the narration we looked at how

narration was used on other documentaries and after watching a few,

for example: Educating Yorkshire and Body shock (both channel 4

documentaries) , we realised the narrator was ultimately there to direct

and inform the audience, so we had to do the same.

INTERVIEWS.

During our documentary we also used a range of interviews. By doing this

it enabled us to develop forms and conventions of a real media product.

By using narration it also enabled us to follow the forms and

conventions of a mixed documentary. Over the course of our

documentary we interviewed four members of our target audience. Two

of them offered negative opinions of the island and the other two

offered positive views of the island. This enabled us to justify one side

of these opinions, and of course we chose to look at the positive side. We

where inspired to use interviews when we watched channel 4’s

Educating Essex and Educating Yorkshire. Below are the images of our

interviewees.

CAMERA SHOTS

Over the course of the documentary we tried to develop a range of

camera angles and shots . We did this to bring life to the

documentary and to make it more exciting for our audience. we

also tried to capture a range of camera angles and shots because

when we researched different documentaries it was evident that

multiple camera shots and angles where always used. By using

this the destinations that we filmed have really benefited. We

captured many shots including: long shots, establishing shots,

close ups and tilt shots. This has allowed us to develop the forms

and conventions of real media products and connote a sense of

real professionalism.

DIFFERENT CAMERA ANGLE SHOTS

MUSICOnce we had established that our documentary was a ‘mixed’ documentary we looked and

researched other similar products. We tried to recognise all of the conventions that

were included. One factor that really stood out was the use of music . We felt the use of

music was really important, it could really add effect to our documentary and could

give it a new lease of life. Throughout our documentary different diegetic music can be

heard accompanying my narration. One song that we felt that we had to use was Derek

Sandy’s ,’Welcome to the Isle Of Wight’, as it really said the message that we tried to

get across in our documentary. Below are the tracks that we used in our documentary.

‘Sweet home Alabama’

Lynard Skynard‘Welcome to the isle of Wight’

Derek Sandy

‘Start me up’

Rolling Stones

‘Seven seas of Rhye’

Queen

‘Get Lucky’

Daft punk

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