Planning

Opening titles storyboard

Mise en scene for interviews storyboard

Running Order

Running Order: " Documentary: What’s the obsession with... Denim? Channel: Channel 4 Sch..."

Planning- Charity shop interview questions

1. Who do you think wears denim more, men or women?
2. Do alot of denim items come into the shop?
3. How easy is it for denim items to sell, as trends change, and why?
4. What happens to any denim that you are unable to sell?
5. Is denim comfy and practical for your job and why?
6. What is the most expensive denim item that has come into the shop?
7. What styles/types of denim have you seen in the shop?
8. What is the craziest/weirdest denim item that you have ever sold?
9. What would you say to people who pay over the odds for denim?
10. What is the best thing about denim?
11. What is the worst thing about denim?

Planning- Interview questions

Designer-

1. What do you think is the best thing about denim?
2. Are there any movements/eras in fashion that have influenced your work or designs?
3. Do you have any celebrity style icons or anyone that you would love to design for?
4. What is your favourite use for denim?
5. Do you think that it is a practical material?
6. Do you think it is versatile?
7. Has anyone ever asked you to design anything specifically out of denim?
8. What is your opinion on double denim? Would you advice people against it?

New look shop assistant-

1. Do you wear denim often?
2. Does the shop's stock influence what you wear yourself?
3. Do you think that denim is more day or nightwear?
4. Do you think that your stock reflects this?
5. What is your opinion on double denim? Would you advice people against it?
6. Do you think that it is versatile?
7. What type of denim items does the shop sell?
8. Does denim sell well?
9. What do you think is the best thing about denim?

Research for documentary- Archive footage

Youtube-
Levi jeans advert (laundrette)
Film-'Brokeback Mountain'
Images/video footage illustrating why it's banned in North Korea
Film-'Rebel without a cause'

Google-
Images/Video footage illustrating why it's banned in North Korea
Images of celebrities wearing double denim.

Research for documentary- Planning for 'New Look' interview

Remember-
Test mic- film a test question and then test playback.
Find place on tape, don't film over anything.
Take photographs.
No light behind her.
If possible, name tag on show.

Cutaways-
Tracking and panning of jeans.
Someone choosing jeans (hand across them).
Film front of shop (sign)- establishing shot for the interview.
Film a New Look tag on a pair of jeans (or other form of denim).

Research for documentary- Emails to potential interviewees

Formal Proposal

Topic- Denim

Type of documentary- Informative

Style of documentary- Expository

Channel and scheduling- C4, 8.00-8.30pm, Sunday

Target Audience- Teens/young adults

Primary Research- Questionnaires, Interviews/Vox pops, Cutaways, mise en scene/location.

Secondary Research- Archive footage (e.g images, films and music- 'Dukes of Hazzard' clips, 'Levi' advert in the laundrette, celebrities wearing denim and practical uses of denim eg denim uses in the workplace and the history of denim).

Narrative structure- Informative- There is a question at the start of the show (the title- 'What's the obsession with...denim?'), leads into opinions and history of denim to analyse the question, and this eventually leads to a conclusion- what the obsession with denim is, in other words, why denim is so popular.

Outline of content- Interviews-Vox pops (public opinion), Shop owner/manager.
Archive footage- 'Dukes of Hazzard' clips, 'Levi' advert in the laundrette, Pics of celebrities.
Cutaways- Aisles of denim (tracking/panning), people buying/picking up denim, people wearing denim (Liverpool).

Resource Requirements- Camera, mic, computer, tripod, Props/mise en scene to suit interviewee.

Brainstorm of content for the documentary

*Interviews- Vox pops in Liverpool- Shop owners- Manufacturers/designers.

*Voice over- Female- to suit the theme.

*Archive footage- Adverts- Levi, Gap- Celebs in denim (Pics or vids) COMARED TO Practical use of denim (Pics or vids).

*Cutaways- Panning/tracking of aisles with denim in, people buying or picking up denim.

Target audience research- Audio Questionnaire

Audio Questionnaire

Target Audience Research- Questionnaire result charts

We used this to establish what our target audience would be, which on recieving the results, appeared to be both male and female.

Again, this was used to establish what our target audience would be and what content would be appropriate. Most of the respondents were of an older age, therefore we were able to include content on the sexualisation of denim.

This was the time slot in which we chose to schedule our documentary.

Due to this feedback, we chose to air our documnetary on channel 4.

As fashion was one of the top responses, it gave us the go ahead to progress with our idea.

This gave us a further insight into the styles and types of documentary that our target audience enjoyed to watch.

This gained us knowledge on the type of people that we would be creating a documentary for, and also, what typw of music we should use for our opening titles and throughout the film.

This showed us that our target audience do enjoy watching documentaries, as positive adjectives have been used, and this would suggest that if it was aired it would be successful.

As our documentary is part of a series, this would give us hints as to how often to broadcast a new episode.

Even though the majority of respondents would not prefer a female voice-over, we have chosen to go against this as we feel that a female voice over would suit the theme and purpose alot more than a male voice-over.

We have chosen to make our documentary part of a series for this reason.


We have included the three most popular answers based on this.

We have included a section about the history of denim based on this.


This gains us more insight into people's knowledge on the trends of denim, and also hints that we should ask these questions to our expert interviewees.

Gains us an insight into how much our target audience likes denim.

Gains us an insight into how experimental our target audience is with denim, and whether they think that it is versatile.

Hints at how often our audience wears denim.

Hints at how often our audience wears denim.

As there is two opinions for this question, it may suggest that we should ask our expert interviewees the saame question and also, include a section in the documentary about the different uses for denim.

Suggests that we either shouldn't include a section on the fashion trends of denim OR that we should because it may mean that people don't follow fashion trends of denim as they don't have any knowledge of what they are.

Gives us an insight into how much content we should include about denim and celebrity culture.

As this is an equal result we should get opinions from both men and women on denim.

Suggests that we should include content about films/programmes/adverts etc that are about denim to inform our audience.

Target Audience Research- Video of questionnaire

Target Audience Research- Questionnaire Questions

Please can you fill in this short questionnaire.

1. What gender are you?
Female
Male

2. How old are you?
10-14
15-17
18-21
22-25
26+

3. What time do you usually watch TV? (please tick one)
6-9am
10-12pm
1-3pm
4-6pm
7-10pm
10+

4. What terrestrial TV channel do you most watch? (please tick one)
BBC1
BBC2
ITV1
Channel 4
Five

5. What is your favourite genre for a documentary?
Fashion
Beauty
Historical/informative
Food
Hospitality
Music
Medical
Topical
Other
If other please specify................

6. State two documentaries that you have watched and enjoyed recently
1........................
2.......................

7. What is your favourite genre of music?
Pop
RnB/Hip hop
Rock
Indie
Classical
Dance
Drum and Bass
Other
If other please specify.................................

8. What word would you use to describe documentaries?
Interesting
Informative
Boring
Controversial
Topical

9. How often do you watch documentaries? (please tick one)
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Less

10. Would you prefer a male or female voice over? (please tick one)
Male
Female
Don't mind

11. Would you prefer a series of documentaries, or just a one off? (please tick one)
Series
One-off
Don't mind

12. If you were to watch a documentary about denim, who would you like to see interviewed? (please tick two)
Manufacturer
Designer
Customers
Shop assistant
Other
If other please state..............................

13. Would you like to know the history of denim?
Yes
No

14. Would you wear more than one item of denim in an outfit?
Yes
No

15. Do you have a favourite denim item?
Yes
No
If yes, please state.................................

16. Have you ever worn coloured denim?
Yes
No

17. Do you think denim is comfy?
Yes
No

18. Do you prefer to wear denim to other materials such as cotton?
Yes
No

19. Do you wear denim casually or for going out in?
Casually
Going out

20. Do you follow the fashion trends of denim?
Yes
No

21. If you saw a celebrity wearing a particular denim item, would that influence you to buy a similar item?
Yes
No

22. Who do you think wears denim more, men or women?
Men
Women

23. Do you know any films/TV programmes that you associate with denim?
Yes
No
If yes, please state...................................

Initial plans

Topic- Denim
Target Audience- Teens and young adults
Channel- 4
Scheduling- 7.00- 7.30pm
Title- 'What's the obsession with....Denim?' (Series-'What's the obsession with...')
Content-
Interviews- Vox pops in Liverpool, manufacturer, designer etc
Archive footage- celebs in denim, history and practical use of denim, 'Levi', 'Gap' adverts etc
Cutaways- People buying denim, people wearing denim.

Scheduling

*TV companies want to reach the right audience for a particular programme.
*Inheritance- Scheduling a programme after a popular programme to try and 'inherit' some of it's audience.
*Pre-echo- As above but reverse- They might tune in before the popular programme.
*Hammocking- A programme in between two popular programmes.
HOWEVER, remote controls and digital TV can affect this type of scheduling.
*Watershed (9.00)- Children in bed, therefore there is stronger language, sex references, drug references and violence. Also taboo subjects/ graphic images can be included.
*Narrow casting- Specific audiences, for example channels such as 'Dave' and 'Disney Channel'.

Analysing the terrestrial TV listings-

1. The schedule for each day can be broken down into clear segments. How would you categorise these segments?
* Daytime and Evening.

2. Who are the target audience for these segments?
*Day- Primarily senior persons, stay at home parents or children under school age.
*Night- Mass audience

3. What would you say are the most popular genres on television?
*Soaps, as they are long running and scheduled at prime time slots.

4. Who is the target audience of each terrestrial channel?
*BBC1- Mass Audience
*BBC2-Educational (mass)
*ITV- Mass audience
*4- Mass audience
*5- Mass audience

5. Roughly what percentage of each channel's schedules is taken up with repeats? Why do you think this is?
*Channel 5- 15% (going with what they know will be successful.
*ITV1 + BBC1- 5%

6. Which channels have more imported programmes in their schedules? Why do you think this might be?
*Channel 5- neighbours, home and away etc. lower rated channel- therefore, they are using what they know will be successful.

7. What do you understand by the term 'the watershed' and where does this occur in the schedules? After 9.00pm- greater use of bad language, violence, graphic/sexual scenes.

Brainstorm

-Shopping
-School/education
-Music
-Christmas
-Celebrities
-Healthy eating
-Jeans
-Chocolate
-Halloween

Summary of codes and conventions of documentaries

*Images relating to/illustrating the points made in the documentary.
*Voice over/presenter.
*Interviewee looks at camera with a space next to them (looking space).
*Graphics/visuals.
*Documentary type suits the TV channel and audience.
*Music matching genre and audience.
*Use of archive material.
*Talking head interviews.
*Vox pop- interview in the street.
*Narrative structure
*Appropriate mise en scene (signifies something).
*Hand held camera work (for drama and involvement).
*Cutaways.
*Factual and informative.

Documentary Analysis

'Public Enemy Number One: The Devil Made Me Do It'

Type of documentary- Expository (Voice of God)
Themes- Murder and investigation
Narrative Structure-START- Marilyn Manson, Then moved onto a murder of a nun- This makes you wonder how the two are linked (ENIGMA CODE- Clues, questions)
MIDDLE-Enigma code from the beginning is starting to be answered.
END- Conclusion, and what happened to the murderers- CLOSED NARRATIVE.
Camera Work-
-Tracking shot with coffin, makes the audience feel involved so therefore provokes emotion.
-Interview- Mid shot (head and shoulders)- conventional.
-Establishing shot to cemetery, to signify the start of a new sequence.
-Hand held camera work in the woods- makes it seem eery, and as if it is a p.o.v shot.
-Hand held camera work- tracking shot into the trial; frantic feeling, involves the audience.
Mise en scene-
-Marco Politi (Vatican reporter, La repubolica)- Placed him in front of a religious backdrop and books to make him seem intelligent and well-read.
-Phone box- eery framing, trying to communicate and provoke specific feelings within the audience.
-Shot through the door- voyeuristic, makes the audience feel as though they are being included in something secret.
-Police officer- Dress and desk- to show importance.
-Dark images- add drama and communicate a feeling.
-Teenagers-slouching, cigarette- makes them seem uncaring.
Sound-
-Narrator and translator (non diegetic)
-Music- sad, spooky (to create meaning subtly)
-Heartbeat sfx- To add drama
-Voice of God- Formal mode of address- male.
Editing-
Cutaways- To make the interviews more interesting and to illustrate the points made in the interview.
Archive Material-
-The funeral at the start.
-Marilyn Manson footage- Not filmed from the documentary, taken from a secondary source.
Graphics-
Title graphics- Stereotypically gothic design to match the theme.
Conventional- same colour and font design.

The Music Biz- Marketing Meatloaf

Type of Documentary- Educational documentary, expository.
Themes- The music business- informative.
Narrative structure-
START- music industry introduction.
MIDDLE- Meatloaf, will he succeed?
END- closed narrative, he did succeed, followed a journey.
Camerawork-
Opening- Handheld camera work, exciting and involving.
P.O.V shot- Involves audience.
Mise en scene-
-Background for interviews- Superimposed, use of green/blue screen- overlapping images.
-Journalist behind messy desk- To make him look busy.
Sound-
-'Voice of God'- Male, Authoritative- male- to match the theme, male artist.
-Quite opinionated voice over
-Music- dramatic to reflect dramatic moments.
-Keep replaying verses to keep the audience in suspense for the chorus.
Editing-
-Fade in and out for the interviews.
-Not as many original cutaways, more archive footage.
-Cross fades- move in and out.
Archive material-
-Meatloaf performing and videos.
-Uses alot of archive footage, eg: Video footage, interviews, press, concerts/live shows etc.
Graphics-
-Opening credits- imitating a magazine front cover with sound bites from people who may later appear in the documentary.
-Used logo of the programme to match any captions and give the programme an identity.
-Quotes across the middle of the screen- Rolling across.

That thing Lara Croft

Type of documentary- Expository
Themes- Games, films with Lara Croft in.
Narrative structure-
START- Introduction to who and what Lara Croft is.
MIDDLE- Talks about sociological and psychological links (e.g Lara compared to Barbie and Lara as a puppet figure to males.)
END- Ends on summing up what Lara is to people.
Sound-
-Narration all by interviewees.
-Voice of God narration male to match target audience.
Editing-
-Blue/green screen behind interview with game footage superimposed onto the background.
-Fast paced- to reflect target audience.
-Lots of use of cutaways from game footage.
Archive material-
-From film footage and game footage.
Graphics-
-Computer screen with interview placed inside to match the theme of the documentary.

Genre analysis

What is a documentary?
Documentaries focus on real life people and events. It's purpose is to present factual information about the world and also to present this information in a believable, honest and true to life way.
They may do this by using techniques such as presenting interviewees' actual names and job titles in an on-screen tag, which leads the audience to trust that the people and events are real life.

Techniques used in documentary making..
*Compilation film- Made up of archive material, such as newsreel and footage.
*Interview- Also known as 'Talking heads'
*Direct cinema- Recorded at the time, with not much editing or interference from the director.
*Narrative form- They tell a story, using tension, interesting characters and interesting opinions.
*Parallelism- Prompting the audience to make parallels between characters, settings, opinions etc.
*Narration- This enables the audience to recieve plot information. The most commonly used type of voice over is 'The Voice Of God', who remains anonymous whilst telling the audience the story.
*Lighting- The lighting used in a documentary is usually natural and the director will only use what light is available or necessary.
*Camera Work- The hand held camera is commonly used, as shaky shots make the film seem more authentic and real-life. It also creates an intimacy between the film and the audience.
*Editing- Fade out, fade in, dissolve and wipe are the most commonly used editing techniques used in documnetary film making. Material is mediated and therefore gives 1 perspective of reality.
*Sound- Documentaries rely heavily on non-diegetic sound to prompt an audience response, and diegetic to show authenticity.

Documentary styles...
*Expository- Characterised by a 'voice of God' narration, images also accompany this to illustrate the narration and make what is said seem true to life and realistic.

*Observational- (Fly on the wall) Lightweight equipment made this style of documentary possible as it is as unobtrusive as possible but is still able to catch all the action.
However, there can be problems with this style of documentary, as, even though the cameras are as unobtrusive as possible, they are still there, and so this can affect how people react.

*Docusoaps- A developement of the observational documentary. Like a soap, it follows a group of characters who have been chosen for their entertainment value. This type of documentary also uses lightweight camera work, making intrusion minimal.

*Reality T.V- This term was first used to describe news magazine programmes based around emergency service activities, e.g 'Emergency 99' and 'Police, Camera, Action'.
However, the term is now used to describe shows such as 'Big Brother'.
It is a mixture of authentic, 'real-life' material along with the seriousness of an information programme and the commercial success of tabloid content.

*Interactive- This is when the presence of the cameras and the crew is acknowledged, for example, in behind the scenes programmes featuring bands/artists. Some people may find this type of documentary to be more honest as there is no attempt to disguise the cameras or crew.

*Drama documentary- 'Docudrama': A fictional story that uses thye techniquesof documentary to reinforce it's claim for realism
'Dramado.c': A documentary reconstruction of actual events using techniques taken from fiction cinema.

*Current Affairs- These are journalist led, and usually involve investigating the political in greater depths than an average news programme and searching for political scandal.
These programmes are organised around the structure of a journalistic report, so the journalist may be presenting the programme but there could also be a 'voice of God' narration.

Documentary Dilemmas...
Documentary footage is barely ever unedited and therefore, once the footage has been filmed the documentary maker has to decide what their responsibility to the people in their film is and they then have to balance this with their need for making an interesting film and also with any legal obligations which they may have. So the film maker may have to decide on a strong set of morals on which to work around.

Evaluation

In the process of completing this task I have learnt alot about the use of the software (Adobe Premier Pro) and have also gained alot of knowledge on the codes and conventions of documentary making.
Me and my partner also came up across some problems in the process aswell.
We did not have as much time as we would have wished for to complete our editing as we spent longer on our interview. This was because our interviewee spent alot of time on each of their answers and also kept laughing and making mistakes.
However, from this we learnt a lesson in that we have to be more assertive with our interviewees and be more organised with our time management so that we can work to our potential in the editing process.
In our audience feedback from our classmates I felt that our lack of time managment was reflected as cutaways and quality of the cutaways were our improvements, this was because we spent so much time on the interview itself and not enough on the cutways and editing.
The good points that we were given were that the cutaways were relevant and creative, as was the music choice.
Therefore, I have learnt that time managment is very important to achieve my full potential and also, I have gained experience and useful skills in the filming and editing processes.

RE; Screengrabs and the interview

I have been unable to upload the interiew and the screengrabs as my partner has them and I cannot access them.

Plan for cutaways

Questions...

1. Tell me what life was like before you had your mobile phone.

2. When did you get your first mobile phone and why did you get it?

3. Tell me about all the mobile phones you have had.

4. Tell me about your current mobile phone.

5. Why did you choose this phone? (We decided not to include this as our interviewee had answered this in the previous question).

6. Tell me about the ring tone you have on your phone and why you chose it.

7. What do you use your mobile phone for?

8. How much does your mobile phone cost you each month?

9. How often do you send text messages?

10. What text 'language' do you use and how did you learn it?

11. What's the best thing about having a mobile phone?

12. What's the worst thing about having a mobile phone?

13. How important is your mobile phone to you?

14. How would you cope without your mobile phone?

Cutaways....

1. Group of people using their phones and one left out looking sad.

2. Close-up of calendar saying 'My Birthday'.

3.Pile of phones.

4. Pic of phone spinning and zooming.

5. Phone logo (apple logo).

6. A phone ringing.

7. Someone on the phone.

8. Shot of amount of money?

9. Picture of a number.

10. Zoom in on text being sent.

11. Talking on the phone.

12. Someone panicking/ looking stressed out as they have lost their phone.

13. Love hearts around a phone.

Codes and conventions

* Interviewees are always filmed in medium shot, medium close-up or close-up.
E.g Steven Spielberg in the 'Jaws' documentary- medium close-up.

*Always framed with the interviewee to the left or right hand-side of the screen, facing the interviewer who is sitting diagonally to them.
These positions are also alternated, for different interviewees; from left to right to signify a new person speaking.

*Framing follows the rule of thirds; eye line is roughly a third of the way down the frame.

*Interviewee- looking at interviewer, NOT the camera.

*The mise en scene reinforces the context of the documentary and MUST be relevant.

*No light source behind the interviewee (E.g not in front of a window).

*Questions are edited out, so tell the interviewee to use the words from the question in their answer.

*Cutaways are used to avoid jump cuts and to illustrate an answer. They are either archive material OR filmed separately (afterwards).

*Use graphics- E.g labels, names, job/title etc.
E.g 'Voice of marge Simpson' in 'The Simpson's' documentary.