2. 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The brief given was to create three media products.
The opening 5 minutes of a television documentary.
Alongside, two ancillary tasks; a radio trail and a double
page spread for a television listings magazine to back
up the documentary.
Acutely aware of the short timeframe in which the
documentary could run for and the accompanying radio
trail and double page spread in mind we began
extensive research into various areas of the media in
order to better our understanding of the task.
3. 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Bill Nichols‟ Documentary Modes (2001) was something
we consulted early on during our research and planning
period. In order to gain an incite into the different types of
documentaries and the styles certain documentaries
employed.
The vast array of types and styles found in the
documentary sub-genre including – Performative,
Expository and Observational – gave us many useful ideas
for our own documentary.
The unique styles and distinctive elements some of them
utilised helped us perfect our own product. Although many
of the sub-genres were not suitable we were able to sift
and sort through the different modes using only what we
4. 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Although many of the documentary sub-genres weren't
appropriate for our topic the incites they provided were
incredibly valuable.
The main sub-genre we focused on when it came to our
documentary was the Expository mode, we felt this
suited our product best as some of the key conventions
to this documentary mode are proposing a strong
argument, speaking directly to the viewer and using
rhetoric.
5. Expository Documentary
Use of rhetoric –
„The expository mode diverges sharply from the poetic
mode in terms of visual practice and story-telling
devices, by virtue of its emphasis on rhetorical content,
and its goals of information dissemination or
persuasion.‟
Our documentary uses a narrative structure that tends to
be very rhetorical and persuades the audience of our
argument that bullying is a major issue and there is not
enough being done to address it, especially bullying in
higher education and academia in general in which our
documentary primarily focuses on.
6. Expository Documentary
Our documentary becomes persuasive through its use of rhetoric by
emphasising the problem of bullying, we tried to express the full
extent of the problem by displaying students lack of knowledge on
the subject, this was achieved by asking various students how many
people reported being bullied, as we showed in the documentary
many had an unclear view of how many reported being bullied each
year, with the true figure often being much higher than what the
students originally thought.
Again, by using rhetoric we were able to create a documentary that
presented a reasonable argument that appealed to the audiences
emotions and involved them with the topic further; “The numbers
speak for themselves bullying is a problem that isn‟t being addressed
and it‟s on the increase.” Furthermore by addressing the audience
directly via voiceover we were able to appeal to them further by using
such devices as rhetorical questions such as; “So why is it a issue as
widespread as bullying is so neglected?” by employing such tactics
not only does it give the audience a reason to keep watching in order
to perhaps discover an answer, but it also gives them something to
mull over whilst watching, keeping them attentive and drawn in.
7. Expository Documentary
A final further use of rhetoric in relation to persuasion was our
use of expert opinions, in our documentary such opinions
came from Jag Jagdev, an academic coach and leader of the
student development team, his incite on the topic of bullying
legitimized the documentaries arguments that not enough
was being done to combat the issue of bullying as during our
interview with Mr. Jagdev he remarked how bullying was an
issue increasingly difficult to combat, likely because of the
emergence of cyber-bullying, however he did not mention this
rather picking up on how bullying that goes on outside college
is something teachers and other staff can do little to stop.
The use of an expert provided back up and gave validity to
some of the claims made earlier in the documentary, overall it
made our argument appear stronger and more persuasive as
we had the voice of an expert on our side.
8. Expository Documentary
Speaking directly to the audience –
„Narration is a distinct innovation of the expositional
mode of documentary. Initially manifesting as
an omnipresent, omniscient, and objective voice intoned
over footage, narration holds the weight of explaining
and arguing a film‟s rhetorical content.‟
Whilst documentaries in the poetic mode thrived on a
filmmaker's subjective visual interpretation of a subject.
In the differing expository mode it aims to collect footage
that strengthens the spoken narrative.
9. Expository Documentary
Strengthening the spoken narrative was something we aimed
to do through the footage we shot. Examples of this include
our extensive use of establishing shots to emphasis the
current location of the documentary, creating a clear sense of
time and place this can be seen at various points in the
documentary. Other examples include the use of expert
interviews as I have already mentioned bringing in another
party to back up what is being said through the voiceover
strengthens the overall argument or viewpoint presented by
the documentary. This was a convention we were sure to be
able to achieve as the subject matter (bullying in academia)
was already a forgotten and neglected issue it was important
to strengthen and give thrust to the previously weak
argument and really bring the issue to the forefront of peoples
agendas.
10. Expository Documentary
This shift in visual tactics gives rise to what Nichols refers to
as „evidentiary editing‟, a practice in which expositional
images „..illustrate, illuminate, evoke, or act in counterpoint to
what is said…[we] take our cue from the commentary and
understand the images as evidence or demonstration…‟
(Nichols 2001: 107)
By actively engaging in rhetoric with the audience we were
able to provide supporting visual information, a convention
found in the expository mode. This mode continues today and
indeed, makes up the bulk of documentary products. Film
features, news stories, and various television programs lean
heavily on its utility as a device for transferring information,
explaining clearly why we felt the expository mode was the
most suitable for our documentary and the message it was
aiming to get across.
11. Further Research
Since the beginning of the A2 coursework I
have watched many documentaries in
preparation for when it came time to create
our own. Some of the documentaries
watched in class included episodes of
„Airline‟ and the Morgan Spurlock
Documentary „Super Size Me‟, these
documentaries helped me develop my ideas
and our ideas as a team, by watching
professionally made and critically acclaimed
documentaries we were able to use and
develop forms and conventions found in
such media products as „Super Size Me‟.
The skills we were able to pick up by
watching such documentaries proved
invaluable when it came to creating our own
media product.
12. Super Size Me
One of the first expository documentaries we watched
was „Super Size Me‟, this documentary made quite an
impression on us and due to it‟s positive reception,
commercial appeal and ability to present a strong
message whilst not being seemingly overwhelming
despite the subject matter was something we hoped to
recreate by using and developing the conventions that it
employed throughout.
„Super Size Me‟ uses expository modes that we wanted
to recreate in order to produce an effective product.
Such conventions as speaking to the audience directly,
this was something writer, director, producer and star
Morgan Spurlock was able to do with ease.
13. Super Size Me
Morgan Spurlock‟s ability to speak the audience and address them in a pleasant
manner but still be able to raise serious and significant points was an important
convention and just one example of something that inspired us. An example of
Morgan Spurlock addressing the audience with a serious point to raise is seen at
various points in the documentary but one example is when he is speaking of the
adverse effects on his health, he wakes in the middle of the night with heart
palpitations and shortness of breath, he then speaks to the audience about his
experiences; not only does this make the viewer connect on an emotional level
with the person they are seeing on screen but they are more likely to take note of
what is being said as the scene will grab their attention and what is being said
will be seen as clearly a serious matter as it relates to a persons wellbeing.
We attempted to recreate such an scenario in our documentary by connecting on
an emotional level with our audience we did this by playing our opening
montage/reconstruction and straight afterward expressing what a neglected
issue bullying in academia is, this aimed to make the audience concerned and
just as how we the viewer were paying more attention to Morgan Spurlock when
his was experiencing health problems, our documentary had the same effect as
the viewer had just witnessed a reconstruction of bullying taking place, this
aimed to ignite their interest in the topic and then layering text on top of this drew
the viewer in further almost preying on their vulnerabilities when they were most
attentive in order to get the documentaries message across effectively.
14. Super Size Me
In addition to being able to speak to the audience directly in
„Super Size Me‟ Spurlock presented a prominent feature of
expository documentaries, a objective balanced argument.
This was displayed at various points, but specifically toward
the end of the documentary when he asked McDonalds to
issue a rebuttal to the points he presented in the
documentary and his findings. They ultimately declined to do
so but the documentary remains balanced as he did give the
opposition a chance to put forward their arguments.
Naturally, we wanted to create a documentary that was
balanced without bias, in order to do this we spoke to
experts, as I have already mentioned. Who were free to
speak on the issue of bullying without their views being
distorted, but we also interviewed members of the public who
didn‟t necessarily hold liberal objective views and attitudes on
issues such as bullying, by presenting the thoughts and
opinions of those we interviewed in Solihull town centre we
were able to create something objective, balanced and fair.
15. Super Size Me
Employing this convention did not however take any momentum
away from our argument as ultimately judging by statistics alone
bullying is a major problem, therefore by producing a balanced
objective documentary the viewers were free to draw their own
conclusions not only from the views expressed over the voiceover
but also the views expressed by those who didn‟t always hold the
same outlook as we did regarding bullying and what a prevalent
problem it was.
Despite those who watch being entitled to draw their own
conclusions overall their was a general consensus that no matter
how many opposing views couldn‟t refute. The fact that just the
same as Spurlock‟s weight increased and health declined during his
McDonald‟s binge clearly people are being bullied in massive
numbers, which in turn is leading to depression, suicide and other
social issues, which can be proven through the use of statistics, so
undoubtedly the message is still put across effectively and that
cannot be infringed. Whether people chose to believe it is another
matter, but it remains factual and truthful.
16. Super Size Me & Airline
That was just two examples of what codes and
conventions I learnt from „Super Size Me‟ and how it
influenced my ideas when it came to creating our
product that had used many expository modes.
I picked up many other conventions from watching
„Super Size Me‟ and „Airline‟, chief among which was
the use of the camera. These documentaries
employed varied shot types including – Close Ups,
Establishing Shots, Medium Close Ups, Extreme
Close Ups and Long Shots – these different shot
types influenced our documentary in many ways.
17. Airline
For example, in „Airline‟ due to the fact many of the people at
the airport have missed flights or are unhappy with their
service extreme emotions are often portrayed varying from
anger and frustration to misery and disappointment, the film
crews attempts to capture such varied and rapidly changing
emotions meant in a single scene many different shots types
are used including Medium Close Ups when the passengers
and airport staff are discussing thoughts and feelings directly
to the camera, but at other points when passengers are
arguing with staff the camera becomes intrusive in the
conversation trying to nestle in on the conversation often
resorting to Over The Shoulder Shots, whilst at other times
Extreme Close Ups were used to capture the turbulent
emotions as well as Long Shots when unpredictable and
often irate passengers left the airport or were escorted out
after being informed they had missed their flights.
18. Airline
Learning from the varied use of camera shots used in
programmes such as „Airline‟ we tried to implement this,
using a variety of camera shots and angles gave our
documentary a dynamic and artistic edge that we felt
was compelling for our viewership.
One example of using multiple camera shot and varied
angles like in „Airline‟ is during our opening
reconstruction. The reconstruction is montage of
different clips, fading in and out to form a speechless
reconstruction of bullying in higher education, the shots
used in the opening reconstruction include – Long
Shots, Extreme Close Ups, Over The Shoulder
Shots, Medium Shots – in addition high and low angles
are used.
19. Reconstruction & Airline
On the following slides is a series of examples of how I used
the conventions seen in „Airline‟ i.e. the use of multiple camera
shots in single scenes to our advantage when it came to
constructing the documentary.
Utilising the many different shots and angles sometimes in
single frames and in a short space of time exhibits the diverse
range of skills I have able to observe from other
documentaries and television shows such as „Airline‟, being
able to implement these techniques and conventions meant
the documentary had a more gripping and unique opening
which grabbed audiences attentions early on, not to mention
the fact it clearly showed our ability to use the camera in a
variety of distinctive ways and create something not only
memorable but also tense with realism set against an urban
landscape and packed with raw emotion.
20. Reconstruction & Airline
Over The Shoulder Shot,
Medium Shot, with
Extreme Close Up
moderate low angle.
& High Angel.
22. Reconstruction & Airline
Medium Shot, Close Up &
moderate high angle. Long Shot.
Extreme
Close Up.
23. Other Documentaries
In addition to studying in detail „Super Size Me‟ and
„Airline‟ in class, outside of class I personally conducted
extensive research into a series of different
documentaries both on bullying and documentaries in
general, many of which focused on a much wider subject
matter than just bullying.
Many of these documentaries in fact when far above the
criteria traditionally associated with documentaries, such
as documentaries produced for use in schools
(specifically anti-bullying campaigns) or other student
films, in fact the area I looked into most were some of the
most controversial, critically acclaimed and commercial
successful documentaries in the genre.
24. Other Documentaries
Some examples of commercially and critically successful
documentaries that served as inspiration for our
documentary include –
Michael Moore’s:
(Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko) etc.
Morgan Spurlock’s:
(Super Size Me, Where in the World is Osama Bin
Laden?, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold) etc.
David Guggenheim’s:
(The First Year, An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for
Superman) etc.
These are just some of the documentaries
we encountered during our extensive research.
25. Other Documentaries
All of these documentaries influenced me in various
ways, the impact they had played key roles in the
making of the documentary and often their style and
substance were the deciding factor in what we shot and
during editing what got cut and what stayed in. Their
ability to sway our decision making highlighted the
impact and significance these documentaries had when
I first watched them during the initial research period.
Perhaps the documentary that had the biggest impact of
the larger known and more commercial successful
documentaries (putting aside the smaller
documentaries, news segments etc) was Michael
Moore‟s „Bowling for Columbine‟ a documentary about
gun violence in the United States.
26. Bowling for Columbine
„Bowling for Columbine‟ is a 2002 documentary by Michael Moore,
the film specifically looks at the effects of the 1993 Columbine High
School Massacre but more widely focuses on the nature of gun
violence in America.
My initial reasoning behind watching this documentary was it‟s
commercial appeal, the film broke box offices records
internationally, namely in the U.K. going onto become the highest
grossing documentary of all time before being eclipsed some years
later by another Moore film, Fahrenheit 9/11.
Later I came to realise it was one of the largest and most successful
documentaries to focus on education, although it wasn‟t looking at
bullying in education it was looking at violence (specifically gun
violence, albeit similar to bullying in it‟s physical and often brutal
nature) in education something I felt was very relevant and naturally
I assumed there was much I could learn from such a film due to it
being so critically well received.
27. Bowling for Columbine
The film „Bowling for Columbine‟ specifically influenced the
documentary in a number of ways that are clear to see, an
example of this is the interview found in „Bowling for
Columbine‟:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD2x6-CF2h4
Michael Moore‟s interview with actor and then president of the
National Rifle Association Charlton Heston was an element of
the documentary we aimed to recreate, as we felt the interview
was informative, provocative and an essential piece of
journalism for the film, despite wanting to recreate it with a
similar style to what Moore had achieved we didn‟t want to
include a liberal bias so when it came to recording our
interview with Jag Jagdev we decided to stay out of the clip,
allowing our expert to speak clearly and freely to the audience
without the intrusion of our presence or the confrontational
style found in „Bowling for Columbine.‟
28. Bowling for Columbine
„Bowling for Columbine‟ visited schools
and dealt with the issue of violence
meaning it was relevant and had much
in common with the subject of bullying
and justifiable for inspiration.
However, with many of the other
documentaries which subsequently
influenced me it certainly wasn‟t always
as obvious why they were so relevant,
with some focusing on the environment
for example, „An Inconvenient Truth‟ it
appeared as if they had little to offer in
the way of inspiration for a bullying
documentary.
29. Other Influences
In fact, many of the styles of such documentaries as (Sicko, An
Inconvenient Truth & The Greatest Movie Ever Sold) influenced
me more than their subject matter or themes. Although some of
the documentaries I watched didn‟t primarily obey the expository
modes many did at times cross over, using conventions that I felt
would benefit the documentary greatly if we were to use and
develop them.
In addition to that, some of the other documentaries such as
those by David Guggenheim inspired me in style and subject
matter as two of his films „The First Year‟ and „Waiting for
Superman‟ revolved around schools and teaching and being as
our subject was bullying set specifically in schools, higher
education and academia in general it seemed to make sense to
watch such documentaries if only to see how they were able to
shoot around schools and colleges and what kind of establishing
shots they were able to achieve.
30. Further Influences
Other documentaries that were primary influences and helped us
develop codes and conventions of real media products were:
Ronan’s Escape – a short film on bullying:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XLcfdkkHQE
The film‟s use of physical as well as emotional abuse against the
protagonist of the documentary, Ronan was inspiration for our own
reconstruction as much like ours it didn‟t feature any speech, with the
use of Diegetic Sound being minimal (ours only used laughter and
the use of a Non-Diegetic Voiceover )
Bully (2011 film)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1g9RV9OKhg
This film had the largest impact of all the bullying documentaries I
watched, it later influenced many of our decisions as a group, mainly
during the editing period.
31. The Importance of New Media
Throughout the making of our documentary we were acutely
aware of the need for our documentary to obey the
conventions of „New Media‟.
„New Media‟ refers to on-demand access to content any time,
anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user
feedback, creative participation and community formation
around the media content. An important promise of „New
Media‟ is the „democratisation‟ of the creation, publishing,
distribution and consumption of media content. Another aspect
of „New Media‟ is the real-time element, with the product being
current, new and unregulated in content.
32. The Importance of New Media
Although „New Media‟ does not traditionally include feature
films – unless they are technologies/products that enable
digital interactivity. Our product differs significantly from the
big-budget feature films produced by major studios, it even
differs noticeably from feature length documentaries which
was one of the main reasons we felt „New Media‟ was an
important area to consider when constructing our
documentary.
Due to the fact our documentary is short (only five minutes
long) it can easily be watched in an instant, the product is
uploaded on YouTube meaning it is contributing to the global
conversation on bullying, it is a product that is a departure in
style and substance from traditional documentaries and
because of the unregulated content, something unflinching
and provocative has been created.
33. The Importance of New Media
In addition to that, the interactive comments section on a variety of video-
sharing websites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion only
contribute to the documentary being grouped under „New Media‟ as such
comment sections and discussions on forums of social issues allows this
film to become interactive, the content can be praised or criticised and the
integrity of our findings scrutinized.
Finally, one important factor that contributes to our documentary being
appropriate for „New Media‟ is how it was produced. The documentary is
produced by the same people who would consume such medias digitally
the result of this is a fair objective look at social issues in this case Bullying
as there is no hidden agenda, also important to note just the same as how
Facebook is a social media model, in which the users are also
participants (they have a say in what appears on the site) so do those
who appear in our documentary, just as they got a say when we
interviewed them (participants in production) they will also become
consumers (users) online of the product they have helped create, being
able to put the film under a microscope and examine the final product.
34. Challenging Codes and
Conventions
As I discussed earlier our documentaries main focus is on the
conventions laid out by the Expository mode, however we do at times
challenge the expository conventions and use other documentary
modes which I will mention briefly.
Our documentary does often cross over into for example the
observational sub-genre, as we use one of it‟s conventions „using
minimal interaction‟ we chose not to appear on screen in the role of
investigative journalists pressing the issue of bullying to experts and
interviewees as we felt it compromised the nature of documentary as
it was meant to let those even the most radical of people speak freely
to the audience as after all they were there to interviewees talk not
us, all we did via the voiceover was commentate and keep the
documentary on a clear track. We also used an observational style
when observing people around the college, recording them for our
establishing shots going about their business without interacting with
them or manipulating what was appearing on screen.
35. Challenging Codes and
Conventions
Examples of Observational style
shots used in our documentary.
36. Conclusi
on
Overall, I felt we used the conventions of expository
documentaries to our advantage very well, throughout the
documentary I feel we on the whole obeyed conventions
previously laid by critics such as Bill Nichols‟ in Documentary
Modes (2001) the result of this was a balanced,
„democratised‟ highly pervasive bullying documentary which
on the whole I was very pleased with, I felt the final product
exhibited the nature of the problem as well as people‟s
general ignorance on the subject. The film‟s reconstruction I
felt gave viewers an unflinching glimpse of what it is like to be
bullied and was able to connect with them early on, on a
emotion level.
The effect this had was an audience who was tuned into the
issue of bullying and ready to listen and learn.
37. Conclusi
on
Although highly consistent in the conventions it employed through
the documentary in parts it did develop or challenge certain
conventions in certain areas although it was minimal in comparison
with how much it obeyed professionally made „real‟ media products.
In conclusion I feel we were successful in creating something that
was appealing to the audience whilst not compromising the integrity
when dealing with a difficult and challenging subject that is bullying.
The overall structure of our documentary used the enigmatic code
which is a problem that is only discussed and not solved. This
leaves the viewer with questions that cannot yet be solved. Uses of
forms and conventions such as these create a spark of interest for
the viewer, it makes them realise how serious an issue is and is
likely to contribute to them discussing it further e.g. joining the
global conversation which „New Media‟ products often make people
do.
38. Conclusio
n
In conclusion, I feel the documentary is not only effective in
delivering it‟s message but also stands as an example of the
high level of research, planning and production that went into
it, as you have been able to see from this PowerPoint. The
study into forms, codes and conventions and how we used
them is just a microcosm of the planning and effort that went
into creating the documentary as a complete entity, on the
whole I am very pleased with the finished documentary.
