After researching audience theories and identifying my perspective target audience through a questionnaire and demographics I decided to investigate media institutions to understand how they are involved and how they influence documentaries. From this I will indentify the scale I seek my documentary to be and the institutions and production details that are associated.
Institutions
Documentaries like most media productions are hugely affected by institutions. Institutions such as television, distribution and production companies are vital to documentaries as they provide some of the services key to a documentaries success, funding, distribution and promotion.
Institutions create the split between amateur and large scale documentaries. The main split is created by funding. Funded documentaries are often the ones heard about by the public as they are broadcast on major television channels or showcased in multiplex cinemas, advertised in well known publications and presented by well known people. All of this of course requires funding. Those documentaries without major funding are what are known as independent documentaries and are a small scale almost underground operation broadcast through YouTube. They are often unheard of and unprofitable.
Large Scale Documentaries
Funding for large scale documentaries depends primarily on its final output category. If the documentary is to be screened on television, then a documentary is mainly funded by television companies such as the BBC, ITV or Channel 4. On the other hand if a documentary is to be showcased in cinema then released on DVD then often it is funded by film companies looking for a profitable investment. In some cases however a documentary can be co funded by parties from both categories such as the recent BBC documentary “Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor: The Link” which was shown on BBC 1 and funded by both the BBC and American production company Atlantic Productions.
Often funders for documentaries are shrewd investors and can see that it is set to profit. A good example of a documentary profit was Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” which had a budget of $4 million and went on to make over $58 million.
Below is a list of some of the highest grossing documentaries and who was behind the funding and distribution:
1. Fahrenheit 9/11 - $222,446,882 – Lion Gate Films
2. March of the Penguins - $127,392,693- Warner Independent
3. Bowling for Columbine - $58,008,423 - Unite Artists
4. An Inconvenient Truth - $49,756,507 - Paramount
5. Sicko - $35,767,758- The Weinstein Company
6. Winged Migration - $32,257,753- Sony Pictures
7. Madonna: Truth or Dare $29,012,935 - Mirimax Films
8. Super Size Me - $20,641,054- Samuel Goldwyn Films
From this list we can both see the money to be made from documentaries as well as those documentaries that sell the most. All of them have similar themes in that they spur curiosity such as “Sicko’s” investigation and scrutiny of the health care system and “An Inconvenient Truth’s” revealing view into climate change, themes that of course sell. It is also interesting to note that all these box office topping documentaries have been funded, marketed and in many ways influenced by some of the largest and richest film companies showing us the extent of which institutions impact documentaries and drive them to create money.
As we can see by this, documentaries are a very profitable medium if they succeed. In order for documentaries to succeed often institutions and investors influence the documentaries design, ideas and production to sell. As making money is the key factor in there investment they promote conventions that sell a documentary. Some key selling conventions with documentaries are fear, controversy, speaking out as well as mystery. Often documentaries are watched as the audience wish to be educated on a matter or they want to discover the truth. Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 911” is a good example of this as with most Moore documentaries it speaks out against the authorities and gives the public an insight into darker truths behind matters. The controversy in the case of this film is the so called “legitimate” election of US President George .W. Bush in 2000. In this Moore relentlessly argues the deceitfulness and corruption of this “show case election”. Society as a culture and audiences within it love this, they see it as there own private rebellion against authority and therefore this sells, making money for big production companies, we need only look at the list above to see the profits turned by some of the most successful documentaries.
Small scale documentaries
However the profession and art of the documentary is not as glamorous and profitable as we have seen above. At the other end of the scale we have independent documentaries. Independent documentary makers are often individuals who feel so passionately or strongly about an issue that they feel it needs to be made public however they can. Often or not they assume a role similar to that of a free lance journalist and seek out interviewees, research and information off their own backs. From this they use domestically available filming and editing equipment widely available such as hand held video cameras and I Movie or Final Cut Pro on Apple Mac computers.
Often funding for these projects come from the director themselves and as they are a low key affair they require little more than time and transportation costs. However for those documentaries a little more adventurous that are intended for DVD, certain organisations such as The UK film council (UKFC) or Media 2007 exist and provide grants to documentary makers they see have promise or films they feel will be well received by audiences. Of course with all grants competition for the small amount of grants available render many documentary makers aidless and having to fund the project from their own bank accounts.
Of course the chasm between large scale and small scale documentaries is not absolute. Documentaries that are for the most part unheard off but still available on DVD are often funded by small scale film production companies and these documentaries are often fairly good quality but not box office material.
My Documentary
From my research into documentaries I have discovered the wide variety of documentary production, project and all associated institutions within this. By looking at large scale cinema documentaries and the scale of funding and production associated with this I feel this would be a medium far over what my piece and my resources would be capable of. On the other hand I wish not to dismiss my piece as a one man amateur YouTube production. Therefore I feel my documentary ranks itself as a piece that would be shown at an off peak time on a digital television channel such as BBC3 who often showcase less serious investigative documentaries.
As a smaller scale television production my documentary would not be a box office sell out yet would also not be a rank amateur production, but would embrace the passion of independent documentaries and the quality of a professional piece.
My documentary would be primarily distributed and shown on the BBC’s digital channels, but would later on depending on the positivity of its reception be produced on DVD and shown on the BBC’s main channels to be distributed and profited that way.
Having decided on the medium in which I wish to distribute my documentary, I will investigate audience consumption, looking at TV listings and identifying which channels showcase what documentaries at what times in order to see when my target audience would most likely watch it, in order to attract as larger audience as possible.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Audience identification questionnaire - 2nd October
By researching audience theories I was able to gain an insight into how audiences consume media to suit their needs and gratifications. Through looking into marketing tactics such as demographics I was able to vaguely identify the social status of my perspective target audience. However demographics as I’ve stated before gives a very vague idea of target audience.
In order to attain a more detailed indication of my target audience I produced a questionnaire that sought to identify what kind of people were attracted to what types of documentary genres. From this I will be able to identify my target audience that I am to aim my documentary toward. I also included questions that invited my questionnaire subjects to identify what channels they expected their favourite documentaries to be broadcast on as well as identify a few conventions that they feel are typical of a certain genre. I did this to gain an insight into what audiences expect from different genres of documentaries so that I can key mine towards their expectations of Mise En Scene and representation.
In order to attain a wide variety of audience I distributed my questionnaire amongst members of the public on Stafford high street. Having analysed my results I will now summarise them and identify how they will effect my production. Below is a blank copy of the questionnaire I distributed.
Questionnaire results
I distributed my questionnaire to 50 members of the public (27 males, 23 females). The ages were varying so that the results of my questionnaire would not by bias toward any certain age group.
My results firstly indicated that the older a person was the more television on average he or she watched. This showed the most increase between the ages 26 and 55+, probably due to younger people choosing to spend their leisure time socialising or using the internet or playing computer games as opposed to watching television. I also became aware that men tended to watch more television than women.
My next question asked how often they watched documentaries. This question made me aware of how little people actually engage in the genre of documentary willingly, though they may sometimes watch programs such as big brother or design programs that they are unaware count as documentaries. My results tended to show that on average documentaries were mostly watched by people aged 30 – 55 and above, though there were noticeable amounts of younger students i.e. 19 – 25 year olds who watched documentaries often. This coincides with my findings through demographics that the main audiences of documentaries were older, more educated people and a small number of students. It also shows me that I will be targeting my documentary at an older, more mature and educated audience.
I then asked what people’s favourite documentary genres were. This question will be very significant in identifying my target audience as it will indicate the type of people whom enjoy investigative documentaries (my target audience). The results showed that the middle aged brackets (predominantly 30 – 40 and some 41 – 55’s) were most likely to enjoy investigative documentaries, as well as historical, political and cultural documentaries, whilst younger ages were more inclined to watch reality and real life documentaries. My results also indicated that men were more likely to enjoy historical and investigative pieces, where as women tended to enjoy reality and home improvement documentaries.
I then asked whether or not they would choose to watch a documentary over and above other genres such as sit com or soap. In the vast majority of cases the answer was either no or rarely, with many younger people choosing to watch sit coms and many women choosing soaps. However once again men from the late 20’s onwards tended to answer yes or more often than not to this question indicated once again to me the primary audience of documentaries as an art form.
Having all but identified my target audience, I included a couple of questions that sought to identify audience’s expectations of how documentaries are distributed through terrestrial and digital TV channels as well as identify their expectations on what conventions are typical of genres, in order to understand how they associate themselves with representations and specific Mise En Scene within any given piece.
Firstly I asked them to identify their favourite genre of documentary. In the vast majority of cases my audiences filed together into the categories laid out by demographics, i.e younger people chose reality documentaries, whilst most women chose home improvement and real life documentaries. Once again the key core of those who chose investigative documentaries were men aged between 30 and 55 with a few of student age as well.
I then asked them what channels they expected that genre of documentary to be distributed via from a list of 12 top terrestrial and digital channels. With most genres the answers were pretty obvious, i.e. historical documentaries appearing on the “history channel” and reality documentaries appearing on “CBS Reality”. However with the investigative documentary genre the results were mixed. The vast majority of people believed that they would be shown on the BBC channels as well as channel 4 as they are channels aimed toward a large and educated audience. The most prominent answer I received was BBC2 and BBC3 depending on the scale of the documentary. This indicated to me the most probable channels my piece would most likely be distributed via.
Finally I asked them to bullet point a few conventions they expected to find within their given genre. Once again certain genres had predictable answers such as the use of an authoritative narrator and footage shot for different purposes in historical documentaries, as well as montages and charismatic presenters in home improvement documentaries. With the investigative documentary genre however I received a variety of different expectations of conventions and representations. The most common of these being a charismatic presenter, who seeks to understand and investigate any given issue through the use of interviews. They also expected voice over narration coupled with talking head explanation of interviews, goings on and findings within the piece as it unfolded and reached a conclusion.
Applying the results of the questionnaire to my documentary.
Using the results of my questionnaire I have been able to identify the primary target audience for my final piece. The questionnaire along with my analysis of demographics have pin pointed males aged 30 and above as well as some students, with a higher intellect and education as the primary audience for investigative documentaries.
Being able to identify my pieces primary audience will be useful for producing the documentary as I will be able to aim it toward fulfilling the expectations of representation and Mise En Scene held by my audience. These expectations I also found out using the questionnaire. It seems that like most examples of professionally produced documentaries I have watched and my research into the conventions of investigative documentaries that the audience come to expect some of the genres traditional conventions such as a voice over narration, interviews and the use of a presenter and talking head. In order to access my audience as much as possible through my documentary I will adhere to these expectations and conventions so that the audience can relate to the representations presented through dialogue, editing and Mise En Scene.
The results also showed me some of the TV channels both digital and terrestrial, that audiences expect to find certain genres of documentaries on. I will now study into the institutions behind documentaries, investigating how they influence the production of documentaries and how institutions profit from them as an art from.
In order to attain a more detailed indication of my target audience I produced a questionnaire that sought to identify what kind of people were attracted to what types of documentary genres. From this I will be able to identify my target audience that I am to aim my documentary toward. I also included questions that invited my questionnaire subjects to identify what channels they expected their favourite documentaries to be broadcast on as well as identify a few conventions that they feel are typical of a certain genre. I did this to gain an insight into what audiences expect from different genres of documentaries so that I can key mine towards their expectations of Mise En Scene and representation.
In order to attain a wide variety of audience I distributed my questionnaire amongst members of the public on Stafford high street. Having analysed my results I will now summarise them and identify how they will effect my production. Below is a blank copy of the questionnaire I distributed.
Questionnaire results
I distributed my questionnaire to 50 members of the public (27 males, 23 females). The ages were varying so that the results of my questionnaire would not by bias toward any certain age group.
My results firstly indicated that the older a person was the more television on average he or she watched. This showed the most increase between the ages 26 and 55+, probably due to younger people choosing to spend their leisure time socialising or using the internet or playing computer games as opposed to watching television. I also became aware that men tended to watch more television than women.
My next question asked how often they watched documentaries. This question made me aware of how little people actually engage in the genre of documentary willingly, though they may sometimes watch programs such as big brother or design programs that they are unaware count as documentaries. My results tended to show that on average documentaries were mostly watched by people aged 30 – 55 and above, though there were noticeable amounts of younger students i.e. 19 – 25 year olds who watched documentaries often. This coincides with my findings through demographics that the main audiences of documentaries were older, more educated people and a small number of students. It also shows me that I will be targeting my documentary at an older, more mature and educated audience.
I then asked what people’s favourite documentary genres were. This question will be very significant in identifying my target audience as it will indicate the type of people whom enjoy investigative documentaries (my target audience). The results showed that the middle aged brackets (predominantly 30 – 40 and some 41 – 55’s) were most likely to enjoy investigative documentaries, as well as historical, political and cultural documentaries, whilst younger ages were more inclined to watch reality and real life documentaries. My results also indicated that men were more likely to enjoy historical and investigative pieces, where as women tended to enjoy reality and home improvement documentaries.
I then asked whether or not they would choose to watch a documentary over and above other genres such as sit com or soap. In the vast majority of cases the answer was either no or rarely, with many younger people choosing to watch sit coms and many women choosing soaps. However once again men from the late 20’s onwards tended to answer yes or more often than not to this question indicated once again to me the primary audience of documentaries as an art form.
Having all but identified my target audience, I included a couple of questions that sought to identify audience’s expectations of how documentaries are distributed through terrestrial and digital TV channels as well as identify their expectations on what conventions are typical of genres, in order to understand how they associate themselves with representations and specific Mise En Scene within any given piece.
Firstly I asked them to identify their favourite genre of documentary. In the vast majority of cases my audiences filed together into the categories laid out by demographics, i.e younger people chose reality documentaries, whilst most women chose home improvement and real life documentaries. Once again the key core of those who chose investigative documentaries were men aged between 30 and 55 with a few of student age as well.
I then asked them what channels they expected that genre of documentary to be distributed via from a list of 12 top terrestrial and digital channels. With most genres the answers were pretty obvious, i.e. historical documentaries appearing on the “history channel” and reality documentaries appearing on “CBS Reality”. However with the investigative documentary genre the results were mixed. The vast majority of people believed that they would be shown on the BBC channels as well as channel 4 as they are channels aimed toward a large and educated audience. The most prominent answer I received was BBC2 and BBC3 depending on the scale of the documentary. This indicated to me the most probable channels my piece would most likely be distributed via.
Finally I asked them to bullet point a few conventions they expected to find within their given genre. Once again certain genres had predictable answers such as the use of an authoritative narrator and footage shot for different purposes in historical documentaries, as well as montages and charismatic presenters in home improvement documentaries. With the investigative documentary genre however I received a variety of different expectations of conventions and representations. The most common of these being a charismatic presenter, who seeks to understand and investigate any given issue through the use of interviews. They also expected voice over narration coupled with talking head explanation of interviews, goings on and findings within the piece as it unfolded and reached a conclusion.
Applying the results of the questionnaire to my documentary.
Using the results of my questionnaire I have been able to identify the primary target audience for my final piece. The questionnaire along with my analysis of demographics have pin pointed males aged 30 and above as well as some students, with a higher intellect and education as the primary audience for investigative documentaries.
Being able to identify my pieces primary audience will be useful for producing the documentary as I will be able to aim it toward fulfilling the expectations of representation and Mise En Scene held by my audience. These expectations I also found out using the questionnaire. It seems that like most examples of professionally produced documentaries I have watched and my research into the conventions of investigative documentaries that the audience come to expect some of the genres traditional conventions such as a voice over narration, interviews and the use of a presenter and talking head. In order to access my audience as much as possible through my documentary I will adhere to these expectations and conventions so that the audience can relate to the representations presented through dialogue, editing and Mise En Scene.
The results also showed me some of the TV channels both digital and terrestrial, that audiences expect to find certain genres of documentaries on. I will now study into the institutions behind documentaries, investigating how they influence the production of documentaries and how institutions profit from them as an art from.
Audience theory - Demographics - 28th September
Demographics
Demographics is a method of audience research which divides the adult population into 6 different categories based mainly on the work they do. Each group has its own individual letter code that describes the income and job status of the members of each group.
A – Higher management – bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals
B – Middle management – Teachers, creative and media people
C1 – White Collar - Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses
C2 – Skilled Manual workers – plumbers, electricians, builders
D – Semi skilled and unskilled manual workers
E – Unemployed, casual workers, pensioners, Students
Using these 6 groups, marketers can distribute their product and advertise it in accordance with the group or groups their product is aimed at. For example a crime thriller is not likely to appeal to groups D or E (except students) and is more likely to appeal to groups A and B, and therefore the product should be created, advertised and distributed with them in mind.
Demographics does not however give a complete picture. It stereotypes all the members of each group into one collective mind frame. This is ineffective as it does not represent for example a builder whom enjoys documentaries and politics or a teacher who doesn’t.
Applying Demographics to my work
After studying this audience theory I thought how I could apply it to my documentary. The most likely groups for my documentary are A and B with possible elements of C such as supervisors and E such as students. This identifies the higher educated members of society, but however does not give a clear picture as it is based loosely around their job titles and not their personalities, hobbies and interests. However demographics does give me an indication to the type of people I should be marketing my documentary towards and this will be very helpful with promotion for my film. For example as groups A and B are higher educated and will be the main target audience for my piece, I would attract the most attention by advertising in a publication associated with that group, i.e. the Times newspaper as opposed to hello magazine.
Demographics is a method of audience research which divides the adult population into 6 different categories based mainly on the work they do. Each group has its own individual letter code that describes the income and job status of the members of each group.
A – Higher management – bankers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals
B – Middle management – Teachers, creative and media people
C1 – White Collar - Office supervisors, junior managers, nurses
C2 – Skilled Manual workers – plumbers, electricians, builders
D – Semi skilled and unskilled manual workers
E – Unemployed, casual workers, pensioners, Students
Using these 6 groups, marketers can distribute their product and advertise it in accordance with the group or groups their product is aimed at. For example a crime thriller is not likely to appeal to groups D or E (except students) and is more likely to appeal to groups A and B, and therefore the product should be created, advertised and distributed with them in mind.
Demographics does not however give a complete picture. It stereotypes all the members of each group into one collective mind frame. This is ineffective as it does not represent for example a builder whom enjoys documentaries and politics or a teacher who doesn’t.
Applying Demographics to my work
After studying this audience theory I thought how I could apply it to my documentary. The most likely groups for my documentary are A and B with possible elements of C such as supervisors and E such as students. This identifies the higher educated members of society, but however does not give a clear picture as it is based loosely around their job titles and not their personalities, hobbies and interests. However demographics does give me an indication to the type of people I should be marketing my documentary towards and this will be very helpful with promotion for my film. For example as groups A and B are higher educated and will be the main target audience for my piece, I would attract the most attention by advertising in a publication associated with that group, i.e. the Times newspaper as opposed to hello magazine.
Audience theory - 27th September
After researching into the different conventions, techniques and genres I will now seek to gain further understanding of the audiences that different documentaries are targeted at. All good media products are created with a specific audience in mind and are crafted to relate to the needs of that specific audience. Representation and Mise En Scene are two considerations directors of documentaries relate to when creating their work. Often the set up of an interview and attire of a presenter can be used to influence how an audience receives a product, much like the use of the expert convention explained earlier. For example a nature program presented by a man in a suit sitting in an office would not be as well received as if it were presented by a man in outdoor gear in a forest, as well as one would expect a documentary on economical decline to be presented by a man in a suit as opposed to a man in outdoor gear. Although virtually the same information, ideals and opinions are being put across, the audience will be more sceptical of the man in the suit as he is not a representation that the audience expects and is comfortable with, and will receive the information better when it is put across by a presenter they feel is representational to the information being put across.
In researching audiences I will investigate audience theories used in the media to explain audiences and see how these relate to my production. I will also research demographics and create a questionnaire to be distributed to a wide variety of people in order to discover my prospective target audience. I will then look into how audiences consumer media texts and research how institutions within the media distribute this with audience consumption in mind.
Audience theory
Audience Theory is a medium of research focused on how audiences receive media texts and consume them that have matured and sophisticated from as early as the 1920’s.
Since then there have been four major schools of thought regarding audience theory that have increased in sophistication and depth of audience with some of the first theories regarding audiences as very similar and almost drone like in their consumption of the media.
The Hypodermic Syringe Model
The Hypodermic Syringe Model (or the Hypodermic Needle Model) was the first attempt by academics to attempt to explain how “the masses” might react to media. The theory was created just after the First World War, at a time where the media as a means of influence was a new thing and governments had only just begun to discover the power that media had in influencing the population (this power would of course later be used to cataclysmic extremes by both the Nazi party in Germany and the Bolshevik party in Russia to impose their radical ideals on the people of both countries).
The theory in itself was a crude model that reduced audiences to passive drones consuming media without a second thought. The intelligence and opinions of the individual were not considered relative at the time of this theories creation. It also assumes that audiences receive any media without mediating (filtering it logically) it in their minds. The name of this theory literally refers to a metaphorical needle injecting media right into audience’s minds, manipulating them and indoctrinating them to follow the media creator’s ideals and that being their only thoughts. Of course this theory was soon superseded as it became apparent that audiences were not so easily manipulated by the creators of propaganda and media texts and that audience’s filtered information in their minds, instead of receiving it passively like an injection of information to the brain.
Two Step Flow
As mass media became more and more prevalent in societies throughout the world, it became apparent that audiences were not drone like in their consumption of the media, rendering the hypodermic syringe theory useless to anybody wishing to understand the relation between audience and media texts.
The Two Step Flow school of thought was developed during the 1940’s. Branching away from the hypodermic syringe model, this theory gave thought to idea that audiences do not directly consume media straight from media texts but from what was known as “opinion leaders”. These opinion leaders were people with more access to the media, who would then pass this information on to their “lesser associates” over whom they held influence. These opinion leaders would filter the information from media texts judging them by their own values and opinions before handing them on to the “masses”. The “masses” would then of course believe the opinions and facts handed to them by the opinion leaders much in the same was as the hypodermic syringe model worked.
Though this theory was a step up from the hypodermic syringe model by the fact it recognised that media texts were mediated by individuals not just received straight lie an injection, it still grouped the masses together into a single minded entity with passive drone like tendencies in consuming media texts.
Uses and Gratifications
During the 1960’s as the first generation born into a mass media consuming society who grew up with television became adults, it once again became apparent that current audience theories and the “Two Step Flow” model were outdated an ineffective in explaining the relation between audience and media text. A new theory that was developed around audiences having more than a passive intake of media that instead of them in taking it like a drone, they consumed certain media texts depending on their needs for their uses. In short the theory was an audience centralised school of thought where audiences controlled the media they consumed to gratify their needs, not the media controlling what audiences consume in order to manipulate and indoctrinate audiences. In the late 70’s four main uses for audiences were devised that sought to explain why certain audiences consumed certain media texts. They were:
• Diversion – for escapism value and a change of scenery from every day problems and stress.
• Personal Relationships – Using media texts for emotional interaction, eg substituting soap operas for family life
• Personal Identity – indentifying themselves within media texts and learning behaviour, ideals and values from them.
• Surveillance – watching news, weather and financial reports to intake information valuable in an audience’s life.
In this instance documentaries would fall under personal identity and surveillance, as an audience would consume a documentary to learn from it for use in social situations and think about the values presented in the documentary and identify their own values and morals in relation to this information and opinions presented.
Reception Theory
As it became more and more apparent that audiences consumed media for their own uses, academics soon began to investigate how certain individual’s situations such as race, gender, age and social status, affected what media texts they consumed and for what reasons. Based around the encoding/decoding theory that suggests media texts are encoded by creators and decoded by audiences through conventions such as representation and background knowledge. According to this theory, specific Mise En Scene may be placed on a set by a director in order to appeal to a certain audience almost like an inside knowledge of the themes presented in the text. This leads to separate audiences consuming the same media text in a different way, decoding a different meaning from it. This leads to the reception theory of preferred reading, where specific audiences consume texts they relate too and understand to gratify their needs as presented by the uses and gratifications theory.
Applying Audience Theory to My Production
From researching the progression of audience theory throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, I have learnt a great deal about audiences in relation to their consumption of media texts. I have learnt that audiences are not passive in their consumption of media texts, and that they gratify their needs by using media texts for different purposes. I have also learnt how conventions, Mise En Scene and familiarity are used by the creators of media texts in order for their audiences to relate to and choose to gratify their needs with certain media texts that they enjoy through preferred reading.
This understanding of audience theory will help me to create a documentary that can be used by audiences to gratify their needs of surveillance and personal identity, and that will use Mise En Scene and representation effectively so that my audience will both enjoy my piece and make use of it to fulfil their needs.
I will now study demographics, an audience theory used in market research as well as a questionnaire in order to identify my perspective target audience that I will create my documentary with in mind.
In researching audiences I will investigate audience theories used in the media to explain audiences and see how these relate to my production. I will also research demographics and create a questionnaire to be distributed to a wide variety of people in order to discover my prospective target audience. I will then look into how audiences consumer media texts and research how institutions within the media distribute this with audience consumption in mind.
Audience theory
Audience Theory is a medium of research focused on how audiences receive media texts and consume them that have matured and sophisticated from as early as the 1920’s.
Since then there have been four major schools of thought regarding audience theory that have increased in sophistication and depth of audience with some of the first theories regarding audiences as very similar and almost drone like in their consumption of the media.
The Hypodermic Syringe Model
The Hypodermic Syringe Model (or the Hypodermic Needle Model) was the first attempt by academics to attempt to explain how “the masses” might react to media. The theory was created just after the First World War, at a time where the media as a means of influence was a new thing and governments had only just begun to discover the power that media had in influencing the population (this power would of course later be used to cataclysmic extremes by both the Nazi party in Germany and the Bolshevik party in Russia to impose their radical ideals on the people of both countries).
The theory in itself was a crude model that reduced audiences to passive drones consuming media without a second thought. The intelligence and opinions of the individual were not considered relative at the time of this theories creation. It also assumes that audiences receive any media without mediating (filtering it logically) it in their minds. The name of this theory literally refers to a metaphorical needle injecting media right into audience’s minds, manipulating them and indoctrinating them to follow the media creator’s ideals and that being their only thoughts. Of course this theory was soon superseded as it became apparent that audiences were not so easily manipulated by the creators of propaganda and media texts and that audience’s filtered information in their minds, instead of receiving it passively like an injection of information to the brain.
Two Step Flow
As mass media became more and more prevalent in societies throughout the world, it became apparent that audiences were not drone like in their consumption of the media, rendering the hypodermic syringe theory useless to anybody wishing to understand the relation between audience and media texts.
The Two Step Flow school of thought was developed during the 1940’s. Branching away from the hypodermic syringe model, this theory gave thought to idea that audiences do not directly consume media straight from media texts but from what was known as “opinion leaders”. These opinion leaders were people with more access to the media, who would then pass this information on to their “lesser associates” over whom they held influence. These opinion leaders would filter the information from media texts judging them by their own values and opinions before handing them on to the “masses”. The “masses” would then of course believe the opinions and facts handed to them by the opinion leaders much in the same was as the hypodermic syringe model worked.
Though this theory was a step up from the hypodermic syringe model by the fact it recognised that media texts were mediated by individuals not just received straight lie an injection, it still grouped the masses together into a single minded entity with passive drone like tendencies in consuming media texts.
Uses and Gratifications
During the 1960’s as the first generation born into a mass media consuming society who grew up with television became adults, it once again became apparent that current audience theories and the “Two Step Flow” model were outdated an ineffective in explaining the relation between audience and media text. A new theory that was developed around audiences having more than a passive intake of media that instead of them in taking it like a drone, they consumed certain media texts depending on their needs for their uses. In short the theory was an audience centralised school of thought where audiences controlled the media they consumed to gratify their needs, not the media controlling what audiences consume in order to manipulate and indoctrinate audiences. In the late 70’s four main uses for audiences were devised that sought to explain why certain audiences consumed certain media texts. They were:
• Diversion – for escapism value and a change of scenery from every day problems and stress.
• Personal Relationships – Using media texts for emotional interaction, eg substituting soap operas for family life
• Personal Identity – indentifying themselves within media texts and learning behaviour, ideals and values from them.
• Surveillance – watching news, weather and financial reports to intake information valuable in an audience’s life.
In this instance documentaries would fall under personal identity and surveillance, as an audience would consume a documentary to learn from it for use in social situations and think about the values presented in the documentary and identify their own values and morals in relation to this information and opinions presented.
Reception Theory
As it became more and more apparent that audiences consumed media for their own uses, academics soon began to investigate how certain individual’s situations such as race, gender, age and social status, affected what media texts they consumed and for what reasons. Based around the encoding/decoding theory that suggests media texts are encoded by creators and decoded by audiences through conventions such as representation and background knowledge. According to this theory, specific Mise En Scene may be placed on a set by a director in order to appeal to a certain audience almost like an inside knowledge of the themes presented in the text. This leads to separate audiences consuming the same media text in a different way, decoding a different meaning from it. This leads to the reception theory of preferred reading, where specific audiences consume texts they relate too and understand to gratify their needs as presented by the uses and gratifications theory.
Applying Audience Theory to My Production
From researching the progression of audience theory throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, I have learnt a great deal about audiences in relation to their consumption of media texts. I have learnt that audiences are not passive in their consumption of media texts, and that they gratify their needs by using media texts for different purposes. I have also learnt how conventions, Mise En Scene and familiarity are used by the creators of media texts in order for their audiences to relate to and choose to gratify their needs with certain media texts that they enjoy through preferred reading.
This understanding of audience theory will help me to create a documentary that can be used by audiences to gratify their needs of surveillance and personal identity, and that will use Mise En Scene and representation effectively so that my audience will both enjoy my piece and make use of it to fulfil their needs.
I will now study demographics, an audience theory used in market research as well as a questionnaire in order to identify my perspective target audience that I will create my documentary with in mind.
Genres within documentaries - 22nd September
I then looked into the different genres of documentary film and their variations. There are a huge number of documentary film genres ranging from hard hitting investigative documentaries such as BBC1’s Panorama which deals with controversial issues in society such as domestic violence and press regulation, to documentaries on travel and home improvements such as “A Place In The Sun” and “Homes Under The Hammer” where property development and selling are documented to an audience for the purpose of entertainment.
Though both of these constitute as documentaries, it is evident to observe that their themes vary greatly. The varying themes in documentaries determine a documentaries genre.
Here I have compiled a list of some of the main genres of documentaries, explaining what each genre entails and giving a few examples of documentaries that fall into that certain genre. It is also recognised that many of these genres overlap with one another, for example a propagandistic documentary will most likely involve conventions found within campaigning and political documentaries.
Investigative Documentaries:
Investigative documentaries as the name suggests investigate an issue. Like investigative journalism, an investigative documentary will relentlessly seek to take an issue and discover as much about it as it can. Investigative documentaries deal with hard hitting issues such as war, controversy and corruption and are primarily aimed at a more educated audience, therefore adopting themes associated with them such as debated argument and graphic images. Interviews are a convention widely used in this genre as well as the talking head, vox pop and the use of “actuality” and fly on the wall filming to depict real events, however gruesome or horrific, in their naked form.
Examples of investigative documentaries include BBC’s Panorama and Channel 4’s Dispatches. Both similar series that deal with current controversial issues in the media, investigating them and providing information for the audience about the subject through he use of interviews, facts and information.
Historical Documentaries
Historical documentaries as the name suggests inform its audiences about historical happenings. Once again aimed at an educated audience, the historical documentary seeks primarily to inform. This can however be for either educational purpose i.e. the use in schools, or for entertainment, or both. Historical documentaries frequently feature the same cocktail of conventions: the talking head, the use of expert through the medium of interview and (depending on the historical age of the content) footage from the time or reconstructions if this is unavailable.
Examples of this genre include the “World at War” series documenting the entire Second World War. This genre also encompasses many of the conventions found in artistic/cultural documentaries, which use similar conventions to inform, educate and entertain its educated audience.
Travel and home improvement documentaries
Travel and home improvement documentaries are a cross between documental film and reality T.V. Aimed at a different audience to most documentaries, this genre documents projects undertaken by property developers, D.I.Y enthusiasts and ordinary people moving house depending on the program. This genre features a lot of scripted shots intended to be “fly on the wall” in order to give the audience (often middle aged women watching day time T.V) the impression of actuality. Unlike most documentaries, this genre is often a daily program or a series of programs showed on various days of the week, all with a similar theme giving the genre its reality T.V cross over. The genre also expands to programs documenting car selling, antiques purchase and auctioning as well as programs dealing with peoples diets and weight loss, all encompassed under the same genre with similar forms and conventions.
Examples of this genre include Channel 4’s “Grand Designs”, and the BBC’s “Cash in the attic” and mainly set out to entertain its audience as well as educate them by giving advice on projects such as D.I.Y. As a genre I feel the travel documentary holds few conventions that could be useful to my piece; however I do note its standing as a major documentary genre.
Political, Propagandist, Campaigning documentaries
All of these documentaries as genres share the similar theme of persuading its audience. All of them use very persuasive techniques such as clipped interviews and carefully selected interviewee’s to give the audience a very one sided story on an issue. The main purpose of these documentaries is to gain public awareness on the issue promoted by and documented in the film. The genre often features film shot for other purposes such as film from historic marches as well as actuality filming of political marches taking place that would occur whether the camera was there or not. These documentaries are often narrated by a presenter with a mix of voice over’s and talking head, accompanied by music relevant to the film. The predominant audience for these documentaries are the higher educated and are often shown in cinemas and DVD as opposed to TV.
A notable example of a documentary that encompasses all three of these sub genres is the 1975 documentary “The Night Cleaners”, which documented the struggle of women cleaners to get a union. Though my documentary has no real political message to convey, I do seek to push either side of the argument of true or false after reaching a judgment on which is prevalent. For this I feel some of the conventions of this genre such as clips interviews could be useful.
My Documentary
After looking into the conventions of some of the major genres of documental film I have decided to base mine around the conventions used in investigative documentaries. As I am investigating a rumour and a local myth I feel it is the most fitting genre. I will use the conventions of this genre such as voice over and talking head narration as well as interviews with experts and vox pop to maximum effect. However I will slightly break away from the codes and conventions of this genre and into others slightly. As the majority of investigative documentaries deal with hard hitting topics and create a very serious, solemn atmosphere through the use of interviews and very serious narration I feel it necessary to challenge this convention. As my documentary is based on a theme a little less serious than war, famine and corruption I will make my documentary slightly more light hearted yet not comical in order to attract an audience of younger educates such as students as well as the traditional audience of educated people interested in issues of controversy and debate. This style of genre convergence can be seen prominently in some of Louis Therox’s documentaries such as U.F.O hunters which I will be analysing later in my research.
Though both of these constitute as documentaries, it is evident to observe that their themes vary greatly. The varying themes in documentaries determine a documentaries genre.
Here I have compiled a list of some of the main genres of documentaries, explaining what each genre entails and giving a few examples of documentaries that fall into that certain genre. It is also recognised that many of these genres overlap with one another, for example a propagandistic documentary will most likely involve conventions found within campaigning and political documentaries.
Investigative Documentaries:
Investigative documentaries as the name suggests investigate an issue. Like investigative journalism, an investigative documentary will relentlessly seek to take an issue and discover as much about it as it can. Investigative documentaries deal with hard hitting issues such as war, controversy and corruption and are primarily aimed at a more educated audience, therefore adopting themes associated with them such as debated argument and graphic images. Interviews are a convention widely used in this genre as well as the talking head, vox pop and the use of “actuality” and fly on the wall filming to depict real events, however gruesome or horrific, in their naked form.
Examples of investigative documentaries include BBC’s Panorama and Channel 4’s Dispatches. Both similar series that deal with current controversial issues in the media, investigating them and providing information for the audience about the subject through he use of interviews, facts and information.
Historical Documentaries
Historical documentaries as the name suggests inform its audiences about historical happenings. Once again aimed at an educated audience, the historical documentary seeks primarily to inform. This can however be for either educational purpose i.e. the use in schools, or for entertainment, or both. Historical documentaries frequently feature the same cocktail of conventions: the talking head, the use of expert through the medium of interview and (depending on the historical age of the content) footage from the time or reconstructions if this is unavailable.
Examples of this genre include the “World at War” series documenting the entire Second World War. This genre also encompasses many of the conventions found in artistic/cultural documentaries, which use similar conventions to inform, educate and entertain its educated audience.
Travel and home improvement documentaries
Travel and home improvement documentaries are a cross between documental film and reality T.V. Aimed at a different audience to most documentaries, this genre documents projects undertaken by property developers, D.I.Y enthusiasts and ordinary people moving house depending on the program. This genre features a lot of scripted shots intended to be “fly on the wall” in order to give the audience (often middle aged women watching day time T.V) the impression of actuality. Unlike most documentaries, this genre is often a daily program or a series of programs showed on various days of the week, all with a similar theme giving the genre its reality T.V cross over. The genre also expands to programs documenting car selling, antiques purchase and auctioning as well as programs dealing with peoples diets and weight loss, all encompassed under the same genre with similar forms and conventions.
Examples of this genre include Channel 4’s “Grand Designs”, and the BBC’s “Cash in the attic” and mainly set out to entertain its audience as well as educate them by giving advice on projects such as D.I.Y. As a genre I feel the travel documentary holds few conventions that could be useful to my piece; however I do note its standing as a major documentary genre.
Political, Propagandist, Campaigning documentaries
All of these documentaries as genres share the similar theme of persuading its audience. All of them use very persuasive techniques such as clipped interviews and carefully selected interviewee’s to give the audience a very one sided story on an issue. The main purpose of these documentaries is to gain public awareness on the issue promoted by and documented in the film. The genre often features film shot for other purposes such as film from historic marches as well as actuality filming of political marches taking place that would occur whether the camera was there or not. These documentaries are often narrated by a presenter with a mix of voice over’s and talking head, accompanied by music relevant to the film. The predominant audience for these documentaries are the higher educated and are often shown in cinemas and DVD as opposed to TV.
A notable example of a documentary that encompasses all three of these sub genres is the 1975 documentary “The Night Cleaners”, which documented the struggle of women cleaners to get a union. Though my documentary has no real political message to convey, I do seek to push either side of the argument of true or false after reaching a judgment on which is prevalent. For this I feel some of the conventions of this genre such as clips interviews could be useful.
My Documentary
After looking into the conventions of some of the major genres of documental film I have decided to base mine around the conventions used in investigative documentaries. As I am investigating a rumour and a local myth I feel it is the most fitting genre. I will use the conventions of this genre such as voice over and talking head narration as well as interviews with experts and vox pop to maximum effect. However I will slightly break away from the codes and conventions of this genre and into others slightly. As the majority of investigative documentaries deal with hard hitting topics and create a very serious, solemn atmosphere through the use of interviews and very serious narration I feel it necessary to challenge this convention. As my documentary is based on a theme a little less serious than war, famine and corruption I will make my documentary slightly more light hearted yet not comical in order to attract an audience of younger educates such as students as well as the traditional audience of educated people interested in issues of controversy and debate. This style of genre convergence can be seen prominently in some of Louis Therox’s documentaries such as U.F.O hunters which I will be analysing later in my research.
Conventions of the documentary - 21st September
I began research by looking into the major conventions and techniques found within all genres of documentaries. Here I have selected a few I feel constitute as major conventions, and have analysed them explaining what they are and how they could be used in my piece as well as viewing examples of them on YouTube.
Fly on the wall filming
As I have already established fiction films portray footage that has been crafted and scripted. Documentaries however record people going about their lives often unscripted, presenting real events ranging from war and famine to people walking through a town centre. Fly on the wall filming is a convention used in documentaries to record people going about there daily business as they would if the camera was not there. Often this is filmed over a long period of time and is edited down to size showing only the bits of significance or the whole piece is sped up to act as a montage or scene setting tool. Fly on the wall filming is also used as a break up in interviews so that the audience is not constantly watching a person talk.
Although I appreciate the importance of fly on the wall filming as a major convention in documentary filming, I feel that my piece would not benefit from it as I am seeking to investigate a local myth, not gain an insight into local life, a theme that would benefit hugely from fly on the wall filming.
The use of film originally shot for another purpose
Some documentaries often feature footage originally shot for another purpose. The most common use of this is in historical documentaries, where footage of battles or bombings is used on top of a voice over to give a visual portrayal of what the narrator is expressing.
Once again I realize the importance of this convention in documentaries, but as I seek to investigate a myth there isn’t any footage. Hence I will not be using this convention in my documentary.
Voice over
Voice over’s are used widely in documentaries. Traditionally this is the voice of an actor giving a narration and explanation of the footage being shown. However voice over as a convention also includes testimonies of eye witnesses, parts of interviews and opinions from experts.
Voice over is a convention I seek to use frequently in my piece. As with most documentaries I will be conducting interviews as well as narrating the piece, presenting evidence in a neutral fashion so as not to create a sense of obvious bias. For this I will obviously need to use voice over’s on footage.
Interviews and the use of the Expert
All good documentaries are based on extensive research. This research is made apparent through the use of interviews. Interviews are conducted to give the audience another opinion on the matter at hand, and are very useful as subtle persuasion tools. For example an interview with a doctor or respected academic i.e. the “expert”, has a high degree of legitimacy as the audience feel they can trust the source. Often when interviewing the “expert” a footnote appears at the bottom of the screen giving the audience the name and more importantly qualification of the interviewee. These interviews are often highly edited and certain questions asked or answers given that go against the opinion promoted by the narrator are omitted from the final piece. These interviews can take the form of a “talking head” in front of a camera and a voice over on some footage. This is done so that the audience does not get bored of watching a person talking to a camera.
I will be using interviews a lot in my piece as I intend to investigate a local myth; the opinions of experts will be both informative and persuasive for the audience. Who I choose to interview of course will be important. I will need to conduct interviews with experts who will be able to give a researched an informed answer. The mise en scene used in interviews is also important as a subjective bias. For example placing a person in a room with books in a suit will automatically give the audience the impression he is educated and thus knows what he’s talking about.
Talking head
In TV jargon, a shot of someone talking directly to the camera is called a “talking head”. The talking head is often associated with authority and the presentation of facts. It is a convention used in the majority of documentaries as well as news broadcasts.
I intend to use the talking head in my piece a little, combining it with narration, voice over’s and scenic shots to give information with boring the audience by having them just watch the talking head.
Vox Pop
Vox Pop is the term used in film and television for consultation with the “ordinary person in the street”. The term derives from the Latin Vox Populi, the voice of the people. Typically vox pop is a series of clips of mini interviews conducted with the public where the question is only asked once and a series of clips of different people answering is merged together into a montage giving the audience an insight into what the public think.
Vox Pop is a very useful tool used in documentaries to gain an insight into public opinion on any matter, and it is a convention that I may use in my documentary to gain peoples opinion on whether they believe or disbelieve the local legend.
Eyewitnesses or participants
Interviews conducted with eye witnesses and people who were there are a useful tool to be used in documentary. Often an interview with a witness helps establish facts, truth and reality. Interviewing eye witnesses is frequently a convention used in television news broadcasts, but also creeps into documentaries.
I feel that should I be able to conduct an interview with some one who has allegedly seen the beast of the chase, then it would be a great piece of evidence for either side of the argument that my documentary seeks to resolve.
Fly on the wall filming
As I have already established fiction films portray footage that has been crafted and scripted. Documentaries however record people going about their lives often unscripted, presenting real events ranging from war and famine to people walking through a town centre. Fly on the wall filming is a convention used in documentaries to record people going about there daily business as they would if the camera was not there. Often this is filmed over a long period of time and is edited down to size showing only the bits of significance or the whole piece is sped up to act as a montage or scene setting tool. Fly on the wall filming is also used as a break up in interviews so that the audience is not constantly watching a person talk.
Although I appreciate the importance of fly on the wall filming as a major convention in documentary filming, I feel that my piece would not benefit from it as I am seeking to investigate a local myth, not gain an insight into local life, a theme that would benefit hugely from fly on the wall filming.
The use of film originally shot for another purpose
Some documentaries often feature footage originally shot for another purpose. The most common use of this is in historical documentaries, where footage of battles or bombings is used on top of a voice over to give a visual portrayal of what the narrator is expressing.
Once again I realize the importance of this convention in documentaries, but as I seek to investigate a myth there isn’t any footage. Hence I will not be using this convention in my documentary.
Voice over
Voice over’s are used widely in documentaries. Traditionally this is the voice of an actor giving a narration and explanation of the footage being shown. However voice over as a convention also includes testimonies of eye witnesses, parts of interviews and opinions from experts.
Voice over is a convention I seek to use frequently in my piece. As with most documentaries I will be conducting interviews as well as narrating the piece, presenting evidence in a neutral fashion so as not to create a sense of obvious bias. For this I will obviously need to use voice over’s on footage.
Interviews and the use of the Expert
All good documentaries are based on extensive research. This research is made apparent through the use of interviews. Interviews are conducted to give the audience another opinion on the matter at hand, and are very useful as subtle persuasion tools. For example an interview with a doctor or respected academic i.e. the “expert”, has a high degree of legitimacy as the audience feel they can trust the source. Often when interviewing the “expert” a footnote appears at the bottom of the screen giving the audience the name and more importantly qualification of the interviewee. These interviews are often highly edited and certain questions asked or answers given that go against the opinion promoted by the narrator are omitted from the final piece. These interviews can take the form of a “talking head” in front of a camera and a voice over on some footage. This is done so that the audience does not get bored of watching a person talking to a camera.
I will be using interviews a lot in my piece as I intend to investigate a local myth; the opinions of experts will be both informative and persuasive for the audience. Who I choose to interview of course will be important. I will need to conduct interviews with experts who will be able to give a researched an informed answer. The mise en scene used in interviews is also important as a subjective bias. For example placing a person in a room with books in a suit will automatically give the audience the impression he is educated and thus knows what he’s talking about.
Talking head
In TV jargon, a shot of someone talking directly to the camera is called a “talking head”. The talking head is often associated with authority and the presentation of facts. It is a convention used in the majority of documentaries as well as news broadcasts.
I intend to use the talking head in my piece a little, combining it with narration, voice over’s and scenic shots to give information with boring the audience by having them just watch the talking head.
Vox Pop
Vox Pop is the term used in film and television for consultation with the “ordinary person in the street”. The term derives from the Latin Vox Populi, the voice of the people. Typically vox pop is a series of clips of mini interviews conducted with the public where the question is only asked once and a series of clips of different people answering is merged together into a montage giving the audience an insight into what the public think.
Vox Pop is a very useful tool used in documentaries to gain an insight into public opinion on any matter, and it is a convention that I may use in my documentary to gain peoples opinion on whether they believe or disbelieve the local legend.
Eyewitnesses or participants
Interviews conducted with eye witnesses and people who were there are a useful tool to be used in documentary. Often an interview with a witness helps establish facts, truth and reality. Interviewing eye witnesses is frequently a convention used in television news broadcasts, but also creeps into documentaries.
I feel that should I be able to conduct an interview with some one who has allegedly seen the beast of the chase, then it would be a great piece of evidence for either side of the argument that my documentary seeks to resolve.
Brief overview of documentaries - 19th September
I began my research by reading a few text book extracts and internet pages on the history of documentaries. It soon became apparent to me that documental films play a huge part in motion picture history, having been shown in cinemas since the earliest days of film and television.
The term “documentary” was first used by John Grieson in his essay “the first principles of documentary” in 1926. He wrote that documentaries have the “power of interpretation over more complex and astonishing happenings in the real world than the studio mind can conjure up or the studio mechanic can recreate” In short he outlined the fact that documentaries unlike scripted, fantasy works have the ability to show life how it really is, and tell a story of much deeper plot and thrilling design than could ever be thought up. He believed that the film industry at that time was not interested in producing cinema of the ordinary people, but more concerned with fantastical adventures that were fantasy in almost all regards. He believed that documentaries lifted the lid on the world of reality and gave an insight into the real world that should be shown to the people.
Griesons’ theories introduced me to the notion of factual entertainment where representations of the real world and actual events can be just as inspiring and entertaining to an audience than fiction.
I then went on to read an extract from a media text book on documentary film. This gave me a general overview of the concepts of documentary films, how they are created and the different techniques and genres that are used by directors in their production.
The main difference between a documentary and a fictional film is that a documentary presents real events and informs its audience on actual information and facts. However a documentary is defined on how it chooses to present these facts in a way that subtly influences an audience in a form of subjective bias. Modern editing software has enabled video footage to be cut and cropped in such a way that its meaning can be distorted and twisted to have an entirely different effect on its audience. For example in Michel Moore’s documentary “bowling for columbine” interviews with people are cut in certain places that sway the audience’s opinion to think how the director wishes them too.
The extract then went on to list the different types of documentary and describe the vast arsenal of conventions and techniques wielded by directors to produce documentaries that can achieve anything they desire, from inspiration, shock, sorrow, joy or enlightenment. It is important to remember that with documentaries certain conventions such as natural lighting, shaky camera movement and indistinct sound can be due to the conditions when the footage was recorded. However these still remain conventions and collaborate into what’s know as the “documentary look” where actual footage may seem less than professional due to comparisons the audience make with Hollywood films where time is spent to create perfect lighting and sound. After studying the list of conventions, I have summarised a few that will be useful techniques and conventions to apply to my documentary and others that help give an overall impression of filming techniques and typical documentary conventions.
The term “documentary” was first used by John Grieson in his essay “the first principles of documentary” in 1926. He wrote that documentaries have the “power of interpretation over more complex and astonishing happenings in the real world than the studio mind can conjure up or the studio mechanic can recreate” In short he outlined the fact that documentaries unlike scripted, fantasy works have the ability to show life how it really is, and tell a story of much deeper plot and thrilling design than could ever be thought up. He believed that the film industry at that time was not interested in producing cinema of the ordinary people, but more concerned with fantastical adventures that were fantasy in almost all regards. He believed that documentaries lifted the lid on the world of reality and gave an insight into the real world that should be shown to the people.
Griesons’ theories introduced me to the notion of factual entertainment where representations of the real world and actual events can be just as inspiring and entertaining to an audience than fiction.
I then went on to read an extract from a media text book on documentary film. This gave me a general overview of the concepts of documentary films, how they are created and the different techniques and genres that are used by directors in their production.
The main difference between a documentary and a fictional film is that a documentary presents real events and informs its audience on actual information and facts. However a documentary is defined on how it chooses to present these facts in a way that subtly influences an audience in a form of subjective bias. Modern editing software has enabled video footage to be cut and cropped in such a way that its meaning can be distorted and twisted to have an entirely different effect on its audience. For example in Michel Moore’s documentary “bowling for columbine” interviews with people are cut in certain places that sway the audience’s opinion to think how the director wishes them too.
The extract then went on to list the different types of documentary and describe the vast arsenal of conventions and techniques wielded by directors to produce documentaries that can achieve anything they desire, from inspiration, shock, sorrow, joy or enlightenment. It is important to remember that with documentaries certain conventions such as natural lighting, shaky camera movement and indistinct sound can be due to the conditions when the footage was recorded. However these still remain conventions and collaborate into what’s know as the “documentary look” where actual footage may seem less than professional due to comparisons the audience make with Hollywood films where time is spent to create perfect lighting and sound. After studying the list of conventions, I have summarised a few that will be useful techniques and conventions to apply to my documentary and others that help give an overall impression of filming techniques and typical documentary conventions.
Research into my documentary - 17th September
Research into my documentary
For the theme of my documentary I seek to investigate a local legend that holds an enormous interest within me. As a resident of Stafford, or to be more precise outer Stafford near Milford, and having relatives live in the neighbouring town of Cannock I have always had a great association with the local woodland known as Cannock Chase. As the smallest area of outstanding natural beauty in the UK, and the home too many great mountain bike trails I have always enjoyed spending time in the area and enjoying the scenery.
For the theme of my documentary I seek to investigate a local legend that holds an enormous interest within me. As a resident of Stafford, or to be more precise outer Stafford near Milford, and having relatives live in the neighbouring town of Cannock I have always had a great association with the local woodland known as Cannock Chase. As the smallest area of outstanding natural beauty in the UK, and the home too many great mountain bike trails I have always enjoyed spending time in the area and enjoying the scenery.
The area is also surrounded by local legend. As a hot spot for sighting U.F.O, Yetis, Big Foot and others super natural beings Cannock chase and the surrounding area has often been the spotlight for odd encounters such as the 1964 Penkridge incident where supposedly a U.F.O crash landed into local fields and is being kept in a local RAF base under military protection. As always these stories are disregarded as ghost stories and made up lies to attract attention. However the local area also has a legend with a little more evidence to prove its possible legitimacy.
For as long as I can remember local people have always spooked one another with tales of the “Cannock Chase Beast” a supposed black panther that lives in the local area and eats people and animals. Like most people I have always dismissed the story on the basis of rationality yet still held wonder as to its existence, always hoping to see it for myself, much like the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland for example.
For as long as I can remember local people have always spooked one another with tales of the “Cannock Chase Beast” a supposed black panther that lives in the local area and eats people and animals. Like most people I have always dismissed the story on the basis of rationality yet still held wonder as to its existence, always hoping to see it for myself, much like the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland for example.
Whilst reading through the local paper I noticed an article claiming supposed proof of the creature had been found. Naturally intrigued I looked further into online achieves of the paper and other local papers, finding article after article on supposed sightings of a creature “smaller than a deer, but it had a large black tail and was sort of slinking through the bracken”.
This inspired me to create a documentary to investigate whether or not there is any evidence of the creature’s existence, by gaining the opinions of experts and the local people as well as visiting the area to see whether or not I could prove its existence.
Below are a few examples of the articles I read online that fueled my interest to make this documentary:
"Proof" of the Beast of Cannock Chase revealed
Dec 22 2008
Could this cast be more hard evidence of the existence of the Chase Beast?Obtained by the Cannock Chase Post from a secret location in the borough it clearly shows the paw print of a large mammal.
Spanning over four inches in diameter, the plaster cast backs up reports we have received from over a dozen locals who claim to have seen a big cat roaming the streets and fields.
In July this year golfers Ray Bright and Danny Adams photographed a huge pawprint they discovered at a nearby golf club.
And eyewitness accounts of encounters with the big cat have continued to flood in to us - the last sighting was along the Greenway, the disused railway track linking Gnosall and Stafford which is now popular with walkers and cyclists.
Big cat expert Neil Arnold, of Kent Big Cat Research, contacted the Post after news of the Chase Beast spread.
He said he is in no doubt that panthers and other big cats are loose in the UK.
“It’s time the public, especially sceptics, realised that large exotic cats are nothing unusual in our countryside anymore - and that the only mystery is that they’ve become a mystery.”
Mr Arnold claims the cats have gradually been released over decades from private collections and travelling menageries resulting in today’s population.
He added: “These cats are not a threat to humans, as there is so much prey out there in the wilds, from rabbits to deer and from birds to livestock, but such animals must be taken seriously.”
Taken from the Chase Post on December 22nd 2008
Has the beast of Cannock Chase been caught on Camera at last?
Apr 2 2009 By Mike Lockley
Bloody hell - it’s the beast.
We’ve had endless pictures of the remains of the Chase big cat’s prey, we’ve had paw prints, but now reader Dave Causer has gone one better. He says he’s taken a picture of the elusive animal.
Dave, from Rugeley, said: “I was walking near the Rifle Range when I spotted a lot of movement in the undergrowth. Then I saw what I thought was a large dog.
“It didn’t seem to mind that I was there. As I got closer, it became clear it was a cat - a very big cat. It looked like a panther. After what seemed an age it bounded across the open ground into woodland.”
The 55-year-old engineer used an Olympus camera.
But before readers, who have been searching for the animal for over ten years, hail this as the first piece of solid evidence that there really is a big cat on The Chase, a note should be made of when the picture was taken. Dave says he snapped the animal yesterday - that’s April the first.
So, are you taking the mickey, mate?
Dave - we’re waiting for an answer...
Taken from the Chase Post 2nd April 2009
We’ve had endless pictures of the remains of the Chase big cat’s prey, we’ve had paw prints, but now reader Dave Causer has gone one better. He says he’s taken a picture of the elusive animal.
Dave, from Rugeley, said: “I was walking near the Rifle Range when I spotted a lot of movement in the undergrowth. Then I saw what I thought was a large dog.
“It didn’t seem to mind that I was there. As I got closer, it became clear it was a cat - a very big cat. It looked like a panther. After what seemed an age it bounded across the open ground into woodland.”
The 55-year-old engineer used an Olympus camera.
But before readers, who have been searching for the animal for over ten years, hail this as the first piece of solid evidence that there really is a big cat on The Chase, a note should be made of when the picture was taken. Dave says he snapped the animal yesterday - that’s April the first.
So, are you taking the mickey, mate?
Dave - we’re waiting for an answer...
Taken from the Chase Post 2nd April 2009
From these articles it can be seen that this case has a much larger possibility of legitimacy than U.F.O or Yeti sightings and that as an issue it needs to be investigated and documented.
First though I will conduct research into documentaries to understand their forms and conventions, codes and conducts so that I can produce a professional piece that seeks to crack this mystery once and for all.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Introduction - 17th September
Candidate Name: Paul Boden
Candidate Number: 3028
Centre Name: Walton High School
Centre Number: 30435
Group Members: N/A
For my A2 media coursework, “advanced portfolio in media” I have decided to undertake brief 7:
“An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minuets along with two of the following three options:
A radio trailer for the documentary
A double page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary
A newspaper advertisement for the documentary”
The theme of the documentary and the genre of documentary were left up to me. Not fully understanding the different form and conventions found within varying genres of documental films, I decided to undergo some research into documentaries.
I will focus my research around the different genres of documentaries and what these entail. I was also research what audiences consume documentaries, why they do so and how they do so. I will also look at some examples of professional documentaries and how these are sculpted towards certain audiences and marketed to appeal to them in order to understand how I should create my documentary to appeal to my selected audience and how I should promote it. I will also investigate how institutions such as the BBC influence documentaries through funding and distribution.
I wish to create a piece that is both investigative and informative, yet at the same time light hearted and appealing to a younger audience. I will therefore watch examples of documentaries that are similar to this, observing how the directors present their information through camera work, mise en scene and most importantly editing. I will use my research to create a documentary that is professional looking and most importantly appealing to my target audience.
I will also conduct research into my ancillary projects. Though I do not know yet which two of the three I will produce, I will conduct similar research into the audiences and conventions of each in order to understand how they are produced and aimed at particular audiences.
Candidate Number: 3028
Centre Name: Walton High School
Centre Number: 30435
Group Members: N/A
For my A2 media coursework, “advanced portfolio in media” I have decided to undertake brief 7:
“An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minuets along with two of the following three options:
A radio trailer for the documentary
A double page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary
A newspaper advertisement for the documentary”
The theme of the documentary and the genre of documentary were left up to me. Not fully understanding the different form and conventions found within varying genres of documental films, I decided to undergo some research into documentaries.
I will focus my research around the different genres of documentaries and what these entail. I was also research what audiences consume documentaries, why they do so and how they do so. I will also look at some examples of professional documentaries and how these are sculpted towards certain audiences and marketed to appeal to them in order to understand how I should create my documentary to appeal to my selected audience and how I should promote it. I will also investigate how institutions such as the BBC influence documentaries through funding and distribution.
I wish to create a piece that is both investigative and informative, yet at the same time light hearted and appealing to a younger audience. I will therefore watch examples of documentaries that are similar to this, observing how the directors present their information through camera work, mise en scene and most importantly editing. I will use my research to create a documentary that is professional looking and most importantly appealing to my target audience.
I will also conduct research into my ancillary projects. Though I do not know yet which two of the three I will produce, I will conduct similar research into the audiences and conventions of each in order to understand how they are produced and aimed at particular audiences.
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