I have presented my initial location planning using Prezi:
Researching from this website has been effective for planning a range of cinematographic shots: empireonline.com/features/film-studies-101-camera-shots-styles
Thursday, 4 December 2014
Sunday, 16 November 2014
Musician Update
Today my musician, Maya Law, emailed me her cover of 'Hard Out Here' following my previous request of this song for my non-diegetic sound for my documentary. I've uploaded it to SoundCloud (with her permission) to embed into my blog.
I am very pleased with her cover and it's professionalism, as the sound quality is high, and its original song is recognisable. I'm especially happy with 1:02-1:34, and 2:12-2:55 of the cover, as these parts capture the upbeat feel which I had planned to overlay the more positive sections of my documentary narrative - therefore I will be looping them for these sections. The beginning of the cover sounds similar to 'Timber', the other music track for my documentary, therefore allowing my non-diegetic sound to flow and sound organised. I will experiment with editing this music along with 'Timber' using iMovie, to adjust the speed and pitch of these songs, and use ducking to correspond with the diegetic sound of my documentary, and my non-diegetic voice-over.
*I will update this post with the next song I'm requesting for Maya to cover once I've finished planning it.*
I am very pleased with her cover and it's professionalism, as the sound quality is high, and its original song is recognisable. I'm especially happy with 1:02-1:34, and 2:12-2:55 of the cover, as these parts capture the upbeat feel which I had planned to overlay the more positive sections of my documentary narrative - therefore I will be looping them for these sections. The beginning of the cover sounds similar to 'Timber', the other music track for my documentary, therefore allowing my non-diegetic sound to flow and sound organised. I will experiment with editing this music along with 'Timber' using iMovie, to adjust the speed and pitch of these songs, and use ducking to correspond with the diegetic sound of my documentary, and my non-diegetic voice-over.
*I will update this post with the next song I'm requesting for Maya to cover once I've finished planning it.*
Sunday, 9 November 2014
Deconstruction of TV Listings Magazine
I recently deconstructed two film posters; 'Moulin Rouge', 2001, and 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street', 2007, in order to develop my deconstruction skills and to understand what to look for when analysing media texts and products:
*Insert 3 images from the booklet*
From this knowledge, I began deconstructing a relevant article from the TV listings magazine, 'TV Choice'. The article I deconstructed was appropriate, as it was the same documentary which I have deconstructed in a previous post, 'Don't Stop the Music'. This shows me that documentaries (which I had identitfied as similar to my own in my deconstruction, for example due to its matching exhibitor of Channel 4) are suitable for this magazine, despite first impressions due to the soap opera dominated front cover.
Deconstruction of article using SlideShare as a presentation method:
Evaluation:
By deconstructing this TV listings magazine article, I have gained knowledge of its format, strengths and weaknesses, and how text and images can link together. I've also noted the importance of a house style to create a stylistic article. By deconstructing this article, I have now began to prepare my planning and production for my own ancillary product. I am unsure whether I will use this exhibitor, its indicated target audience seems inappropriate for my own product, therefore I will need to analyse another article from an alternate exhibitor such as the 'TV Times', which presents scheduling for Channel 4.
*Insert 3 images from the booklet*
From this knowledge, I began deconstructing a relevant article from the TV listings magazine, 'TV Choice'. The article I deconstructed was appropriate, as it was the same documentary which I have deconstructed in a previous post, 'Don't Stop the Music'. This shows me that documentaries (which I had identitfied as similar to my own in my deconstruction, for example due to its matching exhibitor of Channel 4) are suitable for this magazine, despite first impressions due to the soap opera dominated front cover.
Deconstruction of article using SlideShare as a presentation method:
Evaluation:
By deconstructing this TV listings magazine article, I have gained knowledge of its format, strengths and weaknesses, and how text and images can link together. I've also noted the importance of a house style to create a stylistic article. By deconstructing this article, I have now began to prepare my planning and production for my own ancillary product. I am unsure whether I will use this exhibitor, its indicated target audience seems inappropriate for my own product, therefore I will need to analyse another article from an alternate exhibitor such as the 'TV Times', which presents scheduling for Channel 4.
Production Plan
Over the next 2-3 months, I will be working to produce a 5 minute extract from a television documentary within the documentary genre and with my exhibitor 'Channel 4' in mind. It will present and debate the issue of sexism within contemporary media; specifically the music, television, journalism and film industries in the Western world. I will also be creating two ancillary products; a double page spread from a TV listings magazine discussing and promoting my documentary using images and text, and a newspaper advertisement of my documentary.
To stay organised with completing all necessary areas of production within my timescale, I have produced a production plan for planning and producing my documentary and ancillary products below, along with an estimation of the time it will take to complete each task.
To stay organised with completing all necessary areas of production within my timescale, I have produced a production plan for planning and producing my documentary and ancillary products below, along with an estimation of the time it will take to complete each task.
- Generation of ideas, 30 minutes: Mind-maps of developed ideas for all of my products, referring back to my research.
- Job specification, 40 minutes: As this is an independent task, I will be completing most of the production jobs myself; however just as I have recruited my musician, Maya Law, I will need to cast characters including a narrator and interviewee subjects.
- Characters, 30 minutes: Discussion of the influences of my characters and how mine have developed.
- Camera shot/ type/ angle plan, 1 hour 20 minutes: A detailed list of all of the camera shots, types and angles which I propose to use to film my documentary, and their effectiveness.
- First drafts of all of my products, 2-4 hours each: Early drafts for all of my products to make note of any problems which I may encounter during production (e.g. natural lighting or software), and have a basis to develop from for my next drafts.
- Time management, 20 minutes: Plans considering timescale to stay organised.
- Cinematography, 2 hours: Considering and evaluating the quality and artistic style of my ancillary product images and documentary shots.
- Lighting, 2 hours: Consider the effectiveness of a range of lighting and organise and experiment with equipment.
- Diegetic, non-diegetic and synchronous sound, 3 hours: Planning and producing sound including voice-overs and music, and experimenting with producing sound through techniques such as foleying.
- Ancillary product images, 3 hours 20 minutes: Organise, plan, produce and edit a range of images to choose the most effective within my focus group meetings.
- Health and safety, 1 hour 30 minutes: Research and evaluate the health and safety implications of my own products.
- Ethics and permissions, 1 hour 30 minutes: Research and evaluate issues such as plagiarism and copyright relating to my own products, and consider the ethical controversy of my production themes.
- Storyboards, 2 hours: Visually planning sequences of my production.
- Edits, 2 hours each: Produce developed drafts of edits for each of my products.
- Regular focus group evidence and questionnaires, 4 hours: Gathering feedback and evaluating and developing my products to suit my target audience.
Saturday, 8 November 2014
Audience Research Plan
As sexism in the media is a controversial topic, it would be inappropriate to target my products to young audiences. Most young audiences would also have difficulty understanding my documentary content, due to the mature subject I am presenting. The readers of TV listings magazines and newspapers are also mainly within an older demographic. Therefore, it is clear that my target audience will be mature young adults - adults (17-35), as they are the most dominant media consumer demographic (making the issue I am discussing relevant to them), and will be comfortable with the theme of sexism in the media. They are also within the target audience for Channel 4 programming, TV listings magazines, and newspapers; making my products appropriate for them.
It is key for my planning and research that I identify my target audience using a balance of primary and secondary research, as this allows me to produce, market and distribute for the demographic which will be most likely to engage with my products. Primary research is the most reliable and precise, as I am researching specifically for my own target audience. Secondary is less reliable, however it will be useful for research which I could not complete in my timescale, such as wide studies and statistics into audiences similar to my own, as well as research into theorists such as Pete Buckingham. Therefore, I have organised the research which I will be carrying out below.
Primary research:
Interviews - I will be formally interviewing a person within my target audience in order to discover how I could engage them with my product, and gain a greater understanding of my target audience's generic pleasures. I will choose somebody who is interested in the documentary genre, as this will allow my interview to be more reliable. The interview will also be semi-formal, so that my information is as detailed and focused as possible; further increasing reliability. To record this research, I will film or record audio, as this will allow me to stay focused on interviewing rather than note-taking.
Focus group - I will form a focus group composed of people within my target audience in order to gather feedback of my documentary throughout my planning and production stages. This will allow me to improve and develop my product to specifically suit my target audience. To record, I will film my focus group feedback so that I can focus on presenting rather than note-taking.
Questionnaires - I will create online questionnaires to gather information from my target audience about how I will be producing, exhibiting and distributing my product to suit them. To determine that the information I am gathering if from my target audience, I will include a question asking their age and media consuming habits (e.g. interest in documentaries), and will record my research by presenting and evaluating my results on my blog.
Secondary research:
I will be researching audience theorists such as Pete Buckingham and his research into audience generic pleasures and archetypes, as well as statistical data based on my target audience such as their average viewing habits if appropriate. I will also be looking at essays and studies relating to my target audience and general audience research, to analyse and add to my blog. Finally, I will use smog testing to discover whether my script is appropriate for my target audience demographic, and will investigate the BBFC criteria for appropriate content relating to audience age. This is relevant to my documentary, as when discussing the issue of sexism within the media, some of my documentary content will be of a slight sexual nature to demonstrate this - requiring research into censorship and suitability for audiences.
Add screenomatic talking about the types of interview instruments to use and their pros/cons
It is key for my planning and research that I identify my target audience using a balance of primary and secondary research, as this allows me to produce, market and distribute for the demographic which will be most likely to engage with my products. Primary research is the most reliable and precise, as I am researching specifically for my own target audience. Secondary is less reliable, however it will be useful for research which I could not complete in my timescale, such as wide studies and statistics into audiences similar to my own, as well as research into theorists such as Pete Buckingham. Therefore, I have organised the research which I will be carrying out below.
Primary research:
Interviews - I will be formally interviewing a person within my target audience in order to discover how I could engage them with my product, and gain a greater understanding of my target audience's generic pleasures. I will choose somebody who is interested in the documentary genre, as this will allow my interview to be more reliable. The interview will also be semi-formal, so that my information is as detailed and focused as possible; further increasing reliability. To record this research, I will film or record audio, as this will allow me to stay focused on interviewing rather than note-taking.
Focus group - I will form a focus group composed of people within my target audience in order to gather feedback of my documentary throughout my planning and production stages. This will allow me to improve and develop my product to specifically suit my target audience. To record, I will film my focus group feedback so that I can focus on presenting rather than note-taking.
Questionnaires - I will create online questionnaires to gather information from my target audience about how I will be producing, exhibiting and distributing my product to suit them. To determine that the information I am gathering if from my target audience, I will include a question asking their age and media consuming habits (e.g. interest in documentaries), and will record my research by presenting and evaluating my results on my blog.
Secondary research:
I will be researching audience theorists such as Pete Buckingham and his research into audience generic pleasures and archetypes, as well as statistical data based on my target audience such as their average viewing habits if appropriate. I will also be looking at essays and studies relating to my target audience and general audience research, to analyse and add to my blog. Finally, I will use smog testing to discover whether my script is appropriate for my target audience demographic, and will investigate the BBFC criteria for appropriate content relating to audience age. This is relevant to my documentary, as when discussing the issue of sexism within the media, some of my documentary content will be of a slight sexual nature to demonstrate this - requiring research into censorship and suitability for audiences.
Add screenomatic talking about the types of interview instruments to use and their pros/cons
Thursday, 2 October 2014
Conventions of a Documentary
I have decided to research the conventions of a documentary so that I can meet these through my plans for my own production. This will allow me to make my documentary more professional and suitable for its genre and style. For this research, I am analysing the textbook 'Documentaries, Classroom Resources' by Jo Wilcock, published by Auteur. I have posted photos of my annotations of appropriate pages in the textbook where I have demonstrated how I plan to meet these conventions and details of other conventions which I need to consider.
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From this research, I have learnt some conventional narrative, editing and style techniques from a reliable, modern and published source. I will use this research as a guide for my own production so that it will be a conventional documentary. I will also extend this research online to find the conventions of documentaries which Channel 4 produce, so that my product is appropriate for my exhibitor.
Monday, 15 September 2014
Deconstruction of a Documentary
I am deconstructing the beginning 5 minutes of the Channel 4 documentary 'Don't Stop the Music', as this is also the length specified for my own product.
Aired 9/9/2014: James begins with St Teresa's primary school in Basildon, Essex, testing whether his 'instrument amnesty' can work with the pupils of Year 5, and persuading teachers and parents of its benefits before he attempts to launch it across the rest of the UK.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dont-stop-the-music/4od
From this research I hope to understand the structure and style of modern documentaries on Channel 4 (my exhibitor in mind) to help me produce my own documentary effectively. I've also chosen this documentary to deconstruct in particular as I am expecting to see cinematographic shots of the instruments which may inspire my own shot list.
I have presented my deconstruction using SlideShare so that I can focus each shot from the documentary on an individual slide, and so it also becomes interactive.
Aired 9/9/2014: James begins with St Teresa's primary school in Basildon, Essex, testing whether his 'instrument amnesty' can work with the pupils of Year 5, and persuading teachers and parents of its benefits before he attempts to launch it across the rest of the UK.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dont-stop-the-music/4od
From this research I hope to understand the structure and style of modern documentaries on Channel 4 (my exhibitor in mind) to help me produce my own documentary effectively. I've also chosen this documentary to deconstruct in particular as I am expecting to see cinematographic shots of the instruments which may inspire my own shot list.
I have presented my deconstruction using SlideShare so that I can focus each shot from the documentary on an individual slide, and so it also becomes interactive.
'Don't Stop The Music' Documentary Deconstruction from Courtney O'Donnell
From this research, I have been inspired to experiment with a range of conventional cinematographic camera angles and movements and also editing styles for documentaries. I have gained a deeper understanding of the structure of a documentary as this was something I was initially unfamiliar with; for example the non-linear introductions used to create an enigma for the rest of the documentary and explain the investigation, and the positions and use of the title and hashtag within the introduction. I've also become interested in how this documentary matched their voiceover script to the actions in the shots, as this is a fluid style I hope to achieve for my own product. I may refer back to this post during my production planning.
From this research, I have been inspired to experiment with a range of conventional cinematographic camera angles and movements and also editing styles for documentaries. I have gained a deeper understanding of the structure of a documentary as this was something I was initially unfamiliar with; for example the non-linear introductions used to create an enigma for the rest of the documentary and explain the investigation, and the positions and use of the title and hashtag within the introduction. I've also become interested in how this documentary matched their voiceover script to the actions in the shots, as this is a fluid style I hope to achieve for my own product. I may refer back to this post during my production planning.
Thursday, 11 September 2014
Statistics for the Roles and Presentation of Women in the UK Media Industry
These are some screenshots of statistical data which comparatively discusses gender roles and representations within the media. The data is reliable as these are well known and highly credited UK feminist/media related websites, and due to the fact that the data is also cited with sources.
The information which I found most appropriate to discuss in my documentary is:
- '46% of global news content reinforces gender stereotypes, almost eight times higher than stories that challenge those stereotypes (6%)' - the journalistic/news TV area of the media industry therefore imparts these oppressive stereotypes onto its viewers, who as a result, may be more likely to also perceive genders in this damaging way.
- 'Just 23% of reporters on national daily newspapers in the UK are women, with only 1 female editor of a national daily.' and 'A study by Women in Journalism (WiJ) has found that 78% of all front-page articles during a four week period in 2012 were written by men compared to 22% by women.' - there is a clear gender bias in the journalistic/news TV media industry, and fewer opportunities for female writers. This may make my newspaper advertisement ancillary product relevant, as people who read those newspapers and see mostly male writers' names may become interested in my documentary which addresses this.
- 'Research on the UK media found that men typically outnumber women as 'experts' by 4:1 on major TV and radio programmes across channels.' - My next steps from this section of my research will be to look at a male dominated show such as 'Top Gear' which has been known for misogyny and controversy.
- 'Annual report from Dr Martha Lauzen and the Centre of the Study of Women in Television and Film found that in 2012 women comprised 18% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors working in the top 250 domestic grossing films.' - key statistic for representing the gender bias and lack of opportunities for women within the UK film industry.
- 'In the indie sector women now make up 48% of the workforce, up from 30% in 2009.' - positive information about the development of gender equality in the UK indie film industry.
This research will help me when writing a powerful and thought invoking script, and will also support my discussions with accurate and reliable information.
Wednesday, 10 September 2014
Update from my Musician
My musician, Maya Law, has just emailed me her acoustic cover of 'Timber' by Pitbull ft. Ke$ha which I requested from her 2 weeks ago. I've uploaded the music to SoundCloud (with her permission) so that I can embed it to my blog.
I'm very happy with the quality and style of this piece of music, as it sounds professional, the sound quality is high, the music can be looped in the middle to make the song longer, the original song it's covering is recognisable, and the music does not change dramatically throughout the song so that it doesn't overpower my voice-over/diegetic sound. I will experiment with editing the speed and pitch of this song and ducking it during the editing process of my production so that it corresponds appropriately with my documentary video.
The next steps for my music are requesting another acoustic cover. This time I am requesting a feminist song, Hard Out Here by Lily Allen, to contrast with the problematic song 'Timber' which I have deconstructed in a previous post. The 'Hard Out Here' cover will once again be acoustic without lyrics, therefore its strong language will not be an issue for my audience. I've also asked Maya if this song could be more upbeat than 'Timber' to create an interesting contrast of sound and to have a range of song moods for the different points in my documentary e.g. upbeat for positive parts, lower for the negative criticisms.
I'm very happy with the quality and style of this piece of music, as it sounds professional, the sound quality is high, the music can be looped in the middle to make the song longer, the original song it's covering is recognisable, and the music does not change dramatically throughout the song so that it doesn't overpower my voice-over/diegetic sound. I will experiment with editing the speed and pitch of this song and ducking it during the editing process of my production so that it corresponds appropriately with my documentary video.
The next steps for my music are requesting another acoustic cover. This time I am requesting a feminist song, Hard Out Here by Lily Allen, to contrast with the problematic song 'Timber' which I have deconstructed in a previous post. The 'Hard Out Here' cover will once again be acoustic without lyrics, therefore its strong language will not be an issue for my audience. I've also asked Maya if this song could be more upbeat than 'Timber' to create an interesting contrast of sound and to have a range of song moods for the different points in my documentary e.g. upbeat for positive parts, lower for the negative criticisms.
Analysis of a Report on the Representation of Women in the Media Industry
I have used Prezi to present my analysis of a report by Equity which uses mostly primary data to discuss and challenge the representation of women in the TV, film, radio, music and advertising industries in the UK. I analysed the report by using the Mac pdf viewing tools to highlight relevant information and annotate it using text boxes and arrows.
Original report pdf download here: http://www.equity.org.uk/documents/response-to-labour-older-womens-commission/
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