In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

By Jack O’Regan

• In My group we decided that our documentary would have similar aspects to

other documentaries to be able to target our audience in a professional media

way. In order to meet our target we had to watch other documentaries with a

similar genre as ours to gather ideas in how to approach our focused

audience. For instance we watched ‘Catfish’ to focus on their filming

techniques and how they present in the documentary to give the audience

what they want. We followed the conventions of what they use in the

documentary so that ours would be professional, recognisable and

acceptable. But we still wants to challenge the forms and conventions in

order to have a strong message telling the story and the views points of

people In the community of Coventry. Having this in our documentary

would make it more recognizable, unique and establish the focus of the

documentary in a strong clear way.

Documentary Genre

We looked at a variety of different genres of documentaries through research

and watching them to see what one would fit out ideas and our target audience.

We went through different genres and analysed them to see which one would

give us what we need to pursue our purpose . We looked at the conventions of

what different documentaries use and how they develop to produce it as a final

piece.

Catfish uses different forms of conventions to film.

Hand held cameras to get personal discussions.

Why we did and not follow in Catfish’s

conventions

• In Catfish they use a lot of different Skype and video calls to talk to the

person they will be following the programs documentary on. We did decide

not to use this as we did not need to video call anyone as we can interview

people in the city of Coventry and gather information our selves through

primary and secondary research.

• In the documentary we noticed that the two presenters film them selves and

talk about the subject they are following to give the viewer information on

who they are following and what their story is on why they want to help the

person investigate their catfish. . We wanted and did use this convention of

filming our selves through hand held and putting the camera on a tripod so

that the camera does not move. We also used the tripod for different

interviews so that the camera can focus on what we are filming.

• They use images on the scene while talking and while interviewing. This is so

that what ever the interviewee is talking about or the information we give out

to the viewer when filming our selves, they know what we are talking about

through visual image or video. We wanted and did use this so the viewer got

an insite into what we are talking about and filming. Also as our documentary

is on the blitz's in the 1940s, we would need to prove and provide images of

what happened.

• In Catfish a lot of transition filming is used to show the viewer where they

documenters are at ( their destination). We wanted to use this including B-

rolls to provide a more professional edit to the viewer. We used our own

conventions when filming this though to give our own recognition to the

viewers.

Our Documentary

• In our documentary we wanted to enhance our filming by making the

cathedral and other destinations fully visual. We done this by editing on

IMovie and making the clips more clear and different areas of the video that

needed to be brighter as well as stand out. We used different

In this video clip I tested different

conventions on how to introduce the

interviewee to the viewer. I done this

by testing different angles and

moving the camera in different

positions to see which one would fit

in would what we are trying to pursue

to the viewer.

In this interview we check how

to pursue an interview and how

we would ask the questions. We

looked at how the interview

would flow and how long a

response time would be. We also

wanted to see how the

interviewee would react to the

questions and answer them.

In this interview I wanted to check

how to film an interview and how

to focus on the one talking in the

clip. I done this by moving the

camera horizontally across to the

person talking .

• In our documentary we would need to use old pictures and video clips that

have been legally given to us to use. This is to show the viewer on what the

Blitz's did and the after mass of the bombing. We also would need to use

images of what Coventry looked like and how the bombing has shaped the

city.

What challenged forms and conventions?

• In our documentary we didn’t dominate the whole piece in one video clip of a long speech or even long pieces of video clips. We used different ways of explaining the information and using videos and images of the Blitz’s to explain how and what did happen. We also used some information form web pages to prove information to the audience what we are talking about is true and that we have covered all the information. The research concluded that we have to use different ways on presenting the information to the audience and to pursue on proven information to the audience. We also needed to have other opinions and other information known by other people so that the viewer is not stuck with one person through out the documentary. We use different conventions on how to provide the viewer with the information they need.