Friday, 28 April 2017
Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Pitch Video
https://youtu.be/UzIwHVMNxHQ
The feedback we got from our teacher was that the information we had in our presentation was good and covered all the topics we needed to about the different documentary constraints.
The feedback we got from our teacher was that the information we had in our presentation was good and covered all the topics we needed to about the different documentary constraints.
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
Documentary feedback
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1-jPiPTccLJWFB3dHkxenA2VEE
We showed out documentary to the class, most of the responses were positive the editing of the documentary was one of the highlights. Another of the highlights was the host who they felt was funny and really brought the documentary to life. They were some aspects of the documentary in which they thought we could of improved such as, the variety of locations, more/different interviewees.
Monday, 24 April 2017
Codes and Conventions
Documentary - George III the Genius
of the Mad King
George III the Genius of the Mad King is a
documentary produced by the BBC and explores newly published personal letters
from George III. The purpose of this documentary is to allow a greater
understanding of the monarch and to get rid of the misconceptions of what type
of person he is and what his reign was like. The format of the
documentary is expository as it has a voice of God narrator who speaks directly
to the audience without appearing in the documentary. Throughout the
documentary experts would come in and explain in detail about whatever the
narrator said. Also as the letters and photos are shown on screen the
narrator’s talks over what the footage is about.
The
documentary also has elements which make it a dramatizations as the letters
sent between George III are read by actors there is also re-enactments of
events which have taken place. Another convention of this type of documentary
is having expert opinion throughout the documentary an example of this in the
George III the Genius of the mad king where you have historians who provide
additional information. Another conventions of this type of documentary is
having text appearing on-screen, an example of this from this documentary is
when professor Andrew Lambert appears in the documentary appear his name as
well as which university he works out this was done to tell the audience who
the expert was.
George III of the Genius of the Mad
King features another convention from this type of documentary which is
re-enactments. The purpose of this to make the programme more engaging and more
interesting for the audience to watch. Also it also gives a visual
representation of what is being said to the viewers by the narrator. By having
re-enactments it also makes it a dramatization which is when events are
recreated using actors. This documentary falls under realism as it based on a
real life events.
News - BBC news at 10
The BBC news at ten is an evening
news programme which is shown on BBC One and is a roundup of all the day’s
events. It normally consists of political, finance, sports, and weather as well
as court news. One convention of a news programme is a news reader, the
role of the newsreader is to inform the viewers of the different stories. They
normally present in a news studio however in some instances they present from a
different location. An example of this is the 2015 General election where the
BBC news at ten broadcast took place at the Houses of Parliament.
The role of the newsreader is to
carry out research and select stories which would interest the viewers. They
also conduct interviews whether in studio or on location, they also have the
role of aiding the production team with the script. The newsreader must be able
to communicate effectively, speaking in a formal manner and clearly so that the
viewers are able to understand what is being said. The newsreader would also
have to be fully aware of the legal and ethical issues which face a journalist
as well as having editorial knowledge. Another convention of a newsreader is
making sure they are presented formally, an example of this comes from the BBC
news at ten where the newsreader wore a suit with his hair done immaculately as
well as being clean shaven. This is important as the appearance of the
newsreader connotes an image of professionalism to the viewer and makes it more
trustworthy.
A common convention of news
programme is having a field reporter who is at the scene of the news story. The
role of the field reporter is to inform the audience of what is happening at
the scene, the reporter may have a pre-recorded clips as well as
live reporting. The field reporter usually takes part in the interview with the
newsreader where the field reporter tells the newsreader information from the
ground. The field reporter may also interview someone who is on the ground to a
gain a perspective on the events. An example of this from the BBC news at ten
was from a reporter who was in Washington to report on the inauguration of
Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States of America. During the
transmission they were highlights of the events as well as pre-recorded
interviews with members of the public who expressed their opinions. After that
aired the anchor had an interview with the field reporter.
Normally the structure of the report
piece to the camera, cut away, voice over, interview, voice of the people and
graphics. The news report from BBC news at 10 started off with highlights of
debates from British parliament, it then cut away to a graphic which displayed
the amount of refugees which Europeans have taken in since the conflict began.
It then cut to an interview with an MP with the newsreader, this is
conventional of a news programme as interviews take place with experts. This
news segment also included an actual footage from the conflict in Syria this
allows the viewer to see what is really happening. This is another convention
of a news broadcast.
Documentary - Reggie Yates extreme
South Africa
Reggie Yates extreme South Africa
follows the presenter Reggie Yates as he explores the contrast of living in
South Africa compared to the UK. The purpose of the documentary is to inform
the audience about the living standards of South Africa and different their
society is. This an interactive documentary as the presenter acknowledges the
camera as well as the film crew and the documentary features a lot of
monologues as well as dialogues.
In the documentary Reggie Yates
conducts interviews with people from the documentary e.g. he talks to the
pastor about whether he is taking advantage of his congregation by prosperity
preaching. After the interview Reggie Yates gave his own opinion of what he
thought of the interview. This is conventional of the style of documentary as
this type of documentary is heavily reliant on interviews.
Another convention of this type of
documentary is presenting a balanced argument so that the audience can decide
which side of the fence they fall on. An example of this a when Reggie Yates
interviewed one member of the congregation who believed in the Pastors methods
and another person who felt that the pastor was conning the audience of the
money.
This documentary is a
narrativization as the host Reggie Yates narrates over archived footage which
is another component of an interactive documentary. Yates does this as he moves
to different locations and informing the audience of what he is doing or what
he is about to do. Yates also directly addresses the audience, throughout the
documentary Yates provides opinions alongside the facts and is the centrepiece
of the documentary. This makes the documentary makes it more engaging for the
audience as it allows them to form their own opinion.
The documentary also features a lot
of monologues, an example of this is Yates at the end of filming discussing whether
the Pastor was having positive effects on his congregation and whether he is
right in his methods. The structure of the documentary follows Reggie Yates as
he arrives to South Africa and follows his entire journey to Africa. The
documentary structure provides both sides of the argument before leaving the
ending ambiguous for the audience to decide.
Jermaine Jenas War with Knives
Jermaine Jenas with knives follows former professional
footballer Jermaine Jenas as he investigates the rise in knife crime in his
native Nottingham. It is an interactive documentary as it follows the filmmaker
who directly addresses the audience. It also views the argument from different viewpoints.
An example of this is when he meets a gang member who carries a knife, while
also meeting a policeman and a family who are victims of knife. This is
important as it would allow the audience to see different perspective on the
impact of knife crime. Another one of the conventions from an interactive documentary
is featuring monologues this takes place in the documentary whenever Jermaine
finishes interviewing someone he has a monologue to summaries his opinions what
had been said.
Another convention from this type of documentary is having a
clear narrative, in the documentary we follow Jermaine from when he arrives to
Nottingham and finish when he leaves. The documentary is a narrativisation as there
is a clear narrative as we follow one certain gang member who Jermaine is
trying to reach out to so that he can change his life for the better. Realism
is representing something which is true to life. The people who have appeared in the documentary
are shown how they would be like in real life. An example of this is one of the
kids brings a knife to the interview with Jermaine, this is realism as it would
be something they would do in their actual life.
Another convention the documentary follows is an interaction
with crew, in the documentary Jermaine talks to the crew when he is concerned
for the safety of one of the gang members featured in the documentary. The
documentary also leaves an open ending for the viewers at home to decide
whether they will be a change in the amount of knife crime which would take
place. It is also edited to show how he spent his week in his area which also
makes it narrative. This is important as it allows the viewers to see a
structure of the show.
Task 1a
Educating Yorkshire was a British docusoap focused around a school in Yorkshire. The cameras were set up all around the school to capture the daily events which happen at a secondary school. The documentary was an observational documentary because it captured everything which happened around the school and turned it into an episode with a narrative. Throughout the documentary the producers had to take in ethical issues and legal issues. Accuracy is when information is factually correct. Throughout the documentary the producers made sure the information in the documentary was factually correct. An example from the programme is when the head teacher Mr Mitchell says that the school was in the top five worst schools in the area. This information was accurate as it was obtained from an external source which was Ofsted with statistics to back it up.
The BBC news at 10 is a factual news programme produced by the BBC, one of the ethical issues is accuracy this is very important for a news programme as the purpose is to inform. The producers of the programme would have to fact check any facts which would appear in the programme. It is important for news programme to report the truth as if they were to report something untrue it could lead to the audience becoming less trustworthy of anything else the programme reports. An example from the broadcast is the story about the BT accounting scandal where BT hid losses of £145 million the statistic came from BT itself which is a reliable source. When the BBC report breaking news it makes sure it collates all the correct information as when there is breaking news there are a lot of inaccurate information floating about. The BBC also need to be able verify a source when they are reporting about a topic as if they report anything wrong it could lead to them being sued by the person involved for slander.
Privacy is a human right for any human being, if a producer wants to include someone in his programme they need to have contracts giving them permission. An example from BBC news is the leaked dossier claiming Donald Trump had ties to Russia, at the time the source wanted to be protected so his name was not revealed. His name was later revealed but if the BBC were to release his name beforehand it would have been a breach of his privacy.
When filming ‘Educating Yorkshire’ there were numerous legal issues that the production team had to face. Access is when a person is given permission to film an individual or location. The producers of ‘Educating Yorkshire’ gained access to filming the school as well as the member of the staff and the pupils at the school. They provided consent forms and whoever signed them were featured in the programme, if the consent forms were not signed and people in the programme were featured it would have been a breach of their privacy. Also any of the students who were under the age of 18 would have the consent forms signed by their parents. In the programme there were 64 cameras placed around the school, Mr Mitchell made sure certain areas of the school weren’t filmed such as the staff room because some of the staff felt it was an invasion of their privacy.
Representation is how people, places, objects and events are shown. In ‘Educating Yorkshire’ the producers tried to represent the teachers and students fairly throughout the episodes. In one episode Kamren a student at the school is presented as a bad pupil, one issue the producers faced was making sure they didn’t edit the programme to make Kamren look worse than he actually did. This could make the programme subjective as the viewpoint is based on personal feeling opinions. If the producers did not show the other side it would be unbalanced, balance is showing both sides of the story without favouring one. An example of balance comes from BBC news at 10 when they showed people who agreed with Donald Trump’s policies and people who disagreed.
Impartiality is showing two sides of an argument without giving your own opinion on it. BBC news at 10 is also impartial as the anchor never expresses his opinion and remains neutral throughout the broadcast. In ‘Educating Yorkshire’ there is an alleged racial slur said to a student, both students side of the stories are shown but it is left to the viewers to decide which story they believe. This is impartial as it does not lead the viewers to side with one part of the story. On BBC news they was a debate on whether they should allow MP’s to vote on Brexit or not. This was impartial as the anchor never said anything to sway the viewers to agree with one side.
Objectivity is evaluating something without allowing your feeling and emotions to get involved. In the BBC news at 10 when talking about the US general election, the anchor never expressed his views on the candidates. This links to bias as the anchor doesn't favour one side more than the other. Bias is favouring one side more than another. In Educating Yorkshire it could be argued that it is not objective as it does not give fare reflection of each students. An example of this is with the student Kamran who is shown to be badly behaved child and not shown any good moments where he is well behaved. Which may make the episode bias.
The contract with a viewer is promising the viewer that everything described will take place in the show. Educating Yorkshire maintains this by showing all the content such as the all that happens in they day to day happening in a Yorkshire school. While the BBC news at 10 informs the viewers of what has happened in the news.
Friday, 14 April 2017
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