Sophie Hughes- Evaluation Q1

8/19/2019 Sophie Hughes- Evaluation Q1

1/19

In what way does your mediaproduct use, develop orchallenge forms of andconventions of real mediaproducts

-Question 1-

A2 Media Evaluation- The secret behind teen drinking


2/19

-Our task-

For our advanced portfolio we received a briefspecifing the tasks we had to co!plete these

included producing a " !inute docu!entar on atopic of our choice and along side that 2 ancillartasks- a radio trailer and a double page spread#


3/19

-$hoosing our topic-M group and % had !an di&erent ideas on possible topics our

docu!entar could feature on' we produced a !ind!ap and took intoconsideration how relevant each topic was in toda(s societ and howinteresting and controversial each topic was# )e considered ideas assuch as binge drinking' use of !obile phones and obesit#


4/19

- Our $hosen Topic-

After discussing the pros and cons of each topic idea we ca!e tothe decision we wanted to produce our docu!entar on bingedrinking in oung adults as we felt it is an interesting*current topicdue to shows like +eordie ,hore which pro!otes drinking andclubbing# )e also knew it would be a lot easier to get content for

our docu!entar because we would be l!ing the !a.orit of thefootage in college where we were around students who go out onweekends and will be able to provide us with infor!ation on factorsas such as how !uch the drink#

This topic also allows us to add a lot of factual infor!ation and

!ake our docu!entar educational as we can include facts as suchas how !an units are in di&erent alcoholic drinks and how !andrinks ou have to consu!e to be considered a binge drinker#


5/19

/ocu!entar Modes-)e researched into 0ill ichols theor of docu!entar !odes# The di&erentstles he dened and developed were3

E4positor-Main goal is persuade and infor!' usuall includes an authorativenarrator#

Observational-Allow viewers to draw their own conclusions as observationaldocu!entaries si!pl .ust observe situations without an envelop!ent

5e6e4ive- Evaluates 7ualit of docu!entar

8erfor!ative- Engages l!-!akers stor but also tells an ele!ent of the truth#

8oetic- 9olds a sub.ective interpretation of its sub.ects# :ses a traditionalnarrative where a particular !ood and tone is created through situationsre!aining undeveloped

8articipator- Fil! !aker interacts with their sub.ect rather than .ust observethe!

0ill ichols is an theoretician best known for hispioneering work as founder of the conte!porar studof docu!entar l!#


6/19

positor Mode-Our docu!entar suits the e4positor !ode as it follows ke codes andconventions included in the e4positor !ode' for e4a!ple our docu!entar

is infor!ative as includes !an facts as such as-!ore than ;,upersi?e !e there was a nu!ber of e4pert interviews#

The expert interview in

Supersize Me also followedthe common codes and

convention of a formal

interview as the individual

being interviewed is not

looking directly at the camera.

The background is also

professional as the interviewtook place in a office.


7/19

-5esearch into other docu!entaries-

%n preparation for creating ! own docu!entar %have researched and analsed e4isting docu!entariessuch as >,upersi?ed Me which is an A!ericandocu!entar directed b Morgan ,purlock# >,upersi?e!e e4plores overweight people and the increasingconcerns for their health# Morgan also considers who isit to bla!e for overweight people3 for e4a!ple@ is itthe !edia who pro!ote food chains such as

Mc/onalds or is %t the individual eating all the food# %also watched a previous A2 groups docu!entar on>,eles and peoples obsession with the! however thedocu!entar also has a !ore serious tone becausethe investigate how >seles !a be a&ecting peoplesself-estee!# 00$s- >%s binge drinking reall that baddocu!entar was particularl useful to watch becausenot onl did % gain insight about tpical codes and

conventions that feature in docu!entaries but % got anunderstanding of the sort of content we could includein our docu!entar about binge drinking# 0 watchingthese docu!entaries % now have an idea of whatfeatures % should replicate in the docu!entar toensure ! nal product is professional and confor!sto the docu!entar genre for e4a!ple includingvo4pops' e4pert interviews' background footage and

voiceovers#

,upersi?e Me docu!entar

,ele docu!entar


8/19

terviews- Throughout all the 3 expert interviews that featured in our documentary we followed the common codes and

conventions that are expected to feature in the formal style interviews, for example all our interviews were

filmed with a professional backdrop. !ick"s interview was filmed in a classroom which also further illustrates

the fact that he is a teacher and has an advanced level of knowledge and knows what he is talking about.

Similarly #my $einer"s interview was filmed in a science lab as she is a biologist.

%e tried to remind ourselves consistently of themise-en-scene so played close attention to the

background of our interviews.

This screen capture is taken from #my $einer"s

interview, the poster in the background relates

to her field of work highlighting to the audience

she is a reliable source.


9/19

E4pert %nterviews- %e also had the name of individuals

being interviewed and their

profession as this again is acommon convention found in expert

interviews.

%e did this to ensure we kept the same

housestyle throughout for example we used the

same font text and border background for each

interview, this made the documentary consistentand therefore more professional.

%e had seen an example of this convention

in a previous #& media documentary named

'Selfie"


10/19


11/19

-,hot Tpes- *xpert interviews

+ommonly use mediumshots or medium close ups

ere is an example of a medium shot in

the #& documentary -"/0-binge drinking"

%hy are they used1

The medium shot sets the scene of what the

interview is going to be about for example #my

was a biologist and in the background of her she

had a poster linking back to biology, it allows for

the audience to see the facial expressions of the

individual as well as the background.

*xample of our medium shot expert

interview2


12/19

-,hot Tpes-

*stablishing shot

ere is an example of a

establishing shot taken from the

documentary 'Supersize me".

%hy are they used1

*stablishing shots are used illustrate

to the audience the filming location.

They are conventionally used at the

beginning of documentaries.

ow we used an establishing shot2

#fter our opening montage se)uence the first

shot the audience saw was an establishing

shot of the college sign with the college in thebackground this reinforces the target audience

of our documentary which is students.


13/19

$onventions-Archival Footage in our

Documentary

Archival Footage in

Supersize Me

0n our documentary we included a T advert that we

found. This advert is used as supporting footage to go

alongside what #my was saying in her interview. This

particular part of the documentary is more serious but

helps give the audience a more detailed insight into

our topic. %e found this clip on youtube and filmed the

youtube clip of our 0Macs

%e drew inspiration to include an advert

trailer in our documentary after wewatched 'Supersize me" as they included

a clip of one of the Mc4onalds T

adverts


14/19

-The /ouble 8age ,pread-5ur double page spread follows many of the common codes and conventions that

are associated with double page spreads, 0 will highlight these by comparing our

double page spread to the double page spread on '# diary of courage"

My 4ouble 6age Spread

*xemplar 4ouble 6age Spread


15/19

9ow ! double page spread follows codes and conventions-

Main 0mage

4rop +apital

Three +olumns

7uotes

+ommon convention used

to draw peoples attention

to the beginning of the

article. #lso connotes the

text.

Makes the spread

easier to read and

also clearer as it is

a more

professional layout

0mage that relates back to the article and

documentary. 0mage should be clear and also

involve props so reader can look and know what

the article is going to be about, for example the

drink being held highlights our topic of binge

drinking, 8ust like the diary in the exemplar

double page spread links back to the header2 'a

diary of courage"

4raws on key ideas in the article that the authorwants to emphasise. %e took our )uote from a

part of #my $einer"s dialogue when she was

discussing the health risks of binge drinking.


16/19

/id we challenge an codesand conventionsB

#lthough our double page spread does include a main image,it goes against the typical conventions because usually the

image is of the individual who is being spoken about in the

article, however this was 8ust an image that we had taken and

felt was fitting with our topic of binge drinking. The girl

featured in our main image was never mentioned in the

article.

+onventionally headlines are mean to

be short and snappy to attract the

reader and intrigue them however

although ours is fairly long it is arhetorical )uestion so is more personal

for the reader and allows them to think

for themselves and they may even pay

more attention to the article because

they want to answer the )uestion for

themselves.

/id h ll d


17/19

:se of language##

$onventionall !aga?ine listings are relativel for!al but it does !ainldepend on the !aga?ine it is being featured in# The article featured inour !aga?ine has a !ore laid back infor!al stle' as in our te4t we useabbreviations such a >uni instead of universit# )e chose to go againstthe co!!on conventions as we felt it would appeal !ore to our targetaudience as it would be easier and !ore like the language the usetherefore !aking it !ore en.oable for the! to read# )e also opted toinclude a QA stle for!at as it both helps with the laout as swappingfro! a 7uestion to answer breaks the page up and !akes it look lesscrowded# % believe our target audience would never read an article thatappeared .ust to be paragraph after paragraph# Also the QA is again a!ore infor!al stle' and ts !ore with the ai!s of our docu!entar#

/id we challenge an codesand conventionsB

9ni instead of

university


18/19

5adio trailer co!parison-(efore producing our radio trailer we did some research into the common codes and

conventions of radio adverts by analysing existing products. %e tried to incorporate a

number of these typical aspects into our radio trailer which we were designing to go

along side our documentary to help promote it. # )uick summary of the conventionsthat feature in our documentary are- music, time:date:channel and extracts from

documentaries.

#lthough we do also challenge the typical conventions throughout our radio trailer. 9sually

trailers last for around 3; to seconds long. %e opted to

make our radio trailer slightly shorter to keep it fast paced and snappy as we did not

want to lose the listener"s attention especially as the key details on when:where ourdocumentary was going to air featured at the end of our product.

%e use abbreviated language in our trailer as we felt this would make the overall trailer

more informal and make it more relevant to our target audience as typically young

adults in their everyday speech use abbreviations.

'eb" instead of ebruary.

'Teen" instead of teenager. Teen worked better asmade it shorter: more catchy therefore easier for the

listener to remember.


19/19

$onclusionCAll in all % believe all ! three !edia products follow

co!!on codes and conventions that helps in our overalltask to !ake people aware of the risks of binge drinking#

9owever we also do have .ustied reasons for wh we didnot follow certain conventions#

Overall % think ! research at the beginning of ! A2 earwas particularl useful as % was aware of the content %needed to be including into each task to ensure the hada professional house stle#

Documents

Sophie Hughes- Evaluation Q1