Post on 06-Apr-2018
8/2/2019 Gareth Wynne Evaluation
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A2 Media Studies: Gareth Wynne Coursework Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
Documentary
Our documentary was produced as the opening 5 minutes to the first of a
series of documentaries titled The Next Step. The aim was to explore the
options that young people face when making
decisions about their future, e.g. whether to go
to university, or to opt for employment. The
documentary is based on visiting a college to
speak to young people facing these decisions,as well as industry professionals e.g. youth
workers and careers advisors. The
documentary includes a range of opinions,
thoughts as well as facts and figures to create
an interesting and exciting documentary. As
the topic is heavily aimed at our target audience I feel that it creates a huge
interest for the documentary, as many of those watching the documentary
will be affected by the issues raised and explored. The documentary was
produced for Channel 4 to ensure the documentary reached the targetaudience of 16-24 year olds. Channel 4 also often produces and airs
documentaries, which are shown as a series e.g. The Joy of Teen Sex, The Sex
Education Show, Dispatches etc. These are often aimed at a social realist
audience of 16-24 year olds. When carrying out initial research and
deciding on a topic for our documentary we noticed that a series looking
into university and employment etc for
young people had not been produced,
so we decided that we would follow
Channel 4 protocol for the audience ofour documentary and produce a series
that explored the difficult decisions
young people are faced with as they
make the choice of employment, further
training or university etc.
Click the image above to checkout The Joy of Teen Sex
http://www.channel4.com/http://www.channel4.com/8/2/2019 Gareth Wynne Evaluation
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Use of Codes and Conventions
We wanted to make sure that our documentary was as professional as
possible, to ensure it aligned with other documentaries, which are
produced and aired on Channel 4. We carried out research into existing
documentaries, highlighting and discussing the key features of adocumentary. Some of our
research into existing
documentaries on Channel 4 can
be found in this blog post (click to
follow link). We made use of
websites e.g. YouTube to view
clips from existing documentaries,
as well as 4OD (Channel 4 On
Demand) to allow us to viewdocumentaries previously aired
online.
Use of Ident
Almost all documentaries begin with a channel ident, which is usually a
short video clip with a voice over, often introducing a future programme
before introducing the programme about to begin by making use of a
rhetorical question, which makes the audience think about the subject inquestion and want to continue watching. We included the Channel 4 ident,
and sourced the original music,
which was added to our recorded
voice over. We followed convention
by introducing a programme relating
to the target audience that may be
tuned in to watch the documentary,
by introducing Skins, being shown
tomorrow at 10pm a programme
aimed at a similar target audience to
that of our documentary meaning the Ident will reach an audience
consisting mostly of those who are interested in the programme being
introduced. The ident helps to maintain brand identity for the channel, and
also consistency throughout each programme.
Expert Interviews
In documentaries interviews with industry experts or professionals are
often included, which engages listeners by voicing the opinions of those
who are aware of the documentary topic, which often sparks controversial
http://e08documentary11.blogspot.com/2011/11/student-c-research-into-audiences_15.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4odhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/4odhttp://www.youtube.com/http://e08documentary11.blogspot.com/2011/11/student-c-research-into-audiences_15.html8/2/2019 Gareth Wynne Evaluation
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dience so we considered it
or interesting points, which are of interest to the audience. We interviewed
a careers advisor, as well as a youth-worker, both industry professionals
who work with young people and provide services which help them make
decisions about their future,
whether it be employment or
university. We wanted to ensurethat the audience can relate to the
subject matter, and we believe that
including expert interviews, facts
and opinions helps to convince the
audience that the issues, problems
and controversy raised are real and
are affecting people each and every day. Using experts convinces the
audience more so than e.g. a student, or interviewing people on the street
(e.g. vox pops), as they often have professional knowledge and/orqualifications to backup the points
made. We filmed both experts in their
work environment, a careers area at The
Sixth Form College and an office at
Connexions, the youth workers
employer. The use of establishing shots
of these areas prior to the interviews
helped to create a sense of realism, and
assure the audience of their status inthe industry. Connexions (left) is a still
taken from our final documentary, or a zoom shot of a connexions interview
area).
Student Interviews
We wanted our documentary to be informative as well as exciting,
controversial and interesting to attract a large au
important to include the views and opinons of
our target audience, students and teenagers
who are currently facing the issues we were
aiming to explore
in our
documentary. We
interviewed
Aaron Mehta-Hill,
a music student looking to go onto university,
he discussed with us the issues relating to the
costs, and that he may be eligible for a grant
due to his families income. We filmed him
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se of Camera Shots
e made use of a wide range of camera angles and shots to add variety
e used a time lapse shot near the
shot using camera affixed to tripod
e used a selection of close up, and extreme close up shots in our
playing a short piece of music on the piano, whilst this continued the video
cut to the interview, with the music playing low in the background, after
the interview this then cut back to the final few seconds of the beginning
piano clip. We used a caption to highlight Aaron, and the importance of his
presence, challenging the regular conventions of media where captions
may not be used for those who are not experts/industry related.
U
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and keep the audience interested in the documentary. Establishing shots
were used throughout to compliment
the voice over, e.g. introducing a new
location of an interview. These are
often long shots of buildings, orsignificant identifiers e.g. a sign. A clip
from an establishing (Extra long shot) of
The Sixth Form College Grounds, which
pans/zooms from left to right.
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beginning of our documentary, this was
from a high, discreet location. This was then filmed for around 20 minutes
at a busy time, and then sped up x1000 tocreate a time lapse effect of students
rushing to lessons etc which creates an
impressive effect when played for 5-15
seconds, and fitted well with the tempo of
the music. Audience feedback from this shot
was good, as it was a unique feature of our
documentary which created interest for the
audience.
W
montages, as general images which create interest among our audience,
often relating to the voice over introducing
the next section, or interview. Close up and
extreme close up shots emphasise the
subject being shown, which exaggerates
this to the audience.
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id-long shots were used during filming
used in real documentaries, as it ensures the
ound
ur documentary included a presenter, with several clips of the presenter
interviews and presenter clips to
M
for presenter clips, in the clips the presenter
would slowly walk towards the camera,
beginning almost fully in view of the
camera. As the presenter began to talk,
they would slowly walk towards the camerawhilst the camera zoomed in, tracking as
they walk, this keeps the audience
interested and gives a sense that the
documentary is moving forward, e.g. onto a
new subjects, topic or interview being
introduced by the presenter.
This is a common convention
audience is kept interested and gives the documentary direction, and theaudience a feeling that the subject is moving forward and progressing.
S
O
introducing both the documentary as well as features and clips
throughout. The presenter also provided a voiceover during the
documentary, which kept the audience informed as to the happenings of
the documentary, e.g. who was being shown, what is coming up etc. Use ofa male presenter/voice over in our documentary to assert dominance of the
voice over which is a common convention used in real media products.
Our voiceover was recorded separately to our video, using M-Audio
recorders, this was then mixed with the diegetic sounds and non-diegetic
music to ensure an accurate
balance. Some diegetic sound was
left out, however often where the
sound was unwanted due to
voiceover and background music
being audible this was edited out.
We made use of music
department resources and
extended our recording cable, and
microphone stand to allow
accurate placement of our
shotgun microphone when recording
reduce background noise and improve sound quality. Use of headphones
allowed us to monitor the quality of recording on site, avoiding the need to
re-record clips due to poor audio.
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Aarons interview we used diegetic sound that would be associated with
mpted to ensure high quality recordings in all of our clips,
ome of the clips had excess noise or sounds that were unwanted. We
tary made use of transitions including straight cut and fade to
lack, we wanted to use simple, professional appearing transitions, which
In
a music department, so following the clip of Aaron initially playing Piano,
this music continued in the background at a lower level throughout the
interview, before resuming to the clip. This
helps to create a sense of verisimilitude byadding diegetic sound you would expect to
hear, relating to the subject. The two clips
were recorded separately audio for the
interview and audio for the piano piece these
were then mixed together accordingly.
Although we atte
schallenged the expectations to
use only Final Cut software, and
exported some of our audio clips
for more advanced editing using
Logic Pro. Some of our clips were
edited, and had EQ/effects applied
to remove noise and create a
higher quality sound to use in our
documentary. You can check thisout on our Blog post, by clicking
the image (Right).
Transitions
Our documen
b
do not distract from the subject matter. In real media products broadcasted
based on a serious subject, generally
only simple straight cut, fade and non-
animated transitions are used as
exciting, highly animated, long
transitions can detract the audiences
attention from the subject and may
distract them, potentially resulting in
them loosing interest. This is shown in a
recent BBC documentary, click the
image (Left) to check it out.
http://e08documentary11.blogspot.com/2011/12/audio-editing-logic-pro.hhttp://e08documentary11.blogspot.com/2011/12/audio-editing-logic-pro.hhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cmqdc/Panorama_Britains_Hidden_Alcoholihttp://e08documentary11.blogspot.com/2011/12/audio-editing-logic-pro.h8/2/2019 Gareth Wynne Evaluation
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agazine Listings Page
ting our listings page, we looked at examples of
xisting listings pages, and magazine features. As well as utilising previous
ed, and
eveloped and challenged conventions used in real media texts, and how
M
Prior to designing and crea
e
research and skills developed from AS magazine production tasks.
Below shows how our the features of our magazine article follow
d
the text could be improved by challenging conventions used in real media
texts.
Bright colours, appeal to target
Use of page numbers, and
magazine name in a footer
Text could further challenge
conventions of real media texts by
Details of channel, when
documentary will be aired etc toommon
Our listings page could have further
challenged media texts by making use
ld
e
Use of quotations from main text, to
highlight key points.
audience and attract readers to view
iathe article, challenging real med
text conventions.
inform audience, this is a c
convention of real media texts.
making use of a drop cap, to
emphasise start of text. Use of rule
of thirds for text follows real media
text conventions and allows
optimum use of space for text, as
well as looking professional.
of photograph images, rather than
screenshots. This was due to a small
quantity of still images taken in the
production stage, which in future cou
be taken into consideration to ensur
enough still images are available.
follow conventions of real
media texts.
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Radio Trailer
f our radio trailer was to give a short insight into the
ubject of the documentary, what would be included etc to attract those
the show all you teens are talking about, The
ext Step, with students Sam Jeffrey and Gareth Wynne embarking on a journey, to find
achers opinions on the controversial issues of university kicking off an explosive first
ean university is really worth it?
ght here on capital where the boys will be here to answer questions you may have
s on guys, tomorrow at 7pm, Channel 4, you dont want to
believe that the radio trailers follows the following conventions of otherxisting media products:
r which is important to narrate, and inform
listeners of information e.g. channel, date and time of
eries to create an identity for the series.
ntary,
arranging to watch etc
The purpose o
s
in our potential target audience to view our documentary. Thedocumentary includes clips (vox pops) and music taken from our
documentary, as well as a separately recorded voice over for the trailer,
the text of which is shown below:
Voiceover: Hi, were on Capital 102.2, for
N
out what people think about whether university is really worth it or not.
Voxpop: If you think that a degree is necessary for what you want to do with the rest
f your life, then yes you need to go to university.o
Voiceover: Watch, as they take you to Solihull sixth form college to get the students and
te
part series of the next step
Voiceover (Expert voice): Recent statistics show that university applicant numbers have
llen by 9%, but does this mfa
Voiceover: Catch it on TV, online, or check out coverage right here after the show
ri
Voxpop: I dont wanna go to university, its too expensive and I probably wont get a job
hen I come out anywayw
Voiceover: So turn your TV
iss it.m
Ie
- Use of a presentedocumentary airing
- Use of voxpops/clips from documentary, including musicassociated with the s
- Use of series title, establishing identity of the series and gets namepublic, so audience may begin talking about the docume
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target audience
H
te
ion time it was important to ensure that all the products
elated to each other, I felt it was important to create a brand identity. We
he Next Step was the series title we came up with for our documentary,
d be a series of documentaries, ours
eing the first in this series. This is common, and follows conventional
- Background music associated with documentary and targetaudience to ensure it attracts the attention of the target audience,
music is appropriate to
-ow effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary
xts/products?
Despite the documentary being the main task, so the main area of focus in
terms of product
r
used features in each of our three products (Documentary, Listings Page
and Radio Trailer) to ensure the brand
identity was visible in each product,
ensuring maximum exposure and
promotion of the documentary from theancillary tasks. I have highlighted below
features, which allowed the three
products to work well together, and also
those that could be improved based on
the audience feedback we received
(Shown, image left).
Use of Series Title
T
this was the header title to what woul
b
media products. For example, BBC have a documentary series Panorama,
which although one series title it explores many areas, relating to issues
suggested by viewers, often investigating a current or topical issue. Check
out Panorama by clicking the image (below). Our series title was used
throughout each of our three products, portraying a strong brand identity
that allowed the series to be easily identified by either watching the
documentary, reading the listings page or listening to the radio trailer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/default.8/2/2019 Gareth Wynne Evaluation
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Crucial Information (Timings)
Our listings page and radio trailer which advertise and promote the
e essential information to inform listeners,
s well as other features to attract their attention, and increase viewing
Fr
Target Audience Consideration
When creating both the listings page and radio trailer we wanted to ensure
the target audience, to align with the
xpectations of the documentary. We did this by including music used in
Promotion is vital to the success of the documentary, a
is via social networking sites. Had
he documentary been promoted for real websites such
documentary needed to includ
a
numbers. This information includes channel, time and date. There was asmall error made in the radio trailer/listings page, which meant the times
did not match in both products. This could potentially jeopardise viewing
numbers and was highlighted during our audience feedback.
From Radio Trailer Script:
om listings page:
that they were both suitable for
e
the documentary, suitable for the target audience (upbeat and modern) in
our radio trailer, which helps to both emphasise the brand identity and
keep the product suitable for the target audience. We used a bright,
modern design suitable for our target audience for our listings page, which
aims to help attract viewers to read and watch the documentary. Again, thebrand identity was continued by using The Next Step as a large title
featuring in the magazine listings page.
Social Networking
great way to do this
t
as Facebook and Twitter would have been a great wayto promote our product to our target audience, who are
wide users of these websites.
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e obtained audience feedback from our media group, who are all within
wn on the large
creen and feedback forms, which covered all areas of our documentary
2. al was for documentary?
3. a nd the meaning?
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
W
our target audience range. The documentary was sho
s
were handed out to each viewer to fill out whilst watching thedocumentary, allowing them to highlight positive points as well as areas
for improvement.
1.How appropriate do you feel the choice of topic was for TV?
How appropriate filming/shooting and materi
W
6 people questioned
considered the topic
to be Very Good.
5 of the target audience
group questioned
considered the material
to be a ro riate
s the editing suitable so viewer could understa
All of those questioned
considered the editing to
be of a high standard
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4. ere sound and music used appropriately?
5.
6. a
W
Were effects such as transitions, captions etc used appropriately?
All of those questioned
considered the use of
sound to be of a high
standard.
W
All of those questioned
considered the use of
sound to be of a highstandard.
s the subject suitable for the target audience?
Our target audience
considered the
documentary to be very
suitable.
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7. ow did the documentary compare to real media products in terms of
ic
- I really liked the simple, but effective transitionsen scene
f people
topic
uggestions for Improvement
titive, and sometimes is too quiet
- Use more captions, with more informationice over
the feedback we received from our documentary was on a
hole positive, with viewers commenting that it was overall a
H
professionalism?
A mixed view on
comparison to real
verall 8
r
media products, o
voted it very good, o
excellent.
Positive Comments/Outcomes
- Smooth editing, great mus- Good range of shots, and mise- Looks at both sides of a controversial issue- Excellent establishing shots- Looks very professional- Interviews with good range o- Very relevant, interesting
S
- Script of voice over is repe- More clips of presenter, instead of relying on voiceover- Background music sometimes drowns out vo- Camera is unstable in places- More interesting use of transitions- Same music used throughout
Conclusion
In conclusion
wprofessional and seamless documentary. Around 80% of those
questioned considered it to be of a similar standard to a real,
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he audience feedback highlighted some areas which could be
nother key point which was highlighted as an area for improvement
conventional media product, and over 90% considered the topic to be
excellent.
However, t
improved, these included issues with the sound. The balance between
the background music and voice over varied throughout, and in some
sections the voiceover was not clearly audible. This could be improvedby spending more time ensuring the audio levels are set correctly. Some
viewers commented that the script of the voiceover was repetitive,
making use of the same introductory lines. This could have been
improved by spending further time ensuring that the script is creative
and pushing the normal conventions of real media products, this would
have created a documentary with more movement, and potentially
created more interest for the audience. Comments also arose relating to
some shots being shot using a handheld camera, resulting in a less stable
image which could have been improved by using a tripod, or othercamera steadying device (e.g. rig) to ensure the best possible stability
throughout the filming stages, to ensure the documentary aligned with
the conventions of a real media product.
A
was that the same music was used throughout, this was royalty free
music which was a requirement of
our coursework. Had the
documentary been a real mediaproduct I would have made use of
a current track, that is associated
with the target audience. An
example of this would be We
Found Love, by Rihanna, which
recently hit 38 million views on
YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/http://www.youtube.com/http://www.youtube.com/http://www.youtube.com/8/2/2019 Gareth Wynne Evaluation
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How did you use media technologies in the construction and
research, planning and evaluation stages?
During our research and planning we made extensive use of the internet.
In our initial thought maps of potential ideas for our documentary we
then researched these to try and find if existing examples whereavailable, whether it be an example of an existing documentary, an
article or research into the topic. This enabled us to establish which
topics may create the most interest amongst our target audience, e.g.
whether there was an opportunity to produce a documentary, which had
not yet been created. After carrying
out this research we settled with
looking into young people, and
their options when it comes to
higher education and employment,which is something that at the
moment is in the press nearly every
day and is highly controversial.
Below are some of the articles and
media we used to carry out our
research:
- The Guardian Tuition Fees- Educating Essex- Student Protests
Apple iMac
Throughout the entire process of
producing our media products we
used Apple iMac computers.
These were important to allow us
the use of professional software
including Comic Life, Final Cut,
Garageband, Photoshop and
inDESIGN.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/tuition-feeshttp://www.guardian.co.uk/education/tuition-feeshttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-essexhttp://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-essexhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15646709http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15646709http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-essexhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/education/tuition-fees8/2/2019 Gareth Wynne Evaluation
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Canon HD Cameras
Canon HG20 cameras were used for
still/moving images, allowing us to record
high quality footage in high definition prior toediting.
M-Audio Portable Recorder
Throughout the recording and production
process we used M-Audio Microtrack II,
portable audio recorders to capture andmonitor audio recording. These allowed
portable, high quality recording to be
captured on location, these clips were then
downloaded via USB onto the Apple iMac.
AKG Shotgun Microphone
AKG Shotgun microphones were used to
record the audio in interviews, these are
suitable for interview as the microphone does
not have to be situated very close to the audio
source, the directional nature of the
microphone allows it to be positioned further
away, ensuring the microphone is not in shot.
Headphones
Used throughout filming and recording
of audio to monitor audio levels and
ensure quality and sound levels are
correct to avoid having to re-
record/shoot footage. Allows on
location monitoring, with the ability to
pick out minute detail.Final Cut Express
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To edit and produce our documentary Final Cut Express was used, which is
a light version of Apples industry standard software Final Cut, this was
used on the iMac computers.
Collection of clips, allows
organisation of clips in bins, easy
drag and drop onto the timeline.
Individual clip and project windows,
allowing you to view them.
Timeline allows layering of clips to
edit, add transitions etc.
Editing controls, including sound
automation, clip cut/paste, speed
etc.
Garageband
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Garageband was used to edit our radio trailer, this software allows easy
editing and importing of audio clips, allows adjustment of sound levels etc
which allowed us to produce a balanced, professional sounding radio
trailer which could then be exported as a .mp3 file. The clips were first
recorded on the M-Audio, these were then imported to the iMac before
being edited/mixed in Garageband.
Timeline showing different tracks
with each clip, allows cut/paste of
sections and full editing capabilities.Track names including settings for
mute/pan/volume etc.
Master Controls, play, pause,
record and stop etc.Precision editing too/area,
allows selected clips to be cut,pasted or edited.
Photoshop/inDESIGN
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Margin/rulers allowing precision
alignment, e.g. rule of thirds.Tools, including brush, selection
tools, crop, colours, shapes etc.
Layers, move, adjust and edit.Work area, shows canvas size
which you are working on.
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Final Production
The final stage was to burn the documentary to a
DVD to allow viewing for audience feedback and
hand in. This was carried out in iDVD on the iMac,which allowed us to burn the documentary to a
DVD-R.
Evaulation
I decided that the best way to produce and present my
evalulation was using Microsoft Word. This allowed meto include hyperlinks to make the document interactive
and interesting, as well as text and images. This was
then saved as .PDF and hosted using SCRIBD to post to
the blog.