Assessment 1- Glossary:
Accuracy – The quality or position of being correct or exact. The skill to accomplish a job with accuracy. This is important with factual film making as you need to be sure the fact and stories you are putting across to the audience are 100% true.
Balance – Having an even opinion on a topic or subject. Which is important because with factual filmmaking you want opinions on both sides of a story if you only had one form of opinion of a subject then the documentary will be biased.
Impartiality – Considering both views or opinions on a subject equally. It is important to show the different opinions as it shows the viewers other people’s view on subject matters.
Objectivity – Perception built on observable facts and happenings, impacting on emotions or personal preconception.
Subjectivity – Judgement based on personal influence and feelings and views rather than external facts.
Opinion – Having a view on a subject. This is important for factual film-making as it shows others way of thinking.
Bias – Giving only one opinion on a subject. This makes the documentary unfair as the viewer is only hearing and seeing one side of an opinion rather than two or more.
Representation – The effect of speaking or acting on behalf of a person or the position of being represented. This is important because it can help tell a story more clearly by re-enacting situations or incidents that have happened to people and speaking on behalf and acting for someone else is another form of privacy.
Access – Acquire, explore or recover data or files.
Privacy – The state of being free from public attention by for example hiding an individual’s identity. This is important because it respects a person’s identity if they wish to not be seen in the documentary.
Contract with viewer – A rule that if a producer says the show will be a ‘factual programme’ then the facts and stories must be 100% true.
Balance – Having an even opinion on a topic or subject. Which is important because with factual filmmaking you want opinions on both sides of a story if you only had one form of opinion of a subject then the documentary will be biased.
Impartiality – Considering both views or opinions on a subject equally. It is important to show the different opinions as it shows the viewers other people’s view on subject matters.
Objectivity – Perception built on observable facts and happenings, impacting on emotions or personal preconception.
Subjectivity – Judgement based on personal influence and feelings and views rather than external facts.
Opinion – Having a view on a subject. This is important for factual film-making as it shows others way of thinking.
Bias – Giving only one opinion on a subject. This makes the documentary unfair as the viewer is only hearing and seeing one side of an opinion rather than two or more.
Representation – The effect of speaking or acting on behalf of a person or the position of being represented. This is important because it can help tell a story more clearly by re-enacting situations or incidents that have happened to people and speaking on behalf and acting for someone else is another form of privacy.
Access – Acquire, explore or recover data or files.
Privacy – The state of being free from public attention by for example hiding an individual’s identity. This is important because it respects a person’s identity if they wish to not be seen in the documentary.
Contract with viewer – A rule that if a producer says the show will be a ‘factual programme’ then the facts and stories must be 100% true.
Assessment 2: Conventions within News Programmes:
What do we mean by factual Film-making?
A film based on real life, whether that being history, the world, people, true stories or facts. Factual film-making is constructed on true facts and information to educate as well as entertain. Documentaries usually have a presentation to camera, cutaways, slow motion, time lapse, images, stock footage, secondary footage and narrativization, etc.
A film based on real life, whether that being history, the world, people, true stories or facts. Factual film-making is constructed on true facts and information to educate as well as entertain. Documentaries usually have a presentation to camera, cutaways, slow motion, time lapse, images, stock footage, secondary footage and narrativization, etc.
Conventions within news programmes:
Presentation format: Studio newsreaders – This is the person who present the news throughout a news programme and can either be in the structure of a television show, radio or the internet. The news reader can work in the studios or do remote broadcasts in the field, particularly weather forecasting. News readers dress formally and keep constant eye contact with the camera which makes the channel look more professional, serious and informative. Examples: An example of this is BBC news because the presenters dress in suits and formal clothing when delivering the news, they manage to keep formal body language throughout and straight faces to show the importance of the news. |
Field reporters – A reporter on the scene is a journalist or commentator, or a business who adds to a newspaper, radio or TV news, remotely, often from a far location. Foreign reporters are positioned in a different country and the benefit to the viewer is they get to see what is happening in real time. They must make sure the surrounding isn’t too noisy as it would be hard for the audience to hear. They also must look and dress formal as they are reporting serious news, looking professional shows the presenters are serious and informative. Field reporting makes the audience feel more involved as they can see the issue at the scene where the reporter is broadcasting.
Examples: An example of Field reporters is the BBC News as they always have at least one field reporter in another location, reporting live from the scene. |
Other links to studio/s – This is where a televised news programme links with another studio ad can usually be seen on mainstream news, for example BBC and ITV. It’s important to have links to other studios as it provides more information for the audience and allows them to feel more involved as they are being told the best standards possible.
Examples: BBC is another example because when they discuss particular news stories with other news studios the will link with another studio for more information on the story and possibly an expert’s opinion.
Examples: BBC is another example because when they discuss particular news stories with other news studios the will link with another studio for more information on the story and possibly an expert’s opinion.
Experts and witnesses - Having an expert’s opinion on a topic or situation gives the viewers and listeners another opinion. The reporter will try to gather as many witnesses as they can to accumulate lots of information. The expert delivers reassurance and gives the audience facts and figures. The experts will provide important information to a subject and the witnesses describe recent event to gain an understanding of what has happened.
Mode of address to viewer: This is how the reporters presents the news to their viewers and listeners. Their use of language and dress code is key and will vary according to the age of the audience.
Examples: BBC News is another example because they will give an insight of what I coming up on the news. The News readers will introduce themselves to the viewers and then follow up on the news. After the main headlines have been covered, the local news readers will present their news and finally the weather forecaster will take over.
Examples: BBC News is another example because they will give an insight of what I coming up on the news. The News readers will introduce themselves to the viewers and then follow up on the news. After the main headlines have been covered, the local news readers will present their news and finally the weather forecaster will take over.
Actuality footage – Live footage that can be found from the scene which the news channel will broadcast. Actuality footage gives the viewers a vision of what the presenters are talking about and while showing the footage the presenters will be commentating over the top telling the audience more on the story.
Examples: An example of actuality footage is any news channel as they will use this footage to back up what they are saying.
Examples: An example of actuality footage is any news channel as they will use this footage to back up what they are saying.
Conventions within Documentaries:
Formats:
Expository – This type of documentary is more entertaining for the audience and it also doesn’t follow the typical conventions of most documentaries. It builds up evidence to guide viewers to conclusion and the message of the documentary can be very clear. The story will also be persuasive and the presenter may be seen or unseen in this type of documentary. For example: Making A Murderer is an example of this documentary mode. The programme is contracted with pictures, secondary footage, interviews and a narration of the story. In this programme, we don’t see the presenter we only hear their narration, the story and facts will build up evidence to bring to a conclusion of whether the person convicted of crime was in fact guilty or not guilty. |
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Observational – This type of documentary tends to use one camera which ‘observes’ the world. The story is not shaped in any way and gives the participants the power to drive the story.
For example: David Attenborough – Planet Earth is a great example of the observational documentary mode. It is one of the most popular wildlife documentaries with the presenter, David Attenborough narrating and occasionally on screen talking to the camera and telling us what is happening. David Attenborough has a soft and calm voice which is clear to understand which is key to presenting a documentary like this one. The camera movements are slow and uses a variety of different shots, this makes the documentary more visually appealing and entertaining by giving us different views on landscapes and participants. This documentary and others like this, film by stand back and watching the nature happen, the crew is not allowed to intervene with wild life as they are only there to watch and perceive. |
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Interactive – This type allows the audience to have a say in what happens in the documentary. The audience will contribute to the final outcome of the documentary and can be very empowering for participant or viewers.
For example: Tonight – Harassment Uncovered, shows us the unwanted attention that women get from men, whether that being Wolf whistling, Cat calling, being touched intimately, men taking photos of them secretly and unwanted compliments about their looks. The documentary includes a focus group watching what is happening and discussing the situations with each other to determine whether it was harassment or worthy enough of reporting it to the police. Towards the end the majority of people agreed that this was considered harassment and a few weren’t sure. |
Reflexive – Reflecting of real life. The presenter will regularly break the fourth wall to talk to the camera as if they are talking directly to the viewer, they will usually talk about the process of the making of the film.
For example: Planet Earth can also be considered as an example for the reflexive documentary mode as David Attenborough regularly break the fourth wall to talk to the audience, telling us more about the participants and describing what is happening on screen. Also, Louis Theroux – Transgender Kids Documentary. In this documentary, Louis Theroux talks to the parents of children who say they were born in the wrong body and the steps they go through to support their children, so they can be happy with their preferred gender. In this documentary, we also see interviews with doctors and surgeons, parents and the children themselves. This is considered as reflexive as the present will occasionally break the fourth wall or do a voice over to talk to the audience about the topic and which family he will visiting next. |
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Performative – Accepts the emotional and personal aspects of documentary and the presenter’s experience is as important as the message they are putting across.
For example: Supersize Super Me, following the man Morgan Spurlock with his journey of eating MC Donald’s for 30 days. This film documents how his lifestyle and health changed drastically throughout the thirty days. This documentary also contains interviews with people off the street, Spurlock’s doctors, MC Donald’s employees and other industries. The message this Morgan Spurlock was trying to put across in this documentary is that there is no need for supersized meals in fast food restaurants. He says that Advertising is powerful but also wrong and says that children need help to find healthy food. |
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Realism – This includes an interest in the real world and the documentaries usually focus on real people and their lives. This will contain interviews with people involved in the topic/ story, statistics and graphs to validate the facts.
Dramatisation – Also known as ‘Docudramas’ and will include cliff hangers, music, CGI and voice overs. Dramatisation is used to make stories and scene looks more dramatic and exciting than it is. These shows are usually based on real life but are lot of the time the programme or film is scripted for effect or to allow to audience to sense more emotion and connect with the characters.
Narrativisation – This is a good way of communicating with the audience by telling them more about the subject. Narrative is a voice over on footage, images or video talking about a topic.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I think it’s important to make sure your documentary is 100% true and the topic is interesting. It’s also vital to be unbiased because with only one type of opinion it can be unfair and the audience won’t get to see others point of views on subjects. Interviews are also important in factual programme making as they provide the audience with more information and opinions from experts, witnesses and people who have been in a situation. Finally, a narrativisation or presenter is important because they can deliver a better insight to the subject of discussion and talk to the audience on their level.
References:
https://www.slideshare.net/jadeaddieheath94/narrative-theory-12714418?qid=daeadeb7-e934-4744-b2e3-c06663789541&v=&b=&from_search=9
https://www.slideshare.net/mattwako/factual-programming-10324123
http://zahraunit27factualprogramme.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.slideshare.net/954869/factual-programming
https://www.slideshare.net/954869/codes-conventions-10458033
https://www.slideshare.net/jadeaddieheath94/narrative-theory-12714418?qid=daeadeb7-e934-4744-b2e3-c06663789541&v=&b=&from_search=9
https://www.slideshare.net/mattwako/factual-programming-10324123
http://zahraunit27factualprogramme.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.slideshare.net/954869/factual-programming
https://www.slideshare.net/954869/codes-conventions-10458033