Evaluation Part 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

Use, development and challenge to

convention in my documentary

Convention 1 – Use of Presenter In my documentary, I wanted to take a very hands on approach to presenting. I think that it shows the audience that the person who is the talisman for the documentary is truly passionate about the subject.

It is definitely a common convention of a documentary, famous faces such as Ross Kemp have featured in popular documentaries depicting their areas of interest and experiences.

Ross Kemp: On Gangs

In Ross Kemp’s documentaries, he always features prominently on-screen. I wanted to use this convention in my documentary and use as little voice-over as possible.

Our Little Secret

Convention 2 – Use of facts

The use of fact in documentaries to give a sense of realism and reliability is a common convention.

Together with some mood-setting background music the facts can be really hard-hitting and thought provoking.

In my documentary I separated the interview with facts to add weight to the content of the interview itself. The facts were used to add emphasis to the story being told by the interviewee.

Convention 3 – Title Sequence

The use of simple symbolic colours in keeping with the subject is often used in title sequences.

Red = Danger & Death

Black = Mystery & Emptiness

The title sequence itself was very simplistic and short. This challenges the conventions of a real documentary because quite often a lot of time and money is put into a title sequence to make it as relative and complex as possible.

The font I used in the documentary is recurrent throughout the ancillary texts also, creating a certain brand image that is automatically linked to my documentary.

Convention 4 – The InterviewI used only one interview in the end because I wanted to my documentary to give the impression of an appeal video. I focused my whole documentary around one person and based the whole story on her.

Similar products that use appeal videos.

I located the interview in a kitchen of a ordinary family home, indicating child abuse can happen anywhere. I also dimmed the lighting on the interviewee’s face to represent her feelings of being left in the dark for so long and also I thought that a victim of child abuse may want to remain anomynous

Convention 5 – Music and Sound

The three songs I used in the documentary were:

• The Funeral – Band of Horses

• Concrete Angel – Martina McBride

• Final fantasy theme tune

I purposely picked 3 tracks which were emotive and sombre. They compliment the material perfectly and I have tried to make them fit in with the pictures on-screen.

Concrete Angel is especially suitable because the lyrics actually tell the story of a child who is abused by her father.

The use of music to create emotion is again a common convention of a documentary of similar codes to ‘Our Little Secret’. Director’s use background music to highlight and emphasise the points made on screen.

Use, development and challenge to

convention in my Newspaper

Advertisement.

The Complete Newspaper

Advertisment

I created my newpaper advert so that it would take up quarter of a page on a tabloid paper. I really aimed to create an attention grabbing advert that would immediately make the documentary stand out and make the audience interested. I think the image used in the advert is successful in doing just this.

Convention 1 – Dominant ImageOur Little Secret Advert In creating my advert I knew that the image was the

most important part of the process. I believe that the image is the first thing that attracts a person to the advert. I wanted to use an image that was thought-provoking and emotive. The doll I used is associated with childhood whilst simultaneously coming across quite haunting. It is most definitely dominant and of upmost importance to the advert. The use of a dominant image is quite often used in adverts similar to my own, as seen below:

Convention 1 – Dominant ImageOur Little Secret Advert

Some may argue that using a central image also challenges the conventions of adverts. In adverts such as army and dangerous driving ads words speak louder than images and central to their advert is the message portrayed through use of words rather than image.

Convention 2 - Tagline

Delve into the mysteries of…

Tagline’s are frequently used in advertisement’s. They can be used alternatively to a title or they can be an add-on to the title. In ‘Our Little Secret’s’ case, the words ‘Delve into the mysteries of…’ add more weight to the title and also create a cliff hanger, in the hope of creating a sense of anticipation from the audience.

Use, development and challenge to convention

in my Double Page Spread.

The Complete Double Page Spread

My double page continues the same theme of my advert. However, the image is less ‘in-your-face’ and more sutble. The dominant colour of red sits nicely on the background image which is in greyscale. I deliberately kept the area around the doll’s eyes clear from text or logo’s because the eyes are a very powerful tool in attracting attention and is focal to the DPS.

Convention 1 – Single Image Background

As I’ve said from the beginning, I wanted my whole range of products to maintain a simplistic yet heart-rending effect. By using only one image, the brand image or subject is identified immediately. By carrying through the doll from the advert I have tried to ensure that strong links are made between all 3 products.

Again, the use of one image to make the subject of the DPS easily identifiable is quite a common convention. Whilst this can be effective, it is not always suitable or achievable. You are more likely to see many images on a DPS advertising a teenage culture or fabulous lifestyle documentary.

Convention 2 – Continuation of Brand Image

Instead of a follow up to my advert, I wanted my double page spread to be in conjunction with my advert so that it is more easily associated with the documentary itself. In order to ensure that this was done, I felt it was necessary to continue brand image throughout.

I believe that this is done quite a lot on real media products because it is a reliable way of ensuring that audience completely understand the text on the double page spread if they already associate the subject with the advert and documentary.