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

2.  For our advanced portfolio we had the brief to create the opening five
minutes of a documentary along side two ancillary tasks - a radio trailer
and a double page spread for a listings magazine- based on a topic of
our choice. We came to the final decision of ‘Body Modification’ after
much debate of other controversial topics we contemplated.

3.  First of all, we looked into Bill Nicholls’ theory of the six documentary modes which consists
of poetic, observational, participatory, reflexive, performative and expository mode. To
apply these modes we watched the documentary by Morgan Spurlock “SuperSize Me”
which I felt was partially part of the performative mode because we essentially become
a part of the narrator’s life and it is incredibly personal as we go through his everyday
struggles. However, as a whole, it was a participatory documentary due to the fact that
Spurlock is an on-screen presenter and that the film maker himself appears in his own
work makes it much more personal. Expository mode is the mode that we can identify
with documentaries that address the viewer directly to advance an argument or recount
history. It is often characterized by a hidden, authoritative omniscient narrator. I felt that
this is the documentary mode which is most relatable to our documentary; this is because
it has a narrative and voiceover which tells the audience very factual information- for
example, our narrator talks about the statistics of the number of people with tattoos. Our
documentary speaks to the audience in a very authoritative manner alongside examples
of discrimination from news articles and other various images, providing both sides of the
argument of discrimination, allowing the audience to make up their own opinions.

4.  There are various conventions which we followed in our own documentary after watching
other documentaries. Whilst constructing the documentary we had to keep in mind the
main conventions of documentaries. For example, the angling and positioning of the
camera when taking interviews had to be adjusted to make sure it followed convention.
 In this thumbnail shows an interview with a student who has been discriminated against
because of his tattoos. We angled the camera to a medium close up shot, the main
focus being slightly offset the center. We also had to make sure that the mise-en-scene
was suitable- in this thumbnail shows in the background a video on YouTube about tattoo
discrimination. We also followed the convention of the person not directly looking at the
camera, but rather past the camera to the interviewer. However with this particularly vox
pop- we challenged conventions, this is because we gave it a very professional look-
almost looking like an expert interview (without the titles), compared to in SuperSize Me,
the shake hand-held camera which gave a particularly unprofessional look.

5.  However, when comparing with a tattoo documentary – ‘Body Shockers –
My Tattoo Hell’ it shows great similarities
Both shots show the person
looking past the camera – at
the interviewer which shows
we followed convention. The
slight offset from the center
shows we followed
conventions once again. We
also used very natural
lighting to promote the
realism of the documentary

6.  In our documentary we included several
establishing shots to prepare the audience for
the next section. We found after research that
this was a common convention and decided
that the professionalism of a simple pan or
extreme long shot to establish a scene would
add to the documentary.

7. After researching conventions we also found a
key aspect of a documentary was statistics.
These are really important as they give the
audience some trust in the information that they
are being told.

8. We also followed conventions in the expert interviews. We had
the camera set up on a tri-pod to maintain a still professional
shot. We had the expert not holding a direct gaze with the
camera. We also had the expert slightly offset the centre with a
title introducing them and their profession in the bottom left hand
corner – all conventions of documentaries we have previously
researched.
Concerning the mise-en-scene, we wanted to reflect
the experts profession as well as the topic they were
discussing. We used such props as the computer screen
displaying images of tattoos and had the interviews
take place in offices and classrooms to represent their
authority and profession. This convention is seen in
SuperSize Me, with the doctor in the patient room talking
about Morgan Spurlocks health.

9. TV Listing Double Page Spread
 Our magazine was created to help promote our documentary. We used a
set house style- the same font we used in the documentary and a
consistent colour scheme of red white and black. These colours were
striking and helped to attract the audiences. After researching other TV
listings we noticed a consistent theme of the neutral colours with one bold
one to highlight main points.
 We also used screen captures from the documentary to give the
audience an insight into the content of the documentary. We used the
image from the title sequence as we found the image very bold and
striking- and we used this as the main image. It’s convention for a double
page spread to have one main large image and this is what we followed.

10. Radio Trailer
 We created a radio trailer to promote our documentary which lasted around 30 seconds
long- which, after research, we found to be the most effective length of time to
persuade the target audience. After researching into existing radio trailers, we learnt as a
group the many existing conventions, such as; quotes taken from the documentary itself
and an enticing informative narrator. The radio trailer consisted of many aspects of the
documentary. For example, we used the same upbeat, enthusiastic soundtrack playing in
the background- as we did in the documentary. The style of music really creates a direct
link with the documentary and sets the tone of the whole radio trailer as being very
youthful- which is what our target audience is essentially. We also used the same narrator
as the voiceover. The narrator used very emotive language, such as “grasping the
attention” which gives a strong implication of how interesting our documentary is. I think
that using the same narrator also sets the tone for the documentary and gives the
audience an insight into the documentary. We also used quotes from the vox pops to get
an enigmatic start to the radio trailer. We did this to attract the attention of the audience
from the beginning-so they would carry on listening.