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.

Inspiration for ancillary tasks

I used these two TV magazine articles as part of my inspiration for creating my ancillary tasks.

I liked the way the interviews questions were laid out in this article so I decided to use a similar style of interview in my ancillary task.

I liked the way in this article they had a big picture of the person that the article is about and that they took one of his quotes from the interview and put it on the picture too point that phrase out as a key phrase.

Research into documentary advertisment

Before I created my ancillary tasks I did some research into what the common features of similar adverts are. I looked at four different documentary adverts, one double page spread, one review and two posters. I annotated each one in order to highlight the common features and the features that I will include in my own.

I like the way that in this double page spread it has a quote over the top of the picture and I took this idea and used it in my double page spread. I also liked the way it talked alot about what the programme includes and I used that part in my double page spread.















This poster advertising 'The Event' is very simple yet effective, it shows all the main characters but emphasises one man by placing him at the front which shows that this is an important, main person in the documentary. In my documentary there is only the one main character so there will no need for me to emphasise him becuase it will only be him in the picture.

I also like the way it has the channel 4 logo and the then name of the program and the start time and the date of when the series starts, I decided to use this feature in my poster. In my poster I have the logo and then the program title, the date and time of starting too.




I like the way that the designer of the article has taken out a quote from the article and emphasised it by making it bold and in a big font at the bottom of the page, I will do somehting similar to this in my ancillary tasks.

Also I like the way the interview is laid out and I will be putting an interview with the main character of my documentary into my double page spread and I will probably use a similar format to this one.










This poster is very mysterious and doesnt give much away about the program, this is more suitable for this type of documentary whereas in my type of documentary it would not be very suitable.

However I like the way it emphasis the title by writing it in a large font size, I will do something similar to this in my poster.


I also like the way it has the ITV 1 logo and the then name of the program and the start time and the date of when the series starts, I decided to use this feature in my poster. In my poster I have the logo and then the program title, the date and time of starting too.

Feedback from uploading version 1 of our documenary to Youtube

We uploaded our documentary to Youtube in order to get feedback on it to improve it to make another version which is better than the first. Our documentary got 190 views, 3 likes and 0 dislikes and also 6 people commented on the video which gave us useful feedback, the main part of feedback we got from was that we recieved many private message from people telling us what they like about it and how we could make it better. The feedback the we gained from this was useful and everyone said they liked it which didnt help us much when it came down to giving us ideas on how to improve on it. Here is some evidence of the feedback we recieved:

Version 1 of documentary

We uploaded our version 1 of our documentary to Youtube in order to gain feedback on it and see whether people liked it or not. Here is a link to the video:

Shooting Schedule

Before we filmed our documentary we had to agree on the days we would meet up to do the filming and when we would meet up to do editing. I made up the shooting schedule for the group and here is an example of it:

Storyboards V2 -Planning

During the planning stage we created some storyboards to give ourselves a brief outline of what we need to film and how long for. This is the second version we made as we thought the first version was not very good as it didn't give us enough help when filming and we also change the plan of our documentary slightly so some of the information wasn't right.

Documentary Research

During this project we watched many documentaries to help us get ideas for our documentaries. Here is some information and analysis on some of the documentaries we watched:

The Boys Who Killed Stephen Lawrence:

'The Boys Who Killed Stephen Lawrence' was a documentary broadcasted on BBC1, this documentary was all about the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the boys who did it. This documentary also shows corruption and racism in the police.

Stephen Lawrence was a Black British teenager from Eltham, South East London, who was murdered in a racist attack while waiting for a bus on the evening of 22 April 1993. Witnesses said he was attacked by a gang of white youths chanting racist slogans.

These are the key 11 points that the documentary showed:

• It was a chance fo the police to confront racism.
• Not enough evidence for the police to arrest the supsects.
• Surveillance footage was used to watch the suspetcs (secretive filming).
• Interview with Duwayne Brooks who was Stephen Lawrence's best friend and was there at the time of the attack. He explains what happend at the time and says the attack was racially motivated.
• Evidence was missed- bin bag found with evidence linking to the murder.
• Photographs found of weapons such as knives found which could have been used to murder.
• No arrests for 13 days.
• Goes to the suspects house no answer.
• Recorded interview by the police.
• John Davidson- suspicision of him being corrupt in the police. Possiblity that he accepted £500 to be quite about the evidence during the police investigation (Hush money).
• Interview with a victim.

Educating Essex:

Educating Essex is a fly on the wall documentary as it records teachers and pupils in a natural environment over a period of time. The documentary focuses on Passmores Academy secondary school in Harlow, Essex. The show follows a group of GCSE students and there teachers, during the crucial year of there education. The school was fitted with 65 fixed cameras, from the corridors to the canteen, and from the headteacher's office to the detention hall. Recording with the fixed cameras lasted for seven weeks which was then edited down into a seven part series.


We only had the opportunity to watch the first episode of the series in college and here is some information about the documentary:

Episode one starts off with a establishing shot and it allows the viewers to see the setting of the documentary and in the background you can here the sound of the school bell which I believe was a good feature of the documentary because it signals the start of a new school day and at the same time the start of the documentary series.

Then it jumps to a mid shot which is used to show a teacher telling off students regarding their uniform, as he is the first member of staff we see it conveys to the audience that this could be a main important character within the documentary, the teacher shown in the first scene is a main character in the episode and the camera follows him around through most of his day.

A narrator is also present throughout the documentary when necessary, to talk the viewers through was it going on. The narrator is present through the use of a voiceover which is a common feature of a documentary. Later on a brief long shot of the school field is used to display to the audience the setting again before a jump cut to a student and teacher, it is very fast paced at the beginning allowing the audience to see more in a short space of time.


Through the summary I have written above you can see that the documentary contains a wide range of different camera angles which is gives the viewers a different perspective of what is happening each time this also conveys with the common features of a documentary. Also most of the editing done in this documentary is very basic which gives the viewers a feeling of realism in order to make the viewers see that the footage is real rather than actually being acted out. Overall, I believe this documentary does exactly what it is trying to achieve as it gives of feeling of realism to the viewers and shows them what it is like to try to teach in a modern secondary school, it also conforms with the common features of a documentary.


 9/11The Lost Tapes:

9/11 The Lost Tapes is an expository documentary that reveals which informs British audiences about what actuallly happend on that fatal day. It revealed to the auidence newly released audio recordings which offer a unique insight and moving perspective on 9/11 and the fateful minutes that changed America forever.

On the morning of the attacks, hundreds of hours of military and air traffic control conversations were captured on tape painting a chilling and tragic picture of events spiralling inexorably out of control. With events unfolding at breakneck-speed, the tapes reveal in minute-by-minute detail, the chaos and confusion wrought by the attacks.
Revelations include how Air Force fighter jets, scrambled to protect Washington, set out in the wrong direction - ending up 60 miles out across the Atlantic ocean and that permission to shoot down hijacked passenger planes only came through after the last plane crashed.

The documentary begins with an establishing shot of the twin towers before the tragic incident, this then cuts to a extreme long shot of New York including a flying plane, a voice over is also present to introduce it. Straight after the start of the documentary it shows the viewers archive footage of real recordings of the twin towers burning and the plane crash. Then the audience can hear a non diagetic sound of panicked people talking and then the camera jumps from different shots of people on phones, large satellite dishes etc.

Later on reconstructed footage of services answering phones is shown along with the non digetic sound of scared people again. After this there is a close up of a man which shows his raw emotions, during this scene powerful music is played when the shot changes to the twin towers falling the the ground this music fades out. I believe they did this to put an emphasis on relaism and to try and make the viewers feel what it would be like to be there on that day.

The rest of the documentary conists of interviews with people who were there on that day and footage of the aftermath of the towers collapse. In my opinion this is a very powerful documentary which does exactly what a documentary like this should do, it is informative and gives a feeling of shock and anguish off to the viewers and ends with a feeling of sadism. This documentary conforms with the common features of a documentary as it has a number of different camera angles, voiceovers, interviews and archove footage.

Cloverfield:

Cloverfield is a documentary film set in Central Park, New York.It is a fiction film based on an attack on New York City by a creature that the audience never actually get to see until the last scene. The film is presented as found footage from a personal video camera recovered by the United States Department Of Defense. A disclaimer text states that the footage is of a case designated "Cloverfield" and was found in the area "formerly known as Central Park". The video consists chiefly of segments taped the night of Friday, May 22 and the morning of Saturday, May 23, 2009. The newer segments were taped over older video that is visible occasionally. 

 

The whole film is filmed on a video camera and it gives of very realistic feel because the camera work i jerky and some clips are slightly un-focused, this is a common feature of documentaries like this.

The film starts with one of the characters using his video camera to film his friends leaving a party. As he is leaving he gets people to say thier goodbyes over the camera, however people are being slightly camera shy and not giving a big goodbye message which also gives off a sense of realism as in real life many people are camera shy and un photogenic. A few minutes later on into the film someone turns on the news on the TV and see that New York is under attack which causes moral panic throughout the group which causes people to leav the party rather quick in fear of being attack because the creature is getting closer to where they are located. Whilst they are running out the building the camera is still on and the camera gets really shaky to put an emphasis on the fact that they are running fast and the video camera doesnt matter because they are scared. Once they got out onto the street they quickly had to run out into a shop and then lcoked the doors behind them as the creature is very near. During this scene the camera is put down onto the floor and when the lights go out you the screen goes black and all you can hear is the background noise. This creates a sense of realism because you can tell that they are no longer bothered about filming and just want to look after themselves, from this scene you can tell that they are becoming increasingly scared.
Overall this documentary has many common features that you would see in a documentary e.g the camera work because it is really shaky it gives a realistic feel which this type of documentary is all about.

Final Documentary Idea

Within my media course I have to create a documentary about a particular topic. In the end we decided to base our documentary around the devlopment in football. In recent years there has been a massive development in football stadiums and many football clubs have decide to build brand new stadiums, and our documentary series will base around this.

Our documentary will conatin each of these features:

• Primary footage
• Achieve footage
• Interviews
• Primary images
• Secondary images
• Virtual tour
• Facts
• Statistics
• Fans views

I have chosen these features because I believe they will contribute to giving the viewers as much information and the best watch possible.

The documentary we are creating is based on Brighton and Hove Albion's new stadium- The AMEX. In this documentary you watch the presenter give you a tour around the stadium and show the facilites it has to offer. You then get a fans view who is also the kitman for the team who gives expert information on the new stadium and then there is another interview with two of the players who have been lucky enough to play at this brand new stadium.

If you would like to get any more information on the new stadium or Brighton and Hove Albion be sure to check out these links:

• http://www.seagulls.co.uk/page/Home
• http://www.footballgroundguide.com/brighton_and_hove_albion/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falmer_Stadium
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-14345606
• http://www.awaygrounds.com/brighton-hove-albion-amex-stadium/
• http://www.amexstadium.co.uk/

Mission Statement

The programme 'Stadium Watch' will be aired every week, on Sunday at 9pm on sky 1. The programme will have no particular target audience, this is because football attracts people of all different ages and genders, but in the main the audience would have to be men as they are generally more interested in football and also 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.

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.

The purpose for making the programme is to give fans a view of the new stadiums being built which is also a bonus for the clubs of stadiums being shown as it shows fans the facilities the club has to offer and can be a form of advertising/marketing for the club as it may help to attract people to come and watch the games at the stadium. The first documentary in the series is on Brighton and Hove Albion's new stadium the Amex. This is the newest stadium to be built in europe and will be the headline show of the series, be sure to tune in.

When creating the documentary we are going to use a camera with a tripod to keep a steady screen but in some parts we will be using the hand held camera technique to give off a more documentary like feel. When we have our footage we will edit it on a the computer using the program Sony Vegas Pro.

Montage Ideas

In our documentary we wanted to include one or two montages that are personal to Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club to give the viewers a better feel for what the club is like and what it has been through and also another look at the Amex stadium.

Here are some of our ideas for the montages:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3G-v2HiAb4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhRBgmH2cDE&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLkMVFfJi5E

Editing Process-Sony Vegas

At first we was going to use iMovie to edit our documentary but in the end we ended up using sony vegas pro to do the editing. We started to edit it on iMovie at college because we thought it would be easier to get it done at college becuase we would be able to get hlep from the teachers and pointers on how to make it better. But because none of us knew how to use it, it took us quite a while to get some basic things done. Also none of us own a mac so we were also unfamiliar with the hardware and we didn't want to spend loads of time learning how to use a mac and then iMovie as this would take a while so Steve suggested instead of using iMovie on a mac that we went to his house and edited using Sony Vegas Pro 10.0. Here's a tutorial, which shows you the basic features of sony vegas and how to use it:

Here is an example of an image of me editing our documentary on Sony Vegas Pro:

Christopher Guest Research

Christopher Guest is an American screenwriter, musician, director, actor, and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that feature a repertory-like ensemble cast.

However Christopher Guest does not like his films being called mockumentaries. Though shot in documentary, his movies do not mock like an average mockumentary. According to him his films are character studies of "people who become so obsessed by their world that they lose sense and awareness of how they appear to other people". Guest's affection for his characters is a large part of the appeal to other people.

Whilst guest is parodying the characters, he nevere does it in a spiteful way. However Guest's characters are never very good at what they do and yet take themselves very seriously, which is the basis of the comedy in his mockumentaires. This mockumentary format is one in which Guest has proven himself very funny.

Common traits of Guest's mockumentaires:

• Movies are almost completely unscripted and improvised.
• He shoots ten minute scenes to let the improviation between actors to happen organically.
• He always uses a group of actors including: Eugene Levy, Parker Possy, Fred Willard etc..
• Mock interviews, handheld camera and footage of events are common features of his movies which give off a documentary feel.
• The documentary feel of the movies is never compromised because the actors stay completely in character. 

During the project we watched some of Christopher Guest's documentaries to help us with getting ideas for our documentary. Here is some information on the documentaries we watched:

This Is Spinal Tap:

This Is Spinal Tap is a mockumentary directed by Christopher Guest. The documentary shows the life of a fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap, touring and promoting themselves.Guest uses similar techniques in This Is Spinal Tap as he does in all of his documentaries to make the band seem real.

The film satirizes the wild personal behavior and musical pretensions of hard rock and heavy metal musical bands, as well as the tendencies of rock documentaries of the time.He captured the look and feel of the 'rockumentary' so well that many people who watched it thought they were a real band, but how did Christopher Guest achieve this?

He does this by using archive footage of the band at concertswhich implies to the audience that this is a real band who have been together for years.The setting of the concert is also very realistic to what a concert would have been like back in the time of when it was set (the 1980's), he gave the concert this realisitc feel by using real props such as guitars that were made in the 1980's and also the clothing of the band and fans which are just two of the things which make the documentary realistic.

The fact that Guests documentary's are unscripted and mostly improvised play a big role in portraying the band as real. This is most effective during their interviews because it portrays a sense of realism and you feel that the interviews havent been scripted and are made up on the spot.

Best in Show:

Best in Show is a mockumentary that was made in the year 2000. It follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show whilst focusing on the slightly surreal interactions among the various owners and handlers as they travel to the show and compete.

Throughout the documentary the footage jumps between each of the owners from preparation for the dog show to their hotel, backstage and finally to the dog show itself. Guest uses many techniques which effectively make the mockumentary look realistic such as the use of handheld camera, almost placing the audience within the scenes.

Christopher Guest is known for using the same actors as he likes his scripts to be spontaneous, he gives no set scripts, in Best In Show characters seem to overlap and interrupt each other giving the audience the impression that it is real. The exaggeration from each character makes this documentary somewhat humorous but portrays their passion for dogs so well.

Features of mockumentaires

Mockumentary is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. Mockumentaries normally dont really have a strict script that the actors have to stick to and is more mainly made up on the spot. Mockumentaries are used to analyse or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself. They may be either comedic or dramatic in form.

Mockumentaries have three main features:

• Deconstruction
• Parody/Satire
• Critique

Parody/Satire: A parody is a type of mockumentary that is used to mock an original piece of work. It reinforces an aspect of popular culture, sometimes so well that it is hard to determine whether it is fictional or not.

Critique: Mockumentaries as a critique can parody or satire an aspect of popular culture.

Deconstruction: Mockumentaries as deconstruction subvert and deconstruct the conventions and aspects of the documentary.

Storyboard-First Drafts

When we first started the project we decided to create some rough storyboards which basically map out what is going to be included in our documentary. This is a rough version which only gives us basic detail which will help us to develop our idea. We will be producing another version of these which will be more professional later on in the project when we have a strong idea of exactly what we want to include in our documentary. Here is our first version of the storyboard: