Evaluation Number 1

1. 1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Nicole Acquah

2. Documentary genres and their conventions
Expository Reflexive
• Voice-over • Audience are made aware of
• Archival footage/images the filming/editing, etc.
• Interviews • Reconstructions, not the actual
• Speak directly to viewer ‘truth’
• Brechtian qualities
Participatory
• Archival material
• Interaction between subject Performative
and auteur. • The filmmaker is also a
• Filmmaker actively involved participant
• “…often link up personal
Observational accounts or experiences with
• No interviews or voice-over larger political or historical
• Long takes realities.”
• ‘Natural’  simply observe • Often emotional
with limited intervention
• Audience cannot see the
documentary maker Through my research I can deduce that my documentary ‘Sea of
Change’ is a fusion between Expository and Participatory, as I use
elements from each genre.

3. F
I Using forms and conventions
L
M• This link will take you to my initial research into existing documentaries in a similar
genre to mine. The research allowed me to observe and identify which forms and
conventions I would aim to use in ‘Sea of Change.’
• Similar to ‘Small Town USA’ I used:
• Voice-over
• Archival footage/images
• A time-lapse
• Interviews with experts/local people
Similar to the documentary about Cornwall, I utilised the following conventions:
• Voice-over
• Several interviews
• Introductory shots followed by the main title

4. F
I Developing forms and conventions
L
M• Manyvoice-over. either focus largely on the filmmaker-viewer relationship, or entirely
use a
documentaries
• However, I was really attracted to the idea of utilising both, and so use direct speech at the
beginning and end of my documentary, and voice-over for the main body.
• My focus group gave very positive feedback and thought that starting and finishing my
documentary as I did was highly successful. In this way I developed the traditional
forms/conventions to give my documentary a more unique standpoint.

5. F
I Challenging Forms and Conventions
L
I feel my documentary mainly used and developed existing forms/conventions of the documentary, rather than
M challenged them.
However, my use of music was very different to any of the documentaries of the same genre that I researched.
Many documentaries with a historical focus use historical music and/or soundscapes.
However, my documentary has a focus on how the past develops into the future, and so I used a wide variety of
music, such as:
• Piano Sonata no. 11 in A, K. 331, Mov. 3 (Mozart)
• Little Red Rooster (Rolling Stones)
• I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside (Arr. Adam Ramet)
• Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol)
• In Da Club (50 Cent)
• Party Rock Anthem (LMFAO)
Music is usually used to reflect the tone/mood of a documentary, but most documentaries do not use such a
wide collection of music, especially in a short space of time. However, I felt that using different genres of music
from different times would not only appeal to a wider audience, but really reflect the theme of my documentary.
Despite this, I made my focus group fill out a questionnaire and 100% reported that they felt the music was
well-chosen and not confusing or overwhelming.

6. P
O Forms and Conventions of a Poster
S • A large title to attract attention
T
• Age certificate
E
R • The ‘triangle of interest.’
• An indication of the release date (i.e. coming soon, out February 22nd, in cinemas now…)
• The headlining actors/filmmaker/production companies/credits.
• Critical acclaim
• Use of colours to suggest genre/themes
• A tagline

7. P Quote/recommendation
O
Existing
S
Tagline
Posters
T Unidentified main
character creates
E intrigue.
Quote directly relating
R List of
to the film
production
companies
A quote directly relating
to the film
Two contrasting images
Tagline
Quote from an
expert
Font reflects the
List of production Two separate location and
companies images/themes background

8. P
O Using forms/conventions
S Quote about the film, from an
established director,
encouraging target audience
T Attention to view it.
E immediately person’
to the ‘main
drawn
R Creates intrigue.
Bold title
A tagline
Utilising the
triangle of
The sea as the
interest
background,
clearly linking in
Iconic colours.
I.e. Blue = the sea/location
with the
Black & White = common for historical title/theme of
List of major production documentaries. film.
companies.

9. P
O Developing/Challenging Forms & Conventions
S
T I purposely went for a much more sparse
look with my documentary poster. My
premise for my film is very simple – a
E look at the past & a look at the present.
Therefore, although I decided to present
different time zones through colour, I
R kept my poster very uncluttered. I feel
this slightly more minimalistic approach
is effective. It will stand out to viewers
and create more intrigue because it is
quite unconventional.
Also, many posters will have the film title
capitalised and in bold, WHITE letters to
attract attention.
I still wanted a clear, eye-catching title,
and so developed on the convention by
having a bold, red , but sans-serif font.
The effect of my typography is that is
now symbolises the waves of the ‘sea’
matching not only the title but the
background.

10. R
E
Codes and Conventions of Film
V Reviews
I • Primary Image
E • Secondary image
W• Star rating
• Recommendation
P
• Article/main review (in columns)
A
G • Important information; plot overview, certificate, etc.
E

11. R
E Existing Film Reviews
V
I In my research I had a look at an actual copy of Sight & Sound. In addition,
click this link to see some extra research I did into Empire/Sight & Sound
E
W
As I discovered from my
research, Sight & Sound
P tend to use few
pictures, columns of
A review and synopsis,
alongside a detailed
E outline of the synopsis
G and production listings
E

12. R
E Level 4
V
I • In addition to Sight & Sound, I
found a magazine that
E circulates in just the Southend
W area. They are dedicated to
promoting ‘arts and
entertainment’ and have
featured film reviews and
P interviews with film directors. I
A believe that they would be
ideal for publishing a review on
G my film about Southend.
E • Click the link to see Level 4’s
website and previous editions.

13. R
E Using forms and conventions
V Bold title at the One main picture to
I top represent the film
E Five-star rating
W Production ‘In Cinemas Now’
listings alert
P
A Single page, not double-page Columns of text (as
review (as commonly found
G in Sight & Sound)
opposed to one large
chunk of text)
E
Banner to frame the
review Magazine name and edition along
the bottom

14. R
E
Developing/Challenging Forms and
V Despite the review pages in Sight &Conventions
I Sound would rather sparse, II felt
that it
being
be effective if made
E my reviewand eye-catching.
colourful
page much more
Whaving one instantly identifiable of
Therefore I developed the idea
photo, and added two more
photos to reflect the film. I felt this
P would help an audience get a
much better sense of what the film
A is about, and attract them to the
review.
G My review page
I also used a banner to Sight & Sound
E border my page. However, I also added some other reviews, to give the
within this banner I added reader a flavour of the rest of the magazine.
the text – ‘Out now! New The heading ‘What YOU thought’ will also
releases!’ in a bold yellow help the readers have a personal
font. engagement with the magazine.