Evaluation Q1 Nathan Pugsley

1. {
Q1 - In what ways does your media products
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Nathan Pugsley

2.  Throughout the creation of our advanced portfolio, we have produced a few
media texts; including the first 5 minutes of a documentary and then a radio
advert and double page magazine article to help support and advertise it.
 As a group we decided to base the documentary around a common conflict
amongst teenagers – school and sport. As we all come from sporting
backgrounds, it was an easy decision to choose this subject area as we could use
our links to our advantage, like gaining access to a boxing gym as well as
experts for interviews.
 The process of creating the products took a long time, however it was very
rewarding getting three final products I can look at and enjoy. I will now
compare my documentary, magazine and radio advert to those of actual real
media texts. From there I can evaluate how we have used, developed or
challenged forms and conventions of the real media texts.
Intoduction

3.  I will be comparing “Supersize Me” by Morgan Spurlock to
our documentary…
Documentary

4.  Archival footage is common amongst documentaries; it allows the producer to
show to the audience video footage from a wide range of locations that would
originally be impossible due to their own locational limitations. Supersize Me is
a documentary that uses archival footage, especially the use news clips from
around the USA. This allowed Spurlock to mediate his thoughts to the audience
effectively, without being limited to footage that he recorded himself. This was
experienced by us when creating the documentary, as being confined to 2hr 30
lesson only allowed us to travel out so far – and without a car this meant we
could only go as far as the local shopping centre next to the college. Therefore
archival footage was used very frequently, showing clips of sporting activities
from places we couldn’t access – such as swimming pools and boxing fight
shows. This allowed us to represent teenagers performing sport, which was
needed to create a binary opposite of teenagers in education which we had
captured in college. Without the archival footage, the binary opposite couldn’t
have been created and the conflict which drives the narrative of the
documentary wouldn’t exist.
Archival Footage

5.  Vox pops are a way of getting opinions from the public, which give very truthful and
honest answers as they don’t have time to plan their responses. Mise-en-scene is an
important aspect of vox pops as what the subject is in front of can help support the
area that is being discussed. Spurlock interviewed the public in front of fast food
chains, which represents them as addicted to the restaurants and helps him to
mediate his idea that all of America is addicted to fast food. The type of shot is also
used with effect, as a medium close up helps portray the publics emotions and
therefore allowing the audience to have more of a connection to what they’re
watching. These techniques were not successfully executed with our vox pops. We
originally intended to shoot the clips outside of a sports store, but because of
complications with permission to film, this was not possible. This meant we were
force out onto the high street, meaning mise-en-scene had no effect. The shot type we
used was also too wide to really show any emotion, meaning the audience couldn’t
connect to what they were saying. However as our clips were very fast paced, I don’t
think this is an issue as even if the shots were closer up, they wouldn’t be on screen
for long enough to grant any attachment. What we did do well however was choose
the correct people for vox pops. There was a range of ages, professions and genders,
all of which effect how sport is experienced both today and at their school (when they
attended) which made for some interesting answers.
Vox Pops

6.  Interviews are another key convention of documentaries.
Compositionally, our documentary is very similar to Spurlocks;
both use a mid-shot, have mise-en-scene to show who the
interviewee is, and have text to state who the interviewee is.
However were our documentary somewhat goes against
convention is in the content, and through gate keeping what we
decided to show the audience. Spurlock’s interviews all show a
clear opinion – that being fast food is bad for you. No matter what
part of the documentary the audience is watching, the interviews
always infer this opinion. In our documentary however, we wanted
to balance out each interview, therefore one was supporting sport,
one supporting school and the other keeping quite neutral. This
was intentionally done to retain an open narrative, so that the
audience can make up their own mind about whether teens should
priorities sport or school.
Interviews

7.  Our use of statistics isn’t very effective, and therefore I don’t believe it
follows convention. Due to the sheer amount of statistics we show in
the short amount of item allocated to that section meant that the
audience was flooded with information. Originally we intended the
statistics to be informative, as that is one of the modes of our
documentary, but because of the amount of them I feel like instead of
being informative to the audience it was all a blur for them. However I
feel that the way we presented them, being a stop motion, also
conformed to convention. Spurlock’s statistics in Supersize Me always
featured some form of graphical animation, which made it very
interesting to look at from an audience perspective – which is why we
also wanted to animate ours so it was more interesting for the audience
to look at. However what he did that we didn’t was keep them concise,
and allow enough time for the audience to really understanding the
stats that were being discussed; because of this his statistics were far
more effective in terms of informing the audience.
Statistics

8.  Background footage, or B-roll as we called it, allowed us to add lots of little clips
to the documentary. This helped support what the narrator was saying; for
example when talking about sport there would be sport clips, but when talking
about school there would be clips of students. We also ensured that we
highlighted certain objects, for example when talking about boxing we would
show pan shots of the gym. This uses Barthe’s theory of codes, this specific code
being symbolic. When showing the pan shots of the gym, the audience can see it
looks a bit run down and grungy, with connotes to boxing being a dirty sort of
sport and therefore represents the stereotypical people who participate in the
sport – that being working class people. These clips were either synced to music
or the narrator, which also helped keep up the pace of the documentary and
help the narrative flow. Spurlock does the exact same thing, meaning our
documentary in terms of b roll conforms to conventions. When talking about
fast food, there would always be clips of people eating fast food. This is a
symbolic code for the audience, as the people eating the food would always be
fat, from which the audience interprets that fast food makes you fat which is
exactly what Spurlock is trying to say throughout the documentary.
B-Roll

9.  Spurlock’s mode for his documentary was performative, as he was the
main subject of the documentary and the whole narrative revolved
around him and his actions. This is great for engaging the audience, as
they can create a direct emotional attachment to him, making
everything he says and does more influential upon the audience.
However I believe in doing this, Spurlock is breaking convention as
most documentaries are expositional – having a voice of god to lead the
audience through the narrative instead. This is what we use in our
documentary, as we felt it gave a more professional feel and also
allowed us to show the audience different clips, as a presented was not
important for purpose of the documentary to be portrayed. I think this
also allowed us to create the preferred reading we intended, if we
follow Stuart Hall’s theory. The documentary being expositional
allowed us to more carefully choose what was said to the audience, so
that they take away from the documentary what was initially intended.
Mode / Reading

10.  I will be comparing an article about a new Louis Theroux
documentary by TV & Satellite, and our DPS…
Double Page Spread

11.  Our DPS follows convention by having a large main title,
positioned in the top left of the page as this is where a persons
attention is automatically drawn to when reading - both articles
follow this convention, although the real product has the title below
an image which sits it lower down the page. Regarding our DPS,
the masthead is exactly the same as the title that we used on the
documentary, which creates a link between both of the products,
something that the audience will realise and then relate everything
they learn from the article to the documentary which helps them to
understand what the documentary is about. To make it stand out,
we have made sure the text is on a plain background, which the
real DPS has also followed – this makes it much easier for the
audience to read it, but also see it in the first place.
Masthead

12.  Having stand out quotes is a common convention is double
page spreads. We have followed this convention as we
feature a large quote in the middle of the article, whereas the
real product has done the same thing except the quote is
positioned at the top of the page, which still means it
conformed to convention. We want the audience to go away
with a balanced opinion on sport and education, so having
the quote helps to balance the opinion of the audience as it
mentions the benefit of sport, which is the preferred reading
we desire. What it also does is link the DPS and the
documentary together, as the quote is directly from what one
of the experts interviews.
Quotes

13.  An obvious convention of a documentary listing is to have
key information about the documentary, this includes the
channel, the time and the date that the documentary airs.
This conventionally stands out from the rest of the text as it is
deemed important and the audience needs to see it. The real
product has all of the key information listed in a bright
yellow box, which follows convention perfectly. Although
our key information is only in a bold font, it still stands out
more than the other text and gives all the information
needed, therefore we also followed convention.
Key Information

14.  It is very common in articles to have it split up into columns,
usually three. It makes the article seem less daugnting to read, and
also makes the process of reading much easier. Length of the article
is also important, conventionally they’re not too long, but still
provide a good amount of interesting information. The real product
features three columns, and is of an average length; likewise our
DPS features three columns, however it is possibly too long. A
convention that our DPS follows that the real product doesn’t is
using a drop cap to signify the start of the article, which makes it
clear to the audience where to start reading from. Both articles
however ensure the article is based on a plain background so that
the text stands out and is easy to read. Especially for our teenage
audience who wouldn’t be too fond on reading, making it easy to
read was a very important convention that we needed to follow.
Article / Drop Cap

15.  The real media product followed convention in terms of images, as they used
one big main image. This is usually very effective in gaining a sudden interest
by the audience as an image can give off an initial impression about what the
article is about. This is one of the few places where our DPS challenges
convention, as we decided to have many smaller images than one main one.
This was to fit with the style of the DPS, as the five images are made to look like
polaroid images that are pinned down to a cork board as that fits with the whole
theme of it looking like a teenagers cork board that they would use for school
work. The benefit of having many images compared to one is that we could
show many different parts of the documentary, which allows the audience to get
a better understanding of the documentary as a whole and increase the
likelihood of them wanting to watch the whole thing. The images themselves
were taken directly from the documentary which directly links the two products
but also may help appeal to each audience respectively, as there are images of
teenagers and others of adults who could be parents. However what our DPS
shares with the real product is the image(s) informing the audience what the
documentary will be about (images of sport for our dps as it is about sport, and
images of police as the other documentary is about crime)which is another
convention.
Images

16.  I will be comparing an radio advert for a new documentary
called “Behaviour Managing Britain” to our own radio
advert for “Teens in Sport”
Radio Advert

17.  Using music on a radio advert to represent what the product it is
advertising is about is a convention that almost always is followed. The
real media product is a serious documentary, as it discusses the issues
surrounding behaviour in school. To represent this they have used
music that is quite subtle, and although it has a beat to it which helps
keep the pace of the advert, that pace is quite slow. Our radio advert
challenges this convention, as our documentary is meant to be serious
as it is there to inform, the music we used is very upbeat and quite fun.
Although it works well for keeping the audience entertained
throughout the advert, which is a great thing as then they will know
where and when to watch the documentary, they may get the wrong
impression about what the content of the documentary will be. We also
used the same music in the documentary as the radio advert, which
creates a direct link between the two products. Although we challenged
convention, I think it was for effect and had a better outcome than if we
used less exciting music.
Music

18.  After listening to the real radio advert, they have included soundbites
at the very start of it. This tends to be convention of radio adverts as it
immediately grabs the audiences attention as it seems more personal;
for example they included bites of students saying negative things
about school which allows the audience to gain some sort of emotional
attachment. We initially had a conversation of teenagers talking about
school and sport, which would have followed convention as the
audience could’ve latched onto the characters that were talking.
However due to time restrictions we had on the length of the advert,
we had to edit this out, and put some shorter sound bites in but more
importantly put them in the middle of the advert. This wasn’t very
effective as there's nothing at the start of the advert to quickly gain the
audiences attention, and when it gets to the bites, the audio levels
aren’t great which may even make the audience change radio station
and not find out about when the documentary airs. Even though we
unintentionally challenged convention, it wasn’t done for effect and
may have put the audience off the documentary.
Soundbites

19.  The key information in the radio advert is the date and time
as well as the channel that the documentary will air on. This
is obviously a very important convention of radio adverts, as
without it the audience simply couldn’t watch the product it
is advertising. The location is also important, and it always
tends to be mentioned at the very end as then that’s what the
audience will hear last and therefore go away with; it will
stick in their minds, which is what we want so they’ll watch
the documentary. Both our radio advert and the real one
mention very clearly the date and time, as well as the channel
at the very end of 30 seconds. Therefore our radio advert
conformed to convention and did so with positive effect.
Key Information

20.  Another convention that we followed is having a narrator perform
a voice over throughout the full advert. The real product followed
this by having a narrator speak throughout and used the time to
inform the audience what the documentary is about. We did the
same sort of thing, however we decided to use two narrators and
create a conversation. This keeps the pace of the radio advert high,
and also keeps the audience engaged in the voice over as it seems to
them like they’re part of a conversation; being younger voices also
represented the younger audience, which would help them pay
attention as typically they wouldn’t be interested in radio. This
meant that when the narrators mentioned key information, like
what the documentary will be about and when it airs, the chance of
the audience paying attention will be increased and therefore the
chance of them watching the documentary will be higher. This is of
course the main aim of the advert, and therefore conforming to
convention was done effectively.
Voice Over