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

2. Documentary- codes we imitated
• The research into different documentaries
allowed us to pick up codes and conventions
that would make our documentary
professional, also these codes and
conventions helped set out a layout for a
documentary.
• Observing codes and conventions in knife
crime documentaries such as paranoma
helped us design our documentary.

3. Codes and conventions- Used
•
The use of camera was an effective form of codes and conventions. The tone of Paranoma had been quite serious
therefore it consisted of medium shots of interviews to show the expressions of the prisoners and people being
interviewed, we used this by using medium shots for our vox pops and interviews as the tone of our documentary
was on the same level of seriousness.
•
Also paranoma had been shot in various places therefore establishing shots were essential, we used this code and
convention to add to the professionalism of our documentary. We had establishing shots of the college, and police
station.
•
Background footage from news reporters was an essential code and convention is Paranoma, we used this by
recording still shots of different news reports.
Paranoma focused on essential aspects of their documentary, we adapted this to add to the professionalism of our
documentary, we used zoom in/out to focus on crime texts as well as making it work as a transition.
•
Pan had been used in Paranoma to build up the tension for
example it was used to show an overview of the prison sign,
we used this by doing this same to the Solihull sixth form sign
to show the importance of the place most of the documentary
had been shot in.

4. Codes and Conventions -Challenged
•
•
•
•
The use of camera was also used to challenge many codes and conventions we picked up from researching
Paranoma.
Paranoma uses a slide as a transition in their documentary to quickly move from one scene to another, we
challenged this as we thought a slide wouldn't add to the intensity of our documentary, therefore we used a zoom
in to move from one scene to another, this was effective because it emphasized the importance of our
documentary.
Also paranoma used a birds eye view to portray the police station as it had been targeted, we challenged this
using a pan of from left to right of the police station, to show we had visited and how the cells differed from the
police offices.
Paranoma used still shots of news reports , however they recorded very few news reports for a long period of
time, we challenged this by creating a montage of different news reports flashing rapidly, we did this so it would
create that “breaking news” image for our knife crime documentary. Also we challenged this code and convention
by adding the victims to the news reports for example Joshua Ribera rapping next to his news report, we did this
to bring importance to how the victim was before the victim had been stabbed.

5. Codes and conventions-Used
• The use of mis en scene was an effective code and convention that
helped our documentary create a perfect crime image.
• Paranoma used many props to create the tension behind knife
crime, they used essential props such as books and desks behind
their interviews, similarly we used this code and convention for our
professional interviews for example the police desk in the police
interview , this was to add to the professionalism.
• Paranoma had used low key lighting throughout their documentary
as it had been a serious issue, we used this code and convention by
using low key lighting in out documentary.

6. Codes and Conventions -Challenged
• The use of miser en scene was also used in our documentary to challenge
codes and conventions.
• Paranoma aimed to show why knife crime is increasing however we aimed
to find out how knife crime can be reduced, therefore our documentary
showed a positive image rather than the negative one created by
Paranoma.
• We challenged the props as Paranoma had used studies for all their
professional interviews whereas we used a variety for example their was a
teacher desk for the law teacher but mac computer for the media teacher.
Also our documentary consisted of props used by teenagers because of
our target audience for example the smartphone , therefore we
challenged this code and convention because in Paranoma the props used
were more to do with the prison rather than the target audience.
• Paranoma used low key lighting , although we did use low key lighting we
challenged this by also using high key lighting for positive aspects in the
documentary for example the people walking, we did this to show that
people can be the only cause to reduce knife crime.

7. Codes and Conventions-Used
• Paranoma included captions in their interviews, we did this as well
to create a sense of identity and to add to the professionalism of
the documentary.
• Statistics were added to Paranoma as vital aspect , as our
documentary was a informative documentary we also added
statistics to contribute to the informative nature of the
documentary.

8. Codes and Conventions-Challenged
• Paranoma added text to the clip to contribute
to the professionalism of the documentary
however we challenged this by using text over
the clip to give the image a voice for example
the people walking clip consisted of text.

9. Codes and conventions-Used
• We used sound to adapt the codes and conventions that we picked
up from Paranoma.
• Paranoma had background music in their documentary that suited
the issue, we used this code and conventions by using low base
music to match the seriousness of our documentary.
• Paranoma mixed up their use of non diegetic sound and diegetic
sound to show the different issues relating to knife crime, we added
this code and convention to our documentary to add to the
professionalism.
• Paranoma had a on screen presenter, therefore his voice had been
played in most of the documentary but stopped in interviews and
voxpops, we used this code and convention to create a layout for
our documentary.

10. Codes and Conventions -Challenged
• Paranoma had background music playing all their
documentary, we challenged this by stopping the music
in vox pops and interviews, as we wanted to bring
attention to what the vox pops and interviews are
saying.
• We used an voice over rather than an onscreen
presenter, therefore we challenged this code and
convention as we thought a voice over would be more
essential for our documentary. We also challenged a
code and convention as our voice over belonged to the
target audience but paranoma hadn't matched their
target audience it was professional middle aged male.

11. Magazine article
In order to create a professional double page
spread, we researched many different TV listings
magazine articles. Researching these magazine
articles helped us gain a understanding of what
codes conventions would be useful to use and
which ones we could challenge.

12. Codes and conventions-Used
A diary of courage is a teenage TV listings article, we used this as the
target audience of our article and the Diary of courage was similar.
• In A diary of courage than main image had taken most of the space
of the article , we used this code and convention as we thought the
main image should be the most effective on a magazine article.
• In a diary of courage the main title was the largest on the page, we
used this code and convention to promote the importance of our
documentary.

13. Codes and conventions-Used
• Diary of Courage used paragraphs to structure columns on the
bottom half of their page, we used this code and convention to add
to the professionalism of our magazine article.
• Diary of courage used captions to inform the reader of the date and
time , we used this code and convention to relate to the radio
trailer which included the date and time.

14. Codes and conventions-Used
• A diary of courage used caption at the bottom of the
page, to promote the magazine, we used this code and
convention as we thought this would look professional.
• A diary of courage used subsidiary images to support the
main image, we used this code and convention by
including two subsidiary images from our documentary.

15. Codes and Conventions -Challenged
• A diary of Courage used subsidiary images to support their TV
show however we challenged this by including clips of our
documentary to give an insight to the readers.
• A diary of Courage used large drop caps to make their
columns look effective, we challenged this by using one large
drop cap as our documentary had a serious tone.
• We used pull quotes which Diary of courage didn’t, we did
this as we referred to the interviews in our documentary.

16. Radio Trailer
We researched different radio trailers to
successfully create a professional radio trailer

17. Codes and Conventions -Challenged
• From the radio trailers we researched , we established background
music was a essential aspect of radio trailer therefore we used this
throughout our radio trailer.
• From the radio trailers we researched a voice over was also a
essential aspect of radio trailers, therefore we used a voice over
throughout our radio trailer.
• From the radio trailers we researched snippets of the documentary
such as interviews and vox pops had been included, we used this in
our radio trailer by including parts of our documentary.
• From the radio trailers we researched , the date time and channel
had been mentioned, we used this code and convention by
informing the listeners of the date, time and channel.

18. Codes and Conventions -Challenged
• Most of the radio trailers we came across had
the same voice over as their documentary, we
challenged this convention by using a different
voice over of a female to show our
documentary was targeted at both genders.
• The radio trailers we researched had mostly
interviews included in their radio trailer. We
challenged this by including mostly vox pops
to match the youth target audience.