1. 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
During my research of documentary films I came across information about the
different types of documentary and the different approaches that individual ones
took, whether it was to engage the audience or what modes documentaries
followed.
From the beginning I knew I wanted to take a participatory approach to my
documentary because as director, I also wanted involvement in the
documentary.The participatory mode has been said to be the best way to be
truthful about their involvement in the filmmaking process. As a filmmaker Bill
wanted to ensure that it was his own personal approach and vision to the events
and that his presence in the filmmaking was contributing to what was occurring.
My documentary has a topic on fandom, which is not extremely popular within
documentaries however when researching I was able to find a documentary
called “Crazy about One Direction” which had similarities to my own
documentary in the way it portrays people and their characters. I was incredibly
lucky with my interviewees to find people who were so passionate about their
idols and their fandom, which built strong characters that made the
documentary entertaining and enjoyable.
During the interviews there was no music playing which allowed full
concentration to the interviewee and their opinions, although music was used
during the opening and end of the documentary to engage the audience as well
as to ensure the documentary is interesting. Although I did follow Nick
Broomfield’s documentary style of using a voiceover during shots which I
thought worked well in my documentary.