Media Current Documentaries research.

1. Existing Products
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/college-conspiracy/
Documentary 1: College Conspiracy (Professional)
One documentary already made called ‘College Conspiracy’ explores and presents similar
view points and opinions to our own idea. We realise this documentary is made and based
around American school and colleges, who’s educational system works differently, however
the overall topic is very similar.
Overall the documentary explores many myths surrounding the future for American
student’s post-college/school. One theme it explores is the monetary aspect for example
the stat that students with college degrees will earn nearly £1/$1 million more than high
school graduate’s/ college graduates without a high level degree.
The opening 5 minutes:
The opening is very opinionated. There is a small set of facts presented regarding the
financial issues about students once leaving college/university, however a lot of it is also
very biased and not backed up by facts, simply just the narrator’s opinion. In our
documentary we would like to base a lot of our assertions around real facts and student
experiences.
In terms of the Micro-elements and the use of things such as footage and interviews, t is a
very effective opening. We would like to include a presenter as well as a narrator, this
documentary lacked the use of a presenter but the narrator was very well spoken, clear and
spoke with a good pace, and most importantly spoke relevantly regarding the topic.
Techniques used in College Conspiracy which influenced us:
The one outstanding technique used in college conspiracy which we have been influenced
to use it title sequences/montages. In college conspiracy facts regarding that topic flash up
in many different angles and with different titles, accompanied by a soundtrack and sound
effects. We feel this is more direct and ‘in your face’, really making the audience aware of
the facts and expressing the importance in the information being out across. In terms of it
being technical it’s effective. Titles coming up in sentences, without pictures with no
narrator or explanation is simply boring and less attractive, and as a result the audience
pays less attention to the information being out across.
Another technique used which had influenced us is the use of a narrator. We were unsure
whether to make the presenter have a bigger speaking role than the narrator, until we
watched the college examples and the college conspiracy documentary and realised a

2. narrator throughout the opening guides the audience in the direction of the narrative. It
does this as the narrator will explain the facts and the theories as they pop up on screen,
and introduce the interviews, so that the audience know the general drift of the
documentary and what to expect from the following scene. It’s a fairly obvious technique
used and very common so fits the conventions well.
Another technique is the use of music within the formal interviews. Many of the college
documentary examples have the loud and jolly music playing through the formal interviews,
however college conspiracy changes the style of music as they speak about the negative
aspects of American kids being forced to get the right grades, and overall the mood of the
documentary changes. We want to adopt a similar style, if we have a formal interview with
either a professional, we feel it’s effective to simmer down the music and allow the focus to
mainly be on the speaker, which is even more important if it’s a formal interview as its likely
to be a professional. However, for the vox pops, we do not mind the consistent sound levels
and for the background noise to be more natural.
What the documentary consists of which is not appropriate for our production:
The Documentary on a whole has no on screen presenter, for us this is vital. The topic is
school and college education and we therefore want to adopt a presenter to interview and
explore around the college. We feel it makes the presenter and the facts more trustworthy,
simply because we see somebody physically there. In college conspiracy we hear all the
facts and student opinions, yet we do not go into a variety of schools, or have a presenter
walking round collecting primary information. In my opinion it is therefore less trustworthy,
as the data could be simply internet collected facts, rather than for example an interview
from a school/college.
We also feel the documentary lacks music techniques. Apart from the sombre music used in
the formal interviews which we like, when we are presented with facts we are only given
sound effects. The sound effects are effective as they match with the animations and help
draw attention, it also makes the mood jollier and interesting overall, however there is no
backing sound used to lay the foundations of the documentary. We are thinking of including
the song ‘Another brick in the wall’ by Pink Floyd. People will understand why we have used
this if we do, its relative to the topic and reinforces our message in making the
documentary. Whereas in College Conspiracy the lack of music makes the mood slightly
boring, we receive all the facts but there is no further technique to reinforce the message. It
is not a requirement that the music relates to the message, however it gives the dialogue
and different effects a bed to lie on in a way, and we want to give our documentary this
effect.

3. Documentary 2: SELFIE (Student)
The second documentary I researched was produced by students at the college, it is
therefore a lot less professional than College Conspiracy however the techniques used will
be more relatable for us as a group.
First of all, in terms of music the documentary begins with the song ‘Selfie’ by the chain-
smokers, played underneath a montage of different Selfie’s with a brief introduction from
the narrator. In terms of the music, the song directly relates to the topic, it is completely
relevant and a very upbeat and interesting soundtrack. The target audience for this
documentary would be for around 17-30 year olds, people who commonly take selfies so a
general pop song would have been relevant, however the group have chosen a song that
links directly and as the song is so famous, proves their whole point that the selfie is a huge
part of modern society. We have been influenced by this as we also want directly relating
music. We feel it creates a connection for the audience between the documentaries effect
and the actual message, it also makes the points expressed more trustworthy as a relating
soundtrack acts as a form or reiteration.
The second technique the documentary uses well is interview footage. I was impressed with
the footage from the interview with Hannah Fellows, of course it was a teacher however
there was a little exaggeration and she was labelled as a Phycology expert. Therefore, it was
required that the set-up was professional for example in an office or a place of educational
work. The interview did exactly that, the audio was a good quality and was audible, we saw
Hannah next to a computer with an image of somebody taking a selfie, showing Hannah’s
level of knowledge in the subject (implying she studies relating topics) and overall it was a
very professional interview. We want to achieve this same effect with the set-up and the
mise-en-scene of the scene. We hope to include a computer in the background containing
some relative, in an office/ computer room. Other interviews sometimes use their
soundtrack poorly; they do this by not lowering the volume when the person is speaking.
This interview in this documentary lowers the volume so we can hear the important info
clearly, but allows the track to continue playing underneath so that it does not immediately
cut. We prefer this approach as again it is more neat and professional, and once the
information has finished the volume can increase again to lead into different types of
footage and there is a professional balance in terms of the sound.
However from Selfie, we noticed that some of the editing was poorly produced, and some
of the cut scenes were a little to noticeable. The voice-over would finish his line and on one
occasion, the following sentence which was not related came to quick, and jumped. We aim
to make our editing seamless so that it is not noticeable. This also links in to having a clear
voice-over voice, we aimto make ours slow, clear and understandable. If the editing is not
noticeable and the scenes flow into each other with a clear voiceover, it will be a lot more
aesthetic and more importantly understandable for the audience. After every piece of
footage, we want to allow the audience to take in what has been said, rather than jumping
straight into another piece of footage or facts, which in one scene is what happens in Selfie.

4. Documentary 3: College Indoctrination (Professional)
At this point we were struggling to find any professional documentaries surrounding or
directly linking to our topic, however College Indoctrination has a weak link with our topic in
terms of stress in college and conflict.
What we liked about College indoctrination which has possible influenced us is the use of
stock footage, footage that the documentary taker use from another filmclip or
documentary. We feel this is effective as it gives an outside, ‘real world’ perspective on your
message, the what you are trying to say in making your documentary. For example in
College Indoctrination they discuss the protests in the past of former students against
college itself, and this is backed up with some quite unsettling footage of these protests.
This creates quite an emotional effect, as the footage is clearly real and therefore believable
for the audience. We want to create this same effect weather that be with stock footage or
general facts, we want to allow the audience to feel and realise the stress that students go
through when deciding their next step, in the same way College Indoctrination portrays to
the audience how brutal it was for protesting students in American Colleges.
Another effect used in this documentary which we liked and would like to use is to title
sequencing running over the interviewer/narrator. The documentary actually kicks off with
an interview before any other information is shown and whilst this interviewer is speaking
the title sequence appears over a black screen, however we can still hear the speaking. We
like this effect as it is unique, it allows the audience to be introduced to the documentary
conventionally with title sequences whilst still hearing the important message from the
interviewer. We will be considering using this effect, for me it is very professional and
changes the scenes up, recording a whole interview sometimes If it Is a minute long it can
become laborious, however if when interviewing somebody you cut to a montage of facts,
you are not only reinforcing what they are saying which is most likely on the side of your
argument, but you are changing the style of the documentary, giving you a chance to
produce more effective editing such as fast cut sequences.
This was another documentary that did not include an on-screen presenter, again this is
something we don’t like in the professional ones, we feel it is very important to have them
to lead and guide the audience, take you on their journey and make it more exploratory. For
example, when the voiceover introduces the next interview saying something such as ‘we
decided to interview whoever’ it is effective to show footage of the interviewer walking
towards the location of that person and greeting formally. Without a presenter you cannot
achieve these same effects and we do not want to miss out on this.

5. Documentary 4: ‘the real face of Facebook’ (Student)
We like the technique used at the start of this documentary. The music and title sequence is
introduced however before any narrator speaks we see a series of Vox Pops. Having only
known the title of the documentary, the vox pops allows the audience to guess what the
question is that the interviewees would have been asked, which will be easily guessed due
to the very mainstream topic used. It makes the topic seem as if it is a very large part of
people’s lives, the documentary makers expect us to know what the question being asked is
and we want to create this same effect through different techniques in ours.
Another technique used well in this documentary is the editing, especially compared to
many of the other student productions. It is seamless and unnoticeable, which proves how
well sequenced and edited it was put together. It’s very easy to notice when a cut is placed
at the wrong point or runs over the audio, and at times is can ruin the flow of the whole
documentary. So that this problem does not happen our editor will be analysing every last
second and piece of footage, and the scenes will be filmed so there is a chance to fade in
fade out, rather than cut into the next scenes speaking or audio.
The documentary on a whole is very well sequenced and edited together, and the
montages, title sequences and general information is completely relevant to the topic. It
homes in the message an as it’s a student documentary with a younger target audience it’s
re important to do so. Teenagers in my opinion take more persuading to agree with the
message. This is the reason we aimto make ours very thought provoking. We will use
montages presenting context relating to the topic, the music also as already explained will
directly relate and we overall want to leave the audience really consider the topic, and as
we have chosen education and moving forwards and the stress along with it, there are many
modern ways we can go about that. This is exactly what the Facebook documentary
achieves.
Documentary 5: Festival Fever (Student)
I am using this documentary as a negative example only. Firstly the sound, the documentary
starts straight away with the soundtrack over the voiceover. A voiceover is verbally directing
the whole documentary and follows the action, helping to lead the audience, therefore this
voice should be loud, clear and layed over the music. However in this documentary the
music is as loud if not louder than the voiceover, meaning at times the audience have to rely
on the montages and on screen footage to follow the narrative of the documentary. This is
very unprofessional and not well edited. There will always be sound issues that everybody
experiences when editing, however when you cannot hear the voiceover for a large section
of the opening, the audience have little idea what’s actually going on. It’s important to have
a soundtrack, and a bonus if the song can in any way relate or convey the message of the
documentary, however it must always just be background music, and not the main focus
audibly in the documentary.

6. Documentary 6: University- is it worth it? (Student)
This documentary produced by students is possibly the closets linked to our idea. There are
many positive aspects about this and we will certainly be getting some ideas from this to lay
the foundations of our documentary.
Firstly, the use of stock footage we enjoyed. The documentary is based around the theme of
students going to University and the struggles that can come with it. The documentary
includes footage of past student riots and news clips from the past, some which are fairly
shocking and this is effective. It’s effective as they are using real, trustworthy footage to
further convey their point, and allow the audience to side with what they are saying,
students rioting directly targets the target audience as it can not only be emotionally
effective but some students may also feel very strong about this subject, it’s much better
than including a piece of footage from student news in a high school in America for
example.
Something else which is used well is the use of facts and figures throughout the
documentary. The narrator speaks about the current statistics for going to University or
other options and uses them well. They are spread out and relate to each piece of footage.
For example as we cut to the scene at Aston University, we are given facts regarding student
who move to a University, so not only do we get the facts which is again another element of
trust for the audience, but the footage links in well and is edited so it works seamlessly.
The use of Mise-en-scene is significant also. They managed to film in Aston University both
inside and out, as well as this college and the interviews at both places were set up very
well. At Aston the interview took place in a large common room, this makes it seem
welcoming for the students, linking to the argument that Uni is the place for students,
however in Solihull with the interview with Nick who speaks about some negatives, the
room is bleak and plain, which decreases the appease of continuing in education. It not a
main convention that thee audience will notice however the mise-en-scene must convey a
message and relate to what is being said.
However, we were fairly disappointed with the ending. This could have been completely
down to time however it came to a very abrupt end, the editing cut into the speech a little
and there was no indication as to what is coming next. We would like to possible have our
presenter stating what’s next, with a little 10 second montage of each section of the coming
events, to give the documentary a sense o narrative and structure, also this is a common
convention and is seen in documentaries whether it takes breaks or uses this effect after 10-
15 minutes.