2. Fitness for purpose
Eclipse Studios created a documentary called ‘Say Something’. The documentary is about different types of
bullying such as cyber, physical, verbal and social which is seen to be mainly occurring in schools by students.
We followed the brief provided for us which suggested that we focus in the Borough of Redbridge and create
the documentary as a social action project in order to build cohesion within the community. We found out that
before making the project from creating questionnaires about bullying, people answered with their opinion and
views which then gave us further information about the topic and chose a Redbridge local school, King
Solomon. We were given permission to film in, we thought that our knowledge of this local school with students
would be an ideal option to get a better inside detailed view of bullying. Also, due to our focus on the target
audiences; ages from 14-19 also parents and older ages would want to view the video as they were represented in
the documentary as well as be informed and more aware of the topic we presented. It would make more sense
to focus the main recording in a school building which most people in the community are aware of and a lot
parents have connections with schools because of their children and friend’s children.
Screenshot of the brief which
was given to us to follow the
guidelines of what to include
for our documentary.
3. Fitness for purpose #2
At the beginning of the pre-production process, we researched various doumetry approaches as well as thinking of
multiple ideas. This helped us explore the codes and conventions we would later utilise later in our production. There were
three different approaches to filming documentaries such as participatory, observational and expository. We decided as a
group to choose the observational and expository approach. We used the observational approach because we observed
and gathered explanations from the teachers, students and parents we interviewed which we would not intervene with
the explanations they would tell us and by using the expository approach, we used a narrator that would be heard
speaking over some scenes and focus on the power of the spoken words, where images provide a supporting role. We
used realism throughout our video as using codes and conventions are authority of the subject and presented the topic
from using interviews, comparison with the general audience that might not know much about this subject, also, showing
scenes that presented students everyday lives at school and inform them from creating this documentary. We decided as
a group to have the documentary based and focused on the issue of bullying. The reason for this decision is that we
noticed that bullying was a topic that was not really mentioned amongst people and not many documentaries were
created for this issue. We thought that if we created a documentary about a serious and an everyday occurring issue, then
people would be more aware and also could help to allow some people to speak out or even get help as they might have
been facing this issue and don't know how to deal with it. In addition, the documentary would be effective for everyone in
the community to watch as it would be informative and illustrative, making everyone more educated about the topic, and
for instance if there may be people within the community that are experiencing bullying then they could use the
documentary to get information for what to do and help one another if they notice any signs of bullying which then could
lead to the community to draw together and help one another due to people being more informed of this topic.
4. Fitness for purpose #3
As a group we all watched and done research on different documentaries about bullying which had already been created to get
inspiration and ideas to make our documentary unique and stand out from all the other documentaries. I researched about the
topic this led me to the, ‘conflict theory’, which is about bullying. It suggests that bullying occurs when people may be facing
problems so therefore take out their anger or frustration on other people. This theory is also linked to a sociological view, the
Marxists theory. Marxists believe in a conflict approach, where there is conflict in every society due to social inequality and
injustice.
I believe that this theory is reflected as an example within our doemtumray as it explains why some people bully others for
example, we found out that when interviewing our first participant bully, this theory was linked to what he was saying. In
summary, he was facing problems at home which as he said caused him to take out his pressure on those around him.
The link below is an example of the research which supports my views.
1. https://www.slideshare.net/klab18/problems-of-well-being-bullying
Stuart Hall (1973) developed a theory called, ‘encoding and decoding’. This theory is an approach of how media messages are
produced, disseminated, and interpreted. Encoding is the process of creating a message from one person to others (audience).
The sender uses verbal and non-verbal which he/she thinks the receiver will understand. Whereas, decoding is the process of
interpreting a message sent by one person to others (audience) and how audience are able to understand and interpret the
message in a comprehensible form. We used this theory on our documentary because we created this video as a social action
video to create awareness and create cohesion within the community of Redbridge. We have created a message about bullying,
stop this issue and receive any help then the audience will take this message from the video and use it in their lives that will
help them which they have decided our message as linked to Stuart Hall’s theory.
5. Fitness for purpose #4
After the decision being made of what the documentary would consists of, we created a script and storyboard in
order to guide us and have a rough idea of what we wanted our documentary to look like and what order we
would record the footage in. We concluded that our documentary should consist of interviews with different
types of people such as teachers, parents and students to give the audience a view on what people had to say
about bullying. For example, when recording in King Solomon High School, we interviewed a teacher which
spoke about this topic, allowing us to get their view and repeated a similar approach when such as interviewing a
bully. Due to having different types of people talk about this topic, it will allow us to gain more further and
detailed information which then we would present to the audience to give them other people's views and
opinions which they could relate or be aware of. The purpose of the interviews could also allow people to feel
more emotional and allow to understand maybe why a person acted in a way or how it affected the person. It
could give a view and understanding from someone that had dealt with bullying in some way leading to the
audience to know more about the topic or even relate to the person in the interview. The interviews are also
helpful because for example, we interviewed a parent and maybe a parents that is the audience watching the
video may not what to do if their child was bullied but now because we have interviewed the parent, they have
given their suggestions and advice of what they done in a similar situation and therefore leading to the audience
to be more aware and knowledgeable when may be faced with this issue themselves.
We firmly believed that if we also included re-enactment scenes within the documentary it would make the
audience more intrigued and interested to see what an actually bullying situation would look like and to make
the documentary less tedious instead of just having interviews and writings on the screen presented.
6. Fitness for purpose #5
I believe that the music that we have used throughout the documentary is effective and
valuable as it will allows people to hear music that has been created that is sad and
emotional. Also, I noticed that from watching the other documentaries about bullying, most
of them did not have any music playing in the background which helped us to be different
from the rest as we had included something that other had not.
The music that we chose to play in the background of the video was, Elliott Smith ‘miss
misery’ and Cold ‘jorge mndez sad piano violin instrumental’.
The music tends to have emotional and despairing lyrics which in some way relates to this
topic as its emotional and depressing topic. Also by having some music playing the
background during some scenes, it will give an effect as another type of sound it playing that
will make a scenes more effective for instance if there is a bullying scenes happening, then
sad music will play on the background to emphasise what is happening and relate to each
other.
7. Fitness for purpose #6
We debated together that we should post the documentary onto the platform of
YouTube. The reason for this, is because we noticed that this type of platform has
many followers and allows us to easily and freely upload any videos we want that
we may have created. It will allow people from different areas of the world to view
the video and receive feedback from viewers in the comments below the video.
In conclusion, I believe that my group and I, followed the brief correctly and chose
a topic that would stand out and was not common which we could put our own
perspectives in order to create a unique documentary leading to the audience
being knowledgeable and assured about this topic.
8. Camera work
At the beginning of the documentary, we used the fade-in and fade-out effect to show the several images of
celebrities who were bullied. By using images of celebrities, the audience would be able to see that people
that are well known such as Kate Middleton, Justin Timberlake and other celebrities were bullied too which
the audience can feel relatable to them too and know that anyone can be bullied no matter who they are.
There is a tracking shot which the camera tracks the area which is the outside building of the school to show
the audience of the first prime location due to most of the scenes being recording on the property and
relating to the topic of our documentary from instantly setting the scene for the audience, suggesting that
this is the local school in the community of Redbridge. We also recorded the campus and showed some
school students around the school, but we made sure not to show their identity if we did not get permission
from them, to give the audience a view of what the everyday life as a student in school would look like.
9. Camera work #2
This scene shows a mid-shot of the interviewer which is useful to show to the audience as they can see her
facial expressions and understand what she saying.
Also, we used the figure of behind the victim of bullying as he did not want to show his identity. We
therefore decided just to record the back of him to show the audience a figure of his body and also recorded
the hand movements of the victim which showed his feels and expressions to add action to the scene since
we did not show his face during the interview.
10. Editing
At the start of the documentary, we decided to do a voiceover as we presented images of several celebrities
that were related to bullying. We also had cutaways from one scene to the next.
For example, in the scenes, we decided to use the slow motion effect, the speed was 100 and turned it down
to 50. This effect was sufficient for this scene as it shows a corridor within the school's building and as the
cameraman was walking down the corridor, the slow motion was show the audience a view from the
cameraman as if they would be walking down the corridor too.
From using different types of effects and cutaways, it would make the documentary look less tedious and
add special movements to certain scenes we edited to look in a certain way and showing the audience
changes made from one scene to the next.
11. Editing #2
We decided to include text on some scenes if they
needed extra information to be read by the audience.
For example, the first image shows a scene with school
children spending their free time on the playground, so
we decided to include some writing at the bottom of the
screen that was relatable to the scene occurring. During
this scene, the narrator was stating some facts about
bullying and we decided to include the text that was
short so the audience wouldn't need to spend too much
time reading the text and not watch the scene. The next
scene we used text again to show briefly what the name
of the teacher is so the audience can be aware but we
made sure that the text would be a short amount of
writing and that it would only appear on the screen for a
short amount of time in order to not distract the
audience too much from the actual scene.
12. Editing #3
One improvement that could have been made is to
make sure that when recording a scene with a
person, make sure that there is plenty enough head
room and that the camera was on level with the
tripod to get a steady and accurate recording. As you
can see from this image, the clip is an interviewer of a
head teacher at the school which is answering the
questions about bullying asked by the interviewer
which is a member of the group. Therefore, in the
future the next scenes we record, we would make
sure that the camera would be placed in a position
and angle that would flawlessly capture correctly
enough head space to get an even angle of the
entire view being recorded.
13. Editing #4
Nevertheless, I did still try and edit the error with the
‘Final Cut Pro’ editing app. The second on the right
image shows how I tried to change and improve the
headspace of the teacher by double clicking on the
wanted clip and then a white coloured lines forming an
X appeared on the right clip which would allow me to
move the image around and adjust the size. The image
above was the original size but with the lines on this
image allowed me to zoom up on the mage and
therefore gave me this current image with less
headspace from the previous image. Even though, I
somewhat managed to get rid of some headspace, it
would be more effective in the future to make sure that
there is enough headspace when recording another
scene in order to make the original clip look more
appealing and easier to edit with the rest of the footage.
14. Mise-en-scene
The use of mise-en-scene in the documentary was helpful as it added establishment of a certain scene and could give a
different view for a scene from being viewed in a different colour for example in black and white. We used
mise-en-scene during a bullying scene whilst the victim of bullying is upset and thinks about when he got bullied by
other students. The other scenes that have colour show when the victim is in the thinking process whereas the scenes
in the black and white colour are his memory of when he was being bullied. It is effective to use mise-en-scene
because it creates the mood and changes the atmosphere which the colour represents the scene due to being dull
colours. I also thought that by using this effect, it would make our documentary different from all the others because
when I was watching other bullying documentaries, I noticed that most of the documentaries did not include
mise-en-scene, this gave us an advantage because we used something different and made our documentary stand out
from all the other documentaries. Furthermore, it would get the audience's attention due to the change of colour in
the scene and get them thinking what is happening in the scene because of the changes.
15. Sound
Throughout main parts of the documentary, a narrator spoke about facts and information about bullying
whilst showing other footage. The narrator, as a female, speaks softly and sympathetic which is important as
the topic we chose for the documentary is sensitive and emotional. There is a mixture of diegetic and
non-diegetic sound. Firstly, there is a use of non-diegetic sound due to the voice over of the narrator and the
additional music playing in the background. From using to different types of sound in the documentary it
would give a better view to the video because there is more than one sound playing throughout video,
therefore allowing a quiet song playing in the background during a voiceover.
We chose two songs to play in our documentary, one called ‘miss misery’ by Elliott Smith and Cold ‘jorge
mndez sad piano violin instrumental’. We felt that using these songs was an effective decision because the
songs have a sad meaning to them which we thought would be relatable to some scenes which tend to
show quite upsetting actions and meanings, therefore stressing the importance of the topic.
At the beginning of the video, we use the piano song playing in the background, as non-diegetic sound,
whilst the narrator speaks as a voice over. The use of non-diegetic sound sets the mood and provokes the
emotions of the audience to make them feel sadder because of the low tone of the song. We used the ‘miss
misery’ song to play in the background of a bullying scene because we found that the lyrics in the song was
relatable and effective to use for this scene which has similarities to one another.
