Final version of documentary

This is the final version of my media documentary.

Question 4 of Evaluation-How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Q-How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

During the production of my documentary I have developed skills in the use of a digital video camera and digital camera. I learnt how to shoot footage including effects rather than having to apply lots of effects during video editing. My use of the video editing software sony vegas pro involved  me importing images, video and audio files as well as using titles, transitions and effects to enhance my footage and achieve the desired result. In order to be able to import certain files into sony vegas I had to convert them to a compatible file type. I did this using winFF file converter.

Also throughout the project I have been using a blog  as part of the portfolio and I have been uploading  many things to it such as all our groups planning such as the shooting schedule, storyboards and the initial ideas. I have never  used a blog before and this was a new experience. I also had to post videos and images onto my blog  including  the final version of my documentary.

I have also been using Microsoft publisher and Adobe Photoshop to create my ancillary tasks. I used these pieces of software at AS level when creating my foundation portfolio on the magazine but this year I believed my skills on using the software have improved massively. I used Adobe Photoshop to edit the images  that I put in my double page spread  and also in my poster advertising the documentary.  I then saved them as a JPEG file before putting  them into publisher with the rest of the file. I did the actual creation of my ancillary task on Microsoft Publisher because I find it an easy piece of software to use and it always gives off a professional look after the creation of the document. 

I used facebook and YouTube to share my ideas and get feedback from friends which I found really useful as it was quick and easy to get feedback from peers which helped the quick progression of my documentary, double page spread and poster.I also used Facebook to communicate with my group throughout the project e.g arranging to meet up to film and to edit the documentary.

I also used the internet to watch some other documentaries at the planning  stage, I did this because I wanted to find out the key features of  similar documentaries  to our idea. I used websites such as BBC iPlayer and Skyplayer to do watch them.I also had to burn my documentary onto a blank CD at the end of the project which was another piece of technology I used and I had never done that before.

Finally I also used Microsoft PowerPoint to create this evaluation,I made a draft on there before posting it on here, I did that because it is easier to write because if you spell a question wrong it tells you so you can change it whereas on here it doesnt offer you that option.  I had previously used this software when doing the foundation portfolio at AS-level to do my evaluation of the project then.

Question 3 of Evaluation-What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Q-What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When creating the documentary we decided that our documentary will have no particular target audience, this is because we will would like to target our documentary at the mass audience. We decided that to aim it everyone because  our documentary contains footage that is suitable for any age to watch so we would like everyone to watch it. Another reason why we chose this audience is  because football attracts people of all different ages and different genders, but in the main the audience would have to be men as they are generally more interested in football.

In order to get feedback from our target audience we handed out questionnaires to people and posted our documentary on YouTube. 

The first bit of feedback I got was through the questionnaire as which was before we had made the documentary because we wanted to get some feedback on our idea to see whether it would work. So we handed out our questionnaire  to a  select group of people in our target audience who  had to answer questions on whether the idea would work. I handed out my questionnaire at the AMEX stadium in order to speak to people who already had an interest in the topic  and also in the town centre in order to get feedback from different people with some not being football fans.

The feedback we got from the public through our questionnaire about the idea was in general positive and people said they liked the idea, so we went ahead with it and made our documentary on the topic.

Once we had made our first version we posted it onto YouTube so a mass audience of people could view it for free.  At first we made the video private so only people who had been sent the link could view it, so we firstly sent links out too many people at our college so they could watch it and give us feedback on what they thought of it. Then about a week or two later we posted it publicly soo anyone could see it from anywhere in the world, our video got 190 views in the week it was posted publicly and six people commented on the video giving us feedback on the video but many people privately messaged us giving us feedback which was also very useful. This feedback helped us alot as much of the feedback was positive but we also were given pointers on how to improve on it and we took that on board and made some changes to it for the final version.

We also uploaded our documentary onto Facebook and Twitter to get more feedback. We did this because we knew we would be able to show our documentary to and get feedback back from a mass audience with various different opinions.

Question 2 of evaluation- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Q-How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

To show a clear link between my documentary and ancillary tasks I used pictures of the same person throughout and kept the setting of the images the same, in order to keep consistency.  All my pictures that I used were are the setting of the documentary, I did this because there was only one setting in the whole documentary and if you were to see a picture of the presenter somewhere else it would not like right and there would be no link between them both. Also the pictures were taken on the same day as I filmed the documentary to make it look a professional look as the presenter is wearing the same clothes and hair done the same way which creates another link between the documentary and the ancillary tasks.

Another link is that the ancillary tasks are to be used as a form of promotion of documentary or to raise awareness that this new show is starting up. I also used similar fonts in all three products as I wanted to use clear, bold fonts for my products so that it could be easily read by the audience . I also did  this because I wanted to create a housestyle for the documentary so people would be able to recognise it easier. So I used the Arial font and  blue and white coloured fonts.

I used Arial because it is an easy font to read and it looks professional and also stands out alot especially when you write in bold. I used blue and white coloured text because they stand out well against the background and I also used these colours because these colours are the colours of the home kit of Brighton and Hove Albion which are the club who play at the stadium the documentary was based around, which gives another link between the documentary and  the ancillary tasks.

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

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


The documentary I made has all the common features that you are likely to see in a documentary. Here a list of a few:

Interviews

Short clips

Voiceovers

Opinions

Facts

Statistics

Variety of camera angles

Edits

Camera work and editing- I used a variety of different shots in my documentary to give the viewer a different view of things. The  sport documentaries I watched as part of my research used a variety of different shots, ranging  from close ups to panning  to over the shoulder shots.

A common feature that I saw in my research was that when there was an interview  they would often use an over the shoulder shot so when making the documentary I decided to use that shot because that is a common convention of a documentary.  I used this because it creates a sense of realism and it is like a point of view shot as well.

Also I saw that most documentaries started of with an establishing shot of the location where it is set or when they move to a new setting, I also used this feature because I believe it is important that the viewers know where what they are seeing is based and it also is a good way to start it off because it sets up the start of the documentary well.

I also used a panning shot  in my documentary which I saw alot during my research, I used this when I was in the stadium in the top tier of the stand . I used this to give the viewer a better feel/ view of the stadium and it also fitted in well with the voiceover because in the voiceover I was talking about  the design of the stadium and that panning shot showed the whole stadium and it helps the viewers understand how the design of the stadium works.

Also in the editing phase I used voiceovers because I saw that it was a common feature of most documentaries, I used this throughout the documentary and it helped to explain alot about the stadium. The main bit of voiceover I did was when I was doing the panning  shot showing the whole stadium this was a vital voiceover because it makes the shot worthwhile.

Documentary Title- The title of my documentary is ‘Stadium Watch’, I chose this title because it is straight to the point and you can understand what the program is going to be about just by reading the name. Also I think this title sounds quite good and has a professional sound to it and you could imagine seeing that sort of title for a real documentary. 

I used a bold, clear font style so that the audience could read it clearly, I chose also chose ‘Stadium Watch’ as my title as it is short so hopefully it would be easy for the audience to remember. I chose to have the colour white for my title as I felt it would be a good contrast to the dark coloured backgrounds in the scenes. By using the same font, background colour and text colour it added an identity to my documentary and also a housestyle. All the documentaries I analysed  also had this same continuity as they also used the same fonts, background colour and text colour throughout their documentaries.

Channel- The programme will be broadcasted on Sky 1, as this channel is known for its documentaries.Also another reason for it being aired on Sky 1 is the fact that there is a catch up service for this channel which is they Sky player. Sky player means that the viewers can catch up on the programme if they missed or they can just watch it again if they really enjoyed it, also the fact that the time of the show is 9pm on a Sunday many children will be a sleep at this time and will not be able to watch the program makes Sky player very useful as children will be able to watch it another time.

Presenters appearance- The presenter of my documentary was dressed in a smart casual manner. He was dressed in this way because we didn't want to make him look to smart because that would not suit the type of documentary he is appearing in. I also saw all presenters of sports documentaries dressed in a smart casual way when doing my research.

Location- I only had one location in my documentary which is the  Amex stadium. If I had another location in my documentary it would look weird and would not be relevant to the documentary itself because the whole documentary is based around  the stadium itself.

Overall I believe that my documentary uses and develops the conventions of a real documentary. Because  my camera work e.g editing and shots/angles are similar to what you would see in a similar real documentary because I use a variety of different shots to give the viewer a better emphasis on what's going on.  Another feature is the documentary title which is ‘Stadium Watch’ I believe this conforms with  real media products because when you see a title of a programme it is always short and snappy like this one.

Also the presenter of the documentary is dressed in a manner that you normally see presenters dress in a real documentary, as he is dressed up in a smart casual way. This is something I found out whilst watching documentaries during the planning and research stage and it was especially common in sports documentaries. As well as them the location always has to be perfect and no other location would suit my documentary we had to use the location we did. However my documentary does  in a way challenge the conventions of a real media product as this type of documentary hasn’t really been made before so I have created a documentary that can’t be compared to many others as the subject is different to any other documentary out on the market.

Double page spread-Final version-Ancillary Task 2

This is my double page spread and I created it as part of my ancillary tasks. The purpose of this double page spread is to advertise the programme and to tell the reader what the programme is about and to try and attract them to watch it.This double page spread could fit into any TV magazine out on the market today as it has the same features and is created to a professional standard.

Poster- Final version- Ancillary Task 1

I created this poster as part of my ancillary tasks, the purpose of this poster is to advertise the programme. I have used common features of a poster advertisement that you would normally see in a TV magazine.