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

In order to get an idea of how documentaries work, we looked at a few documentaries. We watched Morgan Spurlocks ‘Supersize Me’, ‘Airline’ and ‘A Good Smack’

These documentaries were all filmed differently, however, they still followed the conventions of an actual documentary. Documentarians are often in the habit of going to extreme lengths in order to persuade us that the footage being shown is real and unchanged, but, the editing and voiceovers used can often distort the sense of realism and verisimilitude.

With ‘Supersize Me’ Spurlock used natural sound and lighting wherever possible which added to the technicality of realism. Furthermore, to aid authenticity and give more information he added archived footage and stills. He also did expert interviews to authenticate the views that he portrayed. In addition to this, there was text on screen and labels to convey facts, opinions or just to make the audience aware of who they are watching.

1). In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

• The conventions that I pulled out from these documentaries were the uses of the Camera. There were a range of shots that included; Long shots/Establishing shots, Extreme Close ups and Medium close ups. In most of the documentaries, the one shot that was common was the medium close-up. We also used this throughout our documentary as it looked formal, and created a sense of authority, especially when it came to the expert interviews.

• We did all our shooting with the camera based on a tripod; this ensured that the shots were all steady. It particularly worked well when it came to getting shots of the college, where we panned right and left, to show the environment that we were in.

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

Our Documentary

Supersize Me

We have placed the interviewee by their fields of expertise and have framed the principal according to the ‘rule of thirds’.

The principal was looking into a blank space and answering our questions, which follows the conventions of real media products.

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

Sound is a prominent part of documentaries. Documentaries always include background music, voiceovers, a presenter as well as diagetic and non-diagetic sound.

We followed the conventions of ‘Supersize Me’ and used a presenter as well as the ‘voice of God’ which means that that on the narration can be heard and the narrator cannot be seen. I believed that this was effective as the audience could relate to the presenter and fully understand the situation in hand. It also enhanced the actuality of real documentaries.

Our Documentary

Supersize Me