A2 MEDIAFINAL EVALUATION OF MY ADVANCED PORTFOLIO – DOCUMENTARY.

LEVI HODGE

BREAKTHROUGH MENTORING

THE INITIAL TASK – WHAT I WAS REQUIRED TO DO

As part of constructing my Advanced Portfolio I had to create a five minute section of a documentary. This meant that I had to research the different types of documentaries and the key codes and conventions, produce the documentary and edit it myself in post production.

As part of my research I watched the observational documentaries Grizzly Man and Undefeated, as well as the expository documentaries Supersize Me and Blackfish. Whilst watching the documentaries I took detailed notes on the key conventions used to allow me to strengthen my knowledge and write an essay showing the codes and conventions used.

This was crucial that I was aware and learned this because it allowed me to have the opportunity of included different ones in my documentary, Breakthrough Mentoring. The key codes and conventions that were repetitive throughout the different documentaries were the voice of God narration, the voice of authority narration, interviews, archive footage and generic conventions such as different camera shots and styles.

So this made me aware that I needed to include as many as possible.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

As expected, I set out to make a five minute documentary opening. However I felt that the immediate start was a process that took a lot of thought because I had to decide what I wanted the documentary topic to be. After a few ideas I decided that I was going to make the documentary about something that is very close to me; this was Breakthrough Mentoring.

Breakthrough Mentoring is a service for young people that offers that much needed 1-1 support during that time of need. As an outcome I wanted to show the audience that this type of service is available and that they do not have to be alone during a time of need. The Breakthrough Mentoring service is available to any young person that may need help with situations such as behaviour issues, family and personal issues, low self esteem and this is just some of the difficulties that the service has helped with. Following on from this, because I wanted to achieve this goal I decided to make Breakthrough Mentoring an observational documentary. The style of an observational documentary is to simply observe a particular subject matter. In addition this this I included some elements of an expository documentary; which is a documentary that is used to expose a particular subject and to try and push a message to the audience. I felt that by me making Breakthrough Mentoring feel like elements of both an observational and expository documentary, it enabled me to achieve my aim of wanting to make people feel that they can ask for help if its needed.

How they were used or challenged?

Codes/Conventions How they were used or avoided.

Interviews My original plan was to have talking head interviews with a mentor and mentees who have been through the service. I also planned to have a interview with a young person where I would be seen on screen, as well as an interview with the Breakthrough mentoring coordinator; this would adopt the voice of authority.

Narration My initial plan was to employ the voice of God myself as well as doing a voice over explaining my input within the service. However I spoke about my input direct to the camera instead; meaning that the only narration I used was the voice of God explaining the service. In addition to this I also created sound bridges at some parts of the documentary.

Archive Footage I had the potential to use archive footage from a previous short film made about Breakthrough Mentoring. However during the construction of my documentary I was filmed for a BBC Points West news piece. So this was something that I thought would be a key relevant part to include within my documentary. I also spoke to the Breakthrough Mentoring coordinator to ask for some pictures of young people involved in the project.

Reconstruction From the start of my planning and research I decided that I was not going to include and reconstructions in my documentary opening. However, if I was to make the full feature documentary I would include a reconstruction of a much more personal story that a young person may not be comfortable speaking about themselves.

Codes/Conventions How they were used or avoided?

Stereotyping/ Simplification Initially I wanted to avoid using stereotypes because I wanted to show the young people in a full circle. However some people could argue that I am stereotyping ‘that boys are the ones that have behaviour problems and need help’ because I have only included boys’ stories in my documentary. However it could also be seen that I am challenging the stereotype ‘that males do share and show emotion’, as the perception is usually viewed and it is not masculine to show emotion.

Camera type and shots In my documentary I used a handheld camera for specific parts; this included when I was walking around the area of Knowle West in my introduction. In addition to this, I used a steady cam (camera on tripod) for all of my interviews to ensure the documentary was constructed in professional manner. Whilst filming my documentary I wanted to show my expertise with camera shots and used a range of shots such as a hunting shot and over the shoulder.

Cinema Verite I particularly wanted to avoid employing cinema verite because I wanted to challenge the idea that all documentaries are cinema verite. However I did adopt it in some parts of the documentary; for example the shots of AJ on the computer and disc jokey kit could be argued as cinema verite because it may seen to be made in a stylised set up solely for the camera.

Fly on the wall At the outset of my planning I wanted to adopt the fly on the wall procedure by simply observing a 1-1 mentoring session. But as expected, there was a slight difficulty with this because of it being a confidential session. However, after interviewing one of the mentors, I did film the mentor talking to the young person generically but muted the sound in post production.

How they were used or challenged?

This is a mind-map that I created so that I had a clear idea on how the codes and conventions would be adopted. My final documentary was created using a lot of these ideas. However, I was not bound by this because there were some parts that I did not use in the final documentary but it is shown here.

HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION?

To start of planning aspect of my documentary film making I was aware of the fact that I needed to schedule interviews, through email, with the Breakthrough Mentoring Co-ordinator, Denise Clifford, Mentors and young people. Due to the fact that I have a built-up relationship with Denise she was happy to help me with contacting the mentors and young people to arrange when they could be done.

I was currently undergoing mentoring so thought it would be relevant to interview my own mentor, Ben. I also interviewed a newly employed mentor to get his perspective on the service why he is enjoying being a mentor. Prior to filming the interview I thought it would be a good opportunity to shoot the interview outside with a pristine mise-en-scene set up. Unfortunately, in post production it was apparent that I did not take the noise of the natural sounds into consideration because the wind dominated the whole narrative aspect of the interview because although the set up and what the mentor said was successful, he could not be heard once the interview was uploaded to watch back. This meant that this interview could not be included. I wanted to ensure that I my documentary would portray of sense of professionalism and because of this I used the Canon XF100 to film all of my interviews because of the fact that it has a much better quality than the Panasonic handy cam.

However I did chose to use the handy cam for certain scenes in my documentary such as the introduction; this was simply because the handy cam was more suitable for portable use, where as the Canon XF100 is larger in size. As mentioned previously, I had the opportunity to use archive footage from a BBC Points West news story that was based on the struggles I have experienced in my life and how it was over come. As evident in my documentary it was Breakthrough Mentoring that played a vital part in helping me overcome life barriers and changing my life around; this was spoke about in the news story.

This was an archive footage opportunity that could not be missed. Due to the fact I was part of the story BBC sent me a DVD copy of the report, I then researched the fair use law that to ensure that I was allowed to use elements of the news story in my documentary. I was successful in my research, learning that I was allowed to include parts of it in my documentary. Following on from this I had to use WinX DVD Rip software to convert the news story so that it was in the correct format for me to use. Additionally I thought that I could make my documentary more attractive to the audience by including a range of photos. To make this happen I had to contact Denise again to ensure that it would be possible for me to attend a couple of 1-1 mentoring sessions, to get some photos of the young people engaging in the sessions. I wanted to make sure that the photos were took at a high quality, hence the reason I chose to use the Canon EOS 7D. This camera was also used to help create the picture for the poster, as part of my ancillary task.

In addition to taking my own photos, Denise emailed me photos that has my presence in, as well as using my own social media sites, to allow me to include photos of me in my documentary. Following on from this, I knew that it was crucial that narration was included in my documentary, so I had to plan what parts would be solely a voice over footage. I chose to include it in my introduction with the aspiration of creating sound bridges with interviews and photos. To create the voice over I used a noise cancelling microphone, with built in pop filter, in a professionally set up recording studio. This was simply because the internal microphones on the IMac was not as a high quality as the microphone in the recording studio because it picked up a lot of the background noise.

During post-production I wanted to make my documentary more effective to the audience and one of the ways for me to do this was to create ambient background music to reflect on different moods shown throughout the documentary. To make this happen I started to explore Logic Pro and attempted to create a loop using it, but this was something that I found difficult and because so much time was being put in to attempting to do it I decided to find different original instrumentals that could be used.

How the documentary was created

When I had vital amount of footage and photos, I knew I needed to start forming the structure of the documentary; making it apparent to me of specific things that may have been missed. To make the documentary I had to use an Apple IMac and chose to use IMovie as the software to use to create it. As I needed to make a five minute part of a documentary I decided to have an introduction and me talking direct to the camera. I felt that this would enable the audience to have contextual information immediately; making sure that they understand the socio-economic background of the young people involved in the mentoring service. Before I continued the editing in depth, I wanted to make sure I had enough stock footage to allow me to create the whole five minute documentary. This is because I wanted to solely focus on the post production aspect of creating a documentary. Once I had a layer of core footage I started to explore the input of narration and stock footage. Following on from this, to create a sympathetic ear for the audience I included non-diegetic sound to reflect the mood of the interviews and different parts of the documentary.

The difference between this project and my foundation portfolio

There is an immediate difference between the two projects that had to be completed for AS and A2, this is that in my foundation portfolio I had to create a 2 minute thriller film opening and for my A2 portfolio I had to produce a 5 minute section of a documentary. During the completion of my foundation portfolio, my media and technology expertise was at a minimal. This meant that in post production I was only able to make a linear narrative; demonstrating basic editing and recording skills. However this has advanced in the completion of my portfolio in A2 because I was able to make a much more complex narrative. This helped me push my story because I was able to include non-diegetic sound and stock footage over original footage rather that simply having sound over original footage. My technological skills are much more advanced now because instead of using a built-in microphone to record and handy cam to film, like AS, I have used a microphone with built in pop filter and the Canon XF100 for filming and recording aspects of my portfolio in A2.

In terms of research, to demonstrate my knowledge of the codes and conventions of the thriller film genre, I created a short film using the Panasonic handy cam. However, to demonstrate my knowledge of the codes and conventions of documentaries in A2, I decided to create a stop-motion animated mockumentary.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TASKS?

I feel that the combination of my documentary and ancillary tasks work really well. This is because I have included parts of my documentary in my ancillary tasks, to create a sense of honesty and realism. I think that completing the ancillary tasks are not only a good promotional tool for the documentary, but its an opportunity for me to demonstrate the skills I have in designing and creating different media products. Following on from this is, I the process to be as apparent to creating such resources in the real media world. For example: promotional material needs to be created to enable the film or product to be advertised and promoted. So this was something that I had to do.

I researched newspaper adverts by looking at a wide range of different adverts for that are published in magazines and newspapers to promote documentaries or films. At first I looked at a range from different channels, but I needed to take in to consideration the channel ‘Breakthrough Mentoring would be aired on. The channel I decided it would best fit was BBC Three, this meant that I had to research the style guide of how the posters were set out. This resulted in me discovering that the font on the poster would need to be Ariel Bold. I specifically chose to not just look at BBC three posters because I wanted to ensure that my ideas elaborated from a range of different posters and to not be bound solely by the BBC posters. However I was aware the I would need to be bound by the style guide for the layout. In addition to this, I was aware that it would need to meet the needs of my target audience, 13-19 year olds.

Advert research

The first draft of my poster

As an outcome of my research in to adverts, I learned that I would have to include what the documentary is about.

It was made evident that to make my poster eye catching I would need to include a slogan or quotation. This is shown is majority of the adverts made for BBC Three.

To make it evident to the audience what channel the documentary would be broadcasted on, I needed to include the logo. This had to be in the corner, as stated in the style guide.

BBC Three posters usually gave a person or object as the main focus of the poster. I have used a man breaking through a brick wall to connote a young person breaking through tough times in their lives; with the help of ‘Breakthrough Mentoring’. I needed to include the day and time for the simple reason

that the audience would need to know when its being aired.

The final draft of my poster

I knew I had to keep my focus on a person, however in my final poster I decided to use a young male holding a sign asking for help. I feel this would be more effective to audience because it would create a sense of realism for the documentary. I specifically chose to use a young male to challenge the negative stereotype of ‘young men do not show emotion or want help’. By me doing this I hope to encourage more young males to speak out about their struggles and ask for help when its needed.

I moved the day and time from the bottom left to the top right because I did not want the poster to be to crowded at the bottom and wanted it to be clear and visible.

I also moved the logo to the top left because I did not want there to be too much information at the bottom.

I wanted to keep a slogan because, not only was it included In posters I looked at for ideas but I feel it makes the poster more effective. I feel that, by the slogan being in a speech bubble, it gives the documentary that personal feel.

I needed to include a short description to show what the documentary was about. But the colour of the text in my first draft was too bright and not readable, so I changed it to the same colour as the BBC three logo.

Radio Advert

In addition to creating the poster, I had to produce a radio advert to help promote my documentary. By doing this it would help the ‘Breakthrough Mentoring’ documentary reach a much wider audience and would be something that could be played and heard on radios online, at home, in the car and many more places. Rather than solely in a magazine; where the audience attraction could be a minimal. In terms of constructing the radio advert, I decided to use garage band and the use of recording studio, because I wanted my radio advert to sound professional. I personally found some of the recording aspects challenging because I wanted to create emphasis and specific points of the advert, with solely the use of my voice with no effects. I was aware of the fact that I needed to include specific information in the advert such as: the day and time and what the documentary is about. To make my radio advert both successful and effective, I decided to extract parts of my documentary and include it in the advert. Please click on the picture to enable you to

play the radio advert.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Audience feedback is a crucial stage of the film making process. This is because it enables you to allow others opinion and what have been created and how it could be improved. My initial task, to gain audience feedback, was to create a survey. I Created a simple survey for potential audience members to complete after watching my documentary. This was a task that I found very useful because it allowed me to discover issues that I did not realise myself, this is why I believe that it is always beneficial to have a second opinion on my work. One of the faults that was made evident, was the non-diegetic sound over the interviews was dominating because of the volume. As an outcome I increased the volume of the sound on the footage and decreased the volume on the non diegetic sound.

Documentary Film Festival.

Whilst my documentary was in working progress, a documentary film festival was organised. This enabled me to showcase my documentary again, but to a much wider audience. On the day of the film festival I gave a brief talk about the documentary, as well as asking for critical feedback, as this would have been that last opportunity I had to reach such a large group before the final completion of the editing process of my documentary. The film festival was a huge success as we had members from all over the academy attend to watch and critique my documentary. This was an opportunity for more surveys to be completed.

In addition to this, there were 2 awards available at the film festival; the winner and the special mention. The specification of ‘The Winner’ was the documentary that was technically most proficient and the all round best example of documentary film making. The ‘special mention’ was for the documentary that the audience enjoyed the most. My documentary, ‘Breakthrough Mentoring’, was the winner of the documentary; which I was really pleased about. This portrays that the reaction to my documentary was a good one.

Critical Theory

“Documentary film makers put their own truths on the screen” – Dianne Tammes

- This theory could be applied to the ‘Breakthrough Mentoring’ documentary because of the fact that I feature in the documentary myself explaining my story and input with the service. However it could be argued that it is not solely based on my truths or my perception of the project. This is because I have interviewed other young people and mentors, and all of the content interlinks.

“Ideology of protection”- Acland 1995

The ‘ideology of protection’ is the idea that young people need constant surveillance and monitoring. This theory could be seen as being applied to my documentary because it could connote that young people cannot ‘act responsibly’ without the support or monitoring in place. However this is something that I did not intentionally want to portray, as I wanted to show that young people can benefit from the support in place and should not be afraid to ask for it.

Final Summary

Finally, I believe that the completion of my documentary and ancillary tasks was a huge success. I am significantly happy and proud of what have been produced. Especially the documentary. This is because the Breakthrough Mentoring project have made a huge impact on my own personal life and I had the opportunity to show other people how good the service is. Whilst planning to film this, I knew that some parts would be challenging because other young people would need to talk about their own lives.

It would have been great if I would have had the opportunity to create a full feature documentary and not just a five minute section. If this would have been the case I would have had the opportunity to include more contextual and background information about the service and how the referral process works, as well as more stories from young people. However, I believe that what I have produced sets the story about the service really well.