Gareth Wynne Evaluation

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/


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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.html


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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

W

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.

W

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.h


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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.


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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?


considered the use of

sound to be of a high

standard.

W


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/


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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-fees


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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.

Gareth Wynne Evaluation

Documents

Transcript of Gareth Wynne Evaluation