Evaluating my piece - 15th December

As well as the audience feedback i have recieved and reflected on, i decided to evaluate my production further by answering some evaluation questions and producing a directors commentary

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

My documentary conforms to the generic conventions of investigative documentaries. It poses an argument in an unbiased way using a combination of talking head and voice over’s put across through sophisticated language providing the audience with an unbiased explanation of the argument. It also makes use of interviews with experts and Mise En Scene to provide professional opinion to sway their views whilst at the same time conforming to their expectations in attire and general Mise En Scene. Also conforming to the conventions of the investigative genre I have used footage shot for other purposes as well as establishing shots and panning shots of the local area to give meaning to dialogue being spoken acting as visual aid for the audience as well as means of breaking up the dialogue so as the audience do not grow tired of watching a person talk to a camera. I have used quick cuts and fades between each clip to keep the continuity of piece flowing and excluded for abrasive edits such as spirals and wipes that feature more in other genres for visual effect. In my soundtrack I have used upbeat music that drives the footage yet does not distract the audience from the dialogue spoken. The music is also contemporary and appealing to younger generations yet still accessible by older viewers.

I have also developed the conventions of a typical, hard hitting and serious investigative documentary that holds little interest in the student aged viewer. To do this I have included an upbeat soundtrack and kept the dialogue educated yet not sophisticated to a point where it is inaccessible by student viewers.

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

The production of my ancillary projects has enabled my documentary to become a media package combining both the documentary footage destined for television as well as advertisements in both the radio times and most national newspapers. These advertisements and the review in the magazine would hype up the documentary in the public eye, getting it noticed and thus attracting more viewers. As I have explained in my research, viewing figures are extremely important to the institutions as they increase the eventual profit made by the documentary and thus its success (at least in their eyes). I feel my advertisement and review will be an effective combination as they will attract the attention of readers of both publications and attract them to view my documentary.

What have you learned from audience feedback?

The audience feedback I have received has helped me develop my documentary from a poor production to what it is now. Collecting together a focus group of people in my class, I showed them the first rough cut of my documentary. They advised me that the interview was too long and that it featured a number of stammer’s and unnecessary information and ramblings. They also advised me that the scenic shots along side the voice over’s became repetitive and boring and they felt that some footage of a big cat hunting or footage caught of big cats roaming the UK would be better placed as visual aids and make my piece more appealing. Having made those changes I received a lot of positive feedback from YouTube viewers after posting my video online, which reassured me that the changes had improved my documentary. One comment I have received a number of times though is that I speak too fast in both talking head and voice over’s. If I were to recreate my documentary this is something I would take care to avoid as sometimes the dialogue was unclear.

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

The main media technology I madder use of during all the stages of my production was the internet. For my research it provided me with pages of notes, audience’s theories and examples of how documentary conventions can be implemented helping me understand them better. During the construction stage of my production I was able to access maps of Cannock Chase cross referencing them with various blogs set up online to work out a route and various locations that would be idyllic for filming. I also used the internet as a means to distribute my final production. Posting it on YouTube, I then posted a number of forums online to advertise my production and attract audience feedback. For my construction I used a number of media technologies such as a camera to film both the interview and all other shots such as establishing shots and medium shot of the talking head onto tape. For my interview I used a microphone that took power directly form the camera to boost the sound quality of the interview so that it was not to quiet. To edit the footage I used an apple Mac laptop and the imovie software that comes standard with the equipment (though I realise my end product would have looked more professional had I used Final Cut Pro, this software was not available to me). I then used a culmination of the laptop and the internet to upload my piece onto YouTube.