Interview With Mike (Media Teacher):

To add to my understanding on typical documentary conventions and styles I decided it would be best to ask a variety of questions from our media teacher who is also a moderator for these typical videos:

1. In your view whats needed to make a successful documentary, in conventional terms?

'A good variety of things to engage people visually and mentally, as well as a variety of knowledgeable sources; different case studies based on the chosen subject. These sources would need to be taken from valid sources such as experts on the subject or the opinions of the general public. The format would have to consist of a 'talking head' someone who is very rarely seen if ever, with lots of medium-close ups with a static background. Short dialogue which can be seen, with lots of facts, usually the talking head being non-digetic and is hardly ever seen.'

2. What's the ket thing you expect to find within a documentary?

'Very informative and very factually based.'

3. Would you say a first person narrative is more effective than a voice-over?

'Depending on the personality of the first person narrator yet it is more conventional to have a non-digetic voice, where the person is not seen (a voice-over).'

4. What you focus on mostly if you were to make a documentary on 'Binge Drinking'?

'For Binge Drinking you would need to focus on the questions concerning Binge Drinking like what effect this problem is having on the NHS, Anti-social and if the teenagers and society are out of control? Focusing on only one of these problems.'

5. How many interviews would you expect to find within a documentary?

'For a short documentary lasting 3-5 minutes, I would expect to find 3 to 5 interviews lasting 20 upto 30 seconds long'

This interview has helped me to understand what I will need to focus on for my documentary to be a successful piece.

Documentary Research;

Analysis of typical shots seen with in a documentary (A short animated documentary called terra 2050 - shroom studio

• At the start of the piece we see the title come up on the screen, directly in the middle of the screen we see what can pressumably be planet Earth.



• As it zooms in to the middle, we see from the top corner an aeroplane come in to shot.



• The transition is the atmosphere becoming the clouds, these sort of fluent transitions will need to be considered in my piece.



• The voice over is something to be definitly considered in my documentary because this seems to be a typical convention of documentaries.



• As it follows the plane, the audience see something drop and it goes completely white.



• Even though this piece is an animated documentary it will help to get a brief insight into different kinds of shots as even the animated documentary will keep to the basic structure.



• This is quite a post modern documentary for it shows what might happen in the future.


• The voice-over used, sounds like an older woman, using this older woman could bring a sense of urgency to change things now, the voice is also quite welcoming this is helpful in keeping the audiences attention.

The Reason I have chosen this documentary:

I chose this documentary to gain good understanding over all on the typical conventions of documentaries, this means whether to use a voice-over, what sort of shots are usually used, how many interviews are seen within a short documentary. There were no interviews within this documentary because it was more of a warning documentary, it has tried to educate people in the possible problems we may or may not have within the future. This is how I would like to make my documentary, the only flawls in doing it in this format is that it loses the informative side of the documentary and doesn't provide as much information as a conventional documentary would. I felt it would be good to look at this documentary because it is good at keeping a visual interest as well as an audio interest in what the content is of the piece, also this piece is approximately the same time zone I would be aiming for in my short documentary which would be roughly 3-4 minutes. This documentary is clearly not anything like the documentary which I will be focusing on making, yet it has helped me to understand the typical styles and conventions of documentaries and will help me to make a typical documentary which is seen on television today. The similarities of this documentary to my documentary are that this documentary is warning people of what may happen within the future whereas my documentary is warning my target audience (the younger generation, mothers and fathers of teens) the implications of drinking to excess.