What is a Documentary?
Unknown. (Unknown). What Is A Documentary?. Available: https://www.desktop-documentaries.com/what-is-a-documentary.html. Last accessed 22nd Mar 2018.
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This quote by Sheila show how a documentary can not only connect with the audience but also tell them a story. It tells me that everything needs to be proven fact or i need to tell a story from one person's opinions. This has helped me to understand what my documentary needs to be based on and how i either have to do it on one persons opinion or all on facts.
There are many different types of documentaries. I am focusing on creating an expository and historical one because of the era it is based in and the amount of information that can be involved with it. There are other types like poetic and performative documentaries but these would not work with the message i am trying to convey. |
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"Documentaries can be funny, poignant, disturbing, ironic, absurd, inspirational, amusing, shocking or any combination. It is a genre of movie making that uses video & film scenes, photographs and/or sound of real people and real events which when edited together creates a particular story, viewpoint, message or experience."
Unknown. (Unknown). What Is A Documentary?. Available: https://www.desktop-documentaries.com/what-is-a-documentary.html. Last accessed 22nd Mar 2018.
This part of information on the site shows me what a documentary is as a definition rather than above where it is one person's opinion of what it is. This shows me how people see a documentary in different way. This information tells me all the different types of genre that a documentary can be and it also tells me what sort of media can be included traditionally. The one thing that both pieces posses is the idea of getting a story, experience, message, etc. This shows i need to have an aim of the documentary and then add different types of media to prove that point and give the viewers and idea of that point from my eyes.
Film Courage. (2013). 3 Most Common Types Of Documentaries Today by Kevin Knoblock. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=34-zYlEI5_4. Last accessed 23rd Mar 2018.
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The first type of documentary he talks about is 'cinema verite'.
'It combines improvisation with the use of the camera to unveil truth or highlight subjects hidden behind crude reality'. This means the camera is like a fly, it is there but the people/characters barely notice it and carry on with their everyday lives. This technique is something i would definitely use in my final piece. Another type he talks about is a documentary with scenarios created and planned by the filmmaker. This is called a participatory documentary. This is something i might incorporate however it will definitely not be the base structure of my documentary.
The last type of documentary he talks about is an expository style one. This style focuses on the voice-of-god technique where there is voice-over telling the story. I am definitely considering using this as my survey supports this technique.
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The Topic - The History
Click The Picture For The Full Site
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The webpage to the left informs me of all the dates and the key events that took place on those mentioned days or years. This will help me to give the viewer facts during the production that are accurate and are from a reliable source.
The document below is all of the key facts highlighted: |
From this page we can learn key facts such as the opening and closing date. Because this is from the official website it will be reliable, this helps to keep the audience interested in what the presenter has to say. it gives us information like the last day of passenger services, 01 july 1957. This is key for the documentary as having dates shows the progression over time rather than just jumping from then to now. It will also help me keep all of my information in order.
It goes into greater detail than any other website i have looked at, it gives dates and even the time of day that the last ever train was scheduled to go. It even goes to the point where it says what the loco was and what rolling stock it had, by giving this amount of detail the audience will trust the presenter more.
This will come in useful for my final production as it will help me to give the audience not just reliable facts but an in-depth story backing up those facts.
Interviews
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I used this in unit 1 to learn about how to set up and conduct an indoor interview. The first slide taught me the importance of having more than one camera angle to keep the viewer interested and excited.
It explains the set-up of cameras and people for an interview, this helped to get the lighting right and also the framing. It helped my to get the sound right and what type of microphone to use. I feel overall it has helped my produce professional interviews. |
Professionals
Michael Portillo |
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The way he does this will help me to get my information across as well as both my opinions and experiences without boring the viewer. By using the voice over at the right times it can make you production more fun to watch and can also improve viewer retention.
When Michael interviews people he talks to them as if it is a conversation rather than an interview. The camera also shows general b-roll to give visual examples for the viewer. This may improve how I conduct my interviews in my final production. Later on in the production he shows old photos of what the railway used to be like. This has helped show the audience of how it has changed logistically and physically. This is something I definitely want to do in my production as it shows a journey of how it has evolved. This is the overall view of what I want my production to be. The main point of this documentary is Michael following a book and reliving what the author lived while stopping at local attractions nearby. The aim of this documentary is to take the viewers on the same journey as the author and him. It is presented in a way where the whole series it him reading the book at the same rate as the viewer. This creates the effect that it is a journey for michael and the reader and that they are on the same page. |
documentary but i do like how he switches between drama and calm. It represents how unpredictable a volcano is.
When he edits the interviews he doesn't cut a lot, he instead makes it such a way that it is more like a conversation. This is very similar to how Michael Portillo conducts his interviews and encourages me more to do an interview like this. The camera also shows general b-roll to give visual examples for the viewer of what could have happened. This may improve how I conduct my interviews in my final production. And it will also help me plan my b-roll. |
Joe Bini |
Survey
Survey Results
Internet Research
Codes And Conventions
For my codes and conventions i will be looking into how my production is lighted as well as edited. From the website listed below the picture you can see how different lighting can be used to show different meanings. For my practical research, which can be found at the bottom of the page, you can see how I conducted an experiment to see how the mood can change it different lighting situations.
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As you can see by the document on the right, it shows what things a documentary should or could include. These things are:
-Voice-Overs -Observations -Interviews -Music -Footage -Planned Events -Improvised Events Personally, I intend to use all of these features in my production as it will help add structure to my documentary.
The Voice-overs can be used to keep the audience looking at something while listening. This is done to let the audience live the moment just as you are, however you still have your input in a form of sound. |
Codes and Conventions of a Documentary by SNM Productions on Scribd |
Observations can be used to point out things the audience would not normally think or see. This os done to give the viewer more information that they would pick up from just watching the footage without an commentary. Another reason it is useful is for the fact that it makes it more informal for the viewer. This is good for when you have a presenter lead documentary.
Interviews are a vital part of a documentary, whether they're formal or informal. Interviews give a documentary information that you can't find on the internet. This can be facts or opinions. A documentary without any interviews would not work as it would just feel like someone talking to a camera without any experience. People will trust facts coming from experts more than facts coming from the presenter.
Music can create drama, suspense or just a background noise for a documentary. All of these options add something different. For example if you create drama or suspense it can slow down a story within a documentary where as with background music it can speed up a documentary as the viewer can start to notice it more than the voice audio.
Footage is obvious when you think about it, however there are many different types of footage. You can have the normal documentary footage but to make it more interesting you can add photos if it a historical documentary like mine or in every documentary they use b-roll, this adds something for the viewer to look at while listening. This increases the watch time of each viewer.
Planned events are a key part of documentaries, you need to plan what interviews you will conduct and what questions there will be. You also need to plan what time you film certain things as it can look different at different times of the day. If you didn't have any planned events there would be no point in making a plan at filming would be a lot less effective and much more time consuming.
Improvised events can often happen in documentaries however in my type of documentary it is very unlikely. For example, in 'into the inferno', anything can happen with volcanos. Although they are predicting nothing it could suddenly erupt. If this was the case they need to decide quickly how to film it in a safe way. I don't think improvised events will have any effect on my production however it is something to keep in mind.
Interviews are a vital part of a documentary, whether they're formal or informal. Interviews give a documentary information that you can't find on the internet. This can be facts or opinions. A documentary without any interviews would not work as it would just feel like someone talking to a camera without any experience. People will trust facts coming from experts more than facts coming from the presenter.
Music can create drama, suspense or just a background noise for a documentary. All of these options add something different. For example if you create drama or suspense it can slow down a story within a documentary where as with background music it can speed up a documentary as the viewer can start to notice it more than the voice audio.
Footage is obvious when you think about it, however there are many different types of footage. You can have the normal documentary footage but to make it more interesting you can add photos if it a historical documentary like mine or in every documentary they use b-roll, this adds something for the viewer to look at while listening. This increases the watch time of each viewer.
Planned events are a key part of documentaries, you need to plan what interviews you will conduct and what questions there will be. You also need to plan what time you film certain things as it can look different at different times of the day. If you didn't have any planned events there would be no point in making a plan at filming would be a lot less effective and much more time consuming.
Improvised events can often happen in documentaries however in my type of documentary it is very unlikely. For example, in 'into the inferno', anything can happen with volcanos. Although they are predicting nothing it could suddenly erupt. If this was the case they need to decide quickly how to film it in a safe way. I don't think improvised events will have any effect on my production however it is something to keep in mind.
For This part of my codes and conventions i will looking into jump cuts and how they are done effectively. From the text on the left, I can see that jump cuts can be good and bad for different things. For my documentary I will try to refrain from using jump cuts however they make the video look better if there is a stutter or cough etc.
At the bottom of the text it includes a small section about music. I have already said above that i want to use it to create a small amount of suspense but also use it to go behind images while there is also a voice-over. This will make the voice-over sound more flush with the documentary.
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The Historical Genre
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This document (to the left) shows not only how to create a historical documentary but how to research and plan one as well. Focusing on the Information it has we can learn that quite often a historical documentary can be based on a book. For me this is not the case, I will not be basing it on a book. Instead I will be basing it on the 'brief history' section of the website that the railway owns. I think this will be more useful as there are no books in detail about the railway and also a book would not be efficient for a short documentary.
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The documentary to the left uses the voice-of-god technique as a narrative. This works as all of the shots look more genuine without a presenter, this is because of how the documentary is based before anyone reaches america. The only time they have a presenter is when there is an observation. Like an expert pointing something out or having an interview.
The misc-en-scene they use is all natural but they make sure to film where no man has had any great impact. This is because they are supposed to be showing america before columbus.
In this all of the lighting they use is natural apart from the interviews when they use diffused light and when they are in dark caves.
The camera angles they use are all b-roll apart from the interviews. This is because it is basically an audio book with footage attached. This is not the type of documentary I want.
This documentary is majority voice-of-god with the exception of the interviews. For this type of documentary it definitely works well. The only parts where it is presenter lead is where he is in modern day looking back on the event.
They use a great amount of misc-en-scene in this documentary. They use it mainly for when the man is in the u-boat. This is done because it needs to be unique.
They use dim lighting to represent the mood. You can look at the lighting part of my codes and conventions to see that this is used to represent the mood of realism.
The camera angles in this documentary are all looking down on the characters. In this they use a lot of clips from other films and also lots of animation to show their points in greater detail. This will probably not be of any importance to my documentary however it is always great to know so i can avoid it if i don't want it. I can also use it in future as well.
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Publication Websites
Websites can be just as good as youtube. They may not have as much traffic but people that visit the site are those who you are targeting. You can embed youtube videos on websites, this combines the both of best. This is what I am planning to do with my documentary. As my target audience is quite old they are more likely to go on a website to watch. By embedding a youtube video on a website anyone can watch it anywhere on any device. It is perfect FREE promotion.
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Practical Research
-Audio (internet and Practical) test out microphone in different locations, test out how it reacts with high background noise.
-Lighting (internet and Practical) test out different lighting techniques like high and low lights.
-Lighting (internet and Practical) test out different lighting techniques like high and low lights.
Audio
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Lighting
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