2. Does our documentary link with
Channel 4?
“The visual identity is the outward expression for Channel 4. It uniquely and
distinctively sets it apart from other channels.”
Channel 4 documentaries usually tend to deal with hard-hitting, intense themes and
important discussions. The increasing awareness of cyber-bullying is loitering our
society, therefore Channel 4 seemed to be the best distributor for our short film.
The logo is the primary element of Channel 4. However, other component parts play n
important role in establishing the Channel 4 visual style.
These elements are:
1. Colour
2. Typography
3. Imagery
4. Tone of Voice
3. Use of Interviews
1. Channel 4 documentary interviews look at peoples memories, they also offer a
personal thought throughout.
2. Interviews change locations throughout the documentary. The audience effect on
this is that the interviews portray their feelings which can emotionally attach an
audience member to the person or event.
1. Our documentary contains personal interviews involving challenging and important
subjects. Using Dave Smith as a subject was linking with Channel 4 branding, due to
Dave discussing about Hannah he opened up about his memories which then leads
the audience to personal thought.
2. We use different locations for the different effect we want on the audience. For our
‘subject X’, the use of background was to ensure she remained anonymous, but also
adding a sense of mystery for the audience. Dave Smith’s interview is in his home, this
is emotional for the audience as it brings about the reality of this case introducing the
devastation.
4. Dialogue
Dialogue within a Channel 4 documentary tends to be
informal, making it ‘easier to watch’.
In our documentary we use a voice over, who discusses
various facts about cyber-bullying.
Also, our voice over gives a short narrative before
introducing our Hannah Smith subject story, voiced by
her father Dave Smith.
5.
6. Audience
The audience aimed at by Channel 4 is usually middle class demonstrated by
the class of participators in the audience and realism of the everyday life
shown by them.
We target Channel 4’s middle class audience through our secondary audience of opinion leaders,
however it is expected to reach them through our review. We should have thought more over the
scheduling of our production, if we were to show it at 8pm on Channel 4 rather than 7pm, it is
more likely parents have control over the TV, impacting the audience as our secondary audience
of opinion leaders become our primary audience.
Our primary audience, teenagers, are more likely to access the documentary through different
lines of distribution. Such as PSHCE lessons educated at school, or YouTube. However, the latter
does reflect the shift from scheduled TV viewing to on demand viewing, which is much more
likely in the younger generation, so the primary audience are likely to interact with it in this way.
Channel 4 documentaries tend to target both genders, to widen the audience, just as we have. We can
spread are message further, and raise awareness by doing this.
7. Right Wing?
It could be perceived we have a right wing stance, which may be out of line
with Channel 4’s remit. Our product is extremely one-sided and does not
leave room for any challenging views.
Channel 4’s remit states: "the public service remit for Channel 4 is the
provision of a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in
particular:
(a) demonstrates innovation, experiment and creativity in the form and
content of programmes;
(b) appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society;
(c) makes a significant contribution to meeting the need for the
licensed public service channels to include programmes of an
educational nature and other programmes of educative value; and
(d) exhibits a distinctive character.“
If our production is too right wing it may lose its variety and diversity,
which is out of line with this remit.
8.
Cinematic
In addition, with our film poster, there is clear lack of Channel 4
branding through the font and layout of the poster. It is more
cinematic than Channel 4 which loses the recognisability of the
branding, however, our justification for this is the idea that we
are hoping for multiple lines of distribution. This is what a
documentary film like Blackfish did, as it received almost
simultaneous cinematic and Free view release on BBC4.
9. We feel our documentary brand links with a
Channel 4 documentary brand through our
hard-hitting important topic and techniques and
choices in our video.
10. We feel our documentary brand links with a
Channel 4 documentary brand through our
hard-hitting important topic and techniques and
choices in our video.
