media

1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?
By Jack O’Regan

2. • In My group we decided that our documentary would
have similar aspects to other documentaries to be able
to target our audience in a professional media way. In
order to meet our target we had to watch other
documentaries with a similar genre as ours to gather
ideas in how to approach our focused audience. For
instance we watched ‘Catfish’ to focus on their filming
techniques and how they present in the documentary to
give the audience what they want. We followed the
conventions of what they use in the documentary so
that ours would be professional, recognisable and
acceptable. But we still wants to challenge the forms
and conventions in order to have a strong message
telling the story and the views points of people In the
community of Coventry. Having this in our documentary
would make it more recognizable, unique and establish

3. Documentary Genre
We looked at a variety of different genres of
documentaries through research and watching them to see
what one would fit out ideas and our target audience. We
went through different genres and analysed them to see
which one would give us what we need to pursue our
purpose . We looked at the conventions of what different
documentaries use and how they develop to produce it as
a final piece.
Catfish uses
different forms of conventions to film.
Hand held

4. Why we did and not follow in
Catfish’s conventions
• In Catfish they use a lot of different Skype and video
calls to talk to the person they will be following the
programs documentary on. We did decide not to use
this as we did not need to video call anyone as we
can interview people in the city of Coventry and gather
information our selves through primary and secondary
research.

5. • In the documentary we noticed that the two presenters
film them selves and talk about the subject they are
following to give the viewer information on who they are
following and what their story is on why they want to
help the person investigate their catfish. . We wanted
and did use this convention of filming our selves
through hand held and putting the camera on a tripod
so that the camera does not move. We also used the
tripod for different interviews so that the camera can
focus on what we are filming.

6. • They use images on the scene while talking and while
interviewing. This is so that what ever the interviewee is
talking about or the information we give out to the
viewer when filming our selves, they know what we are
talking about through visual image or video. We wanted
and did use this so the viewer got an insite into what
we are talking about and filming. Also as our
documentary is on the blitz's in the 1940s, we would
need to prove and provide images of what happened.

7. • In Catfish a lot of transition filming is used to show the
viewer where they documenters are at ( their
destination). We wanted to use this including B-rolls to
provide a more professional edit to the viewer. We used
our own conventions when filming this though to give
our own recognition to the viewers.

8. Our Documentary
• In our documentary we wanted to enhance our filming
by making the cathedral and other destinations fully
visual. We done this by editing on IMovie and making
the clips more clear and different areas of the video
that needed to be brighter as well as stand out. We
used different

9. In this video clip I tested
different conventions on how
to introduce the interviewee
to the viewer. I done this
by testing different angles
and moving the camera in
different positions to see
which one would fit in
would what we are trying
to pursue to the viewer.
In this interview we
check how to pursue an
interview and how we
would ask the questions.
We looked at how the
interview would flow and
how long a response
time would be. We also
wanted to see how the
interviewee would react
to the questions and
In this interview I wanted
to check how to film an
interview and how to
focus on the one talking
in the clip. I done this
by moving the camera
horizontally across to the
person talking .

10. • In our documentary we would need to use old pictures
and video clips that have been legally given to us to
use. This is to show the viewer on what the Blitz's did
and the after mass of the bombing. We also would
need to use images of what Coventry looked like and
how the bombing has shaped the city.

11. What challenged forms and
conventions?
• In our documentary we didn’t dominate the whole piece in
one video clip of a long speech or even long pieces of
video clips. We used different ways of explaining the
information and using videos and images of the Blitz’s to
explain how and what did happen. We also used some
information form web pages to prove information to the
audience what we are talking about is true and that we have
covered all the information. The research concluded that we
have to use different ways on presenting the information to
the audience and to pursue on proven information to the
audience. We also needed to have other opinions and other
information known by other people so that the viewer is not
stuck with one person through out the documentary. We use
different conventions on how to provide the viewer with the
information they need.