A2 Media Coursework Evaluation‘Appearance: Is it becoming too obsessive?’

Amy Donohoe

For our A2 Media Studies coursework, we had to produce the opening five minutes of a TV documentary in groups, on a topic of our choice. We then had to produce two ancillary texts: a magazine article and a radio trailer. After brainstorming and deliberating many ideas for our topic, we decided on ‘Appearance’. This was an interest for all members of the group and we thought it would make an informative documentary. We decided to focus on the pressures of appearance and whether it’s becoming an obsession for women, so the title we chose was ‘Appearance: Is it becoming too obsessive?’

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

real media products?We decided to write our title in red lipstick for our title shot,

focusing on our topic of appearance. We used notebook paper

to emphasise how young people are starting to worry about

how they look, giving connotations of school.

We used a tilt of an Yves Saint Laurent make up stand that we filmed when getting a professional interview with a make up consultant. It highlights the amount of make up that the brand have to offer, also emphasising the importance of presentation when it comes to displaying make up – this entices women and helps our documentary convey how obsessive appearance has become.

We also used a typewriter effect to show meanings of our two focus words: ‘appearance’ and ‘pressure’. We used a typical convention of a factual documentary, which outlines our topic from the beginning. This was a good way of using some graphics which are appropriate for our subject, as well as looking aesthetically pleasing.

When we introduced our section at ‘The Sixth Form College, Solihull’, we used a pan of the college as our establishing shot. We followed typical conventions of real media products, because it familiarises the audience with the location and also gave our narrator time to explain why we came to the college. This setting could be related to by the younger viewers of our target audience (14-45) so it was important that we stressed this, as a way of making our documentary appropriate. This camera technique also gives connotations of an array of opinions, giving an insight into different students by showing the whole college.

This was evidenced in ‘Beauty & The Beast: Ugly Face of Prejudice. We used this as research because it not only focused on our topic of appearance, but was aired on Channel 4 which was our chosen channel.

Our idea for background footage came from the Channel 4 programme ‘Bourjois Boutique’. The programme’s focus was London Fashion Week, which inspired us to use a well known event linked to appearance. This way our target audience would recognise our footage, making it more enjoyable for them.

We found a YouTube channel called ‘Fashion TV’ which focused on many aspects of fashion, including Milan Fashion Week. From here we found a range of clips to use as background footage, showing careers in appearance and close up shots of make up being applied.

We were pleased with this decision because the footage was appropriate for our topic and looked effective without sound, giving us opportunities to use voiceover.

‘Bourjois Boutique’

For our formal interviews, we used typical medium close up shots. We did this to give authority to our professional interviewees, allowing relevant mise-en-scene to be seen in the background. We used the rule of thirds to follow interview conventions and also got our professionals to look to the side of the camera, again giving an expert feel to the documentary. We added names and careers to the bottom of our interviews, along with a black banner. This was originally done to hide a piece of paper being held, which we thought looked untidy and detracted from the professionalism. We then did this on all our formal interviews for consistency. For our interview at Yves Saint Laurent,

we used an office setting to give our interviewee more authority because her job title is ‘Make up consultant’. On reflection this could have looked more effective at the counter, but could have also affected our sound quality with the background noise of customers.

In terms of mise-en-scene, our Fitness First interview was the most successful, with various gym equipment on display. This is attractive and engaging for our target audience, giving knowledgeable connotations. We also used a medium shot to show her gym uniform.

We used a case study of model Lauren Wallace to add realism to our documentary, giving opinions from her own profession. This was a way of making our product sincere and exploring individuals our target audience can relate to.