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.

Planning: Storyboard

This is my storyboard for my documentary. I have changed one of the topics from music and subcultures to the evolution of phones because it was too similar to my other topic of CDs and DVDs, and the evolution of phones has impacted my generation quite heavily.

Generic research: influences on documentary

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/06/social-media-documentary-makers

This article explains how social media has influenced the conventions of documentary, but also how social media can enable people to become film makers with just their phone. This shows how much social media and the internet and also phones have evolved to help people make films and documentaries with just their phones.

Generic research: timeline of documentary history

b.berkeley.edu/MRC/docexhibit/docuchron.htm

This website contains a timeline of important events contributing to documentary as it is today. Extremely important names and events influencing the advancement of documentary are noted here, such as Robert Flaherty's 'Nanook of the North', and John Grierson's coining of the term documentary. I also find it interesting that documentaries originated from still pictures edited together.

Generic research: TA3- Best of British- Barbara Windsor

I chose this documentary as it is looking back in time just as my documentary will, and looks very personally into Barbara Windsor's life. I plan to make my documentary quite personal too.

Planning: shot list

From my rough plan for the contents of my documentary, I started to realise what shots I would need and visualising them in my head, so I created a shot list to be able to film my documentary more efficiently and save time having to go back to different locations unnecessarily. My shot list is not very detailed as I have not chosen the exact location for these scenes to be filmed, but I do know roughly where I would like them to be filmed. This also helped me create my storyboard for my documentary.

Planning: mindmap of my documentary

To start planning the details of my documentary, I made a mindmap of characteristics that I wanted my documentary to have. The characteristics I have listed are:
1. Smooth camera movements
2. Relaxed, informal interviews.
3. Narration over visual clips.
4. Personal.
5. Each development of a component and addressing the people should be about 45 seconds.
6. Landscape shots to illustrate a change of location.
7. End on a rhetorical question- how different will life be for teenagers 10, 20, 30 years from now?

From making this plan, I started to have an idea of how my documentary will be planned out and what it would look like. This will be further detailed in my storyboard. I plan to have four aspects of technology covered in my documentary; Internet (including social media), TV, music (as an influence on social aspects), and  DVDs+CDs+tapes as an evolving physical piece of technology. I have highlighted the aspects in my rough plan as they can move around in terms of what order I put them in, because this plan is only rough and in note form.

Generic research: technology and teenagers

I found a blog ran by college students that is about how technology has impacted teenager's lives and the positives and negatives of technology on teenagers nowadays. I learnt the following things from this blog, specifically the impact of the internet on teenagers.

1. Teenagers can become addicted to the internet, and with further research I found that the addiction has physiological symptoms upon withdrawal. Internet addiction is formally called internet addiction disorder.

2. Students can complete online education programs, some even allow students to complete their degree earlier.

3. A positive about easy internet access for teenagers is easily accessible job applications, and jobs can help improve their skills and develop independence and time management skills.

4. A point that has both advantages and disadvantages is communication across the internet. The advantage to this is that teenagers are becoming more social and widening their social group due to being able to communicate with friends 24/7. An example of this was in a documentary I textually analysed called "Child Of Our Time", which looked at how technology impacted teenagers they had studied for their entire lives. One female teenager called Mabel had always been antisocial and did not have many friends at a young age. However, at 16 she had a wide social group and was always communicating with her friends via her phone and in real life. It improved her social life greatly. Unfortunately, being able to widely communicate with people all over the world is that some people are victims of cyber bullying and internet crimes involving money and other situations. This is incredibly dangerous, especially for young people who are not aware of the dangers. Teenagers can especially be harmed by this as they are often vulnerable or may be unaware of problems that can arise from sharing details online.

5. A negative of the quickly evolving internet is instant messaging, which leads users of instant messaging to create slang words and abbreviate words. This can also lead to bad grammar and improper use of certain words.

Generic research: TA2 - Child of our time

I chose this documentary to analyse because its topic is similar to mine, so I can see how this topic was approached by another documentary maker, and see what aspects of this topic were covered.

In conclusion, this documentary has lots of conventions that are traditional to documentaries and I will be following these conventions in my documentary, such as panning shots, landscape shots and interviews.

Generic research: teenagers interacting with internet in 2017

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/screenagers-documentary-examines-impact-screens-tech-kids-development/story?id=36703516

This news article is about a documentary called 'screenagers', and talks about how teenagers during the 21st century struggle to be without their phones. I searched for this documentary and found the website for the documentary  .
This is an expository documentary as the documentary maker is seen and heard, as well as being shown as an expert in their field (the documentary maker is a physician).

Generic research: Bill Nichols

Bill Nichols: 6 modes of documentary
http://nofilmschool.com/2015/09/nichols-6-modes-documentary-can-help-expand-your-storytelling
This article explains what Nichols' theory is and what the 6 modes are.
The 6 modes are:


1. Poetic- Does not use continuity editing, instead arranges the footage to evoke meaning through tone and sound.
e.g.

2. Expository- constructs a certain point of view for the audience.
e.g.

3. Participatory- the subjects interact with the filmmakers via interview and other forms.
e.g.

4. Observational- uninterrupted filming.
e.g.

5. Reflexive- relationship between the filmmaker and the audience, as opposed to the subjects and the audience.
e.g.

6. Performative- a personified view over the lens, the audience seeing the topic from a subjective type of view.
e.g.

Generic research: development of technology timeline

To make a documentary on the evolution of technology and its effect on teenagers now compared to 30-40 years ago, I need to know when impactful pieces of technology were developed.

VHS: early 1977
CD's: 1982
DVDs: 1995
YouTube: 2005/2006
iPhone: 2007
Kindle: 2007
Spotify: 2008
Social Media:
- Facebook- 2004
- Twitter - 2006
- Instagram - 2010
- Snapchat - 2011

Generic research: TA1 of 19 kids and counting

TA1 19 kids and counting. from Pernille Brown

This documentary is one of my biggest influences in terms of documentary styles and techniques, due to its mode of documentary and narrative mode. I also like how shots of the location help move the program into the next scene.

Audience research: focus group

Target audience-

I have chosen a few people that are teenagers, and a few that were teenagers during the time period that I will be focusing on in my documentary, probably the 70's and 80's, possibly the 90's.

Ella Chapman- Media student at sixth form
                      - Uses technology everyday, including her phone and macbook.
                      -  Mainly uses technology for schoolwork, but uses her phone daily for social media and messaging friends and family.

Katie Pearl - Media student at sixth form

                   - Familiar with a range of technical devices and uses technology frequently.
                  - Mainly uses her laptop and phone to play music and watch tv on, plus to complete school work.

Paul Brown- Was a teenager during the 70s and 80's

                   - Not familiar with technology and struggles to use new devices such as iPhones.
                   - Only uses his phone to call family members, mainly uses his iPod classic to listen to music from CDs.

Paula Harrison: - Was a teenager during the 70's and 80's
                          - Familiar with some technology like iMacs but not completely confident with technology such as iPhones etc.
                         - Used to use her laptop for work, but now uses her phone and laptop for leisure.

Generic research: defining modes of documentary and hybrid genres

1: Expository conventions
- Voiceover addresses the audience directly.
- The narrator may be heard but not seen, or may be seen and heard, shown as an expert in their field.
- Editing is used for continuity.
- Attempts to persuade the audience a particular point of view, often by appealing to logic and the idea of a common-sense response.
- A variety of footage, interviews, stills, and archive material is assembled to support the argument.

2 Observational conventions
-  Location shooting- hand held cameras.
- Long takes dominate.
- Synchronous sound recording.
- No voiceovers.
- No interviews.
- Documentary's maker's presence hidden.
- Subjects pretend that they are not being filmed.

3 Participatory or interactive conventions
- Documentary maker/crew interact with the subject.
- Interviews dominate but tend to be informal.
- Long takes dominate.
- Voiceover, usually by the documentary maker.

The term 'popular factual programming' is a way of referring to the new television formats that combine elements from several genres such as soaps and game shows, making these documentaries hybrid genres.
An example of a hybrid genre show is 'Location, Location, Location' which has elements of games shows, in which correct actions leading to successful endings, but also has characteristics of soaps, as drama between the hosts or the families being shown around make the show entertaining to watch. However, it does differ from most British soaps because most soaps focus on working class people, whereas 'Location, Location, Location' mainly stars middle class people.

Generic research: writing a treatment

Writing a treatment - A2 media documentary (1) from Pernille Brown

http://www.filmandmedia.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/portuges/papers/How_to_write_a_documentary_treatment.pdf
This is a website link we were given to aid us in writing a treatment for our documentaries.

Planning: Second proposal

While I was trying to think of more detail to add to my previous idea, I came up with another topic to create a documentary about. I am fascinated with the proliferation of technology, and I focused on technology's impact on teenagers 40 years ago compared to today as I am a teenager and I am familiar with technology, and aware of how much it has impacted my generation. I created this proposal on this idea, but it is yet to be approved or rejected.