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

For our A2 advanced portfolio we were asked to make the first five minutes of a documentary of our choosing. We first had to choose our topic and after mind mapping ideas we decided a documentary based around the violence in video games was a suitable option. This was due to all members off the group being gamers and therefore already having some prior knowledge as well as an interest in the topic. We also had to produce some ancillary products these included a thirty second radio trailer and a double page spread article in a TV listings magazine.

Documentary

We first carried out research to see what common codes and conventions real media products used. To do this we watched several documentaries both within our chosen topic and other documentaries of varying styles and topics. These included ‘Supersize me’, ‘Gimme Shelter’ and ‘Gaming 4 Life’. These documentaries gave us an insight into the camera angles, editing and pace of documentaries which we would later use, develop and challenge. We first noticed that most documentaries had a catchy name which directly related to the topic of the documentary. We decided this would be a good code to follow and decided the name ‘Out of Controller’. This name was used as a play on words suggesting the games were out of control by using the word ‘controller’ (a device used to play video games) we related the name to our documentary. This followed the convention which other documentaries followed such as

‘Supersize Me’ (a documentary about fast food), however I feel we could have came up with a better name as some viewers who are not in the target audience may not establish the connection between the use of ‘controller’ and video games. Therefore the title was not effective at grabbing people’s attention which is a code of titles of a documentary.

According to Bill Nicholls’ theory of Documentary Modes (2001), the most similar mode to our documentary would be the Expositional mode. Our documentary, like those of the expository mode, speaks directly to the viewer, through the voiceover, and proposes strong arguments from both sides, however after our documentary was finished you could argue that our documentary was slightly opinionated to a negative view of violent video games. Therefore you could say our documentary did break convention of an expository style documentary as we tried to enforce a negative opinion upon the viewer where as an expository documentary tries to give a balanced opinion. We did this as we felt it is important that the audience can clearly see the negative effects that I could see as we felt it was a serious topic.

We also decided to broadcast the documentary on Channel 4; this is due to the fact that our documentary takes a serious tone on a controversial subject, this is a type of documentary Channel 4 is known for broadcasting. We also feel that our target audience (young male adults 15-20) are regular watchers of this channel.

Interviews

A common conventions within documentaries is the style of the interviews, this includes both vox pops (public) interviews and professional interviews. From the documentaries we saw vox pops are common within all styles and types of documentaries. We therefore felt it was important to include a range of vox pops within our documentary. Therefore we followed the code of having lots of vox pops in our documentary. This is because vox pops are an effective way of showing a public opinion; this was important to us as our documentary based on video games affects a vast majority of the public. Within our documentary we managed to include around six or seven vox pops, we therefore feel we used and utilized this common code. However within a vox pop itself there are many codes and conventions. The first being the use of a handheld camera; this gives the impression of being in a busy public place further reflecting upon the idea of vox pops being the public’s opinion. We did not use this code due to practicality reasons. We wanted to include this convention as we felt it was an effective way of separating vox pops from professional interviews however our footage when using a handheld camera was too shaky and made our work look unprofessional. We therefore broke this common code of vox pops. Another convention of vox pops is the background of where the vox pop takes place. It is a code of vox pops for them to take place in a public area such as a high street, canteen or outside a shop. We both broke and developed this convention as our vox pops took place in a range of areas; this included the college canteen and college corridors. After viewing the documentary I believe we should have followed this code entirely as the vox pops taking place in busy public areas such as the canteen looked much more professional than in empty corridors(these gave the impression of plain white walls).  The vox pops taking place on the plain white walls looked less professional and therefore following the code would have benefited our overall product. All of our vox pops also used medium close ups as this followed the codes set out by all of the documentaries we witnessed. This makes the documentary appear professional by giving high quality visual aid to the viewer. We also developed on the codes and conventions of vox pops by having small groups of people be interviewed; we feel this made the documentary more professional as it still looked of a high quality but helped give the opinion of a wider group of people.

This image displays one of several vox pops within the documentary. It Cleary displays the use of a public place as a background and the use of a medium close up following the conventions of other documentaries. However we used a tripod breaking the convention of handheld footage.

Our documentary also includes several professional interviews. These interviews differ from vox pops as these give a professional opinion from an expert on the subject rather than the public. We included around the same amount of expert interviews as vox pops as we followed the very important convention of contrasting the opinion of the public against the opinion of the experts. This makes the documentary seem professional as well as give a balanced argument following the code of exploratory documentaries. We felt it was important to include several expert interviews as they give a factual basis for the viewer to see. This makes the documentary seem more believable as experts immediately improve the believability of the documentary as well as show the seriousness of the subject. One of the codes we followed within our expert interviews was the camera angles and background. The expert interviews utilized a medium close up with a professional work place environment and the expert is always sitting down. This code and convention can clearly be seen in ‘Supersize Me’. We used this convention as it makes the expert seem more important than the vox pop interviews separating him/her from the public. It also offers insight into the working environment of the expert to help show the viewer what the expert does to make him knowledgeable on the subject. This convention made the documentary appear of a high quality by separating the experts from the vox pops further allowing a contrast between the two. Another code of expert interviews was to display their name on screen; we developed this code by displaying their name and job title. This allowed the viewer to see what profession the expert had which made him/her an expert. It also makes the expert appear important as giving him a name/title allows the viewer to take the expert more seriously making the expert more effective at giving a factual opinion.

As can be seen in these two images (top image: ‘Out of Controller’, (Can violent video games play a role in violent behaviour?)bottom image: ) both utilize codes and conventions of the documentary genre. As can be seen both are expert interview, taking place in the experts working environment using a medium close up. We used this code as it separates the expert’s interviews from the vox pops allowing for a greater contrast between the two. It can also be seen in this image that we have also followed the convention of displaying the experts name and title. This shows the experts authority and importance improving their use as a factual source.

Both types of documentaries also follow codes and conventions. The first being that the interviewee doesn’t answer questions directly at the camera and instead looks slightly off to the side. This makes the interview seem more natural and gives a professional feel to the interview. We followed this code in both vox pops and expert interviews as we felt it was important to make the documentary appear natural. In all of the interviews we followed the convention of not having the vocals of the interviewer asking the interviewee the questions. This is again done to make the documentary appear more natural.

Background Footage

After viewing several documentaries we realised that background and archive footage are essential to the overall quality and pace of the documentary. We followed the convention of having all of our background footage filmed on a tripod. This makes the footage look professional by removing shakes; it also allowed us to include pans, tilts and steady zooms. This makes the documentary appear to be made of a high quality as all footage seems professional and keeps the viewer focused and not be distracted by bad footage. We also broke the convention of poor archive footage by making sure our archive footage was high quality. In other documentaries we noticed archive footage was often of poor quality such as containing lots of grain in the footage, this may have been done to separate it from the normal background footage; however we did not follow this code as good quality archive footage of video games allowed us to keep our target audience engaged. It also shows the modern HD quality of video games as reflected by the high quality footage. We also often used background footage as an establishing shot; this code is used in most documentaries including ‘Supersize Me’ to visual show the viewer where interviews are taking place. We followed this code as we also felt it was an effective way of showing the viewer where certain events are taking place.

As can be seen from the image taken from Out of Controller our interviewees never answered questions directly to the camera. This is a common code of all documentary styles and genres.

As can be seen from this sample of background footage that we used within our documentary, we followed convention by using a tripod and having professional, HD quality steady footage. This appeals to our target audience as any poor quality footage would put them off the documentary as they have grown up watching high quality videos.

Editing

The editing of the documentary is a crucial part of production, as editing can effectively determine the style pace and format of the documentary. We edited our documentary within adobe premiere as this allowed us to freely control the documentary so we could follow and break codes and conventions. Our documentary had a quick and sleek pace throughout the entire five minutes this was done to keep the target audiences attention as well as giving the documentary a professional feel. This used the code of the documentaries we watched; the first five minutes of all the documentaries we watched were fast paced to show the audience what the documentary may include, acting as a preview to the entire documentary. We followed this code as we felt it allowed us to easily produce a professional product which would keep our target audiences attention. We did this by using effects such as wipes as well as quick cutting. Another important code we followed was the use of onscreen facts and statistics. We added these using a clear and powerful font to grab the audience’s attention. We followed this convention as we felt it showed factual information to the audience in an interesting way; it allowed us to give lots of important statistics in a short time adding to the overall quality of the documentary. Editing was also used to make the documentary smooth and sleek. This was mainly done by the use of cross dissolves and fades; this removed the roughness of cuts between each scene/shot. Using fades is a common convention in all documentaries as it makes the documentary easy to watch by making the documentary appear professional. We followed this code as if broken it would take away from the overall quality of the documentary.

Sound

Sound is another important part of any documentary, therefore following and braking specific codes and conventions is important to produce a professional documentary. We followed the code of using a voice over within our expository documentary. This was done to directly talk to the audience in a clear way. We used this code as it allowed us to keep the documentary balanced as well as easily give the audience specific information in a factual and professional way.  Our voice over also allowed us to give both primary and secondary research this again allows us to give the audience specific facts and figures. This style of voice over was used in ‘Gamers 4 Life’

As can be seen from this screenshot from adobe premiere we used cross dissolves between scenes to create a sleek and smooth documentary. This also improved the pace and professionalism of the documentary appealing to our target audience.

and due to both documentaries having the same topic we followed this convention as we saw it affectively being used to help improve the audiences understanding of the subject.

The music used in our documentary is also important to the overall quality of the product. We decided to break convention and loop non-diegetic background music throughout the documentary; this was not done in documentaries such as ‘Supersize me’ where the music changed to fit the situation of the video. We broke this convention as we didn’t want to distract the audience from the important matters of the video and the voice over. We therefore feel using the same track effectively keeps the audience’s attention on the documentary.

Radio Trailer

Our first ancillary task was to produce a 30-40 second radio trailer advertising the documentary. Much like the documentary we first carried out research to find common codes and conventions of radio trailers. We produced the radio trailer in Garageband and Adobe Premiere as this software allowed us full control over the production of the radio trailer allowing us to choose which codes and conventions to follow.

The first thing we produced for the radio trailer was the background music, this was done in Garageband. We followed the code of having simple background music which was quick and upbeat. This engages the listener but does not distract them from the information within the radio trailer. Therefore we feel that this effectively acts as an interesting non-diegetic background music which draws attention to the radio trailer so that the listener will listen for the entirety of the trailer. We also followed the convention of using music of the same genre as the music from the documentary; this establishes a brand identity and makes the product recognisable. This helps promote the documentary which is the purpose of the radio trailer. However we did brake the convention of using the exact same music as in the documentary. This is often done to establish a clear link between the two products however we did not do this as we felt the music in the documentary was not interesting enough to be used in the radio trailer. This is because it would not engage the listener.

The voice over is another important aspect of the radio trailer. We decided to use the same voice over as in the documentary; this is due to it being clear and professional. We followed the convention of using the same voice over as similar to the music it establishes a brand identity and helps advertise the documentary as well as sound professional.  We also followed the code of having the voice over give important information, this included the time and date of the documentary. This was done so the audience can clearly hear and understand where and when to watch the documentary. The voice over also repeated the name of the documentary several times this was done so the name of the documentary would stick in their head so they would be more likely to remember to watch the show, this code is commonly used in all radio trailers aiming to promote a product.

The radio trailer also used many quotes and samples from the documentary. This convention is done to give the audience an idea of what the documentary will include as well as making

the trailer seem professional by using affective advertising techniques. We wanted to follow this convention as we felt it was needed to show the audience the style of the documentary and what

This is a screenshot taken from Garageband which we used to create our sound track for the radio trailer. This software allowed us to

it may include. We broke convention when it came to using sound effects. In the trailers we listener to many used lots of sound effects to grab the audience’s attention and to keep them engaged with exciting noise. However we felt these affects would feel out of place in our trailer due to the seriousness of the subject. We therefore used the smallest amount of effects possible while using music and vocals to engage the listener.

Magazine

We also carried out research into existing magazine double page spreads in listings magazines. This was again done to gain a understanding of common codes and conventions used to make a double page spread appeal to a target audience. 

A common code of a double page spread is to establish a clear house style. We also established a clear house style be using the same fonts, colours and language style which would attract our target audience. Using a specific house style makes the magazine appear more professional and naturally attracts a reader to the page due to it appearing of a high quality. We used a similar house style in all of our products to attract the same audience to each media product. Double page spreads often use a entire page for a image; we broke this convention as we felt that using one image would not reflect the nature of our documentary as we often gained the opinion of several people never one specific person as we did not use a presenter. Instead we used two large images which showed the reader different aspects what are included in the documentary giving the reader a better idea of what our documentary includes.

We followed the convention of using large quotes which stand out from the rest of the text. This is done to show the importance of a shocking statement and therefore we felt this was a appropriate device to shock the reader by highlighting shocking information. We developed on this convention by also changing the colour of these quotes to further highlight to the reader the importance of these quotes. We used a blood red colour which directly links to violence in video games; when supported with the quote this further shocks the reader creating an effective promotional device. We followed the code of using simple colours for the majority of the text. We used whites, blacks and reds. This was done so that the text stood out and was clear to read making the double page spread look professional and of high quality. We also followed the layout conventions of existing double page spreads as these effectively drew attention to the double page spread. This includes the rule of thirds. We used this as it highlights to the reader important information, this includes the name of the

This is a screenshot taken from Garageband which we used to create our sound track for the radio trailer. This software allowed us to

documentary so they don’t forget what the documentary’s called. The rule of thirds also allows us to show the most interesting parts of the magazine to the reader first to interest them in reading the article. This includes titles, images and quotes. Following the layout convention we also placed small page numbers at the bottom corners of the page giving the magazine a professional look. Other small devices we followed from the codes of other magazines included adding credits to photographers, credit to article writer and the name of the magazine. All of these are small details but we followed this code as it makes the magazine look like it was produced of a high quality and for a real purpose. 

A major convention we followed was the use of bright colours; using bright colours makes the magazine stand out and grabs the eye of the audience. We therefore effectively used this to draw their attention to important aspects of the magazine such as the name of the documentary, and the time and channel the documentary will be on. We highlighted these as they are important to promote the documentary as the audience needs to know where they can find the documentary. The bright colours we used were reds as these symbolised the blood, gore and violence within video games, which is the subject of the documentary. Therefore this makes the magazine seem professional and directly engage the reader.

Therefore I can conclude that through research and planning I clearly established common codes and conventions in all three products. We then decided to use, break and develop these conventions to help make all three products appeal to their target audience whilst remaining professional. Overall we mainly followed codes and conventions with the documentary being the most persistent in breaking codes and conventions. However I feel that both breaking and following specific codes and conventions has allowed me to produce products which effectively for fill their purpose.

This is our final magazine double page spread. As stated above we have followed and broke several conventions to produce this double page spread. We feel it has the effect of attracting our target audience whilst remaining professional. We did this by using codes such as bright colours, large quotes and images. This creates a professional product which effectively attracts the target audience.