Generic research: analysis of Educating Greater Manchester as a brand-similarities?

Introduction:
Educating Greater Manchester is a documentary as a part of a series called 'Educating' that features different areas of the country. It is on Thursdays at 9pm, meaning it is broadcasted during watershed, and it is during the week, so younger children are not supposed to be watching this programme. This series focuses on a mixed secondary school in Salford. This article on the new series answers a few questions, such as the reasoning behind the name.

The main reasoning was to gather a bigger viewing, as more people know of Manchester, but not Salford.

Marketing
The marketing was quite extensive. A few of the main boys in the first episode appeared on 'This Morning' to talk about the situation that was featured.
Channel 4's social media accounts all post about the 'Educating' series, and most recently, the newest version. All posts about the programme include the time it is being broadcasted, which helps increase the amount of viewers.
They also included the #educating just after the title screen during the programme to encourage viewers to post about the programme on social media sites. This is a popular form of marketing, and will encourage people to watch the programme if they see it trending on twitter or Facebook.

Adverts:

The social media accounts often post about the programme to advertise it, alongside the usual newspaper adverts on it.


Posters/Website-



There is not an independent website for this programme, only the subsection of the Educating Greater Manchester tab on the All4 iPlayer website. There is an episode list and a homepage for the documentary, which shows the next upcoming episode being broadcasted. Each episode have a picture that depicts what the main topic is of that episode, and the stars of that episode. This helps entice the audience to watch the programme as they might be curious to see what happens, but also gives a strong sense of branding, as all pictures are within a school environment and the school uniform is very prominent so also gives a house style of colour. As my documentary is not a series I will not need to produce this, but the branding and house style choices will be applicable to my ancillary products.


The documentary homepage also features a 'Remind Me' button where when users sign in they can get reminders of when the programme is on. This increases the amount of viewers as it eliminates the people who do not watch the programme because they forget it is on.


The 'People also watched' tab helps promote similar programmes, and in this case other programmes within the series. This gives Channel 4 marketing within it's own website.

Production: the first version of my documentary

Documentary 1 from Penny Brown on Vimeo.
This is the first version of my documentary, with some of the footage missing, as I have not collected it all yet. I received feedback on the footage so far and I realised that I need to change question my documentary was focused on. I need to improve/change:
1. There needs to be more cutaways during the interviews as the takes are too long and will not interest the audience.
2. My presenter is speaking too fast, so when I re-film the beginning of my documentary I will ensure they speak at a rate the audience will understand.
3. The introductory shots at the beginning do not add anything to the documentary itself, so I will re-film some more shots to begin the documentary with.
4. I am going to try to conduct more of my interviews inside, to avoid wind muffling the microphone.
Good things about it so far are:
1. The interviews are mostly conducted with the interviewee to the side of the shot, which is what I intended to do so that I could edit their name and age to the side of the person.
2. I can reuse some of the footage I already have for when I change the question I am posing.

Generic research: TA4

Generic research: Ancillary listings magazine double page spread analyses

These are my analyses of TV listings magazines. They helped to find common codes and conventions to emulate in my own magazine. One example was a freeview magazine, and two were standard TV listings.

TV listings magazine analysis 1 (redone) from Pernille Brown

The last listings double page spread is more similar to the one I am going to create. I am going to make my feature the largest article on the page, like this Holby City article on this magazine. I found that common conventions of TV listings magazines are features like larger letters to start the copy with, a banner along the top of an article stating the name of the programme, the channel its is broadcast on and the date and time it will be shown. Another convention is the bright colours to draw attention to the page, often colours coordinating with connotations of the show, for example the show along the bottom is a horror show, therefore using the colour red helps signify this.

Planning: getting footage

I realised that I needed a presenter for my documentary, as I created a new shot list that included one. I asked my friend who is quite a confident and outgoing person to do it as she will not be uncomfortable on camera. These are some screenshots of our conversation about the filming. I am going to be writing a rough script for her, but as with my other interviewees that I have filmed I have only given them guidelines for what to say as I do not want it to seem too manufactured. Frederick Wiseman suggested that there is always, to a certain degree, manipulation in documentaries and movies in relation to the storyline. I am going to try and avoid this as much as possible because I want my documentary to be relaxed and personal, while entertaining people of all ages. I therefore want my actors to be speaking in mainly their own words, without sounding too formal or structured.





 

Progress shots 25.9.17

Today I added some clips I took at the weekend as cutaways into my documentary, but needed to mute them.
I also removed the interviewee's surnames, as I wanted to avoid the ethical issue of confidentiality, and revealing their full names is not keeping information confidential.

Audience research: focus group response- fonts

Before.

My chosen font in regular.

After, with a bold font.

I asked a member of my focus group, Ella Chapman, if I should change my font that I used for names and ages in interviews. The picture on the left was my original font but I wasn't happy with it, it didn't look professional enough. I found the font on the right, and asked Ella if it looked professional enough, and she said it was, but that I needed to make the font bold instead of normal, so that is the font I am using throughout my documentary now.

Planning: new shot list

After an activity where I planned the whole of my documentary, I realised that I had already planned the whole documentary, not just a 5 minute excerpt. From this, I thought I should cut down the breadth of the footage and focus more in depth on certain areas of technology. I made a new shot list that is a rough outline of what I intend to put in from what footage I already have, plus what I need to
film further. I need to go further into a smaller amount of topics, so I am only going to cover 3 types of technology, with a lot more interaction with an interviewer.

Generic research: theory

Stuart Hall was a cultural theorist that had some theories that I can apply to my documentary.
One of his theories that is particularly relevant to my work is his theory that there are three types of readings that audiences can take from a text.

Stuart Hall also said that the meaning is not simply fixed or determined by the sender, which is relevant to me as I need to realise that not all of my audience will mediate my documentary in the way I expect or want them to, and that they will all interpret it differently, which lots of factors come into, such as class, gender and other factors that will change the way they interpret a text.

Another theorist that links in with that idea is Ferdinand de Saussure, the founder of semiotics. He said that all texts are saturated with signifiers and signs implying to audiences how content should be interpreted. This has made me more aware of what content I am putting into my documentary as I may accidentally anchor the wrong meaning in with signifiers I do not mean for the audience to interpret. This also means that I need to adhere to codes of my genre, as Saussure suggests there are generic codes for specific genres. For many, that most likely involves subject specific vocabulary, so for my documentary I will use terminology that teenagers 40 years ago will understand, and vocabulary that was invented in the modern day that will appeal to modern day teenagers too.

Generic research: TV listings magazine page analysis

What’s on tv’ listings magazine analysis 

Progress shots 21.9.17

I added name titles with the interviews I have in my project so far, but I am not happy with the font. It is something I will change until I find one I want to use throughout my documentary.

Generic research: how newspaper adverts and TV listing magazines are shown across different forms of media

Channel 4 adverts, like most TV broadcaster adverts, are displayed on a number of platforms, including different types of social media like Instagram and Facebook, but also on more traditional platforms such as billboards and in between programmes on TV channels. This means it has maximum marketing as it is widespread, and no matter what form certain generations tend to use the most, they will see the adverts. This is perfect for my documentary is aimed at all generations, but specifically teenagers in modern times compared to 40 years ago. The teenagers are most likely to receive this text on social media, whereas the older people are more likely to see the advert on the way to work or on TV between programmes.

TV listings magazines also come in varying forms, although not as many now compared to 5 or 10 years ago. TV guides traditionally are in a book form, like the RadioTimes above. However, TV schedules are online now too, which also helps broaden the audience for the marketing of the TV listings as younger people are more likely to find it online. I also found a website that allows people to apply for subscriptions to TV listings magazine, which is helpful for the older generations so that they do not have to go out to get their magazine. The benefit of TV listing magazines working across so many different forms of media is that it will reach a wide age bracket, which is good for my documentary as my target audience is of varying ages.

Generic research- documentary story arc

Looking at a typical documentary narrative arc I figured what parts of a typical narrative I wanted in my excerpt. I will start my documentary at the beginning of the narrative, posing a question to investigate in my documentary as a whole but only film the first 5 minutes. Planning my whole documentary helped me figure out what footage needs to be filmed to create the question and investigate the answer.

Generic research: Ancillary product research-analysis of newspaper adverts from Channel 4

Channel 4 advert 2 from Pernille Brown

Production: Progress shots 15.9.17

So far I have got all of my footage onto iMovie and selected the best footage and put it into place according to my shot list. I have realised while doing this that I need to replace some of my footage because it needs to be better quality and more professional. I am planning to get some more footage this week to edit in to this sequence.

Generic research: The role of Channel 4

This is a screenshot of the TV programmes available on catch up on Channel 4. There is a very wide target audience, with a large range of programmes spanning over different interest. The news, which can interest everyone but stereotypically it is more popular with the older generation; Gogglebox, a funny family programme suitable for all ages, and programmes such as One Born Every Minute, usually aimed at adults but can interest a younger generation too. This is the population I think would be suitable for viewing my documentary, as my topic concerns people of all ages, especially teenagers now and older people who were teenagers 40 years ago. However, this topic can be interesting to people outside of that age bracket. The programme topics on Channel 4 are mostly light-hearted, such as the Great British Bake Off, and are focused on popular topics, such as gardening and dating. My topic of technology would fit in well as it is used by most people in this modern age. Channel 4's eclectic mix of programmes is most likely partially due to it's obligation to source programmes externally. Channel 4 also have a reputation for historical programmes and real life documentaries, which is perfect for my documentary which looks at the impact and evolution of technology.
I found a page of Channel 4's own website about commissioning, with a tab on each type of programme. In the documentary tab there is what they aim to achieve in each documentary; qualities they prefer to exhibit.  I also aim to fit these qualities into my documentary so that my documentary would be a typical programme for this channel to broadcast. Authenticity is a trait I aim to achieve by not strictly scripting the interviewees and the presenter. However,  Frederick Wiseman once said "if you’re talking about editing, every aspect of making a movie involves choice. So you can say that choice is manipulative, or you can say it’s a choice. I make hundreds of thousands of them. Whether it’s delusional or not, I don’t know, but I like to think my films are fair.". Manipulation inevitably will be a part of creating a narrative, so a degree of authenticity will be used but my narrative may need manipulation for it to make sense.




















Channel 4 also listed the type of documentary the broadcast, and what time are allotted for these.
My documentary would most likely be broadcasted at 8 or 9pm, at time where most audiences can watch. It states that this type of documentary would "seek to offer audiences reliable narrative beats in a world that is engaging and relatable for a broad audience". This would be perfect for my documentary as the topic can relate to a wide age bracket.

Generic research: the impact of phones

The first ever model of the iPhone was released in 2007, after years of Blackberry and Windows phones were dominating the phone market. The iPhone 3 and its successors led Steve Jobs, its creator, to believe that "the phone was not just a communication tool but a way of life".

This article explains how the iPhone changed the way people live. Reasons such as 'it's a fashion statement' and 'Internet anytime anywhere' explain to readers why the iPhone was such a success and how it has changed modern life to the way it is today.

However, it hasn't been just the iPhone that's been revolutionary since the invention of phones. This article lists the most revolutionary phones in the last few decades.

They listed the Nokia 3120, a must have phone back then but now is hard to find; the Blackberry 7230, a new gadget for offices workers, but is now out of production; finally the Samsung galaxy, which, like the iPhone, is continually being reproduced into bigger and better to keep up with the technology of modern day. This Nokia 3210 was only released in 1999; this shows in such a short amount of time how much phones have evolved. 20 years ago phones didn't have touchscreens, and now phones will unlock by recognising a person's face.

This information will help form my facts and figures for my documentary, but also widened my knowledge on what teenagers 40 years ago did not have access to.

Nokia 3210

 

Blackberry 7230

 

iPhone 1

 

 

Samsung galaxy

Generic research- aspects of documentary to think about.

John Grierson called documentaries "the creative interpretation of actuality".
These aspects are key to the mediation of the documentary.
Actual- would an event happened if the camera was there?
Creative- was the sequence made more entertaining?
Interpretive- Decisions made may affect the audience's interpretation.


I also need to consider ethical issues with my documentary, as with any documentary because there is always something being revealed due to the factual nature. There is privacy to consider, because my documentary is quite personal. I am going to make sure no personal details are revealed, even though this is not a full length documentary and is not being broadcasted there is still as risk and concern for privacy. An example of privacy in my documentary is one of the people I am interviewing does not want to be on camera, so I recorded his interview and I will edit it over pictures, illustrating what he is saying. I used my iPhone 6 to film, partially because it is readily available and has good quality, but also partially due to the unobtrusive nature of it. Most people are familiar with iPhones and come in contact with them everyday, but if I had used a large DSLR camera this would have made my interviewees uncomfortable as DSLR cameras aren't as common as iPhones. I wanted my interviewees to be comfortable and relaxed while talking as it is a relaxed and informal tone I wanted to have in my documentary.

An aspect of technology was brought to my attention that I could possibly bring up as a topic in my documentary is voyeurism. Should it be encouraged? Is it feeding a social need because it is a natural occurrence in human beings or did it come with the rise of social media and increasingly smart pieces of technology? I will research into this further and maybe add this topic into my documentary.

Planning: locations and actors

Location
I chose to film my documentary locally as this was closest to me and shots were readily available for me to film. There are plenty of opportunities around my town for beautiful landscape shots. This also meant that I could introduce the actors with landscape shots of their own town, as all my actors live in and around my town.
I mostly filmed landscape shots nearer the seafront as it is a lovely setting to film. I did get other shots in other places around town such as shopping centres because this created a variety of shots to put in throughout the documentary.

This is an example of an ideal shot for my documentary would be, along the seafront. These introductory shots are just to start the documentary and introduce the setting.

This is a general area of where I have taken footage for the landscape shots. This area is idyllic and ideal for introducing the town into my documentary.

Actors

These are the actors I chose to be in my documentary.

Andrea Witney-

She is a sixth form student studying Photography, Art and Textiles. She is very familiar with technology and does not go anywhere without her phone. She and her family have a very wide range of technology so I thought she would be ideal to interview about how much she uses technology as a teenager and if the amount has changed since she was little.

Chanelle Day-

She is a sixth form student studying Sociology, Media and English language combined with literature. She is also very familiar with technology, and owns a lot of Apple products such as an iMac and Apple Watch. I thought she would be good to interview as she has experienced the drastic change in technology in the last 10 years.

Ella Chapman-

Ella is a sixth form student studying Media, Psychology and English language. As a modern teenager she is technologically aware, always using technology such as her phone to socialise and her MacBook to complete homework and coursework. She was helpful to interview as, like many teenagers, she has had a wide variety of phones since her first phone.

Planning: footage so far

These are a couple of screenshots of some of my footage so far. I still have a few more clips to film, mainly interviews, which I plan on getting within the next week. I have mainly chosen to film inside where I could to avoid any wind interfering with the sound. I am starting to edit these clips together in the order I previously created, and finding where I need voiceovers which I will collect once I have edited the visuals together.

Generic research: technology in the 70s and 80s

I wanted to find out what popular technology pieces were around in the 70s and 80s, the time period I'm contrasting with current day. It is quite a drastic change, as the 1970s was almost 50 years and change in technology since has been phenomenal. I found a page on BBC Four's website noting popular pieces of technology in three time frames.

These pieces of technology have evolved largely in the last 40 years, with TVs being thinner and wider now, and CDs and VCRs are not really being used much anymore. Some of this technology has been almost eradicated from usage; some has evolved to be smarter and become, as a result, more popular. For example, computers now are more efficient and faster than they were in the 1980s. The technology above was a large part of my older interviewees lives; not so much for the current teenager interviewees.

Generic research: effect of technology on teenagers

I searched to see how other people think technology has affected teenagers in this generation, and found this website with an article containing the same topic.

I learnt from this article that many advantages come with having advanced technology in this age. Teenagers can connect with their friends, new friends and can create even a new personality front online. It makes sharing information easier, which benefits areas such as school work and even socialising via instant message.
However, there are inevitably drawbacks to having such improved technology, such as teenagers finding it easier to withdraw into their phones and not make connections with real life relationships with their parents and friends. Some spend even less time socialising in real life due to being able to socialise online without having to leave their room.
These advantages and disadvantages added to my knowledge of the pro/cons of technology on the modern teenager. These reasons for and against technology are helpful in terms of evaluating the technology in my documentary.