Evaluation question 2

1. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE
COMBINATION OF YOUR
MAIN PRODUCT AND
ANCILLARY TEXT?
Evaluation Question 2

2. My main product
 The main product consists of a 5 minute opening
of a documentary which is themed upon the topic
of pressure from the media upon teenagers today.
It is apparent that today in this day and age there
is a shift between the characteristics and interests
of teenagers compared to what it may have been
like 50 or so years ago. The gap between the
teenager and the child is becoming more and
more narrow and the media (social media in
particular) is a massive contributor. My
documentary looks at what the negative effects of
pressure from the media can prove to result in for
girls and even boys.

3. Mode and Narrative Structure of
my documentary
 The documentary complies with the description of an expositional
mode. The modes of a documentary were initially introduced by Bill
Nichols. The expositional mode is when a narrator/presenter is used to
convey a rhetoric concept. This is also when the use of visuals and
interview cutaways are seen within a documentary. We have tried to
use as many visuals as we can in the form of background footage and
archival footage so that the viewer can be informed of the nature of the
documentary but also so that the engagement of the audience is
consistent. This leads to the information being conveyed easily and
tactfully. This mode is also used within news articles and political talk
shows.
 My documentary applies to an open structure in terms of narrative
structure. The whole purpose behind this is that the audience is
expected to carry on the trail of thought in their minds after watching
the documentary. There is no set beginning and ending, therefore the
documentary does not apply to a linear and circular structure. Instead,
the viewer is left to make their own conclusion in their minds having

4. My TV listing and Radio Trailer
 The purpose of the TV listing was so that I could market the
documentary to the target audience effectively. The target audience
is girls aged 13-19 and by advertising the documentary within a
magazine , the main aim is to gain more viewers from both the
primary audience and the secondary audience. I had to try and
make the best possible links to the documentary in the TV listing by
using snapshots of the documentary itself to show what type of
production it would be and so the audience can get a first hand look
at what they would be expecting to see.
 The purpose of the radio advert was to mainly reach out to those
who don’t really read magazines. It is genuinely a form of further
advertising of the documentary so that I can get as many possible
viewers to watch the documentary. I initially thought that it would be
best to have the presenter speaking on the radio advert but in the
end we used someone else to give the illusion that it is an external
source that is doing this particular piece of advertising for us. The
advertiser gave the audio taster of the documentary through voxpop
responses and the main details such as the date, time and channel
on which the documentary would be aired on.

5. Main areas of similarity between
ancillary texts and main product
 Voxpops- I used voxpops in both the radio advert and the
documentary. The purpose of the voxpops was to show the
spontaneous responses to a very general topic. It really
emphasised the point that the media does cause a lot of
pressure to be put onto young girls. Voxpops in the
documentary was a very key aspect because that was what
gave me the starting point before I could give nay statistics or
make any valid argument within the 5 minutes. It wasn’t
possible to use the concept of voxpops in the double page
spread but I did use some in the radio advert which was very
effective because a radio advert is solely audio so it is
beneficial to hear real snippets of the documentary in a radio
advert because it prepares the viewer for what could
potentially be in store for them if they decided to watch the
documentary.

6. Snapshots of the Documentary

7. FINAL TV LISTING

8.  Official Statistics- I have used official statistics because they
fit the codes and conventions of a documentary and
stereotypically, a documentary isn’t a documentary without
statistics. Many of the points made within the documentary by
the presenter, are backed up with an official statistic which
makes the documentary seem professional and live up to its
name. An example of a statistic that I used my double page
spread is “40% of all 9 and 10 year olds have already been
on a diet”. This is a shock tactic statistic which really
convinces you that the pressure from the media must be very
intense because it has the power to saturate into a 10 year
olds mind and make her think that she is “fat”. This is the sort
of thought stream that I want my audience to experience
when watching the documentary. A supporting statistic taken
from the documentary is “7 in 10 girls believe that they are
not good enough or do not measure up”.

9.  Key Details- I have made sure that wherever
possible I have included the small details like
the date it will be aired on, the time it will be
aired, and the channel it will be aired on which
will be ITV1. It is virtually pointless in
advertising the documentary when the
audience don’t know what channel to watch it
on and when. The double page spread and the
radio advert both mention these details as they
are the advertising techniques of the
documentary and it is their function to deliver
these details to the target audience.

10.  Presenting the Presenter!- Very often documentaries with a
young target audience choose people that are either famous
or well known in the area the documentary is made. An
example of a channel that does this is BBC Three and an
example of a documentary would be Professor Green:
Suicide and me. The whole point of a presenter is to make
the documentary feel more informal than it would be without a
presenter and also to make it feel more personal to you than
it actually might be. This technique is really good to keep the
reader engaged. What I have done is put pictures of the
presenter on the double page spread and also the
documentary because despite the fact that she is not a
celebrity, another key characteristic of a presenter is to be
aesthetically pleasant and this can also increase how many
people watch the documentary. For me, it was important to
give the presenter this recognition on both ancillary products
so the viewer has the power to judge whether this
documentary would be something they would want to watch
or not.

11. Brand Identity?
 In order to create a firm brand identity it is vital to have a
brand name or logo which in this case I haven't got but in
several small ways I have attempted to create a sense of
identity. The music that is used as background music is very
pacy and upbeat which I thought went well with the
seriousness of the topic and how it can have highs and lows
at the same time. Similarly, the same style of music is what I
used for the radio advert. The mise-en-scene is also
something that stayed the same throughout. The areas in
which filming took place were either the setting of the
documentary which was the college site and Solihull Town
Centre. I kept the theme based on feminine things such as
makeup, fashion and retail. And for the presenter’s look we
kept it casual and very laid back to show the idea that she is
also a girl and that she may also face the issues she is
addressing in the documentary.

12. Binary Opposites and Symbolic
code?
 Levi Strauss is the theorist that thought of binary opposites.
This is an example of a theory that applied to my
documentary because the theory states that narrative
structure is gained through binary opposites and within my
documentary the binary opposite could be boy-girl because
on one hand there are girls who face pressure from the
media at a global scale every single day when it can also be
argued that boys get it harder than girls do so there are clear
opposites here.
 Another theory that can relate to my documentary is the
theory of symbolic codes by Roland Barthes. This is because
it is used when there is no set meaning of a production. It
alters the anrrative so that there is flexibility for deeper
meanings. It is often described when a new meaning can
come out of opposing arguments.