Evaluation: Question 4

4. How did you use new technologies?
We used various technologies in all stages of our coursework - the construction, planning, research and evaluation.
For capturing our filming and for editing we used Adobe Premier Pro. Premier Pro had tools that allowed us to add in extras to make our documentary adhere to conventions and look morep rofessional - thesei nclude transitions and fades between shots and allowing us to place graphics on the screen to inform the viewer. We were able to place the voiceover simulataneously over a song [by adjusting the volumes of each] so we could inform the viewer and anchor the shot. We were also able to use Premier Pro to create our radio trailer. For our print advert we used Photoshop. Photoshop allowed us to take a picture of a webcam and edit its colour, size etc, its a very useful software and can be used effectively to create professional looking adverts as we have done.

We used a video camera and tripod (pictured below) to film our product. The tripod made certain shots easier to accomplish and we found our camera skills improved.

Evaluation: Question 2

2. How effective is the combination of main product and ancillary tasks?

We created coherence across the package by making them easliy linked to each other visually and audibly. The title of the programme "Virtual Insanity" was placed across all three products as distinctly as we could make it to attract attention. We chose BBC 1 as our channel advertised this and the schedule time and in the radio trailer and the print advert featured the logo.

The programme content is relevent to BBC 1 as it is inoffensive, intelligent but accessible, universal and is the neither too formal or informal style the BBC provides. It could be watched by anyone but is scheduled at the watershed as the subject matter of child and internet safety is fairly heavy hence the schelduling time of 9pm. Its purpose is to inform and to entertain. The voiceover in the documentary and radio trailer are the same to connect them. The slogan in the radio trailer and the print advert "Who's watching You" are also the same to link them aand create a recoginition in the audience. The camera as the key image in the print advert is an extract from the programmes content (computers, internet and technology)

The style in our documentary is fairly informal though slightly neutral and unbiased (as is the BBC style), the tone in our radio trailer however is more of a frantic rushed pace with rhetorical questions and serious subjects raised (safety of children) thus is a more urgent and formal tone. The print advert with its dramatic red colour captures some of that urgency and importance.

An example of how we tried to appeal to the audience is how we used the titile track "Virtual Insanity" by Jamiroquai, it is poppy and catchy enough to appeal to younger listeners of the radio trailer but is an older song most adults would recognise and stop to listen to.

The trailer would be played across all the BBC's radio stations as the programme is of a universal content. The print advert would be placed on busstops, in town centres where it is visible to the general public and families (people of ages) and in tv guide magazines. We would present the print advert in landscape and reduce it in size so it can be placed effectively in newspapers and magazines.

We used the same font for the programme title "Virtual Insanity?" as in our print advert (an example of how we linked them)

Evaluation: Question 1

1. In what ways did your product use forms and conventions of real media products?

In our documentary as our aim was to emulate and create a genuine documentary we followed every convention we could rather than challenging them. In our radio trailer and print advert we also adhered to conventions.

Framing & Interviews

It took us a few tries (as described) but we got the framing to match those used in real interviews. For our IT Expert interview we placed Jules on the right hand side of the screen while we placed the radio presenter John on the left side. Examples for comparisions are displayed below with links. The convention of interviewee placement allows for either side and we did it to add variety to our camera shots.

Jules:

http://www.videojug.com/interview/the-interview-questions#how-do-i-handle-the-question-what-are-your-greatest-strengths

John:










http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokTjEdaUGg

Cutaways

We captured many cutaways, some were placed in interviews while others were used with the voiceover. Editing them in was a time consuming process but well worth it as they improved the documentary. Placing them in interviews prevented jump cuts and made the interview more interesting to watch. We edited all questions out of interviews to make it appear as one single speech rather than an interview/Q&A style as this is a convention of documentaries.

An example of a cutaway to illustrate how technology has changed communication , they are together but both are unspeaking - immersed in different technology.

Voxpops

We began filming voxpops early in our documetary filming but we had problems with framing. We did film some but we decided they wern't necessary in our first five minutes and did not include any in the final edit.

Graphics

We made use of graphics in our documentary to explain who the person we were interviewing was and their relevance to the subject. We placed a slow transition after each so they would slowly fade rather than abruptly vanish from the screen to make it look more like a professional documentary.

-- Graphics on screen

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/ededdneddythemisedventures/video/6130868/ed-edd-n-eddy-the-mis-edventures-developer-interview

Voiceover

For our voiceover we used a woman as we felt this would be more relevent with our tpoic of internet saftety- finding a suitable male voice would of been harder. The voice is of a woman in her twenties with no distinct regional accent but not in receieved pronunciation this makes the tone overall fairly informal but still serious.

Music & Archive Material

YouTube was a main source for our source material, we also filmed many short clips and pans of Facebook, Myspace, Bebo and other social networking site pages. We used Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" as our main title song and documentary title, this links them. Other music we used includes Lily Allen's "Smile" (her most recognisable song) with accompanying music video clip. We went to Youtube for news footage and some social networking sites clips. We have sent an email to the record companies to ask for permission to use the copyright protected music.

Lily Allen "Smile" Music Video

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xg06k_lily-allen-smile_music

Editing + Screenshots

We began editing before we got all our filming done. We started in we used Adobe Premier Pro to edit. It was difficult software to master, as a group we each took turns being the manual editor with each contributing ideas and advice. I edited a few times solo including the footage we captured of the general public in Liscard. Capturing footage could be timely as it was hard to time it right at first but we've all seen our editing skills improve over the last few weeks. Certain parts such as the Virtual Insanity? title sequence took a long time (eg. adding in sound effects). Cutaways took a while to insert as we endeavored to make them relevent and effective. We had a few differences about creative decisions but always compromised in the end. Editing has felt in many ways easier than the filming as its less of a start from scratch, once you upload footage you have something to build on and create with.

Filming

- [filming the IT Expert interview]

The filming for our documnentary was difficult to complete. An interview of an IT expert took three seperate times to complete, the first time the framing was wrong (the camera was palced too far out of the door), the second time we had the same problem but finally we got it perfect. It taught us that framing is important and that patience is needed as it can be very time consuming setting up tripods and shot angles. Individually I took a camera home and filmed various stock footage from online, pans from websites and filmed typing. On one group session in Liscard, the others had to leave early so I stayed on for an extra half hour filming members of the public on their phones and using the internet. We captured interviews of a local band as well and a radio dj, the band were nervous so this made it hard to film but the dj was natural before the camera so didn't need any shot retakes and this was helpful. We all individually captured any stock footage or sources (eg. newspaper articles) we thought would be useful. The IT expert was the first interview we filmed so our inexpereince and lack of technique was probably what caused the problems, early voxpops also were unusable most often due to poor framing (not on eye-level) and the lighting being too dark. At one point all our filming we had captured (about a minute and a halfs worth) was deemed unusable. This was frustrating but made us determined to improve our camera skills. As a group we have had many creative disputes but these have improved with time, all of us have seen a great increase in our camera skills.

Evidence of Filming & Log Sheet & Storyboard

Interview Questions with Pupils & Parents

Pupil Questions

1. What social networking sites do you use and why?
2. How old were you when you first set up an account?
3. Have you openly got all your personal details listed?
4. Do you know everyone in person that you're talking to online?
5. Whats your favourite thing to do on the site?
6. What do you like most about using social network sites?

Parent Questions
1. How do you feel when you read articles about online bullying and does it make you think about your own children and their online safety?
2. How many computers have you got at home?
3. Did you help your child set up their social network pages and how old were they when they did?
4. What would you do if you found out your child was being bullied online?
5. Do you think schools do enough to help the problem?

Interview With Jules (ICT Expert) Questions

Interview with Jules

1. What do you consider are the dangers of the internet for young people?
2. Should there be an age limit for social network sites
3. Have you came across any incidents of students using the internet wrongfully?
4. What are the procedures behind filters and the main reasons for any paticular sites being blocked?
5. Do you think social networking sites are changing the way young people communicate?

Running Order

Montage of newspaper articles concerning social network sites
- Holly Grogan article
- Fired over Facebook article
- Online pages
- Internet addiction
[15 secs]

Opening Titles
"Virtual Insanity"
(Audio: Cliff Richard song "It's Funny Why We Don't Talk Anymore")
[15 secs]

Clip of interview with parents about Holly Grgan article filmed at home in own environment [mise-en-scene]
[30 secs]

Voiceover introduce the topic over clips of students texting, using
computers and phones around school.
[40 secs]

Interview with Jules (school ICT technician/expert) about her views on negative aspects of internet use eg. online bullying
[1 min]

Voxpops of students about what they consider their favourite internet uses
[10 secs]

Montage of Myspace, news page Lily Allen's page and video, celebrity Twitter pages
[10 secs]

Lily Allens career - voice over, archive footage, clips "Smile" music video and Myspace screenshots.
[1 min]

Reconstruction , voice over, statistics, data pans across young girl on computer
[1 min]

Clip of "How To Catch a Paedo" which was shown on ITV about paedos getting caught by police
[30 secs]

Voiceover introducing story of women recently in the news - shot of nursery where they worked and non-diagetic sound of children playing and laughing
[30 secs]

Still image of her slowly zooms voiceover adds more details
[30 secs]

Clip of interview with parents of abused child in nursery case
[1 min]

Voiceover explaining the creation and history of Facebook
[1 min]

Interview with one of the creators of Facebook about their laws and safety policies
[1 min]

Voiceover explaining the relation between Myspace and the music industry with still images of pages
[1 min]

Shot of people in the street shopping (a range of age and genders - general public) voiceove explains a survey carried out on whether they prefer Facebook, Bebo or Myspace and reveals results
[20 secs]

Voiceover explains celebrities use of Twitter (eg. Jordan)
Archive of Twitter pages and intrview with Katie Price about her Twitte use is available to public and young fans (whethe she sets a good example)
Information about influence of internet over mass media eg. the leak of Michael Jacksons death through the internet e.g. celebs on Twitter

shot of article of Holly Grogan who committed suicide over online bullying [10 s]

zoom onto Holly Grogan’s face, voice over explaining the story behind her suicide [1 min]

interview with parents of Holly Grogan [2 min]

interview with Holly’s school teacher [2 min]

home footage of Holly Grogan before death [50 secs]

interview with policeman about dealing with online bullying [1 min]

cuts between parents/ teacher interviews and the article to show

the overall conclusion about the dangers of using the internet and
the effects in which it has – ending credits [2 min]

[90 secs]

The majority of the people in which we interviewed where over 40, therefore we may use this age range as the target audience

We found that the majority of people we interviewed preferred to listen to pop music; therefore

we will use this genre of music in our documentary

These results show that the majority of people we interviewed use the internet everyday, and this will have a significant part in our documentary

This chart shows that Facebook is the most used site, and this plays an important role in our documentary

The pie chart shows that the majority of the people said yes, however a lot of people also said no, which shows the opinions are balanced

This chart shows that keeping in touch is the most positive factor of using the internet, therefore we will include this in our content.

This graph shows the occupations of the people who we asked to fill out our questionnaire. It shows that we have 9 teachers this may affect the results of further questions however it will be helpful for our interviews and the target audience as in our documentary we will be interviewing teachers and people who work in a school.

















This graph shows that people mainly watch BBC 1 therefore we will consider this as a channel for our documentary as our target audience from 25-40+ do regularly watch BBC 1 therefore our documentary may be something they choose to watch.

This graph shows that the majority of the people we asked were parents, I think that this is good as during our documentary we are considering interviewing a parent and what they’re views are of social networking sites therefore this may attract our audience who our parents.

This graph shows the answers of our audience who are not parents and what they think are the main dangers of using the internet. It shows that even though they are not parents and don’t have to worry that they are

This graph shows that the majority of people who we asked thought that bullying was the biggest problem with the internet therefore we will consider using this as a part of our content for our documentary.

Audience Research Questionnaire Audio Recording

Audience Research Questionnaire

Audience Research


1. Age: 25 – 30

31 - 35

36 – 40

40 +

2. Occupation: ____________________________________________________

3. Which colour do you prefer?

Blue Green Red Yellow Pink Black

None of the above

4. Which type of music do you prefer?

Rock Pop Country Classical


5. Which TV channels do you regularly watch and when?
____________________________________________

6. How often do you use the internet?

Everyday Every few days Once a week

Once every few weeks

7. a) Are you aware of different social networking sites on the internet?

Yes No

If yes, list the ones which you know.
______________________________

b) Do you have your own account on a social networking site?

Yes No



If yes, which sites?
__________________
__________________

8. a) Are you a parent?

Yes No

If yes, how often do you allow your child to use the internet and why?
____________________________________________________
b) Do you have any concerns when your child is using the internet?

Yes No

If yes, what are your concerns?
___________________________
c) Do you limit your child’s time when using the internet?

Yes No

If yes, explain why.
________________

9. If not a parent, which do you think are the main dangers of using the internet and why?
_________________________________________________________________

10. Which do you think are the positive factors of using the internet and why?
_________________________________________________________________

10. Which do you think are the negative factors of using the internet and why?
______________________________________________________________

Research/Planning & Formal Proposal

We conducted research into social networking sites as pasrt of our planning.

FACEBOOK
accepting friends, its effect on language, keep in touch, use by musicians, danger of paedophiles, obsessive use, anti-sociality, online bullying, photo and personal detail dangers, influence on school work, how different ages use it.

Opening five minutes - clips, interviews, reconstructions, still images.
Parents who let their children use these sites versus those who don't (contrasting views and reasons including any common ground)
Tips to keep your chid safe online for parents
People's favourite things to use these sites for (voxpops)


Formal Proposal
Topic: social networking sites

Type of documentary: mixed

Style of documentary: informative yet informal

Channel and scheduling: BBC1 9pm Wednesday

Target audience: adults (mainly parents) 30+

Primary research needed: interview Jules in her office at school, interview with IT technicians in school in their office, parent being interviewed on couch at home, interview with teacher at their desk in their office

Secondary research: newspaper article of girl who committed suicide over Facebook bullying, newspaper article of girl who lost job over Facebook, TV programme - to catch a paedophile, Lily Allen MySpace page, Facebook pages of celebs

Narrative structure: Open, non-linear, single strand - open so audience can have their own

Outline of content:
Interviews with:
Jules (head of IT in Weatherhead) in her office
ICT technician in school in their main office
Teacher in their office
Parents at home on their couch
A student in the corridor in their school uniform


Archive material:
Newspaper article of girl who committed suicide over Facebook bullying
Newspaper article of girl who lost her job because of Facebook
Article from The Guardian about teachers who have been cyber-bullied
MySpace Music pages
Facebook pages of celebrities
‘How to Catch a Paedophile’ program from ITV
Radio 4 programme


Reconstructions:
Shot of girl chatting on internet
Shot of man posing as a young girl on the internet


Sound:
Virtual Insanity – Jamiraqui
Cliff Richard song in the opening sequence
Lily Allen song juxtaposed when showing her MySpace page
Intense music when talking about dark subjects
A male voice over


Resource Requirements:
Video camera
Microphones
Tripod
Computer
Voice recorder

"The Devil Made Me Do It" Documentary Analysis

The grave of Maria Laura Mainetti

- Marilyn Manson being interviewed about Columbine another case of his music being cited as an influence over a tragic event

In class we watched the documentary "The Devil Made Me Do It" it was about the murder of a nun, Maria Laura Mainetti committed by three teenage Italian girls and whether shock rocker Marilyn Manson was an influence (Satanism has been linked both to Manson and the murder). The main influences were crime, religion and the media coverage of the event. It featured many interviews, stock footage and reconstructions. I analysed the documentary.

Camerawork
The slow panning shot across the town gave the impression that the town was deserted, it was linked with shots of deserted streets. It varied in framing and movement of religious iconography. At the end of the programme it had shots of busy streets, teenagers, speeding cars to contrast with previous images of the town.
When the camera was in the press conference it was filmed as in the place of an observer.
Much footage of Manson's gigs was included, both professional from the stage and from the fans viewpoint in the audience.
When it showed the police investigating the camera shot was outside the door looking in to give the viewer a sense of witnessing something private.
In many instances a hand held camera was used - this actuality footage adds to the viewers sense of involvement and a hand held cam allows for reaction to events as they happen.
Much creative use of camera shots was included in the documentary - tracking, slow zooms and pans for example.

Mise-en-scene
Inteviews were placed in relative environments to convey information about the interviewee and their connection to the events. The interview with the head of police in Italy was filmed with him at his desk in his office to clearly connote the above points. The two English people interviewed were shown on a couch to show that they were residents. The teenagers were filmed in a pool hall and in a bedroom - laidback environments to contrast with their information.
Actuality footage was used as well, footage of Manson going to McDonalds in his limousine is the antithesis of his anti-establishment non conforming image. It was included purely for this effect as it has no relevence to the suject matter.

Sound
The voiceover of the narrator was a young male, he spoke standard English with on discernable accent. The translator voiceovers were English with an italian accent to anchor it to the speaker. The voiceover is the glue that holds the narrative together, the narrators age ans gender also matched the visuals.
Music was used to reflect the mood and subject matter, religious choral music was featured. Manson's music was often included with subtitles to emphasise dark lyrics about death, anti-religious views and rebellion. Sound effects and non-diagetic sounds were also used eg. a heartbeat, whispering and a dog barking.

Editing
Cutting and cross cutting was used. A montage was included as the introduction to later content - a teaser. Fade outs to black were used. Editing whether fast or slow was used to create pace and mood. The Italian news cverage was edited together, slow motion was used to show fans arriving at Manson's gig.

Graphics
The title of the programme had crosses/crucifixes in place of some letters and was in a bold black gothic type font. Subtitles were included over Manson's concerts to emphasise dark lyrics. Information was also included at the end of the documnentary to bring the loose ends in. The names were included during interviews and their relevence to the story. Dates were also mentioned. Graphics were used to anchor the meaning of who the audience was seeing and their connection to the events and topic.

Codes & Coventions of Documentaries

Documentaries = artificial life-editing, they're a construction of reality, heavily edited and use a variety of camerawork such as hand held cam (used to capturereactions as they happen),
Documentaries are made using gatekeeping a way of selecting and rejecting which information will be used.

Narrative Structure
Narrative structure is the way a story is told.
Documentaries are either open or closed narrative. Open is when there are loose ends and unanswered questions remaining at the end of the narrative e.g. soap operas are open narratives. Closed is when all questions are answered (no loose ends) an example of this is the film "Finding Nemo".

A documentary following the open narrative structure will raise a question as its premise, in the documentary "The Devil Made Me Do It" the question was did Marilyn Manson's music cause the nuns murder by influencing the girls.

Single/Multi Strand
Documentaries are either single strand or multi-strand, single is when they follow one narrative, mutli strands have more than one narrative thread.
Most documentaries are single strand to keep it simple and easy for the audience to understand, an example of multi-strand is soap operas.

Linear/Non-Linear
Documentaries are also either linear or non-linear.
Linear is when a documentary is structured to be chronological. Non-linear is when the time flow is disrupted and events don't follow the order they happened e.g thorugh use of flashbacks or flashforwards.

A circular narrative is when the start and end point are the same (its linked to open narrative), generally raises a question and has the exposition of the arguments.