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

When creating a media product, it is important to continuously have the codes and conventions of real media products in the back of my mind as this allows me to make sure I have not developed or challenged them in any way.

Framing of Interviews

Our Product

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/one-under/4od

One of the codes and conventions of a documentary was the framing of interviews when filming them, the interviewee must be framed on either the left or right hand side and not look directly at the camera. The images above show how we interpreted this framing from a real channel 4 documentary and used it in our own documentary. Our product is framed to the right looking slightly to the left which is the same as the Channel 4 documentary, 'One Under'. Our interviewee has been framed with a montage of different make-up which represents her as being youthful as bright coloured images have been used in the mise-en-scene, this signifies our target audience as we hope they show an interest in make-up with it also being a youthful target audience. On the other hand the mise-en-scene of the channel 4 documentary is very dark and plain however, this represents the serious subject matter of the topic being spoken about.

Graphics

Our Product





















http://www.channel4.com/programmes/jess-britains-youngest-sleepwalker/4od#3132709



Another important convention of documentaries is the use of graphics as they are always positioned at the bottom of the screen and do not go onto the interviewee’s face as this may distract the audience. The graphics are an essential part of the documentary as they allow the audience to know who is on screen and it allows the interview to make more sense to them. For example if we didn’t use graphics on our interview with Jack Brislen then the audience may not have known he was a male makeup wearer. The graphics shown in the image from our documentary are used in order to illustrate to our audience who is on screen, this is the same as in the Channel 4 documentary, 'Jess: Britains Youngest Sleepwalker?'. It is also important that the name of the person is bigger than the reason for them being in the documentary, as you can see the name 'Jack Brislen' from our product has a larger font than where it says 'Male make-up wearer', which follows the Channel 4 documentary as the name 'Dr. Paul Gringras' has a larger font than 'Consultant, Evelina Children's Hospital'.

Cutaways

Our Product

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http://channel4.com/programmes/bodyshock/4od#3105551

When looking at documentaries, one of the main codes and conventions is the use of cutaways as they are what allows the documentary to flow well when looking at the transitions between shots. When the make-up specialist is talking about the different make-up for different skin types we used a cutaway which was taken from inside a makeup department as it allows the audience to relate to the documentary more effectively and adds a new dimension to interest the audience. In the professional Channel 4 documentary 'I'm Turning Into a Giant', they use a cutaway of the woman in hospital when talking about the her every day stuggle with constantly growning in order to show the audience an insight into her life. We have embraced the codes and conventions of real media products as we use cutaways when necessary in order to keep the audience interested in our documentary. Cutaways don't always have to be used during an interview, they can also be used whilst a voice over is taking place. As our documentary is an expositary documentary, it is extremely important for the camera crew to not be seen, as a result of this the cutaways came in useful to hide this when nesesary.

Mise en scene

Our Product














http://www.channel4.com/programmes/newlyweds-the-one-year-itch/4od#3117585



Throughout a documentary, mise en scene is extremely important. To the viewer, everything on the screen infront of the camera illustrates to them what is going on, therefore the mise en scene needs to be throught out carefully in order to signify to the audience what it is about. A dull mise en scene of a dark brick wall could connote to the audience a serious issue and creates a gloomy atmosphere, whereas a bright mise en scene such as the beach could connote to the audience a happy, peaceful topic. The image of my production uses the lighting from inside a make-up shop which connotes everyday shopping, however the makeup stand which is behind the interviewee conveys the idea of makeup to the audience, also the idea of a professional due to the interviewee's smart clothing. The professional Channel 4 production of 'The One Year Itch' also uses the natural lighting from the room, and the interviewee is in her bedroom which creates a homely atmosphere and links to the topic of weddings as this is where the bride may get ready.


Use Of Music





Use of Sound

Our documentary is made up of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. All of the sound tracks which we have used are non-diegetic and have been added in during the editing process of our product.

Use of Archive Material

















Above is a screengrab taken from the editing of our documentary, it shows some of the archive footage which we used in our documentary. Archive material is important in a documentary as it tends to be used as a cutaway. The use of archive footage adds a new dimension to the documentary allowing for it to appear more valid as this material has been used before. We used archive material of male celebrities who wear makeup, as we found it hard to get many cutaways for this part and the archive footage was very useful when introducing the topic of male makeup.

Voiceover

Below is an image of our voiceover script with corrections:




We have used a voiceover in parts of our documentary as this is another one of the main codes and conventions of a Documentary. We used a female voiceover as we feel it relates to our topic more effectively with it being make-up, also our main target audience is females and from our feedback our audience would prefer to hear a female voiceover rather than a male one. The voiceover came to be very important as it links the narrative together. I feel that the tone of the voiceover works well, as it is upbeat and sounds professional, therefore it grabs the audiences attention.







Narrative Structure

Our documentary has a linear structure, this being the most basic, meaning it is the easiest to follow. Because our product is an expository documentary it means that the audience will constantly find things out about the subject chosen, in our case this is make-up.

My final media product follows the codes and conventions of a documentary when looking at narrative structure. Our opening sequence is followed by articles such as interviews and archive footage. We have used music played throughout the background of our documentary which also follows the codes and conventions of real documentaries, this music relates to our topic of make-up due to its genre being dance and pop therefore creating an upbeat atmosphere. We have also used a female voice over which we used due to audience feedback collated in the research process.