Production

Documentary

Radio Trailer

Print Advert

Evaluation

Evaluation G324

Question 1 – In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Framing of interviews/Graphics/Mise-en-scene


'Our production follows the codes and conventions of a documentary genre because the framing of the interview is shot to the left of the screen in both interviews that are shown. The graphics on each production anchors who each person is and the relevance of each topic. The mise-en-scene an interview on beneath the mask is shot in front of a dressing table symbolising that it has something to do with make-up.'

Cutaways

Interview Clip / Cutaway Clip / Interview Clip

The intertview clip / cutaway / interview clip compares to other documentaries in the way that the cutaway is used to hide the jumps and/or questions. The cutaway clip is also archive material which make it interesting to watch as you see him before he puts the make up on, during him being a drag queen and back to the interview. It enhances the audience's attention and also makes it more entertaining otherwise you'd be watching the interview and too some people they may find it boring.

Voice over



This voiceover clip is very clever the way we have done it, the documentary is about make-up yet it is a male voice. This links to other documentaries as the voice is normally a standard english voice which is what we have used. I think this works well within our documentary as it makes it more interesting to watch and it doesn't just show that it is only aimed at women but it brings that male audience as well.

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?


'The channel and scheduling of the documentary appealed to the target audience of the primary research. The voice over suited the documentary well, even though the documentary was about make-up but earlier planning showed that most of the voice overs in documentaries was standard English. Extracts from the production was used in the trailer to advertise to our audience what they would see in the documentary. The key image in the print advert is to advertise men and women wearing make-up that would advertise what the documentary is about.'

Question 3 – What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Gathering our audience feedback was presenting the three things we created that linked togethe to 15 students who also do media studies as A-Level. The audience feedback as a whole was very postitive around 100% of the audience's reaction throughout watching the production was positive. All of the audeince found the drag queen interview very entertaining which was our main part of the documentary and we were very happy with the feedback we got given. Comparison to professional feedback – 'The drag queen cutaway worked really well – it was very professional the way it was filmed'. We had weaknesses in our documentary, - 'During the interview with Nicole it jumps at the end of the question.' However we also recieved positive strengths – 'The drag queen looked professional' 'The music fitted the documentary well, it was very modern'

Production


'Most of the audience feedback was very positive and most of the audience found the drag queen interview funny which is what I expected people to think. However, we received constructive criticism to the changes they thought would have made it better.'

Audience Research

Documentary

1. What were your thoughts about beneath the mask?
(Including editing, mise-en-scene, camera work and sound)

'I like the way it showed both genders and didn't focus on one particular gender.'

2. Was there a specific part of the documentary that you liked?

'The drag queen's interview and actuality footage, the way you filmed the cutaway shot with his interview looked professional'

3. Did you think the music fitted in with the documentary?

'Yes – it was very modern'

4. Do you think we could make any changes to it?

'There was a jump on Nicole's interview were it went from one question to another and in parts the camera was a little shaky.'

Print Advert

1. What are your thoughts about the print advert?

'It makes you want to look at the advert again'

Radio Trailer

1. What are your opinions on beneath the mask Radio Trailer?

'I like the vox pop bit at the beginning, however you couldn't really hear it in some parts and it went really quiet towards the end.'

Question 4 – How did you use technology?

Construction

Planning


Research

Radio & Print Advert

Radio Trailer

• The voiceover outlines the narrative, it sometimes poses questions which will be addressed in the programme and can also tease the audience by giving some information.

• The voiceover is also appropriate to the programme.


• They last around 30/40 seconds.


• The scheduling is said at the end of the trailor with the channel name being the last thing said.

• There is a music bed which is appropriate to the programme.


• Extracts from the programme are used and snipets from interviews are a key element.

The script of out radio trailer:

''Do you wear make-up? What do you think of males wearing make-up? Well, between you and me, there are a lot more males wearing make-up than you think.
(clips from documentary)
With make-up being a multi-million pound industry it's not suprising you can even make a successful career out of wearing it.
(clips from documentary)
Make-up is one thing we have in common world wide. Beneath The Mask, 8 pm, Wednesday on 4.''

Print Advert

• Only one strong image is used.


• The amount of words is kept to a minimum.
  


• The scheduling information is always shown.
  


• The channel logo is always in the biggest font.
  

• The title font is bigger than the scheduling font.
  


• All the writing is in the same typeface.
  

• The adverts are either the width of a landscape page or potrait A4.

Editing

Below are the images of the logging that we done, before we edited any clips. The logs show what we recorded and how long the recording lasts for. On the first column it shows the number of the log, secondly it shows what the footage it, thirdly it shows how long it is and lastly whether it was a good shot to use or not so good. We had 28 logs altogether.

Editing took the longest to do throughout the whole project. There were things that needed the be re-filmed such as the vox-pop due to sounding issues. It was also difficult with the drag queen as we had so much footage from it that it was hard to cut down as we wanted a lot of it in.

• All the questions that were asked were edited out and the cutaways were placed where an answer was jumped to another, it made it look professional.
• The opening sequence included a song that met the target audience to draw them into what they were watching in which the song faded out into the documentary which was the voice over of an introduction to the documentary.
  "Make-up has become a multi-million pound industry. With over 93% of 14-25 year olds saying image is important to them and with over half of them wearing it everyday. It is proven to be one of the biggest industries world wide.
  
  The make-up industry has branched out to all genders and ages, with 63% of people saying it is acceptable for males to wear make-up. Make-up is now a part of most people's careers and social lives."
• The second voice over we done linked towards the main part of the documentary was the drag queen.
  "With the make-up industry continously growing, new products are continuing to emerge. Several make-up lines for men such as 'The Men Pen' and 'Guyliner' have taken off in the past years. These companies have found it difficult to convince journalists that male make-up is fast becoming mainstream, even though having sold thousands of products world wide."

We fixed all the sound levels so the music and voiceover could both be heard.
The effects were kept to a minimum so that we could follow the codes and conventions of documentaries so we only used straight cuts and fade to black.

This was the vox pop at first, due to the sound of background noises and voices being too low they had to be re-filmed.

This is included as part of the opening sequence to the documentary, it was subjects all relating to make-up to give the audience an idea to what they were watching if they didn't know already.

Filming

The filming process of the piece of coursework was difficult in terms of scheduling where and when we were all free at the same time to film together, but we realised not all of us had to film. Faye and Richard filmed the part of the drag queen's interview and actuality footage along with the opening titles and establishing shots. I filmed the vox pop alone with different people saying what make-up they couldn't live without, which would appear at the beginning of the documentary. I also attended an interview along with Richard to film Ella, the owner of a make-up shop, however the sound was not very good so we could not use the footage we captured with sound, although there is a shot of her serving a customer during the beginning of the documentary. Although I did take images of make-up products that are sold in the shop and we were able to use still images of these in the documentary. I also filmed the opening titles 'beneath the mask' which was filmed on a mirror however it was re-filmed due to a framing error by Faye and Richard. Most of the images are of make-up.

This is Ella Hope, the owner of the shop 'Hotlips, Beauty & Cosmetics'

This is me filming the vox pop of different people saying what make-up they couldn't live without.

This is an image of the shop located in Liscard, where we filmed Ella

Planning

Primary Research

Interviewees

• Drag queen, mise en scene- dressing table with mirror, his make-up and outfits in the background.
• Public, filmed in centre of Liverpool.
• Boy & Girl, mise en scene- dressing room seated on two chairs near dressing table.
• Make- up Artist filmed in own shop at make-up counter.

Locations for filming

• Liverpool
• Night Clubs in Liverpool
• Dressing Room
• Make-up shops
• Centre of Liverpool (shopping centre)

Secondary Research

Music - results of questionnaires show pop music is most popular so will we use pop music in the background.

Voiceover - will talk about the results of the questionnaire.

Emails shown from male make-up lines.

Formal Proposal

• Topic - Make-Up.
• Type of Documentary - Mixed
• Style of Documentary - Informal, informative and entertaining.
• Scheduling - Channel 4, Wednesday 8 pm.
• Target Audience - 14-25
• Primary Research - Questionnaires, interviewees, locations for filming (Liverpool) and props/make-up items.
• Secondary Research - Music, archive material, footage of drag queens, someone having a make-over, extracts of celebrities, magazine articles and advertisements.
• Narrative Structure - Open, single strand and non-linear.
• Outline of Content - Interviews with drag queens, celebrities, public and make-up artists.
  
• Archive material - footage of drag queens, people buying make-up, someone having a make-over, male celebrities getting ready backstage. Shots of make-up shops, Liverpool, public buying products, establishing shots.
• Resource Requirements - Tripod, computer with Adobe Premier and Photoshop, digital video camera and voice recorder.

Running Order

• Montage of different people saying what they think about make-up and naming their favourite type of make-up. 20 secs
• Opening titles. 20 secs
• Establishing shots of Liverpool and shots of people walking in and out of make-up shops. Voiceover introduces topic and mentions statistics on make-up from our audience research questionnaires. 20 secs
• Interview with make-up artist about how many people have make-over’s and why. 30 secs
• Footage of the make-up artist doing a make-over. 30 secs
• Shots of make-up shops and people buying make-up. Voiceover revealing how many boys would wear make-up. 10 secs
• Interview with a boy who wears make-up and a girl. 30 secs
• Interviews with members of the public asking what they think of boys wearing make-up and drag queens. Stop male members of public to see if they would put make-up on. 40 secs
• Actuality footage of drag queens in night clubs. 20 secs
• Interview with a drag queen whilst applying make-up ready for a night out. 40 secs
• Actuality footage of people accepting drag queens in night clubs with quick interviews of the people in the club saying what they think about drag queens. 20 secs
• Archive material- low pan and zoom on male make-up companies emails with voice over reading parts of the emails out as to why male make-up lines have been created and why men buy the make-up. 20 secs
• Montage of images of make-up and culture. 20 secs
• Actuality footage of foreign countries and their cultures and make-up- clips of their dancing, theatre, religious practices and anything related with make-up. 2 mins
• Interview with a make-up artist from India about what make-up means to them and why they wear it. 2 mins
• Shots of theatre and acting industry including close-ups of faces with stage make-up on. Voiceover talking about make-up within the theatre industry. 20 secs
• Interview with stage make-up director about how make-up helps the theatre industry and whether males are reluctant to wear make-up. 2 mins
• Archive clip of theatre production play were make-up is used to portray characters, ends on an extreme close-up of face with make-up and fades out. 30 secs
• Close-up of boy with mask on and he removes mask to reveal his face which is covered in dramatic make-up. 5 secs

• Advert Break 3 mins

• Close-up of boy with mask on and he removes mask to reveal his face which is covered in dramatic make-up. 5 secs
• Slow pan and zoom of archive material (magazines and articles of fashion industry). Voice over introduces topic about the fashion industry and why make-up is so important within it. 2 min
• Interview with fashion designer about why they want their models to wear make-up. 2 min
• Archive clip of models on the catwalk with close-ups of models faces. 30 secs
• Interview with fashion make-up artist about the demand for make-up within the fashion industry. 2 min
• Archive material of someone airbrushing a picture of a model. Voiceover talking about the importance of make-up and airbrushing. 30 sces
• Archive clips of the results of animal testing. Voiceover introducing the topic and the effects of animal testing. 40 secs
• Interview with make-up company that uses animal testing about why they use animals and if it affects their sales. 1 min 30
• Interview with Body Shop manager about why they don’t animal test and if their sales increased when they stopped it. 1 min
• Interview with members of the public about what they think of animal testing and whether they would wear make-up brands if they animal test. 1 min
• Closing credits superimposed over the title written in lipstick over a mirror. 30 sec

Research

Documentary's

Purpose of documentaries - To document e.g. to report with evidence to something that has actually happened. It can show this by using actuality footage or reconstructions.

Mediated Information

They do not show everything, it shows bits that will interest the audience and will often use music.

Types of documentary
- six main types

• Fully narrated (E.g. Natural history documentaries)

An off screen voice over is used to narrate the programme. It makes sense of the visuals and anchors their meaning. The voice over links everything together to create the narrative.

• Fly on the Wall (E.g. Katie & Peter - most honest documentary)

Origins is in Cinéma vérité (Truth)
The camera is unobtrusive and filming (observing)
Real life - is it really all honest?

• Mixed - were making

Combination of interviews, observation and narration to advance the narration.

• Self-reflexive

When the subjects of the documentary acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the film maker

• Docudrama (drama documentary)

A re-enactment or reconstruction of events as they are supposed to have happened.

• Docusoap (soap opera documentary)

Recent phenomenon. This follows a group of people and their daily lives and they become characters in each episode.

Construction of reality - edited
Constructed for the audience

Gate keeping
selection and rejection of information

Narrative Structure

Different types of narrative structure:

1. Open v. Closed

Open - There are loose ends and questions are unanswered. The audience is left to make up their own mind.
Closed - All loose ends are tied up. No questions remaining.

2. Single Strand v. Multi-Strand

Single Strand - One narrative running throughout.
Multi-Strand - More than one narrative. They sometimes crossover or converge.

3. Linear v. Non-Linear

Linear - Chronological order. Events follow order of time. E.g. Things happen in order.
Non-Linear - Doesn't follow order of time. E.g. use of flashback and flashforward. Elliptical Editing.

4. Circular Narrative

Open. Begins with a question and throughout the programme you get evidence towards answering the question from the beginning. Often two sides.
At the end of the programme it then returns to the question which is still left unanswered.

The Devil Made Me Do It

We watched a documentary called 'The Devil Made Me Do it' we analysed this individually whilst watching the programme and then collated our ideas together when it had finished to make a thorougher analysis of the programme. We were going to spend longer on analysing this documentary than others because it was an important event and meant we thoroughly understood how to analysis a documentary. The documentary looks into a case about three girls who murdered a Nun in Italy, along with this came claims about whether Marilyn Manson's music had influenced the three girls to carry this forward. The documentary links between the conflict of good vs. evil, where it stereotypically puts forward that nuns are good and the type of music (Marilyn Manson's) music is evil, this documentary is provided with information that the audience is left to answer.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/decoding-da-vinci

The Secret Millionnaire

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-secret-millionaire/video/series-5/episode-6/not-so-secretThe Analysis of the Documentary

Type Of Documentary

Mixed - interviews, actuality footage, archive material.

Themes

Religion, Youth Culture, The power of the Media - did Manson's music influence the behaviour of teenagers? Good Vs. Evil (binary opposition - Levi-Staruss)

Narrative Structure

Open - question unanswered
Single strand - murder
Non-Linear

Camerawork

Interviews - close up or medium close up and framed to the left or right of the screen. (Tracking forwards and backwards) Manson interview filmed in low angle. Makes him appear powerful. Lighting - half face lit, half dark. Question unanswered - 'Is he good or is he bad?' Long shots of deserted streets, high angle, slow pans all of a deserted town. Christ filmed in low angle. Various shots of religious iconography. Hand held - actuality footage, used so the camera can respond to the action that happens around them. Camera person keeps changing to keep the correct framing. Camera observes other media - we're not positioned as members of that media.

Mise-en-scene

Carefully constructed. Interviews - provides information about that person/people. Religious iconography features a lot. Same town - contrasts Naturalistic lighting McDonalds

Sound

Music - religious choral music, church bells, Manson's music Sound effects - heart beat, whispering, police man footsteps down the corridor, door close, breathing, dog barking - deserted, stabbing, voice over x2, hitting, whoosh, sound of knife coming out of a body (Nun) Voice over - male, young, standard English, no clear accent - glue that holds the whole narrative together. Voice overs - translating Italian Each voice reflects gender and age of Italian person. Italian accents.

Editing

Cut, cross cutting. The editing must not distract the audience from viewing. Fade to black, fade from black - passage of time from one day to another. Montage - beginning, to tease the audience and to grab the audience's attention. Juxtaposition

Archive Material

Manson videos
Italian talk show
American television news
Newspaper cuttings

Graphics

Title of the programme, Gothic appearance with cross in the title, used at the end of programme to close narrative of what happened to the girls The name of the person we were looking at. Relevance of the subject, indicates time, place and date Subtitles of Manson's lyrics and sometimes translation White and sans serif - very plain and ranged left.

Questionnaires

1. Are you Male or Female?
"We asked more females than males and therefore our results will be baised towards females"

2. How old are you?
"The target audience of our documentary is between 14-25 however we asked more 14-17 year olds so therefore our documentary will appeal more to the younger half of our target audience"

3. What is your favourite colour?
"The favourite three colours of the results are Blue, Pink and Purple, so we will include these colours within the opening titles and thorughout the programme so as it contionously appeals to our target audience"

4. What is your favourite type of music?
"Pop music was the highest and therefore will be the background music of the documentary so our targat audience will enjoy listening to it"

5. When do you wear make-up?
"This shows that most people within our target audience wear make-up everyday and 26 out of 30 have worn make-up so our documentary will appeal to this age group"

6. Where do you buy your make–up?
"This shows that the most popular shop to buy make-up in is Superdrug, so we will include shots of Superdrug stores in our documentary so it will appeal to out audience"

7. What brand of make-up do you buy?
"The most popular choice was Rimmel so we will interview members of the public who buy Rimmel make-up"

8. How much do you spend on make-up each month?
"Most people spend £6-£10 or £11 -£15 pounds each month on make-up. So we will use these satistics when the voiceover talks"

9. Why do you wear make-up?
"Results show mainly that people wear make-up for self-confidence, to highlight features, to look pretty and to cover up spots. Again we will use these statistics in our voiceover"

10. What do you think of males wearing make-up?
"There were the same amount of people who thought that men who wear make-up are gay and acceptable which shows that if we address the topic of men wearing make-up being accpetable Eg. Drag queens and also interview people who think it’s gay we will appeal to our target audience"

11. Is image important to you?
"The majority of people say image is important to them so as our programme is about soemthing that can change your image, our documentary will appeal to them"

12. Would you wear make-up if celebrities didn’t?
"Most people would still wear make-up if celebrities didn’t which shows that our documentary doesn’t have to involve the influence of the media and celebrities influence on make-up as it won’t appeal to our target audience"

13. Would you ever go out not wearing make-up?
"Most of our target audience said they would go out without make-up which contradicts why over half our target audience wear make-up everyday. So we would mention this in the voiceovers script"