Audience Research

We produced a series of questions for the interviews and feedback for the documentary. When we can go to the primary schools to film, we hope to get some useful information to use in the documentary. If we cannot get footage of the feedback, then a questionnaire will give us the information we need.


Questions for teachers:

• How do you introduce new media to the younger children?
• What media do you use?
• What works better / has had problems?
• Which is your favorite to use & why?
• How do you use media to encourage good behaviour  / deal with other kinds of behaviour?
• How do you use new media with children who have learning difficulties   
  (eg, dyslexia)  or special needs?

Questions for children:

• Do you use new media every day?
       - if so, what/ which/ why?
• Do you use new media at home / at school?
      - how often?
• What do you like about new media & how does it help you?
      - what don't you like about it?
• When did you first start using / first introduced to new media?
       - where?

Questions for audience:

• Do you think a documentary about new media in general education is a good idea?
• Do you think 5pm / 5.30pm is a good time slot for the documentary?
• Do you think the documentary would be interesting to children and teachers?
  
  [Alternative question for children]
  Do you think your parents would be interested in watching the documentary?
• Do you think it will be educational enough?
• What would you like to see in the documentary?

Ideas For Advertising Poster

Colours:  blue & white
Pictures: child using new media - laptop / phone / playing a game / reading a book
                to promote the documentary
Font: big, bold, colourful, interesting to children

Slogan: something eye catching

Word Thought Storm

As an idea for some words for a wordle, i did a thought storm of words that are associated with the documentary:


media - new media
virtual
web
learners
i's and e's   (Interactive & Electronic  - eg, iPod - Email)
online
digital - digitise
network
social networking
space
blog




The wordle might be used as an ancillary product for the advertising of the documentary.

Documentary plans for filming

Access / footage of:

Students working with new media
Interviews with teachers and students (if possible)
New media used in the school
Work produced by students


Answers and data from questionnaire


Interviews  - with teachers, location of filming in their office
                    - with students, location of filming in their classroom / working environment


Students point of view:

Personal experiences with new media
          - what they enjoy
New media in learning and free time
What they want out of new media
         - what they think could be better
How it helps them learn / accomplish tasks


Teachers view on new media
       - what the advantages / disadvantages are
       - what they like / don't like
       - overall achievement and performance




Features of documentary and camera directions:

Introduction
Titling
Voiceover
Perfomative footage  (possible)
Interviews
Diegetic sound
Soundtrack / non diegetic sound
Long shots and distance shots
Close ups  - zooming,  used for interviews and other scenes
Panning
Animation and graphics

- extra clips for other episodes of the documentary series   
(added to blog, not included in main documentary)

Parkside and TeacherTube

One of the primary schools in Cambridge has a wide range media and film teaching across the ages, their school site has an archive of their students media work   ---Parkside Media Website

The students film a variety of different films, which are uploaded to YouTube or TeacherTube.

"TeacherTube is a video sharing website similar to, and based on, YouTube. It is designed to allow those in the educational industry, particularly teachers, to share educational resources such as video, audio, documents, photos, groups and blogs. The site contains a mixture of classroom teaching resources and others designed to aid teacher training. A number of students have also uploaded videos that they have made as part of school and college courses.
It was launched in 2007, and as of October 2010, TeacherTube has over 725,000+ educational members and over 200,000 educational videos. It has found favour with educators and students for whom YouTube content is blocked due to content filtering systems."

-From Wikipedia

Murderball

                      These are my notes on the documentary we watched in class;


Directed by Henry Rubin & Dana Shaprio

Conventional documentary about quadriplegic paralympic rugby players 
(also known as "Murderball")

Observational / interactive

Dual narrative  - events and tournaments
                        - back story of characters / players    - digression

Revisiting past events / places  & archive stills

Combination of interviews and live action

Fast aggressive cutting    - MTV style
Expressive style, non diegetic music / soundtrack   - reflexive

Range of different sources
Animation

Unusual documentary

Open access to lives



                                    Film Trailer   -----    Click here for the Murderball film trailer
                                    Interview with Mark Zupan ----- Click here for the interview

Seven Days conclusion

The docu-soap Seven Days finished on it's 8th episode on Tuesday 16th November and will not return for another series due to poor audience figures.
Producer, Stephen Lambert, was asked at the Sheffield documentary festival why the show had been a 'flop'.
There were many things that sunk the show, the audience was not interested in the characters living in Notting Hill and thought it was a bad choice of location to ‘reflect the whole of Britain’.
Lambert said that the viewers thought it would be another Big Brother but he admitted "we clearly didn't get off to the right start".

From the beginning, Seven Days was watched by 1.115 million – almost 50% down on Channel 4's average share in same slot over past three months.

The pre-launch buzz was that the show could provide Channel 4 with a long-running replacement for Big Brother, the promotion and marketing didn't sell the show to the viewers and should have been promoted better.

Although the docu-soap had been a 'disaster', it had introduced a new feature of interaction with the viewers, getting them directly involved with the on-screen characters through social media. The 'chatnav' on the shows website, enabled viewers to comment on the characters life choices - giving their opinions and advice.

Comments on Seven Days:

"So farewell Seven Days, Channel 4's reality TV show which has beamed the lives of a bunch of Notting Hillbillies into front rooms for the past eight weeks. "  - The Guardian

"Watching the show for the full hour feels a lot being stuck on a loud bus or with a particularly talkative taxi driver and realising you have no book, headphones or sedatives to ease the pain. "  - metro.co.uk review

"This was still on? I thought it died a quiet and semi-dignified death weeks ago. I watch a lot of Channel 4 and hadn't seen a promo for it in ages. I'd never watched it and hated it for even existing an just assumed it was shit." - comment made by 'islandchick' on The Guardian's article

Developed Documentary Idea

Documentary set in primary schools
  - series
  - interviews with the teachers, children and parents
  - based in pre 16 schools; secondary, older primary
  - staff and student point of view
  - positive outlook
  - sponsership


What role new media plays in dealing affect the way they deal with traditional school topics 

     for example:   behaviour / misbehaviour,
                          learning difficulties (eg: dyslexia)
                          creativity
                          relationships
                          emotional development

My Documentary Idea

The documentary will follow primary school's teaching of media and the use of new media.
It would be a four part series, shown on one of the 4 national channels (BBC, Channel 4, ITV) or on an educational / teaching channel.

It would feature interviews with the children and teachers in the school, data from a set questionnaire, archive of new media in schools and possibly a parents view point.

The target audience would be teachers, parents and children.

Planning for documentary

Institutions - how to produce & promote the program

Researching an audience:
     - target and test the idea
     - audience responses
     - survey / questionnaire
     - conception
     - what they want

Real media product
     relevant to the idea
     base idea on

Intellectual property

Research others in the same idea

Battle For Haditha

Drama Documentary

 - timeline
 - archive footage
 - titling, explanation
 - handheld camera
 - observational
 - talking to camera
 - direct sound, diegetic
 - reconstruction, using actors playing roles based on real identity
 - cross cutting
 - non diegetic sound used for drama / action

The Five Modes of Documentary

The Five Modes Of Documentary Typical Conventions

Examples of documentaries that we have seen in class & their modes:

• Expository -  London Can Take It

• Observational -  Listen To Britain,  Something Great, 

• Participatory (interactive) -  Brixton Beach, Micheal Moore

• Reflexive -  Camoflauge,  Man On Wire

• Performative - Grizzly Man

Viewers drop for Seven Days

These are recent articles about the decline of popularity for the docu-soap:

The painful reality: no one is watching "Seven Days"   - The Independent

Viewers ditch "Seven Days"     - The Daily Mail

Comparison between 'London Can Take It' & 'Listen To Britain'

We've been studying 2 propaganda documentaries made during the Blitz of WW2.



London Can Take It

• Has a voiceover
• Clear propaganda message spoken
• Not alot of background sound  - diegetic
• Taken to different locations by voiceover

Listen To Britain

• No voiceover
• Obvious unspoken message - not so obvious hidden mesage
• Sound throughout - diegetic / non diegetic
• Transitions to different locations using sound
• Mixture of language  / music  (german song being played)

Used in both

• Document of actuality footage (black and white)
• Chronological order
• Morale boosting   (including song at end)
• Shown to audiences in cinema
• Made by Humphrey Jennings
• People being filmed aren't aware of camera  (except one child in London Can Take It)
• Some form of 'harmony'
• Patriotic - proud to be British  / proud of the country

Camoflauge

Another example of short documentary called Camoflauge, featured on BBC's iPlayer in short films & documentaries.

The documentary shows how schizophrena in parents affects the children.

Features of documentary:

• Real subject / real people's voices used
• Reconstruction  - no actuality footage
• Live action - dramatic
• Expressionist, distortion of imagery
• Drawings and animation, digital composition
• Reflexive documentary

Man On Wire

As another example of a documentary, we watched a docu-film called Man on Wire.
These are my notes about the film:


British film made in 2008
Funded by the UK film council / National lottery
Co-produced by Discovery Channel
Featured on BBC's documentary 'Storyville'
Global audience
Many prizes won, including: BAFTA and Sundance

Reflexive documentary - reflects on itself
Genre: Thriller / Crime, including tension
"Heist" movie
Play on ideas of terrorism

Actuality footage / archive

Music structures the mood of the scenes

Mixed identity
      - mainly French but also including American and Australian

Complex narrative - 3 timescales
Narrative progression

Messages & Values  - asperational

Art cinema audience as well as global

Nostalgia for American audiences of Twin Towers
    - Gives new images of World Trade Center
    - Remebering how it was and forgetting the tragedy
    - Uplifting expirence

Imagery used

Reclaiming the memory of the tower  - using the new tower to reconstruct the old

More information about Seven Days

Reality documentary TV show on Channel 4;  (docu-soap)
'Big Brother' style

Coloquial / informal  (including strong language)

Live every week

Continous audience getting involved on the 'ChatNav' and with the show's website

Actuality footage

Cross cutting - significant

Interludes

Discussing feedback from the viewers

No voiceover

Editorial positioning

Stereotyping

Observational camera footage

Staged performance  - characters acting for the camera

Seven Days

In class, we have been watching Seven Days, as an example of a documentary.
Seven Days is a new reality documentary by Channel 4, where every week it follows the lives of people living in Notting Hill.
 - - - Seven Days Website

 - - -  Youtube Channel


TV Trailers:





The character i like the most so far is Hannah because she seems nicer than the other characters.
  - - - Hannah's profile