2. The type of documentary that our documentary is a mixed documentary. This is because it contains a combination of
interviews, narration, observation, actual footage and archive material - the same as those that are mixed
documentaries in real media products. The interviews are open questions given to the subject(s) to answer in their
opinion and give the audience an opportunity to see how the interviewee's opinion(s) differ to theirs. The narration
links the documentary together (providing extra detail and structure to the documentary) and also, it advances the
narrative. We observe the documentary to understand the reality of different levels of music, compare different bands
on similar levels and compare the general idea of music. The actual footage and archive material gives the audience an
opportunity to contrast bands from amateur to professional levels and amateur to amateur levels.
An example of another mixed documentary that's mixed is What happens in Kavos. It also uses a combination of
interviews, observation, narration, archive footage and actual footage but, the interviews are done as though the
camera is the interviewer (interviewee's looking directly at the camera). We have developed from the interviews as
What happens in Kavos contains good, interesting and humorous information from the interviews but it doesn't have
enough of them. We decided that by having more interviews, that it's more informative and appropriate to the
viewer, as it shows the main concept of the programme (being that they are young but talented, unsigned artists) - how
badly they want to make something of what they do.
We challenged the forms and conventions by not mixing all the interviewee subjects into one big answer. What we did
differently was allow them to fully answer a question as an individual/group; showing b-roll footage of them, having
songs of theirs playing quietly in the background, whilst they continued to talk. This gave the individuals/group a
more individual approach by focusing on one at a time - the idea of the documentary (understanding unique features
and separating them by different genres).
3. Our documentary uses a number of different themes including
music, youth, fashion and genre (within music). Music was the main theme
within the documentary because it's such a big industry that its interesting to know
how it works in within the local area - what defines bands, where they get their
inspiration from, their opinions on other bands at the same level as them, etc. Youth
is a big theme within the documentary too because all the interviewees that
we interview are youth; it gives their perspective of music and gives the audience
an idea of what it's like trying to become a successful as opposed to seeing and
listening to all the popular ones that are current now.
We challenged and developed the forms and conventions of music themed
documentaries as it looks at a much bigger picture than Rock n' Roll Exposed -
Picturing Punk, example. This documentary gets lots of different people to look at
lots of different areas and give their thoughts and opinions of one group, similar to
other documentaries. However, we decided that it was a typical thing to do and so
we picked interviewee subjects that look on the genre of music that they aspire to
(and being at the level that they're at too). This allowed us to branch out of
genre, avoid making it seem like they had to be specific to one topic and making the
answers very open.
4. Our documentary uses a linear narrative structure - as we structured an order that is
similar to the interview questions. Also, it has a clear beginning to it, begins to show a
clear middle and doesn't show the end as it's only a segment of what the full
documentary would be. This is so that the documentary doesn't seem to be random
and all the answers with the relevant question are sectioned into parts of the
documentary - preventing confusion.
A documentary that uses a linear narrative structure is The Devil Made me do it. As
opposed to combination stories to make it link to one, which this documentary uses, our
documentary combines opinions of a question, that eventually would have a link -
overall summary of starting out and the progression. This is to keep the general ruling of
the structure but avoid being typical to every other documentary with a linear narrative
structure.
We challenged the forms and conventions by using questions that are similar to the order
of our questionnaire to structure the beginning middle and end, as opposed to the typical
element of using a timeline of events to structure it. This is because it wouldn't match the
theme of it being modern day music.
5. Our documentary uses a variety of camerawork. The opening sequence
contains a handheld, over-the-shoulder, long cut, mid shots, 2 shots,
panning shots and zoom in/out shots. The rest of the documentary
contains similar but in addition long shots, low angle shots, handheld
shots and close ups. This uses the typical conventions of any
documentary as using a variety of camerawork prevents it from being
repetitive and boring.
We developed conventions and forms by opening the documentary
with quite a complex shot (over the shoulder, hand held, tracking shot)
which would normally be in a documentary as someone walks into a
building and into a room. We decided that it was a good idea to start
off with this because walking into a gig instantly made it seem like a
music documentary.
6. Our documentary uses all the aspects of mise-en-scene in a unique way. The costumes are very typical
of youth, the genre of music they listen to and the divide between amateur's and professionals
(amateur's wearing cheap, everyday clothing where as professional's clothing would be designer and
top of the rage). The lighting is constantly high-key because it's informative, so we wanted the
audience to see who the words were coming from and so they could see them clearly. The people
involved were all relevant to music because they all performed it and had their views and opinions on
it. The make-up and hair way untouched by us because it doesn't give a realistic approach to the level
of the artist(s) performance. For example, they don't want to spend lots of time on appearance at an
amateur level because it's the music that will get them recognised. The props were positioned
deliberately in interviews (such as amps, guitars, regular things in the garage, etc.) so that it
maintained it's theme of music and it looks, as well as being what we did, as if we went out of our
way to re-enforce this. Finally, the settings were all in locations where each individual/performer
could perform so that it is relevant with the themes, interviews and also, so that we could get footage
of them performing in an appropriate location.
We developed forms and conventions by making sure that all the mise-en-scene was relevant to the
name and theme of the documentary - as in making sure that the settings were music themed, the
lighting was appropriate, etc. The documentary, The Music Biz: Meatloaf Edition, uses interviews in a
number of places in which some were in music related places and others weren't. We took the idea of
the interviews being in music related places and used this as a theme and made sure that they all
were. We felt this gave a professional and well-though impression for the audience.
We challenged the forms and conventions by not using green screen. The reason that we chose not to
use this is because we wanted to make the documentary look more genuine (gone out of our way to
go to good locations relevant to music).
7. The sound in the documentary uses a mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sound is used
through a mixture of interviews and performance. The non-diegetic sound is used in the opening
sequence, the introduction stage (just as the documentary starts after the opening sequence), as
narration on two occasions and also, when the sound started off as diegetic and then continues over
the top of b-roll footage – becoming non-diegetic. Also, we used the audio balance to alter audio from
footage that was either too loud or quiet and also, match to a similar level of other audio.
We developed the forms and conventions by using footage of the artist(s) linked with the sound to
introduce an artist and then continued the audio on the sound bed but lowered the volume to be able
to hear the interviewee as the footage of interview comes on, but low enough for it still to be heard-
becoming non-diegetic. This is slightly different to ‘The Devil Made me do it’ for example because
although it uses the same element, they fade the music out completely after a couple of seconds as the
interviewee begins to talk. However, we felt that it became becoming and made the interview seem
dull, so we added this little feature in to prevent it from being dull.
We challenged the forms and conventions by removing all ambient sound. Although it becomes less
natural, it makes it sound unprofessional as we are trying to concentrate on what they’re saying and
the music that they’re producing; not small and needless noises (such as clicking the mouse on the
computer, footsteps of them moving around, etc.).
8. The editing used in the documentary was done so that that documentary didn’t become boring by
having long cuts or purely interviews. There was a mixture of A-roll and B-roll footage that was used
together to show variety. Mostly straight cuts for the transitions however, on a two occasions where
we go from one artist/band to another, there is a fade to black (music fades out too) to show that they
have finished talking. After removing the audio from the footage used in the opening sequence, we
added separate audio and used the sound waves to split clips (so that they would use a straight cut
transition which was synchronised in time with the beat). Some audio files starting to loud and then
went quieter so in order to prevent this, we added audio gains to the first second of the audio clips
that required it. We sped up the pace of the first shot because it was too long for it to be at normal
pace and also, it went in time with the music. Finally, we added in the title screen which was simply
white text on a black screen with a clear font, making it easy to read and as the introducing chorus of
the song comes to a close, it zooms out of the text before fading into black. This is done as an effective
way to end the opening sequence.
We developed the forms and conventions by maintaining a theme of constant changing clips. We did
this so that the documentary didn't become dull or boring by just constantly staring at one screen. It is
a very common thing in documentaries so we slightly developed it by adding in a couple of different
transitions and also, showing a variety of shot types.
We challenged the forms an conventions by opening the documentary with a fast paced long cut
because we thought it was a unique idea and seemed different to most documentaries. We felt this
because generally, most documentaries about music show establishing shots of the area or the artist in
action in which we thought that was too typical and wanted to change it. It did show the setting but
that wasn't the main focus of the clip.
9. We tried to ensure that the archive footage was all
relevant to the documentary. It was all of artists that
were in the same situation of the ones that we had
personally filmed. This was to maintain a theme and
consistency. All the footage was either from music
videos or live performances which meant that we kept
the footage in direct relation to the theme of the
documentary, music. We didn't use too much archive
footage because the documentary was about
upcoming artists, such as the ones we filmed, rather
than artists that are starting to get somewhere or
already have.
10. The graphics used in the documentary were only
to introduce the artists that we had interviewed in
order to tell the viewer who they were and what
sort of music they played. They were in a
clear, basic and readable font which we thought
was relevant and didn't look inappropriate to the
documentary which also used quite a basic theme.
The text on the title screen was a little different
because being that it was the title, we felt that it
had to stand out more so we made it white against
a black background and used a sort of font that
looked rock themed.
