Within my questionairre i need to ask a variety of questions that wil help me find out relevant information for my documentary media text.
To start off, questions like...
''Are you male or female?''
This question is essential as many males prefer a different genre of factual information than females. For e.g. males maybe more interested in documentaries that focus on football whereas females may be more interested in real life documentaries focusing on other women who maybe have plastic surgery for e.g.
''How old are you? ''
This also is a main question as the producer needs to think what sort of shots and footage they can use within keeping limit of thier target audience. In my case, im directing my documentary mostly at older teens, to enable a healthier lifestyle for when they become adults. Although its targeted at teens, older generations who may be over wieght slightly can look at this too, and could help them.
these sort of questions are the most important in any questionairre wanting to find out information for their questionairres...
Wednesday 16 September 2009
Monday 14 September 2009
What have i learned? Why have i chosen short film?
By looking at numerous videos and short films, producers tend to include short snappy shots at the beginning followed on by long mid shots and close ups. If it was a short film advertising a product for example like on channels where they are selling household ware that comes with different things, they seem to focus more on the product, which you could say is an advert but too long to be abn advert. Therefore they change this convention, by having no sound or music, and one voice over. This is informing the audience about the product yet not in a way a advert does as adverts are short and snappy and usually created to stay in your head.
By choosing short film: documentaries means i can focus on something factual but not have to show any product or advertising, i dont like the sound of what i have seen above therefore i wont be carrying this out. I like the idea of informing an audience through camera and mise en scene. It gives me a chance to learn what can be done within a documentary as i have never done this before. It is a different approach and even though sounds hard can be acheived easily if all research and planning is completed effectively.
By choosing short film: documentaries means i can focus on something factual but not have to show any product or advertising, i dont like the sound of what i have seen above therefore i wont be carrying this out. I like the idea of informing an audience through camera and mise en scene. It gives me a chance to learn what can be done within a documentary as i have never done this before. It is a different approach and even though sounds hard can be acheived easily if all research and planning is completed effectively.
Sites used for research, why they helped?
http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/product.do?id=21&buspart=yahoo
This website helped me as i watched a minute or two of many different short films (Mainly documentarys) showing different topics and issues. I wouldnt say it helped influence my final decision but broaden my thoughts.
http://www.mediaknowall.com/Documentary/definitions.html
This explained what producers need to be wary of to enable a successful documentary. This website helped greatly, it made me understand the full definition of a documentary.
http://www.mediarights.org/?gclid=CKfM6N-r9pwCFc0B4wodGHlNag
Another website in which i viewed some different real life issues, and how they eventually overcome and solve the problems, however not all of the texts were like this, some documented issues to create awareness.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/04/30/hot-docs-opening.html
This website showed an article in which states the favourabilty of documentary texts and that many people are eager to see as many as possible, and that many audiences are attracted to them, and find them more interesting than other media texts.
This website helped me as i watched a minute or two of many different short films (Mainly documentarys) showing different topics and issues. I wouldnt say it helped influence my final decision but broaden my thoughts.
http://www.mediaknowall.com/Documentary/definitions.html
This explained what producers need to be wary of to enable a successful documentary. This website helped greatly, it made me understand the full definition of a documentary.
http://www.mediarights.org/?gclid=CKfM6N-r9pwCFc0B4wodGHlNag
Another website in which i viewed some different real life issues, and how they eventually overcome and solve the problems, however not all of the texts were like this, some documented issues to create awareness.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2009/04/30/hot-docs-opening.html
This website showed an article in which states the favourabilty of documentary texts and that many people are eager to see as many as possible, and that many audiences are attracted to them, and find them more interesting than other media texts.
Further Research
Documentary as a genre has a range of purposes, from the selection and recording of events for e.g a video of a family on holiday.. to a persausive text that attempts to persuade the audience into a specific attitude of opinions for e.g. documentaries that encourage society to eat healthier. Producers must be able to influence their targeted audiences to identify the purpose of the documentary early on, which will then lead the audience to decode whether that documentary text acts differently to other fictional narratives.
An element within documentary that is always critized, is that.. Is half the information and pictures shown in the footage real or true to society? or are they edited to look factual and correct?
Audiences could think that any images that have been edited are not wholly factual, and that they are the result of choices made by the photographer on the other end of the lens.
Also they may get the impression that the producer is trying to create a another version of reality, which is not what producers want as it wont be the result they hoped for. So when selecting a topic to document, producers need to think of all aspects.
An element within documentary that is always critized, is that.. Is half the information and pictures shown in the footage real or true to society? or are they edited to look factual and correct?
Audiences could think that any images that have been edited are not wholly factual, and that they are the result of choices made by the photographer on the other end of the lens.
Also they may get the impression that the producer is trying to create a another version of reality, which is not what producers want as it wont be the result they hoped for. So when selecting a topic to document, producers need to think of all aspects.
Target Audience
My targeted audience for my documentary would have to be teenagers. This has to be the priority of all ages for the documentary as this is where weight loss and healthy starts and carries out. If i were to target a different audience like 30's and over who are obese then this would obviously help but not in its entirety.
By targeting teenagers could be a waste of time as teenagers are not likely to sit at home in frotn of the television to watch a documentary on foods that they should and should not eat. So by making my documentary i need to make sure it is not boring and excitable for that particualr age group to watch. This will be hard but by using people in my filming who are the same age as the ones im targeting.
By targeting teenagers could be a waste of time as teenagers are not likely to sit at home in frotn of the television to watch a documentary on foods that they should and should not eat. So by making my documentary i need to make sure it is not boring and excitable for that particualr age group to watch. This will be hard but by using people in my filming who are the same age as the ones im targeting.
Short film type - decision based on research
Making a decision on a short film type is hard as there are many types however one that stood out from the rest which i think i could be very capable of is the documentary type. Its a useful text and looks quite fun and easy to produce. Others we looked at class, were short films that consisted of fiction meaning. There was alot and they seemed to be boring and the same sort of storyline and genre, with documentary atleast we can differ with storylines facts and results.
'Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. ...'
This definition more or less outlines its purpose. whether the document consists of 5 minutes or half an hour, it is supposed to illustrate reality in a factual way.
Looking through you tube's content of short stories they dont really show alot of documentaries, which is a little frightening because i were to produce a documentary which isnt popular anyway i wouldnt get many viewings.
Many documentaries start with real life issues and how they have effected peoples bodies, jobs and lifestyles. The documentary then tries to overcome the problem, and inform the target audience of the solution. This then could result in helping others in the public out too.
Theme/outline: I want my documentary to focus on healthy foods and diet strategies. My idea is sort of inspirational as i try to focus carefully on what i eat and how much exercise i do within my life style. I want to approach this is in a documentary to enable others to see where im coming from, and as the government are trying to help the population eat healthier to further lives. This would then be easy to broadcast as this is the message everyone wants to get out to the public.
'Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. ...'
This definition more or less outlines its purpose. whether the document consists of 5 minutes or half an hour, it is supposed to illustrate reality in a factual way.
Looking through you tube's content of short stories they dont really show alot of documentaries, which is a little frightening because i were to produce a documentary which isnt popular anyway i wouldnt get many viewings.
Many documentaries start with real life issues and how they have effected peoples bodies, jobs and lifestyles. The documentary then tries to overcome the problem, and inform the target audience of the solution. This then could result in helping others in the public out too.
Theme/outline: I want my documentary to focus on healthy foods and diet strategies. My idea is sort of inspirational as i try to focus carefully on what i eat and how much exercise i do within my life style. I want to approach this is in a documentary to enable others to see where im coming from, and as the government are trying to help the population eat healthier to further lives. This would then be easy to broadcast as this is the message everyone wants to get out to the public.
Monday 7 September 2009
Different types of genre: Film Noir
In order to broaden media culture, different types of genre are shown. The ways in which they are shown vary. 'Film Noir' is one of many that we looked at. It is very different compared to other genres such as thrillers, actions, sci-fi's or horrors. You could say some elements of a thriller and horror genre are perhaps included in the genre 'film noir' however subvert in ways that make it a complete different genre.
In class we watched a documentary which focused on, 'film noir' in particular, and the ways in which they used certain criteria to enable the genre to be different to the rest.
Many elements included:
- black and white only: this created a different atmosphere almost giving the genre a unfriendly feel but very engaging as it was different and not the same colours everywhere, and where there's daylight and a sense of happiness this was cut out completly to help the audience to engage in a different scenary.
- voice overs: these were used frequently to establish characters thoughts, this was effective and could be used within my coursework as it shows different techniques. When the voice over was played over the shots it seemed as though the character was talking directly to us the audience, and whislt what was happening on screen it made the narrative fit in perfectly and almost outlined the series of events to make them clearer
- male gaze: was a reoccuring theme brought up throughout the documentary or short story if you like, and whatever the scene if there was a shot with a male actor and female actress the female actress would always have more of the attention opposed to the male actor, and this was enforced with an effective camera technique. The males point of view would be to look at the female actress from the ankle upwards. Tilting upwards ultra slowly. Some documentarys/short films seem to include this technique in their footage too. Even if once, it has to be said that its very engaging.
- Shadows: film noir is a genre that is creepy and eery, not pleasant and full of mysteriois happenings, and shadows was another element which cropped up alot to help support this theory. Especially for the audience when somebody is about to kill somebody else with a knife and all you see is the shadow of the knife in that persons body.
- Cigars: were often used to show significance of a 'bad' character or one of which has the expenses. Expensive luxuries outlined higher class. The extract we watched leveled off which actors were in which class very clearly, by the possesion of motorcycles or glistening brand new cars.
Something i also noticed was that many of the characters wernt young, maybe a couple of extras in the background were children, but no actors seemed to be of a younger generation, which is unusual to see. However showing older generation actors within this media genre outlines the ability of bigger, better and wiser, moreover some of the other elements listed above ^ fit into my thoughts as black and white relates back to 1900's when there was no colour on screen, the male gaze and not younger men and cigars are a obvouis pin point to a older luxury.
In class we watched a documentary which focused on, 'film noir' in particular, and the ways in which they used certain criteria to enable the genre to be different to the rest.
Many elements included:
- black and white only: this created a different atmosphere almost giving the genre a unfriendly feel but very engaging as it was different and not the same colours everywhere, and where there's daylight and a sense of happiness this was cut out completly to help the audience to engage in a different scenary.
- voice overs: these were used frequently to establish characters thoughts, this was effective and could be used within my coursework as it shows different techniques. When the voice over was played over the shots it seemed as though the character was talking directly to us the audience, and whislt what was happening on screen it made the narrative fit in perfectly and almost outlined the series of events to make them clearer
- male gaze: was a reoccuring theme brought up throughout the documentary or short story if you like, and whatever the scene if there was a shot with a male actor and female actress the female actress would always have more of the attention opposed to the male actor, and this was enforced with an effective camera technique. The males point of view would be to look at the female actress from the ankle upwards. Tilting upwards ultra slowly. Some documentarys/short films seem to include this technique in their footage too. Even if once, it has to be said that its very engaging.
- Shadows: film noir is a genre that is creepy and eery, not pleasant and full of mysteriois happenings, and shadows was another element which cropped up alot to help support this theory. Especially for the audience when somebody is about to kill somebody else with a knife and all you see is the shadow of the knife in that persons body.
- Cigars: were often used to show significance of a 'bad' character or one of which has the expenses. Expensive luxuries outlined higher class. The extract we watched leveled off which actors were in which class very clearly, by the possesion of motorcycles or glistening brand new cars.
Something i also noticed was that many of the characters wernt young, maybe a couple of extras in the background were children, but no actors seemed to be of a younger generation, which is unusual to see. However showing older generation actors within this media genre outlines the ability of bigger, better and wiser, moreover some of the other elements listed above ^ fit into my thoughts as black and white relates back to 1900's when there was no colour on screen, the male gaze and not younger men and cigars are a obvouis pin point to a older luxury.
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