Genre conventions A2 media updated

1. GENRE/FORM/INSTITUTIONS
CONVENTIONS

2. • Our production is an informative documentary aimed at a niche audience. It is about
the marketplace and industry of street-wear that provides people with business
opportunities to buy and then resell products for a profit, in some circumstances up
to 500% more than their retail. We have chosen to do an informative documentary
over a factual documentary which is conventional. We have followed Sir John Reith’s
reithianism by considering the view points of all and having a commitment to the
public service by not catering our documentary for just mass market appeal.

3. • We have complied with the convention of making it interesting and entertaining to
target a younger audience, as our target audience is 18-25 and a B-C2 class income
bracket. The majority of our younger viewers in our target audience will be teenagers
who are interested in the niche industry of street-wear and street-wear reselling etc.
As our target audience is very un-conventional of a documentary.

4. • We are focusing on following the modern convention of documentaries not only
being informative but being entertaining and a joy to watch. We are going to do this
through our variation of editing and use of upbeat and original music. We will
achieve this through vox pops with street and on location interviews.
• Typically the reason for making documentaries entertaining is to gain mass market
appeal which is what a conglomerate corporation would back. However we are doing
it to target our niche audience as we are an independent production company. Are
audience who are all in the mass market age bracket 16-24 however are interested in
a niche industry hence why we will need to captivate them.

5. • We will conventionally have close up featured throughout our production to
add an emotional attachment to viewing for our audience. We will do this
through creating a montage and using multiple cutaways.
• We will also conventionally have talking heads (interviews at a MCU or MS)

6. “MUSIC”
I believe our choice of music will go well with our documentary to create an emotional
attachment with our audience through a mutual love of the genre, as a big part of
street-wear is collaborations with influential figures in the rap/hip hop genre hence
our choice to use that genre of music will create an emotional attachment with the
target audience. An example of this is through grime artist Skeptas collaboration with
Nike on the Air Max 97’s to release the SK AIRS on 2nd September 2017.

7. “INSTITUTION”
We have followed the conventions of our institution (independent) by having a
low budget, however we have unconventionally decided to give it a cinematic
aesthetic which often costs money. However, it could be argued this is still
conventional as short documentaries are designed to be more experimental in
style.
The conventions of a cinematic documentary are for it to have multiple
transitions and be shot in a high resolution in high-key lighting.

8. • It is conventional for an independent documentary to have a deep meaningful message
behind it however unconventionally we do not have this message, the message our production
will show is through being part of a close community that help each other out and how people
can change there life around later on in life through creative arts and a business that does not
require degrees to get into such as reselling.
• However we do conventionally focus on a minority group which is conventional of the
documentary genre.
• We have also unconventionally had an ambitious shoot for our documentary by traveling to
London to film (as we are based in Leicestershire), and having our influencers and interviewees
being scattered across the nation making our scheduling precise and giving us no room for
error.

9. ”CHOICE”
• Our genre research has impacted our use of conventions. This is seen in our
unconventional target audience of 16-25 year olds. Due to ’narrow casting’ which
refers to smaller audience being targeted.
• It has also helped us in how we have chosen to do an un-conventional documentary
style. This has been done by how we are not using archive footage in our
documentary as it will not work with our narrative and form of a short film
documentary.
• However we have conventionally followed the documentary style in the form of
having interviews with experts and using cinematic footage. Which is
unconventional of our institution yet conventional in how our institution being
independent allows us more freedom in our production.

10. Furthermore we have utilised performative
conventions through into how our
documentary has been shaped into a
narrative however we have
unconventionally left it as an open
conclusion due to how the industry we are
focusing on is still growing and thriving
meaning that there is no clear evidence on
what may happen to it next, we are also
having people give there own un-edited
opinion, this is risky incase it does not
follow with the narrative we wish to follow
however it is conventional in how it
addresses the audience in an emotional
way either through anger and not
agreeing with a statement or through
mutual respect in an agreement.
We have conventionally followed Bill
Nichols representing reality and burred
boundaries theory. Following his Group
B theory and specifically making our
documentary participatory. Through our
use of editing to link images and scenes
together whilst supporting the
argument.
Whilst also having a direct correlation
between what is seen and what is hear.
We are also conventionally following
the observational conventions of
shooting on location and using hand
held cameras to do so. Whilst also
incorporating long takes and having
shots where the subject pretends as
though they are not being filmed, which
is what we will do for our ‘fit picks’.
However we will unconventionally
include interviews and have our
documentary hosts presence known by
having 2 of our presenters being
present in certain shots.

11. “FORM”
• Conventions of a short film are for it to be marketed with Posters which is what we have
done. However due to our digital native target audience and following conventions we will
have our Poster and other ancillary task in a DPS (double page-spread) showcased online
however unconventionally we will also have hard copies printed for our secondary audience
and more sophisticated audience to gain gratification from.
• We will conventionally track our progress of production and editing to keep enthusiasm and
excitement about the production.
• We have furthermore followed the conventions of the EPK and also followed the
conventions of the production being shown at film festivals for extra exposure.
• We unconventionally have not followed PR stunts and getting the local media to track the
progress of our production as of its unconventional filming schedule and due to one of the
interviewees requesting for his identity to be kept a secret.

12. • Furthermore we conventionally followed the starting process of finding inspiration and formulating
an idea for our production; in a street-wear documentary about the culture behind it and also
finding inspiration in the “sold out” documentary done by complex news.
• We were however too ambitious with time scheduling for our production in interviews and have had
to cut ones out due to the time sensitive nature of the documentaries length. We tried to overcome
this issue by asking questions in our interviews however we still got an extremely large amount of
footage.
• We conventionally left the camera rolling during our filming process to gain an advantage in getting
shots of anything unexpected happening. This happened to be beneficial to our production as it has
given us varied lengths of our takes and also has provided us with many transitioning shots.
• We have conventionally followed Truffaut in how he describes true cinema in being told in more
images than words, by keeping our dialog to a minimum conventionally following how our
documentary is a cinematic one.
• We conventionally followed the ‘fly on the wall’ style of filming by unobtrusively filming outfits and
getting footage without making the main point of our shot feel uncomfortable so we get the most
natural shot of them.