1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
Reshma Chitroda
2. For our A2 coursework we were given a brief to create the first five
minutes of a television documentary along with a double page
spread for a TV listings magazine and a radio trailer. We had to
research what would be in the first five minutes.
I have watched documentaries such as ‘Supersize me’, ‘Panorama’
‘Welcome to India’, ‘Inside Death Row’ and‘Airline’ in preparation
of creating our documentary. In order to follow the conventions we
analyzed these documentaries to see what they all had in common
so we were able to follow them for our documentary. We found
that in ‘Supersize Me’ and ‘Airline’ there was a lot of handheld
camera use which is what we used, however it was not a
noticeable convention as we were unable to fit the tri-pod in the
space given. We also used many tracking shots, zooming and pan’s
which were all present in these documentaries. This was for our
documentary to look as professional as possible.
3. Why we chose to follow the
conventions of Panorama.
• For our documentary we decided to follow the
conventions of Panorama on BBC1 as our topic
was similar to some subjects their documentaries
were based on. The reason for this was to aim it
at an older, sophisticated audience of young
adults regarding the pros and cons of the rise in
university fees. Our aim was to make our
documentary informative like all the Panorama
documentaries therefore have involved real
statistics which the voiceover mentions in the
first five minutes.
4. Comparison screenshots of the
introduction.
The font of ‘Degree or not degree’ is
similar to ‘Panorama’ as it fine and
easy to read. Also the use of the
white font was for clarity purposes
and represents the target audience
of 16 and upwards.
This long shot of the college students walking out of college, and the long shot
of young school children working at computers is a similar shot which shows
what the documentary topic is referring too and shows the victims of the
subject, in this case university fee’s and school debts.
5. We have also followed the
conventions by using a range
of shots like the extreme
long shot of the college
building, like they have in
Panorama. We decided to
use a pan to establish the
setting and remind the
viewer of the topic.
In our documentary introduction, we used a variety of vox pops ranging
from college students to parents. These screenshots show the similarities
our documentary has with Panorama with the medium close-up of the
views and opinions they had on the matter with the rule of thirds taken
into consideration.
6. Stock Footage
We used stock footage in our
documentary Degree or not
Degree as we wanted to
emphasis how serious this
issue of the rise in university
fees are and how much
outrage it caused.
Panorama do not use stock footage in
this particular documentary I am
comparing therefore we are
challenging conventions. However they
use suitable cartoon images to
demonstrate their point. I think this
was an appropriate challenge to take in
order for the public to see how the rise
in university fees is damaging potential
students.
7. Interviews
Having professional interviews in documentaries follows the
conventions of documentaries, we have followed this to make our
documentary look more professional and realistic. Also, keeping
the same colour and font of the text shows we followed the house
style throughout the documentary. We were also aware of the
mise-en-scene and made sure it was appropriately set and
relevant to the questions asked to the interviewee. However, the
majority of our interviews are medium shots not medium close-up
so I think that could have been improved.
8. Statistics
Using statistics In documentaries is
important especially when it involves
finance. In our documentary we used
real statistics from our research and
applied it appropriately. We also had a
medium close up of the out of focus
folders of all the UK universities in
alphabetical order which connotes we
thought of the mise-en-scene
throughout. However, the Panorama
shot of the statistics has a more bold
font placed in the center of the screen,
we chose not to do this as we felt it was
not suitable to cover the names of the
universities. I felt we should have
enlarged the font and challenged the
conventions slightly but the majority of
the group disagreed therefore the
decided not to.
9. Summary
• Overall, I feel we followed the majority of documentary conventions and the
challenges we made were suitable. We used a variety of shots to keep the
documentary looking professional and as much like Panorama as possible.
• The use of the background music was non-diegetic and was also created by
the group. This was faint throughout the documentary and was faded out
when appropriate. Also the use of the diegetic sounds such as the vox pops,
interviews and voiceover I think had very good sound levels and were
handled well.
• The uses of fades, straight cuts and dissolves were effective as it allowed the
documentary to look unique by having a variety of effects to keep it flowing.
• However, the changes I would personally make would be some of the
repeated shots such as books and students in the refectory, unfortunately
we had no transport to travel to universities and out of Solihull with our
equipment and therefore had to compromise with the college and
Touchwood town center.
• We also used diegetic and noon diegetic sound along with a voiceover and
background music to show that we have followed the typical conventions
and for our documentary to look similar to panorama.
10. How we followed the codes
and conventions of our
double page spread.
11. We chose to produce our double page spread for the magazine ‘TV& Satellite’ as we
felt it was suitable for our target audience and also had many BBC1 programs
advertised in there. We looked at a range of TV listings magazines such as ‘Radio
Times’ and ‘TV Magazine’ to get an idea of the type of conventions that had to be
followed in order for our article to look as professional as possible. When we looked
at TV& Satellite we felt this was the right one for us to follow as it was aimed at a
slightly older audience and had a serious topic.
Our final Double page spread
12. Main image The main Title is a typical convention The use of placing an image in
image establishes the and informs the reader what a circle is also part of the
article. Also, as it is a large the article is about. house style therefore we used
image it grabs the readers it again to follow the
attention quickly. conventions.
We have followed Captions were used
the house style as they are also a
and conventions convention and are
for TV & Satellite usually placed on
magazine as we the minor images to
felt it was suitable inform the reader
for your about the image.
documentary. We
have also applied
the date and
time. Phrases
highlighted in bold
We have applied a to emphasis the
stand first which importance in the
summarises the text.
content of the
article.
Page number
Conventionally placed
in the bottom corner
The rule of thirds with to make it easier for
Minor images show what is A pull quote was added to
the column layout has the reader to navigate
involved in the documentary follow the typical double
been applied to keep around the magazine.
and are placed in the article page spread conventions
the article
for the reader to watch the and also intrigues the reader
understandable and
documentary. by often being ‘catchy’.
easy to read.
13. TV & Satellite magazine double page spread.
Magazine logo used
Main image that takes
on our double page
up just over a page
spread to show we Title conventionally which we have also
have followed the placed at the top of the followed.
house style. page.
Stand first
introduces the
article.
Show title also
used on our double Image captions
page spread to have been used
show that we have which have been
followed the placed on our
typical conventions minor images.
along with the date
and time of the
documentary.
A minor images had
been placed in a
The three
circle which we
column layout is
followed in order for
a typical
our double page
convention The page numbers have spread to look as
which we have been placed at the realistic as possible.
also used. bottom corner of the
pages which we have
applied.
14. Summary
• In comparison to the ‘Yes, Prime Minister’ double page spread we
followed all the conventions such as the title, stand first, pull quote,
page number, minor images, main image, date and time, image
captions and columns, used to typically build up a double page
spread. We chose to have a shorter image to allow text to be placed
around it filling up the blank space. I feel our double page spread
looks professional and from a TV listings magazine.
• However, the changes I would possibly make would be to change
the font slightly to fill up some of the blank spaces and maybe add a
border around the text to make it look slightly different and unique
but overall I am happy with the outcome of our work.
• We chose to use this magazine as a template as it has many BBC
programs advertised in there and also is aimed at an sophisticated
audience which is what our aim also was.
16. Typical radio trailer conventions.
• Documentary extracts
• Facts
• Music
• Length
• Voiceover
• Time and date
• Channel
17. To get an idea of radio trailer conventions we
listened to a range of ones such as BBC radio 1
and BBC radio 5. We chose to create a radio
trailer for radio 1 simple because it was aimed at
young adults and students and felt through this
radio station we would reach the intended
target audience.
18. Degree or not Degree radio trailer.
• In our radio trailer we followed all the conventions as professionally as possible.
We had listened to radio one trailers and followed the conventions they had.
• Our voiceover was recorded in a studio for clarity purposes.
• The music was created by our group and also was the same music we used in our
documentary for consistency purposes .
• We used documentary extracts and facts to allow the listener to have a small
insight of what to expect when watching our documentary.
• The length was 45 seconds as most radio trailers are that long and to keep it short
and concise enough to attract the listener to watch the documentary.
• We chose to broadcast our documentary on a Friday and 8pm on BBC1 as we felt
this would reach our audience easily.
19. Summary
Overall I feel we had a very professional radio trailer and I feel it sounded
realistic. We followed all the conventions and handled the sound levels very
accurately. We also used an appropriate length of documentary extract which
all followed on together smoothly and gave a suitable amount of relevant
information to advertise our documentary. Giving the time and date
information also shows we followed all the conventions. We also used
transitions to put the clips together but mainly had them joined up as they
were all relevant to the topic. I wouldn’t change the radio trailer as I feel we
did everything we could to make it as professional as possible.
