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‘So you think you can drive’ follows a lot of the forms and conventions of documentary production. We have kept to these guidelines due to the serious message the documentary is trying portray, therefore making standard conventions the most appropriate format.

However, there are camera shots that, if not defy the conventions, then certainly challenge them.

Inspiration has been drawn from a range of documentaries and even media work we did at AS Level.

In the next few slides I will be explaining the research we conducted and how it influenced our own work…

Archival Footage and Photographs

Archival materials include old photographs, newsreel footage, and

even shots from fiction films.

Talking HeadsTalking heads are people interviewed to explain or

comment on the text's subject. These people usually are

shown in their offices (sometimes with a wall of

books behind them) or in their homes.

Handheld CameraA wobbly camera is often attributed to documentary. As cameras became more portable and more affordable,

filmmakers did more on-location shooting, and keeping the camera steady was somewhat difficult when it came to following the action. The fiction film The Blair Witch Project makes use of the jiggly camera as a means of

reinforcing its documentary-like style.

Voiceover NarrationVoiceover narration occurs when a voice is heard on the soundtrack

without a matching source in the image. In other words we hear the voice speak but we cannot see the speaker utter the words. The voice often

explains or comments on the visuals.

Re-enactmentsA re-enactment stages real events that already have occurred. Sometimes they include the people who experienced the

events originally, but more often they incorporate actors playing parts. Most

documentary filmmakers shoot events where they actually occur.

Real PeopleFor the most part, the people we see in a documentary are real people.

When You roll over an

image and see the hand

icon click it to view the

video

Weird Weekends:Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends is a television documentary series, in which Louis Theroux gives viewers the chance to get brief glimpses into the worlds of individuals and groups that they would not normally come into contact with or experience up close. In most cases this means interviewing people with extreme beliefs of some kind, or just generally belonging to subcultures not known to exist by most or just frowned upon.

Survivalist:In Idaho, Louis meets military enthusiasts and right-wing patriots

who are preparing for a global catastrophe, including trips to survivalists' store Safetrek and a mountain refuge for conspiracy

theorists called Almost Heaven. Louis also visits the Aryan Nation Church and helps to build a straw-bale home. The episode focuses

on the survivalist movement and communities formed around it. The fact that several self-proclaimed survivalists were also hippies

and environmentalists is a recurring theme.

In the early stages of the project the group and I had never really considered how documentaries were structured. Louis Theroux seemed like a good place to start our research as he is a renowned for his documentary work.

Theroux’s work was helpful to introduce us to documentaries, however, his work is quite light hearted, we now needed to study something that had a more serious tone in order to learn how to effectively capture and audience.

Jungle Siege

Find out more:

http://jhammondmedia-

heathside.blogspot.com/20

09/11/jungle-siege.html

'An Inconvenient Truth' is a unique and rare style of documentary making. The feature film consists of Al Gore addressing an audience in a lecture/seminar style. Gore's presentation identifies the

danger of global warming and the imminent threat that earth faces.

The presentation is broken down through the use of archive footage of Al Gore's life and images of earth's changing environment. The use of this footage gives the audience a better overall idea of the

presentations meaning and purpose, it also enables Gore to back up his claims with physical evidence. Archive footage makes the documentary more appealing to the audience because it stops the documentary becoming dull, this is important because the location in which the documentary is

filmed is not particularly interesting, however the subject and the way in which it is presented is compelling.

As a group we were intrigued by how this documentary used archive footage to break up the seminar, this was a technique we felt we wanted to incorporate into our production. The archive footage was a subtle way for Al Gore to get a serious point to the audience, by using clips of his time in devastated countries he touches on the viewers emotions

The ‘Think’ series of advertisements is one of the most effective and dramatic ways to engage an audience.

The advertisements do not hold back on showing the consequences of peoples mistakes on the road, the adverts are often graphic and brutal, driving home the facts of road accidents.

We undoubtedly felt that the audience we were trying to grasp would only take note if we had a documentary that was hard hitting and factual, we decided we needed footage and interviews that note only were factual but emotional as well.

Our documentary does stay true to the conventions by including interviewees who have been affected by a (fictional) real life situation. The use of actors playing these roles added a sense of realism.

Variations in lighting plays a large part in interviews on documentaries. Lighting immediately notifies the

audience of the situation, for example, this dark lighting

covers the identity of the person, therefore telling the audience that this is a serious interview situation. In this interview we

have tried to recreate that effect, whilst mixing it in with a

reconstruction, it works well and is in keeping with the

documentary style

This type of lighting is conventional of documentaries

covering tabooed or tragic events.

Archive footage can be a very dominant part of a documentary, there are cases where an entire

documentary is pieced together with archive footage and then a narrators voice addresses the audience. This

form of documentary is more suitable for occasions where the event has

already happened and it was a one off occasion.

The archive footage used in our documentary consists of movie clips and images, there are relevant to the topic but do not show the event in question,

this challenges the forms and conventions by allowing the audience to create their own image of the event, the

archive footage lets the documentary flow between interviews.

This footage of the 9/11 attacks is a good example of archiving, the makers had to use

scenes already filmed as they weren't there at the time

Interviewees are typically placed to the left or right of the camera frame when being interviewed, the person on screen then talks in the direction of the interviewer,

situated just off screen. This convention is most effective when the interviewee is recapping a scenario

as opposed to appealing/addressing the audience directly.

This is exactly the reason why we have conformed to the conventions in the majority of our interviews. The audience is a ‘bystander’ to the interview as opposed to directly involved in

it, therefore, in this particular interview, the viewers feel a sense of helplessness and

remorse as they can only sit and listen to the interviewee’s story.

This interview challenges the conventions of documentary making, it goes against a lot of the forms mentioned with the above interview (person to the side of the frame, talking to an off screen character) because we wanted to create an intimate interview

where the audience is being engaged directly.

Statistics always put facts and figures into perspective. Referring back to Al Gore’s ‘An

Incontinent Truth’, there is a lot of hard science involved in his research, however he is able to

‘normalise’ the information for the general public to understand by using statistics.

Seeing as stats are a fundamental part of documentary making, and the immense impact they can have, we felt that there was potential to develop a selection of

statistics and include them in the product.

When we conducted audience feedback they felt that the statistics were one of the most effective parts of the documentary, this is because they could easily

‘digest’ the information.

Fast forwarding the clip and bleeding some of the colour makes

it slightly abstract

‘So You Think You Can Drive?’ is a title that is meant to challenge and almost provoke the

audience, it makes them question something they may not have thought about.

‘What’s You Opinion?’ is very much meant to create the same emotion, at the point in which this question is asked in the documentary the audience should have an idea of how they feel about the topic, by raising these questions we are involving the audience and making them

consider their driving habits.

The magazine article has been created in way that does not directly refer to the documentary but instead delves into the overall topic of teenage driving. Audiences read about events that have occurred due to young driver errors,

public opinions and perceptions.

“Should we be on the field at all? I

think that’s what’s being looked at,”

said police spokesman Lt Frank

Vanore. “I’m not sure we should be

chasing people around the field.”

An extract from The Times which

shows an expert (Police Officer)

giving his opinion.

By using characters such as Mr and Mrs Smith I have tried to create and emotional introduction, this does link in with attitude of the documentary and caries it on successfully. PC Adams is a figure

of authority adding a sense of credibility to the article, it is common practice for journalists to use experts in their news to back up or enforce

claims and statements used.

In conclusion this ancillary task does not address the documentary directly but allows the audience to hear other peoples opinions, when they see the documentary themselves they can

form their own opinion.

Radio Advert: So You Think You Can Drive

The radio advert is directly linked to the documentary as it advertises what it is and

when it is.

It works well because of the simplicity, an almost eerie feel, that is designed to intrigue the audience.

This is one of the most effective ways to advertise the documentary, if the

advert is played in the right places at the right time it could be directly

broadcast to the target audience.

The audience were very

positive about the

documentary. They gave

honest feedback and

described what they liked and what could be

improved.

The car crash scene at the end of the documentary

was the most talked about point, the audience felt this was a good,

yet brutal, way to portray the

consequences of careless driving, in this case texting.

From the feedback we received the group have learned that a ‘shock value’ is possible the best way to affect and hold an audience, especially of

this age. It is important not to lecture and patronise the younger drivers but instead teach

and show them.

Apple iMovie: One of the most vital tools throughout the process of making the documentary, not only in producing the final product but also the development stages. The software is

easy to familiarise with, this to me is one of the most enjoyable aspects of using editing software such as iMovie.

Cameras are now so accessible and portable that they can be used in any situation. Such is the quality of modern cameras

we only needed to stick with one, it coped with a range of lighting and environments making it an invaluable part of the product construction. Designed to be used ‘on the go’ makes them user friendly, as a group we couldn’t find a fault when it came to filming or uploading with our Sony Portable Camera.

The internet, a source of information that seems to be endless. As a group

most of our research was carried out via the internet, we were able to search for documentary conventions through to current documentaries and how they

were constructed.

http://jhammondmedia-heathside.blogspot.com/2010/01/archive-from-youtube.html

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directed to my blog about the

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