advanced portfolio

1. Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
existing media products?

2. Choosing a documentary
 2017 has been a huge year in regards to politics all over
the world, with the US and UK elections taking place. I
therefore decided I would make a documentary on the
UK election, since this is a very popular topic which a lot
of the British population would have an interest in.
 I also wanted to make my documentary more unique and
specific than just purely politics, so I have therefore
incorporated the media and it’s argued influence of the
result of the election, into my documentary.

3. Choosing a documentary
 After identifying the gap in the market, I
researched similar documentaries, such as
the ‘Stacey Dooley Investigates’ series.
 I decided to adopt codes and conventions
from the series to create a gratifying
product that is suitable for my target
audience.
 Conventions I will use include:
 Cutaways
 A presenter
 Archive footage
 Social observation
 Interviews

4. Documentary Title
 I decided to make the title of my documentary
straightforward and to the point, enabling people to
straight away understand what is about.
 I have named it: ‘Did the media win the election?’
 The use of making it a question creates a type of
interaction between the documentary and audience, as it
makes the audience think of their answer to the question.
They would then be more likely to watch it to see if they
were right or wrong, or if they did not have an answer; to
understand what it is.

5. Use of a presenter
 A common convention is the use of a presenter to directly address the audience and to present a story.
This helps to establish a relationship with the audience
 Stacey Dooley wore informal clothes and addressed the audience in an informal style. I adopted this
convention by addressing the audience in an informal setting: the mise en scene indicates being outdoors,
both in the city and countryside.
 Stacey Dooley can also be argued to be an aspirational figure: she reflects the programme target
demographic, she is well-dressed and enthusiastic, without the traditional well spoken voice. I have copied
this in my own documentary with my presenter.

6. Use of a presenter
 These conventions were adopted in my own product, as
my documentary’s primary audience very broad due to
targeting all voters (18 and over).
 Representing the documentarian as an inspirational figure
is a relatively new convention, but is proved to be
effective
 Presenting reality via documentary was an idea developed
by John Grierson, explaining people on screen
“performing the actions that they would do in their
normal lives”.

7. Shot and cutaway types
Stacey Dooley My documentary
Screensh
ots of
newspap
er front
covers
and
archive
footage
Evidence
of the
presenter
researchin
g the
topic of
the
document
ary

8. Shot and cutaway types
Stacey Dooley My documentary
Evidenc
e of the
presente
r going
on a
journey
Informal
mise en
scene,
putting
the
audience’s
attention
on the
presenter

9. Interviews from experts
 I also adopted a common technique in ‘Stacey Dooley Investigates’ of
conducting interviews with both people interested in the topic she is
investigating, and professionals.
 An expert opinion provides the audience with valid information, giving
the documentary more informative authority.
 I framed many of my interviews (like the one below) with the main
person in the left third of the shot with their name and title in the
bottom left corner. These are common conventions of a documentary.

10. Interviews from the public
 I also conducted interviews with members of the public,
who approved featuring in my documentary, as well as
students who also gave consent to be in the documentary.
 For the audience watching the documentary, it often gives
them satisfaction that it is not only professionals and
famous people involved. Having normal everyday people
interviewed is also a convention from Stacey Dooley
documentaries, and other documentaries as well.

11. Use of sound
 The use of contemporary non-diegetic music challenged
the codes and conventions of other politics
documentaries, however this is seen in Stacey Dooley
documentaries which contains alternative recent music.
 As there is no particular genre in my documentary, such
as alternative sub-cultures or any others which have music
which relates to it, I decided to use generic and ambient
music and instrumentals which would be more likely to be
in a generic documentary.
 My research for sound can be found here.

12. The importance of ancillary
products
 A key convention of presenter led documentaries is a
cross media platform presence across all ancillary
products. Without ancillary products, the target audience
will not be able to engage with the documentary’s
presenter and understand the brand identity, so would
therefore be less likely to consume the products.

13. Ancillary products - poster
 As my documentary will be broadcasted on Channel 4, it is important to consider
the conventions of Channel 4 documentaries with their distinct house style.
 From my research on documentary publicity material, here, it is important to
effectively portray the mood and aesthetic of the documentary, not just the
content.
 A convention of successful documentaries is to create a bold main image and
brand identity, to capture the audience’s attention.
 I have therefore made sure I have included:
 Channel 4 logo
 Main image
 Title of documentary
 Day and time in bold text

14. Ancillary product – TV
listings DPS
 I identified the main conventions which I adopted:
 Eye-catching main image
 Continued brand identity
 Presenter
 Font of text
 Similar aesthetic to poster
 Fact file on the topic of documentary, or what else is available to watch
 I adopted the conventions established in presenter-led documentaries (which I have previously
identified in my research). I have therefore used the main image as my presenter again in order to
demonstrate how participation and involvement of the presenter is pivotal to the documentary.
 My research on TV listings double page spreads can be found here.
 The location of the main image is also near the Houses of Parliament in London, linking to the
topic of the documentary
Didthe media
winthe election?
Page 8
The influence that the mediahaduponour votesandthe
final result of the 2017 electionwill be exploredwith
investigative reporter MollyChapman.
Tune inonWednesdaythe 6thof December. at 9pmto
watchthe one-off documentaryonChannel 4.
Cover Story
NEWDRAMA
T eElection
Wednesday/Channel 4/
9PM
T
herecent 2017
election, which
washeld on
T ursdaythe8th of
June, created ahuge
uproar. T ishad been
theelection where
youngpeopleturned
out to deliver ashock
result, thereforedeny-
ingtheToriestheir
expected result of
amajor
-ity.
In this
docume-
ntary,
Mollywill
bespeak-
ingto
members
of Parlia-
ment from both the
Labour and Conserv-
ativeparties, some
students, and some
London localsin or-
der to understand the
result of theelection
from theperspectives
of manypeople, and
whether theybelieve
that themediamay
haveinf uenced the
f nal result.
Mollywill beinvesti-
gatingthisquestion
acrossareasof Lon-
don, theheart of UK
politics, aswell asar-
easin Essex. T isen-
ablespointsof views
to beestablished from
afewplacesover the
country, so you
open to viewsfrom
peopleother than
thosefrom Lon-
don. Byspeakingto
studentsand locals,
you will also seethe
pointsof viewsfrom
peopleother than the
politicianswho are
featured in thedocu-
mentary.
T isdocumentaryisa
hugestartingpoint
“the realisa-
tionof just
howmuchthe
mediacan
influence peo-
ple’sopinions”
into therealisation
of just howmuch
themedia, and in
thisparticular social
media, can inf uence
peoplesopinionson
hugetopics, such as
theelection.
“mediacanin-
fluence pople’s
opinions”
Howver, sonedo
not agreewith the
social mediahyde,
manycommentators
lamented thepaucity
of serious, informed
political comment on
Twitter. In February
2015, Saatchi and
Saatchi’schief strategy
of cer insisted that
thepolitical impact
of social mediawas
“massivelyoverrated”,
accordingto Halarose
News. T eyalso stated
that YouGov’sfound-
er, Stephan Shake-
speare, sneered that
social mediastrategies
wereinadequateand
that “paritesareusing
social mediato deliver
leaf ets”. So, it isevi-
dent that somewould
arguesocial mediadid
not impact theresult
of theUK election.
Watch Molly’sinves-
tigation asto whether
themediainf uenced
therecent 2017elec-
tion.
You can also have
your own sayon the
topicwhilewatching
thedocumentary
bytweeting#Me-
diaAndT eElection
and let usknowif
your viewschanged.
FACT
FILEALLTHEFACTSYOU
NEEDTOKNOWABOUT
THEELECTION
@C4election
@C4UKelection
@C4_election
-Morethan 32million
votesout of apossible
46.9million people
-1in 318-34year olds
changed their voteto
another party, 47%
reconsidered their
views, and afurther
20%wereundecided
(Dueto Twitter and
social mediainf u-
ence)
-Amongst f rst time
voters(thoseaged 18
and 19), Labour was
fortyseven percentage
pointsahead
-Amongst thoseaged
over 70, theConserva-
tiveshad alead of f f y
percentagepoints
-30%of candidatesin
the2017election were
women, up from 26%
in 2015
-Morethan 100con-
stituteshaveno female
candidates
TV Times

15. Didthe media
winthe election?
Page 8
The influence that the mediahaduponour votesandthe
final result of the 2017 electionwill be exploredwith
investigative reporter MollyChapman.
Tune inonWednesdaythe 6thof December. at 9pmto
watchthe one-off documentaryonChannel 4.
Cover Story
NEWDRAMA
T eElection
Wednesday/Channel 4/
9PM
T
herecent 2017
election, which
washeld on
T ursdaythe8th of
June, created ahuge
uproar. T ishad been
theelection where
youngpeopleturned
out to deliver ashock
result, thereforedeny-
ingtheToriestheir
expected result of
amajor
-ity.
In this
docume-
ntary,
Mollywill
bespeak-
ingto
members
of Parlia-
ment from both the
Labour and Conserv-
ativeparties, some
students, and some
London localsin or-
der to understand the
result of theelection
from theperspectives
of manypeople, and
whether theybelieve
that themediamay
haveinf uenced the
f nal result.
Mollywill beinvesti-
gatingthisquestion
acrossareasof Lon-
don, theheart of UK
politics, aswell asar-
easin Essex. T isen-
ablespointsof views
to beestablished from
afewplacesover the
country, so you
open to viewsfrom
peopleother than
thosefrom Lon-
don. Byspeakingto
studentsand locals,
you will also seethe
pointsof viewsfrom
peopleother than the
politicianswho are
featured in thedocu-
mentary.
T isdocumentaryisa
hugestartingpoint
“the realisa-
tionof just
howmuchthe
mediacan
influence peo-
ple’sopinions”
into therealisation
of just howmuch
themedia, and in
thisparticular social
media, can inf uence
peoplesopinionson
hugetopics, such as
theelection.
“mediacanin-
fluence pople’s
opinions”
Howver, sonedo
not agreewith the
social mediahyde,
manycommentators
lamented thepaucity
of serious, informed
political comment on
Twitter. In February
2015, Saatchi and
Saatchi’schief strategy
of cer insisted that
thepolitical impact
of social mediawas
“massivelyoverrated”,
accordingto Halarose
News. T eyalso stated
that YouGov’sfound-
er, Stephan Shake-
speare, sneered that
social mediastrategies
wereinadequateand
that “paritesareusing
social mediato deliver
leaf ets”. So, it isevi-
dent that somewould
arguesocial mediadid
not impact theresult
of theUK election.
Watch Molly’sinves-
tigation asto whether
themediainf uenced
therecent 2017elec-
tion.
You can also have
your own sayon the
topicwhilewatching
thedocumentary
bytweeting#Me-
diaAndT eElection
and let usknowif
your viewschanged.
FACT
FILEALLTHEFACTSYOU
NEEDTOKNOWABOUT
THEELECTION
@C4election
@C4UKelection
@C4_election
-Morethan 32million
votesout of apossible
46.9million people
-1in 318-34year olds
changed their voteto
another party, 47%
reconsidered their
views, and afurther
20%wereundecided
(Dueto Twitter and
social mediainf u-
ence)
-Amongst f rst time
voters(thoseaged 18
and 19), Labour was
fortyseven percentage
pointsahead
-Amongst thoseaged
over 70, theConserva-
tiveshad alead of f f y
percentagepoints
-30%of candidatesin
the2017election were
women, up from 26%
in 2015
-Morethan 100con-
stituteshaveno female
candidates
TV Times

16. In Conclusion
 The Documentary:
 As conventions of making a documentary are so broad, ‘Did the media win
the election?’ has adopted codes and conventions from the ‘Stacey Dooley
Investigates’ series. These were selected to entice and gratify my target
demographic in the most effective way possible. I also developed existing
documentary conventions, for example by using more instrumental music.
 Ancillary products:
 Their primary purpose is to promote the main product, and by using adopted
conventions from other Channel 4 documentaries and their ancillary
products, my products can effectively promote my documentary to my target
audience. By using the presenter it also conveyed the documentary to be
interesting due to the investigative and charismatic personality.