Evaluation

Evaluation

For my A2 media project I decided to make a documentary based around my Granddad. When looking at his life from a glance you would assume that it’s not the most interesting but I wanted to show the audience that every life is a special and unique one if you look at it from a different angle. I needed to do it in a particular way so that it was not like an obituary to my granddad’s life but a look into what he does day in and day out as a butcher in the local market.
As I had always opted in the past to do the print option I decided I wanted to explore a different form of media. Although at first this was a disadvantage to me as getting to grips with the equipment was a bit daunting, it soon turned to an advantage allowing me to learn new skills and produce a short documentary. Problems that I stumbled across were my lack of experience with the equipment. My documentary was going to be based around my granddad’s 70th birthday where I filmed at his party, interviewing a number of different party members as well as himself. This went well until I when to edit the tape, which I hadn’t actually inserted into the camera. From this I learnt how to correctly load the tape as well as always making sure I check all of these things before filming! Before embarking on the project I did some research into what a documentary actually was and tried to transport my knowledge into my final piece and the anisinaraly tasks.
Having researched into different types of documentaries I could categorise mine as a bio documentary, which specifically looks and one person’s life. Codes and conventions played a major role in the development of my piece showing me how to make it look and feel like a documentary to the audience. As the audience is not formally introduced to the characters audio ally I wanted to visually so that it wasn’t distracting the audience too much from what was being said. Instead I choose to have blackout ‘s with text on introducing who was talking before you could actually see them so that the audience could associate the voice with the name. I choose to have white text on the black to make it stand out more and use the same font style throughout. I didn’t give the characters names, I just gave them titles such as “the Daughter”, I felt by doing this it was including the audience, as it was a very personal film specific to my family I wanted to reassure the audience that’s its ok for them to be watching and enjoying it. By having just titles rather than names they could relate to who theses people are which could be a catalyst for them thinking about there own family members.
Interviewing techniques where something that took a bit of getting uses too. Due to the fact that I wanted to make the documentary an almost fly on the wall one, I didn’t want the questions being asked to seem too forceful. By the time I was actually filming the final piece my family where pretty use to me having a camera in there face and sometimes the awkwardness added to the effect that I wanted such as when my mum doesn’t know what to say and asks “you’ll have to ask me some questions”, I liked this because it added intimacy as if the audience where actually in the room watching what was going on giving them a greater understanding as too who these people are. I decided not to have a voice over, I think this would have taken away from the sentimental part of the documentary. By having a voice over it may have seemed too superficial but by having my voice over if I am not seen all the way through was almost like a substitute for a voice over guiding the audience through the narrative.
When watching other documentaries I soon realised that where the interview and what was being filmed was important in setting the scene and telling the audience a bit more about the characters. For my granddad the perfect place seemed to be the market at his stall, this is where he is most of the time and where he feels most comfortable. Problems I faced with this was that the fridges where noisy which interfered with the sounds and I was unable to film while there where customers in as it was too busy. The market on the documentary almost looks deserted but this was it due to it being closed, this may make the audience rethink where they shop and realise that locally run places like the Carlisle indoor market will soon be a thing of the past if people don’t continue to support them. This is also represented in the documentary when Donald (my granddad) is discussing the fact he retired but then now works for the new owners. Although Donald was of retirement age he had no other choice and had to sell the business due to lack of money. I wanted to film in my granddad’s house but he felt uncomfortable and because he did, I did so it just didn’t really work. This was maybe due to him living alone it was a bit intrusive having a camera which he is not use too being there. I felt it was inappropriate to include this footage.
For the interview with my sister and me I decided it would be right to do it in my room where the walls are pink and there are lots of things on the wall. This is a complete contrast to the market or the dining room table and the lamp in the background that I choose for my mum. This was to show the generation differences.
Throughout my documentary the opening scene and cutaways are of old photographs of my Granddad and important people in his life. I decided to only view my mum with the photos. She is the middle generation, she has not only seen me and my sister grow up but she’s also seen her dad turn into an old man and to be honest she’s struggling with this. By having her the only one look at the images, its as if she is the only one who can truly reminisce and relate this too the audience. Granddad finds it hard to see people in photo’s he has lost and if I had given him some photo’s to look at I think it would have got too emotional. There is a line in the documentary where he is asked “you like the market don’t you?” he replies, while welling up “people ask me do I like the market, ……. It’s alright” this is showing the audience that maybe its not the life he wanted and this puts a very sad feeling to the end which I felt was needed to be included to show that there is more to this man that just his butchers stall.
By calling it “the butcher” I wanted to shock the audience making it seem as though it would be about some kind of serial killer. Instead it is about something that is very personal and about someone whose profession in our society is dying out and from my experience many people my age turn their noses up at a butcher. They find it quite “sick” yet these people eat meat. Often gore and uncensored TV shows and films attract a larger audience such as the Saw films. I thought by having it called the butcher it would attract a larger audience, in a way I was trying to fool the audience so as if it where called “my granddad” am not sure it would attract as many people as they may dismiss it as boring before giving it a chance.
From the audience’s feedback I received, I found that most people who watched it wanted to see more of him and felt like they got to know about something they wouldn’t have given a second glance at such as the indoor market. By having the equipment such as the small hand held camera I was able to make it as personal as possible allowing my family to be as comfortable as possible in front of the camera allowing them to speak naturally allowing my documentary to flow and be as interesting as it could be.
I decided that I wanted music to make it more comic if you like and keep the audience intrigued. It also added a certain style to the documentary as the repetition in certain area’s signified to the audience that what that person was saying was coming to an end so it was a smooth transaction. I found the music on sound track pro where I was able to transport the piece of music over to final cut where I was editing my documentary. On final cut I was able to manipulate my shots such as changing the way it looked and adding sound effects. For my anisinary tasks I used Adobe Photoshop to create a double page spread of a listings magazine based on my documentary and a newspaper advertisement. I scanned old photo’s that I used in my documentary and imported them onto Photoshop and the other images where taken on set while I was filming with my own personal digital camera.
I choose a specific style for my documentary of holding my camera so that the audience showed that it wasn’t filmed in the best way but if it had been artificially set up in surroundings that my characters didn’t feel comfortable then I don’t think the story would have been strongly portrayed through my documentary. Theses people would have not taken the role of them selves but in fact would have been actors. I also think if anyone else would have tried to make this then it wouldn’t have been effected as know one knows there family as well enough as someone who is apart of it.

Preliminary Task - Newspaper advertisment

TV listenings - "Fabulous" news of the worlds suplement

where they have the "fabulous" choice of the day is a small right up about what to watch that day on TV. this tells the audience a bit about the programme, obviously i want to include more information and photo's as my piece needs to be longer but this magazine showed how a house style can be carried out through a TV magazine.

For my Ansinary task i had to look at print which was a change from video. i looked at a number of magazine and newspaper supliments to see what different techniques and styles there are for advertising a documentary.

Some Photo's For Ansinary Tasks

Ansinary Taks

• a double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary

• a newspaper advertisment of the documentary

Filming

for filming the documentary i am going to use a small hand held digital camera, ( a bit like the one to the left) this will not be as intimidating for the people who i am going to be filming as they are not use to being on camera.
i have decided that i want the filming to be very relaxed so am going to interview my Grandad at his work as this is the place where he is most comfortable i am also going to be interviewing my mum as it is about her dad as well and me and my sister as it is three generations. these will take place at home.
i have hundreds of old photographs of my Grandad so would like to incorporate them into the documentary so am going to film the photographs and have voices over them.

Grandad with me (left) and my little sister

My Grandad

My Grandad was born in 1939 in Carlisle. he is now 70 and still lives in Carlisle, he has never been anywhere else. he hasn't been out of Cumbria (well he has been to Gretna a couple of times) since he was 15 and even then he only went to play football. he doesnt understand why we would want to go to university he thinks that people should just work. he's a character and probably represents a generation that most younge popele forget exist.

although he's 70 Donald Nattrass is unlike many 70 years, he worka from 6 in the morning untill 6.30 in Carlisle's market every day of the week apart from Sundays when its closed. he still managed to get himself in with the security guard who he gives lifts to so that he can get in first. his life revolves around his butchers stall which has been in his family for generations.

when Grandad was 65 he decided to retire.....this lasted abou 1 week if that! a butcher from long town who is in his 40's saw grandad's shop as something worth keeping so bought the business allowing grandad to work till his hearts content but still getting a pay check at the end of every week without the hastle of the business side of things.

through out Carlisle Grandad is know, even if he doesn't know who they are! he likes to know all the crack and is probably one of the most Cumbrian people you will ever meet. as a family we are very close to him, in fact for 7 years of my life i lived with him, and now we only a few doors away.

for my documentary i want to show people who he is and interview people close to him to tell the audience what he's like as although to some people he hasnt had the most exciting life when you look at it in more detail its extraordinary.

My documentary

the idea that i have had for my documentary is to follow the life of somebody. as it is very hard to find a celebrity and a bit un realistic i thought i would look closer to home and find a family member to concentrate on.

this person is going to be grandad. i would like to make the documentary personal, and allow the audience to get to know my grandad and my family.

The really wild show

the really wild show was a tv show on CBBC aimed at children informing them about different animals from all over the world. the music is more upbeat as it is aimed at children, and the titles are bright and vibrant making the audience concentrate for longer. a characteristic that i noticed from things aimed at children is that they give them personalities, for example they make it seem as the know the animals personally giving them there own chatacters. this makes the children not afraid of the animals and think that they are just like humans allowing them to understand and learn about them better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb1Bzin5F54

Target audiences

a target audience can determine what the documentary looks like. it can change everything. for example if it was a documentary aimed at children that would be shown on CBBC or shown in schools then the lanuage that is going to be used is going to be simpler and easier to understand compared to a documantary that is aimed at adults about the life of British architect.
for my target audience i want it to be young adults and upwards, i don't want there to be anything inappropriate for children i just think that it would be a more professional documentary if i am able to explore language as well as techniques that are not as simple and plain as children's documentaries.

idea's for my documentary

fly on the wall documentary at work:

• i work at a clothes shop in the city of Carlisle. i could film how the shop works and how we communicate with the customers and just generally how we all work together showing our different personalities.
  
• although this would be interesting, it would be very difficult to get permission and actaully do in work hours.
  

documentary about teenagers:

• it could be something to do with growing up and how your bodies change.
• this could be aimed at teenagers in school to be shown there in personal development lessons
• i think it would be hard to find adolescent teenagers to take part in my documentary and it is also something i would have to research in greatly for the scientific facts.
  

following the life of someone:

• it would be good if i could find somone with an interesting lifestyle to follow like a celebrity.
  
• this could be quite a mission to find one and even once i find one making them agree to take part.
  

My big fat gypsy wedding

My Big fat Gypsy wedding, was on channel 4 and followed the story of four gypsy weddings and the dress maker. the subject of the documentary was very effective as it is something different and would attract all different types of audiences from young girls who like to see pretty dresses to old men who want to see how the traveling people live. i think that the music made the documentary adding humor to it as well as creating a theme throughout. the womens voice over also did this as she was simply narrating. the interesting thing i found about this documentary was the story that was told. the Gypsy community was shown in a good way all the way through, showing how young girls get to live there dream on there wedding day untill the last girl who was getting married. she was shown in a different way, it was almost like she didn't want to get married to his man who had her parents had chosen for her and the whole thing was very sad, with not that many people turning up to the wedding. by the creaters choosing to put this at the end would leave the audience remembering this wedding in particular and how sad and almost unfair gypsy life if for girls which is a completely different way of looking at the subject compared to the rest of the documentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HAUmII_hcg

Pineapple Dance studio's

Pineapple dance studio's is a documentary featured on Sky 1. it focus's on the people rather
than what they are doing. and due to there characters it is a really entertaining programme. there are no interviewers seen or heard but there are formal interviews that take place with a back drop of the studio or sat by a piano. this shows that the people are in there own space and are able to relax and show what they are about. in some parts of the documentary it is almost like a fly on the wall documentary where you get too see the characters being themselves and doing ordinary things like eating, this shows that they are human and what we are seeing is real making the audience feel like the know the people. there is a witty voice over all the way through which adds humor to the programme and is almost mocking the people who take part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwSdgot1-OU&feature=related