2. To make sure that we applied and used different codes and conventions of
documentaries lots of research had to be carried out. For this research I
began by watching different types of documentary, for example: fly on
the wall and reality and took notes, looking for things that they had in
common. I also watched documentaries that had been produced in the
past, some professionally made and some that where made by other A-
level students. We also looked and theories that had been put together
by different theorists so we could apply these theories later on in the
hope that we would achieve a better final product. After some research
we decided to research Todorov’s theory of equilibrium as it seemed to
be the most applicable.

3. IMAGES OF RESEARCH THAT WAS CARRIED OUT
Here we have an image
of the research that I
carried out for different
Narrative Theories,
including Todorov’s
theory of equilibrium.
Here is an image of the research that
was carried for different
documentaries (amateur and
professional)

4. HOW WE COMPLIED WITH TODOROV’S THEORY
OF EQUILIBRIUM
Todorov’s theory of equilibrium states that any story should contain a beginning a
middle and an end. When beginning the production stage of our documentary we
tried to make sure that we followed this format as it would result in a better end
product. Despite having a five minute time limit we made sure that it contained these
three parts. Below are how we encompassed the start, beginning and end sequence
into our documentary.
Beginning: At the beginning of my documentary we opened with multiple shots of the
town of Ryde and delivered a summery of what was to come.
Middle: The middle sequence was an important part of our documentary as this offered
a real basis for our documentary. In this part we explored and questioned members
of my target audience, getting their opinions and reactions to my questions.
End: The end concluded our documentary with shots of the isle of Wight festival, which
I narrate over and ask the audience a direct rhetorical question.

5. FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
PRESENTER
Over this process we looked at many different documentaries, a lot of them had
presenters and a lot of them didn’t. Where we decided that our documentary would
be a channel 4 documentary we looked at them in depth, and we found that
commonly channel 4 documentaries do not have presenters . This is something that
we chose to challenge and develop. We felt for our documentary to come across as
interesting we needed someone to guide the audience through this documentary and
typically that person had to be a presenter. I, myself ended up presenting the
documentary, this was good as I come from the island and I am with in our target
audience age group. When I presenting it was almost like I was sticking up for it
and telling people that there is more to do than meets the eye and it isn’t ‘boring’ like
some people suggest, and there is things for they younger generation to do.

6. IMAGES OF ME PRESENTING
Here we have a presentation period
where I talk about what there is to do
in Ryde, a popular destination on the
island
Here I appear again, but here I am
discussing Newport, another popular
destination on the island.

7. RESEARCH INTO PRESENTING
If I was to do a professional job when presenting our documentary we had
to make sure we researched different documentaries where a presenter
is used. In the end we took great inspiration from Alan Whicker who
presented his own show, ‘Whicker’s World’ which ran from 1958- 1994.
I also looked at more modern shows to see how modern day presenters
go about informing their audience. For this I looked and Sir Trevor
McDonald who had recently presented a documentary about death row.

8. NARRATION
Despite channel 4 documentaries not usually having presenters we found
that every documentary that channel 4 have produced contained
Narration in one form or another. This would direct the documentary
and would also be there to inform the audience. We also chose to use
narration as it developed the convention of a real media product, which
we felt was important. When scripting the narration we looked at how
narration was used on other documentaries and after watching a few,
for example: Educating Yorkshire and Body shock (both channel 4
documentaries) , we realised the narrator was ultimately there to direct
and inform the audience, so we had to do the same.

9. INTERVIEWS.
During our documentary we also used a range of interviews. By doing this
it enabled us to develop forms and conventions of a real media product.
By using narration it also enabled us to follow the forms and
conventions of a mixed documentary. Over the course of our
documentary we interviewed four members of our target audience. Two
of them offered negative opinions of the island and the other two
offered positive views of the island. This enabled us to justify one side
of these opinions, and of course we chose to look at the positive side. We
where inspired to use interviews when we watched channel 4’s
Educating Essex and Educating Yorkshire. Below are the images of our
interviewees.

10. CAMERA SHOTS
Over the course of the documentary we tried to develop a range of
camera angles and shots . We did this to bring life to the
documentary and to make it more exciting for our audience. we
also tried to capture a range of camera angles and shots because
when we researched different documentaries it was evident that
multiple camera shots and angles where always used. By using
this the destinations that we filmed have really benefited. We
captured many shots including: long shots, establishing shots,
close ups and tilt shots. This has allowed us to develop the forms
and conventions of real media products and connote a sense of
real professionalism.

11. DIFFERENT CAMERA ANGLE SHOTS

12. MUSIC
Once we had established that our documentary was a ‘mixed’ documentary we looked and
researched other similar products. We tried to recognise all of the conventions that
were included. One factor that really stood out was the use of music . We felt the use of
music was really important, it could really add effect to our documentary and could
give it a new lease of life. Throughout our documentary different diegetic music can be
heard accompanying my narration. One song that we felt that we had to use was Derek
Sandy’s ,’Welcome to the Isle Of Wight’, as it really said the message that we tried to
get across in our documentary. Below are the tracks that we used in our documentary.
‘Sweet home Alabama’
Lynard Skynard
‘Welcome to the isle of Wight’
Derek Sandy
‘Start me up’
Rolling Stones
‘Seven seas of Rhye’
Queen
‘Get Lucky’
Daft punk

13. ANCILLARY TASKS

14. NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT

15. TV LISTING DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD