3. • Hand held Camera - creates a sense of realism and personalised point of view
• Narrative Voice Over - usually directly addressing the audience to involve them as well as
giving added detail about the documentary
• Interviews with experts / witnesses / general public - Vox Pops
• Parallel Editing linking key scenes
• Use of Archived footage to support filmed scenes
• Mediated culture – documentaries select and construct, allowing opinion and subjectivity
• Selective editing - filmmakers cut and edit clips in order to construct and portray specific
meaning
• Often point of view with encoded ideology, preferred meaning
• Use of Establishing Shot and Close Ups/Medium Close Ups
• Often single stranded, linear – the documentary is usually about only one topic
• Exploration of narrative themes, messages and values
• Different purposes – to entertain, inform, educate, shock, for propaganda purposes, etc.
• Eye-Level Camera angles
• Diegetic Sound - interviews
• Non-diegetic sound - voice overs & background music
• Non-linear clips - cutting back and forth between interviews
• Linear structure - beginning middle end

4. In terms of whether my media product uses, develops or challenges
conventions of ‘real media products’, I do not think I have used any editing or
footage that particularly ‘challenges’ or goes beyond the common forms of
documentaries.
In order to make my video look as professional as I could, I mimicked real media
products, ‘using’ the forms and conventions to create mine.

5. As documentaries are usually based around one idea, where mine is ‘music and fashion’,
documentaries often use non-linear editing to create a linear narrative, with an:
introduction
a middle
and a conclusion.
I believe my product adheres to this as I use a non-diegetic voice over to introduce –
‘over the years…’, and conclude – ‘after our research’ the film – following conventions as
media products often are narrator led.
In between this I use selective editing in order to tell the story I want, as real products
often do in order to get their point across, cutting in between clips and creating a nonlinear sequence in order to move the product through the main body towards the
conclusion.

6. When studying ‘real media products’, such as the ‘Road Kill Couture’ documentary I
analysed, I noticed that the use of vox pops are common in documentaries in order to
get the public’s opinion on the subject of the documentary.
I used this idea in my documentary, cutting between different members of the public
and asking them different questions, in order to hear the public’s voice.

7. As well as vox pops, documentaries often get expert opinions on the subject,
such as the fashion designer in the ‘Road Kill Couture’ documentary.
In order to mimic this convention, I put clips of interviews with Sam Webb, lead
singer in a band, Amy Heard, a model, and Mark Radcliffe, a BBC radio
presenter, in my documentary.
Sam Webb
Amy Heard
Mark Radcliffe

8. To make who I was interviewing clear to viewers, I used name captions in the
bottom left hand corner of the screen.
The use of name captions is also common in documentaries in interviews,
reminding the viewer that the interviewee is someone of importance. I believe
the use of professionals offers a more expert opinion of someone the viewer can
trust, making the documentary more sophisticated and realistic.

9. Similar to real media products, I made sure to make use of the mise-en-scene in certain
shots in my documentary.
For example, in this real documentary,
the professional is surrounded by things
which represent her job and what the
documentary is about. For example, the
necklace we can see in the back right of
the screen, supposedly made from road
kill, reminds the viewer who the speaker
is as well as what the documentary is
about.
In order to follow these conventions in my
product, we took mise-en-scene into
account when filming our documentary.
When interviewing Mark Radcliffe, we
made sure to get the radio studio in the
background, constantly reminding the
viewer that Mark is a radio presenter and
showing, through the mise en scene, that
he is a professional in the field and his
opinions are trustworthy.

10. As well as the voice-overs included to open and close my documentary, I used other diegetic
and non-diegetic audio to create my product.
Real media products often use background music to avoid silences in between clips and
interviews. I chose to follow this convention and put background music throughout the
whole of my documentary, using tracks from the indie-pop band These Mortal Cities.
This could be considered ‘developing’ the conventions, as often with real media products
the background music does not run throughout the whole video, sometimes documentaries
have just diegetic sound when a narrator is speaking or people are being interviewed;
however, due to the short length of my documentary, I chose to use non-diegetic music
throughout.

11. A common trait of documentaries is the use of cutaways, allowing the product to
move the topic onwards and time for voice-overs.
My product uses cutaways between clips, separating the interviews with
professionals from interviews with the public, as well as splitting the introduction
and conclusion from the main body of the documentary.

12. Similar to the ‘Road Kill Couture’ documentary I analysed, I wrote the questions I was
asking the public onto the screens, allowing viewers to see it for themselves.
I used a black background when
interviewing members of the public.
I used a grey background for the text
when interviewing professionals.
I used these colour schemes repeatedly throughout my documentary, hopefully allowing
the viewer to make a link between the questions with grey backgrounds and the interviews
with professionals, the constancy creating a somewhat professional feel. I also made sure to
use the same text throughout the documentary, again giving it a professional look.

13. My use of camerawork also ‘uses’ forms and conventions of real media products. Real
documentaries are often made up from interviews, in which people are shown in a
medium close up, allowing viewers to clearly see who is talking and what they are saying,
which I took into account and used in my documentary.
Because my documentary is about music and fashion, I use a number of long shots
alongside medium close ups, where the viewer can see the person’s whole outfit. I put the
long shot images into a collage in the introduction and conclusion of my product, allowing
the viewer to compare fashion senses and see how they vary from person to person.

14. When creating my newspaper advert, I looked at other channel 4 adverts for documentaries, and tried to mimic
these conventions in my documentary. I do not particularly challenge any of the conventions shown in the real
media product, but use them in my product.
One focus background image
to catch readers attention and
give information about the
documentary.
Tag line to intrigue reader,
information on the
documentary, title/date
and time.
Channel 4 logo
creating brand
identity, showing
viewer what channel
the documentary will
be shown on

15. When creating my radio advert, I listened to other radio adverts to get an idea of the
conventions. As it was difficult to find radio ads for documentaries, I analysed a couple of radio
adverts for things like food chains and cars.
Radio Advert
Real Media Product
I used clips from my documentary in my radio advert as I often hear clips of interviewees in real
media products. The use of integrated clips from the documentary allows the listener to get an
idea of how the documentary is presented and what it is about. I therefore used this convention
in my radio advert in order to make it sound more like real media products.
Similar to other media products, I used background music in my radio advert, raising the volume
at the beginning and end to open and close the advert. The use of background music keeps the
advert interesting as opposed to if it was purely speaking.
To close the advert, I state the title of the documentary, and date
and time it will be shown. I chose to give this information at the
end of the radio advert as I think it is more likely to stick in the
listener’s memory if it was the last thing they heard. This technique
is often used in real media products to ensure the listener has the
necessary information for the advertised product in the front of
their mind.

17. I believe my main and ancillary products work effectively together due to the links
between them.
Newspaper Advert
Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odBJnoVt76I
Radio Advert
https://soundcloud.com/emily-brown-87/insidemanchester-radio-ad

18. I think my newspaper advert works well with my documentary mainly due to the
image I use in the advert. Because my documentary is about music and fashion, I
chose to use an image of a hat placed on a guitar, linking the two aspects of the
documentary together in the advert, and creating running themes of music and
fashion in both the advert and documentary itself.

19. As my documentary is supposed to be shown on channel 4, I tried to make sure my
newspaper advert was similar to channel 4’s adverts, to keep the brand’s identity
consistent.
I mimicked the conventions of channel 4 adverts
with the use of logo, tag-line and main background
image in order to support the fact the
documentary would be shown on channel 4 and
make it realistic as the advert accompanying the
documentary was channel 4 – style.

20. I use the caption ‘Hold On To Your Hat’ as the tag-line on my
advert.
I chose this as the line is a well known phrase that viewers
would recognise and may catch their attention, and because I
wanted to try and incorporate music again in the tag line. In
order to try and do this I googled ‘songs with links to fashion
in the title’, to which I found a Rolling Stones song called
‘Hold On To Your Hat’, and so chose to use this tag-line on my
advert as it incorporated both music and fashion, again
portraying the subject of the documentary.

21. I also think my two ancillary products are well connected
through the information they give.
The title, date and channel the documentary will be shown on
are shown on the newspaper advert, the information standing
out away from the main picture to ensure the reader can see it
clearly.
Similarly, the date, title and channel are the last things said on
the radio advert, making it memorable to the listener and
consequently linking the two adverts through their familiar
information.
The repetitive use of the title ‘Inside Manchester: Music and Fashion’,
makes the title familiar to the reader/listener, meaning they would
recognise it if they were to see it elsewhere.

22. I think my radio advert links well with
the documentary itself due to the fact
I use clips from the documentary in
my radio advert, making the subject
and aspect of the documentary
familiar to the listener before they
watch it.

24. When I had completed the first draft of my newspaper advert, I showed it to some people to get their
opinions and feedback. I took note of what they said and tried to alter my advert to adhere with their
feedback.
‘I think overall the colour scheme you use is quite dull, nothing really stands out as it’s all black, white and
grey.’
‘The channel 4 logo and use of the image is good as it represents the subject of the documentary and gives
the channel’s identity, but there could be a wider and more interesting use of colour.’
Once I had collected feedback, I redrafted my advert, changing the colour of the hat and using a gradient
background. I received more positive feedback on this draft, and decided to use it as my final advert.

25. In order to get feedback from audiences of my documentary, I created a questionnaire which I asked people to fill out after
watching the first draft of my documentary. After collecting the questionnaires back I chose some of the answers I was given
and put them all in one document.
Area of Focus
Comments

26. In some cases, the feedback did not particularly offer any opinions that suggested that area of
the documentary could be altered to improve, so I chose to leave these areas and focus on
points of constructive criticism.

27. After receiving feedback on my first draft, I took into account some of the comments and altered
my documentary in the hopes to improve it.
In the questionnaire, people said that the cuts and editing could be improved. Before I altered
the video, some of the cuts between clips were obvious as the subject of the interview changed
positions and so appeared to jump from one place to another. In order to fix this, I tried to mask
the changes with the transition ‘cross blur’, which allowed the video to cut from clip to clip
continuously without showing jumpiness.

28. Feedback also showed that some of the audio was louder than others, so when I re-edited
my documentary I altered the audio levels until they all sounded relatively equal.
Similarly, feedback suggested that some interviews were slightly too long, perhaps making
the viewer lose interest in the video. I attempted to fix this by shortening and putting more
cuts in the interviews, to keep them interesting and to the point.

29. I also recorded some feedback off my friend after she had watched both the first draft of my
documentary and the final version.
Click to play:
In the first draft of my video, I did not use any
transitions when moving from clip to clip.
When I showed this version to people, I got
advice in their feedback to make the clip cuts
smoother. I followed this advice in order to
improve the video, and once I had done this I
showed the video to the same audience, and
got their feedback again.
General feedback on the interviewees chosen.

31. Technologies used in the research, planning, construction and
evaluation stages:
• DSLR cameras, microphones and tripods – to record our interviews and
take pictures
• iMovie – to edit the recorded clips together and create the documentary
itself
• Photoshop – to edit the picture I took which I used for my newspaper
advert
• Picasa – to put the photos of different fashions we took into a collage
• Publisher – to put the text and channel 4 logo onto my newspaper advert
• Garageband – to create and record my radio advert
• YouTube - to upload my final documentary, allowing me to link it onto my
blog
• Powerpoint – to create the powerpoint of my evaluation questions
• Slideshare – to upload the powerpoint on to, allowing me to link it to my
blog
• Soundcloud – to upload my radio advert to, allowing my to link it to my
blog
•iPhone – to create the video diary we filmed whilst conducting our
interviews
•E-mail – to contact our professional interviewees

32. Before I could start creating the documentary, I had to do research in order to discover the
conventions of similar products so I could mimic them to make my documentary look more
professional. I researched using technologies such as YouTube to watch similar products,
Google, to find their codes and conventions, and use of email to contact the people we chose
to interview in our documentary.

33. I used publisher and google image search to create a mood board of what my target audience would be like.
Creating a mood board allowed me to see the general idea of the target audience all in one place.

34. Once we knew what our documentary was going to be about, I was able to start
constructing my newspaper advert. I started the construction with a flat plan, and then
went on to start taking photos, with a DSLR camera, which I could use in my advert.
Flat Plan
Original Photos

35. Once I had chosen a photo to use in my advert, I then used photoshop to edit out the
background and put the channel four logo and text on the advert.
I used the ‘quick select’ tool on
photoshop to remove the
background on the image, which
allowed me to then alter the
colour of the background I would
use in my final advert.

36. Once I had created the basic image I would use in my final advert, I then put in the other
features needed to complete the product.
I found a channel 4 logo with a transparent background
on google images, and so imported this into my advert.
I then went on to a font
website to find a font
similar to the one channel 4
use. I copied and pasted
this onto my advert in
photoshop to create the
advert.

37. After creating the first draft of my advert, I showed it to some people and was advised to change
the colour of the hat to make it stand out more.
I changed the colour of the hat using the ‘colour
replacement tool’ on photoshop, making the hat
green so it would stand out more.

38. Finally, I chose to alter the background on
my advert, using the ‘gradient tool’ on
photoshop to make the background more
interesting than the grey I used on my
first draft.
First Draft
Original Image
Gradient Tool
Final Advert

39. I used the computer programme ‘garageband’ to create my radio advert. I recorded my dialogue straight
onto the Mac, and then cropped the recording to my liking. To put the clips of interviews into the radio ad, I
played the videos of the interviews on the mac and then recorded the section I wanted in my radio ad
straight from the mac.
Once I had recorded my voiceover, I chose the background music I wanted to use, which was Bastille- ‘Of The
Night’, and put that into Garageband, cutting the song to the section I wanted to use, and fading the volume
down as the dialogue was on.
Once I had completed my radio advert, I uploaded it onto ‘soundcloud’, where I could embed the link onto
my blog.

40. To film our documentary, we used DSLR cameras, microphones, and tripods. We used
these combined technologies to film our interviews, and once we had collected our
footage we uploaded the videos onto Apple Mac computers, where we edited the clips
together.

41. When filming the clips for our documentary, we used cameras, tripods and microphones,
while simultaneously keeping a video diary to show how we created our documentary.
Video Diary - filmed using an iPhone and created using a video editor app to edit the clips together
Click to play:

42. Before I could start editing, I had to upload all the footage we had filmed onto
iMovie, which I would then use to create the final product.
iMovie
Uploading the footage.

43. Once all our videos had been
uploaded onto iMovie, I then had to
go through the clips and decide which
clips would make it into the final
product.
I had to cut the clips using the clip
trimmer on iMovie, and use
transitions to ensure they flowed
smoothly in the documentary, with no
jumpy obvious cuts between clips.

44. Once I had edited my clips together into roughly
their final order, I had to alter the audio of the
clips to make sure they were all around the same
volume.
I did this using the audio editor on iMovie, and
changed the volume of each clip until they were
all equal.

45. When showing interviews with
professionals, I chose to highlight
their importance by putting their
name and role in the bottom left
corner of the screen.
For my documentary I chose to use the
‘Gradient – Black’ text bar, as I think it
looks professional and clear.

46. Before recording my
voiceover for the
documentary, I had to write
the script for it.
Once I had written the script, I
recorded the voiceover straight
onto iMovie using the
microphone on my headphones,
then cropped and moved the
recording until I was happy with
it.

47. Throughout my documentary, I used a number of different transitions.
I used the ‘cross
blur’ transition to
cut between
different shots of
the same person,
to mask
jumpiness.
I used the ‘cube’ transition to indicate
that a clip of a professional was
beginning/ending.
I used the
‘doorway’
transition at the
beginning of my
video to
introduce the
title ‘Inside
Manchester’

48. To open and close my documentary, I created a collage of all the pictures we took of different
fashions, adding one picture each time. In order to create this I created a ‘collage’ on ‘Picasa’,
and screenshotted the page each time I added a new photo. I saved these images as J-Pegs, and
then put each image into iMovie, adjusting their duration to fit with the background music to
open and close my documentary.

49. Once I had completed the final editing of my documentary, I used the ‘Share’ option on iMovie
to export and save my product.
Once I had saved my documentary, I uploaded it onto YouTube.
I then uploaded the video from YouTube onto my blog.