PLANNING - interview questions for documentary

Jules interview – i.t expert

1. What do you think the negative and positive aspects are of using the internet?
2. What procedures do you take into filtering sites in schools?
3. Have you come across any incidence in schools of pupils using the internet for the wrong purposes?
4. Do you think there should be an age limit on social networking sites?
5. Do you think social networking sites have changed communication in a good or bad way?


Hippies on the hill interview (unsigned band trying to launch their career through myspace)

1. Why did you choose myspace?
2. When did you set up your myspace page? And why did you choose to do it at this time?
3. What influence do you think your myspace page has had on your music career?
4. Has having a myspace page always been a positive thing or have you ever experienced any problems? (such as negative feedback if so can you please explain or give examples)
5. Is myspace the only social networking site you have as a band?
6. Has your myspace page generated fan base?
7. Have you had any interest from record companies through your myspace page?
8. Do you/why don’t you go through traditional ways of promoting yourselves as a band?

PLANNING - running order

10 sec- Montage of news paper article concerning social networking sites

10 sec- Opening titles (virtual insanity?) typed out as if on a computer screen with white text and a black back ground.

20 sec-voice over introducing topic further- clips of people using ipods, texting, using computers (isolation)

1 min- Interview with Jules (I.T expert) talking about the effects of the internet and social networking sites in school.

1 min- Interview with Jon Dutton radio presenter about how he uses facebook in order to promote his radio show and how he uses it to get suggestions and ideas etc.

20 sec-Montage of myspace pages (music pages) and shots of Lilly Allen's page and the video smile with voice over coming in slightly later explaining how myspace launched her career.

1 min- Hippies on the Hill interview (unsigned band) and their myspace page and how they hope it will help launch their career further.

1 min- voice over introducing next feature- The reconstruction of a paedophile using msn to talk to young girls and how deceiving pictures can be and how easy it is to pretend you are someone else.


30 seconds - clip from ‘How to Catch a Paedophile’ which was shown on ITV about paedophiles being tricked online by police and then getting caught

1 minute - interview with policeman (in his office) about dealing with paedophiles on the internet

30 seconds - voice over introducing story of Vanessa George who was recently on the news. Non diagetic sound of children laughing and playing in background

1 minute - clip of an interview with one of the parents whose child was abused by
Vanessa George

1 minute - voice over moves on to explaining the creation and success of Facebook

40 seconds - interview with one of the creators of Facebook about the ‘law’s and policies of using Facebook

1 minute - voice over then moves on to explain the success of MySpace – as it is not just Facebook that is successful. Shots of MySpace pages in the background

1 minute - voice over explaining the younger generation who use Bebo and explaining how Bebo attracts the younger audience

20 seconds - shot of people in the street shopping etc, voice over explaining a survey carried out of which social networking sites people prefer to use

1 minute - voxpop of general public (different genders, ages) answering survey question

90 seconds - voice over talking about the celebrities who now use social networking site Twitter e.g. Katie Price. Shot of her Television programme ‘What Katie did next’ where she is talking about using Twitter

2 minutes - interview with Katie Price about her Twitter account and how it influences her fans and how the press uses what she says on Twitter against her

1 minute - voice over describing the exploitation of Michael Jackson’s death through the internet e.g. celebs on Twitter

10 seconds - shot of article of Holly Grogan who committed suicide over online bullying

1 minute - zoom onto Holly Grogan’s face, voice over explaining the story behind her suicide

2 minutes - interview with parents of Holly Grogan

2 minutes - interview with Holly’s school teacher

50 seconds - home footage of Holly Grogan before death

1 minute - interview with policeman about dealing with online bullying

2 minutes - cuts between parents/ teacher interviews and the article to show the overall
conclusion about the dangers of using the internet and the effects in which it has – ending credits

PLANNING - Audience Research Questionnaire and Results

This is a photograph of somebody who would be a member of the target audience of our documentary.

"My name is Susan, I'm 48 years old and am married with 3 children, aged 15, 19 and 22. I work in admin in a secondary school, and in my spare time I enjoy socialising and spending time with my family. I usually watch television at around 8pm, as that is when the programmes which I want to watch are on."




Audience Research


1. Age: 25 – 30

31 - 35

36 – 40

40 +

2. Occupation: ____________________________________________________

3. Which colour do you prefer?

Blue Green Red Yellow Pink Black

None of the above

4. Which type of music do you prefer?

Rock Pop Country Classical


5. Which TV channels do you regularly watch and when? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

6. How often do you use the internet?

Everyday Every few days Once a week

Once every few weeks

7. a) Are you aware of different social networking sites on the internet?

Yes No

If yes, list the ones which you know.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) Do you have your own account on a social networking site?

Yes No



If yes, which sites?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

8. a) Are you a parent?

Yes No

If yes, how often do you allow your child to use the internet and why?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

b) Do you have any concerns when your child is using the internet?

Yes No

If yes, what are your concerns?

c) Do you limit your child’s time when using the internet?

Yes No

If yes, explain why.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. If not a parent, which do you think are the main dangers of using the internet and why?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Which do you think are the positive factors of using the internet and why?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Which do you think are the negative factors of using the internet and why?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________








the majority of the people in which we interviewed where over 40, therefore we may use this age range as the target audience

This graph shows the occupations of the people who we asked to fill out our questionnaire. It shows that we have 9 teachers this may affect the results of further questions however it will be helpful for our interviews and the target audience as in our documentary we will be interviewing teachers and people who work in a school.

We found that the majority of people we interviewed preferred to listen to pop music; therefore we will use this genre of music in our documentary

This graph shows that people mainly watch BBC 1 therefore we will consider this as a channel for our documentary as our target audience from 25-40+ do regularly watch BBC 1 therefore our documentary may be something they choose to watch.

These results show that the majority of people we interviewed use the internet everyday, and this will have a significant part in our documentary

This chart shows that Facebook is the most used site, and this plays an important role in our documentary as it shows that our documentary is mainly based around the subject of Facebook

This graph shows that the majority of the people we asked were parents, I think that this is good as during our documentary we are considering interviewing a parent and what they’re views are of social networking sites therefore this may attract our audience who our parents.

The pie chart shows that the majority of the people said yes, however a lot of people also said no, which shows the opinions are balanced

This graph shows the answers of our audience who are not parents and what they think are the main dangers of using the internet. It shows that even though they are not parents and don’t have to worry that they are

This graph shows that the majority of people who we asked thought that bulling was the biggest problem with the internet therefore we will consider using this as a part of our content for our documentary.

This chart shows that keeping in touch is the most positive factor of using the internet, therefore we will include this in our content.

FORMAL PROPOSAL

topic - social networking sites

type of documentary: mixed

style of documentary: informative yet informal

channel and scheduling: BBC1 9pm Wednesday

target audience: adults (mainly parents) 30+

Primary research needed: interview with IT expert, interview with IT technicians , parent, young students

secondary research: newspaper articles, web pages

narrative structure: Open, non-linear, single strand - open so audience can have their own opinion

Outline of content:

Interviews with: Jules (head of IT in Weatherhead) in her office
Teacher in their office
Parents at home on their couch
A student in the corridor in their school uniform

Archive material: Newspaper article of girl who committed suicide over Facebook bullying
Article from The Guardian about teachers who have been cyber-bullied
MySpace Music pages
Facebook pages of celebrities‘

Reconstructions: Shot of girl chatting on internet
Shot of man posing as a young girl on the internet

Sound: Virtual Insanity – Jamiraqui
Cliff Richard song in the opening sequence
Lily Allen song juxtaposed when showing her MySpace page
Intense music when talking about dark subjects
A male voice overResource

Requirements: Video camera
Microphones
Tripod
Computer
Voice recorder

PLANNING

Documentary subject ideas:
Pregnancy
Hospitals
Diets
Race
Shoes
Animals
Public transport
Hairstyles
Obesity
Cars
Wars
Beauty
Technology
Poverty
Film
Underage drinking
Food
Dentists
Natural disasters
Alcohol
Fashion
Nature
Travelling
Drugs
Music
Eating disorders
Recession
Families
Babies
Media
Wealth
School
Celebrities
Relationships
History
Discovery
Helplessness
Stereotypes
Pastimes
Anorexia
Homelessness
Chocolate
Books
Roads
Tables
Cinema
Life
Sex
Festivals
Dancing
Wallasey
Sixthform
Clubbing
Mobilephones
Murder
MoneyDrink
Family
Hair
Nails
Children
Houses
Bikes
Dinosaurs
Sweets
Shopping
Penguins
Family
Friends
Mobile
Bags
Laptops
Zoo
Hiccups
KFC
Wales
Love
Hate
Liverpool
Pink
Working
Sport
Exercise
Takeaway
Dolphins
Bubblegum
Kisses
Marmite
Lipstick
Beatles
Facebook
Pringles
Texting
Gigs
Radio
TV
7 deadly sins
Tattoos + piercings



















Documentary subject: Social networking sites

keep in touch with long distance friends
how it has affected language
musicians - myspace
paedophiles
anti-social
obsession
online bullying
personal details
interference with school work
accepting strangers




















title - Virtual Insanity?
opening 5 mins - clips of interviews, articles
scheduling - BBC 1, 9pm, Wednesday




Virtual Insanity?:
content -
interview with IT technicians in school, parents, teachers, young students
reconstruction of a girl using chat, a man posing as a young girl on net
archive material - facebook article, paedophile programme, newspaper articles
sounds - virtual insanity, intense music, cliff richard, lily allen song, voic over
myspace - positive thing about using internet as musicians gain popularity

RESEARCH

Documentaries:

• purpose of documentaries - to document i.e. report with evidence something that has actually happened. It can show this by using actually footage or reconstructions. The facts that make up a documentary are mediated.

• types of documentaris - 6 main types

1. Fully narrated - an off screen voice over is used to make sense of the visuals and anchor their meaning e.g. natural history documentaries
2. Fly on the wall - origins in cinema verite (truthful). The camera is observing real life as it happens and the participants are unaware of the cameras prescence.
3. Mixed - using a combination of interview observation and narration to advance the narrative.
4. Self-reflective - when the subjects of the documentary acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the film maker.
5. Docudrama - re-enactment of events as they are supposed to have happened
6. Docusoap - a whole series containing occupation based characters. It also has a multi-strand narrative.

Codes and Conventions of Documentaries:

• handheld camera - capture actuality footage where necessary
• actuality footage
• cutting
• background music
• voice over - links everything together, in standard english, age and gender are relative to either audience or subject, emotionaless (statement of facts), all questions are edited out during interviews, music used is relevant
• interviews - CU or MCU is conventional, stationary camera, eyeline roughly 1/3 of the way down the screen, framed to left or right of shot, no background noise
• credits
• subtitles of the interviewee
• still images
• tracking
• mixed
• single-strand
• varied camera angles to keep audience entertained
• archive material - from a variety of sources e.g. films, TV progs, newspapers, magazines, internets, music vids, still photographs
• panning
• steadycam
• establishing shots
• POV shot - sometimes used to position the audience in the action
• still images (slow zoom)
• mise en scene - anchors their relevance to the subject
• graphics - used to translate where necessary. title is unique. name and relevance to subject or their role of the interviewee is usually 2 lines and anchors who they are and their relevance to the subject.
• narrative structure - open/closed/circular, single strand, most documentaries are non-linear

Narrative Structure:

• construction of reality - edited, camera work (hand held, tripod)
• gatekeeping - controlling the flow of information and selecting and subjecting the info
• open V closed - open is when there are loose ends, and there are unanswered questions remaining. closed is when all questions are answered and there are no loose ends. open in a documentary either has an answered or unanswered question which leaves the audience to make up their own minds about the answer. closed in a documentary has a clear start middle and end.
• single strand V multi strand - single strand has 1 narrative while multi strand has more than 1 narrative e.g. a soap
• linear V non linear - linear is when a documentary follows a chronological order, and non linear is where time is disrupted e.g. flashbacks and flashforwards
• circular narrative - start and end of documentary are the same so the audience gets exposition of the arguements. documentary does not answer the question and leaves the audience to make up their own mind

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT:
TYPE OF DOCUMENTARY: mixed
THEMES: Religious, good & evil, the power of the media
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: Single strand

CAMERAWORK: close up of religious figures on church, wide shot of area where the nun was killed, long shots of setting, tracking forwards of fan following car, wide shot of crowd responding to Manson, hand held camera when interviewing.

MISE-EN-SCENE: Police men investing follows narration, Marilyn Manson dressed dark, teenagers sat in room casually smoking – friends of the 2 killers, rain in long shot for dramatic effect, rock concert – young people dressed gothic.

SOUND: voice over, translation, sound of nun being beaten and stabbed, drumbeat represents heartbeat of when nun is being killed, religious music – spiritual, violin when prosecutor is speaking – dramatic effect

EDITING: cutting, slow motion, juxtaposition – religious music behind images of audience at Manson’s concert - gothicA

RCHIVE MATERIAL: news footage of policemen giving statement and finding evidence, footage from Manson’s concert.

GRAPHICS: credits, title of programme, subtitle of persons name who is being interviewed


MARKETING MEATLOAF
TYPE OF DOCUMENTARY: mixed
THEMES: music industry, marketing
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: voice over – sarcastic tone, non linear, single strand

CAMERAWORK: low camera angle, handheld camera, zoom on camera equipment being used during an interview, steady cam filming celebs, zoom on artists performing, POV shot – audience positioned as being part of the process, zoom in on Virgin Records logo, camera focuses on the name ‘Meatloaf’ throughout, close up of LP cover

MISE-EN-SCENE: man in suit – important, chairman of Virgin records dressed casually, chromakey

SOUND: voice over – non diagetic, non diagetic intense music when narrator is talking about Meatloaf, dark music – juxtapositioned with album covers, non diagetic – Meatloaf’s own music

EDITING: dissolve – super emposed into Meatloaf, fade from outside to inside Virgin Records, cut aways, stills of texts

ARCHIVE MATERIAL: footage of celebrities and screaming crowd, footage of music award ceremonies, footage of Meatloaf being interviewed and from one of his concerts, clippings from newspapers, clips from Top of the Pops, clips from the news, footage from David Letterman

GRAPHICS: title sequence – musicians introducing themselves, subtitles showing interviewees name and position


THAT THING

TYPE: mixed
THEME: video games, making games, gender representation
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE: closed, single-strand, non linear

CAMERA WORK: close up of producer, medium close up - tilted frame and big close up of the inventor of the character, hand held cam, POV, tracking - someone walking in

EDITING: face of man being interviewed in computer screen - tilted frame, speed up of filming people testing game, chromakey, cutting - main editing feature

GRAPHICS: name and role on screen in font sans serif and no capital letters, credits

MISE EN SCENE: chromakey - blue/green screen, backgrounds where of extracts from the game, projection behind interviewee

ARCHIVE MATERIAL: tomb raider computer game, clips of Angelina Jolie interview, footage of Lara Croft game being played, Nike advert


9/11 FAKER

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-9-11-faker

TYPE: mixed - narrator and interviews

THEME: tragedy, terrorism

NARRATIVE: serious toned voice over

CAMERA WORK: closed up of barbed fence of ground zero to show intensity, steady cam when filming all interviews shows that it is personal between interviewee and audience, wide shot of people being interviewed, long shot showing the whole of NYC

MISE EN SCENE: interviewees in natural settings e.g. office, at home, setting for interview usually calm and relaxed and not much going on in background

SOUND: end of opening sequence there are screams which represents the effect the terrorist attack had on the public, dramatic music when describing tragic events, non-diagetic sound of voices in an office behind voice over - juxtaposed with office setting, voice over reinacting womans statement of her tragic event at 9/11, voice over of extract of womans email

EDITING: cuts - linking scenes together

ARCHIVE MATERIAL: actuality footage of the events which happened on 9/11, footage of a press conference, actuality footage of journalists

GRAPHICS: still images, name and subtitle under interviewee, opening titles, credits



THE HOSPITAL

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-hospital

TYPE: mixed

THEME: health, obese teenagers

NARRATIVE: voice over, single strang

CAMERA WORK: handheld camera used when filming opening sequence, mid close up during interviews of interviewee, handheld camera when filming surgery scenes, wide shot when operarting, close up of surgeons face and a handheld camera is used, POV shot looking through door, handheld camera used throughout footage of documentary, interviews - talking directly into camera as if they are speaking to audience

SOUND: intense music in opening sequence when filming the hospital, piano music - relaxing and calm, some questions heard during interviews, upbeat music during surgery - ironic, slow sad music - juxtaposed with voice voer speaking about upsetting situations

EDITING: cuts between scenes

ARCHIVE MATERIAL: no archive material used

GRAPHICS: opening titles, credits, interviewee name and position at hospital



Running order:

• inheritance - scheduling of programmes immediatley after a popular programme - to inherit audiences
• pre-echo - scheduling before a popular programme
• hammocking - placing programme between two popular programmes