Evaluation

Our documentary is all about the negative effects in which alcohol has on binge drinkers and also how it can effect those who are around the consumer.

This documentary explores the way in which alcahol had become glamourised and lifts the lid on shocking facts.

Binge Britain is an exposity and investigative documentary as it explores issues surrounding society today and aims to educate its viewers. Our documentary uses different conventions such as narration, voice over, archive footage and reconstruction.

In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media product.

I wanted to make sure i had used forms and conventions of real media products so to do this, i watched different documentaries to see what conventions and forms they were using. I identified didfferent shots and techniques so that when it came to making my documentary i could use the knowledge i had gained from viewing other documentaries simular to mine.

Sun sex and suspicious parents was a documentary i watched regularly not only was it highly entertaining but also gave me an understanding of different techiniques i could use myself.

These documentaries all shared simularitites with mine for example the use of interviews, we made sure our documentary had valid interviews that were factual and educational that our viewers could learn from. Voice overs were used, just like our documentary, we had one moment when teen binger Ryan Taylor talks over a reconstruction of the night he ended up in hospital this way audience got to see what happened whilst Ryan was telling the story.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
I was asked to produce a double page spread for a tv listings magazine and a poster promoting my documentary, whilst doing this i took into consideration, target audience, type of documentary, and what channel it was going to be aired on.

As my target audience was teenagers to young adults i needed something on the front cover that would stand out something that would cath their eye, and as our documentary was all about alcahol abuse, i decided to use a picture of a teenage girl holding a bottle of vodka and smoking a cigarette. A lot of teenagers are abusing alcahol in todays society  and the number of teenagers and young adults smoking has increased highly, i thought this was a good way of grabbing their attention. As Binge Britain is all about the negative effects of alcahol i did not want to glamourise the girl on my poster so i made her unnatractive by putting makeup down her face, and making it look like she was upset.

I considered the colours for my ancillery task and decided on the poster being very dark as the topic being discussed is negative and we visit some dark  places in the documentary. I thought it worked well as being an alcahol abuser your like soon become dull and dark.

I think my acillery tasks were effective to my documentary as the poster and double page spread was a clue as to what happens in the documentary but dosent give to much away.

To make my ancillery task i used powerpoint but i edited my photos on picassa, which is a programme used to change lighting and effects on images. I made the title the main focus on the page as i feel then it is the first thing people will look at, which gives them more chance of remembering the documentary, but i used a big image to match with the title, Binge Britain- A girl Binge drinking on the front.

The title of the documentary reads ‘BINGE BRITIAN: BRIGHTON’. The capital letters connotes brashness and rebellion, which is something my target audience should be able to relate to.

What have i learnt from audience feedback?

Since finishing our documentary we uploaded it to facebook and put it on youtube so we could see how effective it would be and what our target audience would think.

We had some positive feedback from friends on facebook and others we do not know on youtube, such

-Shows how bad our society has got with drinking but shows there are people trying to prevent it.

-Well made documentary

-Ryan made a huge mistake from what we saw in the reconstruction i hope he learnt his lesson.

-pretty cool doc.

Not all feedback was positive.

-Boring and too much talking.

-could have used more reconstructions as was interesting apart from that i didnt enjoy it.

-needed more effects

I think if i were to make another documentary i would maybe not use a lot of voiceover as some of the audience found this to drag and some even said it was boring. People also commented on the amount of dialogue however it would have been hard for us to take any out as the documentary was to inform and educate its users.

I think for the first documentary we have made a lot of it went down well, and although we could improve in some areas other aspects were of a good standard and seemed to be enjoyed by viewers.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I wanted my documentary to be of a high quality and to be as exciting and attention grabbing as it possibly could.

I used wikepedia alot to search up doucmentary modes and conventions, to help me use this in my documentary. I searched a number of different websites to look up binge drinking and different statistics and facts on alcahol abuse in Britain.

I used different programmes on my computer to create my ancillery task, such as powerpoint, paint and picassa, this allowed me to edit crop and resize my pictures. I have used all these programmes before so i did not need to look up instructions or learn how to use it. 

I uploaded different images and documents from my computer and scanned in work we had done in class. This allowed me to use all this work on my blog. 

I was asked to be used as the picture for the ancillery task so me and another member of my group took the camera and found a tunnel that looked in a state that was perfect for shooting pictures, and making it look like a night out gone wrong full of binge drinking and chain smoking.

Initial Ideas

Haunted House
The True Story
The Facts:
-The haunted attraction industry generates roughly 300 million pounds in revenue and the amusement park industry another 150 to 200 million pounds.
-The industry of haunted houses supports hundreds of other businesses.
-Some haunted houses charge as much as £50 while most average around £25 per event.
-Possible investigation:
-Archive footage
-Interview with paranormal experts
-Investigate derelict hospice’s and hospitals
-Binge Drinking

Does binge drinking have a negative effect on society?
The Facts:
-Drinking amongst teenagers is on the up, and binge drinking is linked to anti-social behaviour and the use of other drugs.
-A recent survey revealed that 27% of 15-16 year olds have had more than three binges in the last month. ---The survey also revealed that 9% of boys and girls aged between 11-12 years described themselves as regular drinkers.
-Possible investigation:
-Archive footage
-Interview with police to see how alcohol effects the society
-Does drug use increase when binge drinking occurs
-Information on alcohol units
-Interview with alcohol councillor
-Does the cheapness of alcohol influence teenagers to drink?


Meow: The Deadly High
Should meow be made illegal in the UK?
The Facts:
-Meow is sold as plant food or pond cleaner on the internet and is described as not being for human consumption.
-It was made illegal in several countries due to growing evidence of health risks, including a reported cause of death.
-Meow produces euphoria, alertness, talkativeness and feelings of empathy, but can also cause anxiety and paranoid states and risks over stimulating the heart and circulation.
-Possible Investigation:
-Interview with experts to find out the long term effects of the drug
-Talk to users of the drug to find out why they take it
-Find out how easy it is to purchase on the internet
-Interview with the police to find out their views on the drug

Mission Statement

Binge Britain will be aired on a weekday, Tuesday, and on BBC. Binge Britain is aimed at teenagers and young adults, 16+ and as most of the audience in this age catagory are known to be out during weekends we decided the best way to pick up more viewers is by airing it during the week.


The documentary will be broadcast on BBC THREE, as this channel is known to air simular documentaries to Bringe Britain. BBC IPLAYER online means that online catchup will be available to any viewers who are looking to watch the documentary but missed it.

The reason why we are showing our documentary after the watershed is because it allows us to show more explicit/adult content. This will allow our documentary to be more shocking, giving it a greater impact on the audience.


Binge Britain: Brighton’s purpose is to demonstrate how alcohol affects more than just the consumer. This will involve observing interviews with young people that have abused alcohol, a PCSO and a nurse to see how alcohol has a damaging effect on society.


We will be using cameras, a tripod and editing software to create our documentary.

Ancillery front cover

Ancillery first page of double spread

Ancillery second page of double spread

Questionaire Results

Sample of questionaire

Newspaper Reasearch and analysis

Idea for ancillery front cover

Images from shooting the documentary

Storyboards for Documentary

Documentary shotlist

Script

Personal Research - Reality TV

Reality TV

Reality shows such as big brother and x factor are still being made today with more and more being created, it seems us as an audience enjoy watching dramatic or humorous situations in which anything could happen.

Watching shows such a 'Im a celebrity get me out of here' shows that as the public we like seeing awkward and painful situations inflicted on people as a form of entertainment. Reality TV has changed the way we view reality forever. With the latest reality show 'The only way is essex' also known as 'TOWIE' becoming an instant hit, and memorable quotes from it such as 'REEM' and 'SHUTTUP' becoming used by fans everywhere, it is clear to see that reality TV is an instant sensation. In some cases many of us wish that what we see on the screen could happen to us and in over cases reality TV makes a mockery of its people in it by putting them in situations where anything could happen and creating over the top scenarios.

Shows such as 'The only way is essex' dominating TV.

Documentaries

Sun, Sex and Suspicous Parents.

Sun, Sex and Suspicous Parents is a Fly on the wall documentary/reality television series aired on BBC 3. It follows the lives, of two different groups of teenagers travelling on their first holiday without their parents, however what they do not know is they are not alone atall and while they think their crazy days at the beach and their boozy nights at the biggest clubs are something their parents will never find out, they are mistakenly wrong and mum and dad are not only watching their every move but are also in the same country as them and sometimes just a few feet away from them.

The show brings mothers and fathers closer with their children as they get up close and personal with them and find out things that will in some cases make them proud but in others extremely upset them.

In one episode parents have to watch their teenage son walking around a foreign country on his own whilst so drunk he kisses another boy, this upsets them.

The documentary shows quick edits. and is a fly on the wall documentary.

It has a narrator which talks through it and sometimes makes a mochery in certain scenes.
It uses long shots, and split screens, so we can see the reactions on the parents when their watching back footage of their children.
Uses talking heads.

Documentaries

The family
The family is a unique observational series that documents the universal themes of family life, as British families open their doors to viewers.
The family is a fly on the wall documentary which follows the life of an ordianry family doing everyday things. A massive four months worth of filming The Hughes had to be narrowed down into just 8 films.
The documentary shows important things happening in the Hughes family, such as the marriage of the elsdest daughter, Jessica in which we saw emotional scenes involving Jessica's mum Jane feeling vulnrable at the thought of letting her daughter go, we also witnessed the bizzare antics of teen teraway Emily Hughes. We saw footage of them enjoying celebrations such as Christmas and the anniversary of parents Jane and Simon.


Shots included reaction shots, which was put across to show a persons feelings, or in key scenes of the programme.
Shot reverse shot and long shots were also used among the programme.

Pre- recorded music was used over certain scenes, such as parents Jane and Simon having a day in bed was watched with slow music playing, also making the lyrics of the song match what the couple were doing on screen. This had an over the top effect as it made the couple look like a fairytale story. there were certain aspects of mochery.

Documentary Modes

Expository -The purpose of this documentry mode is to inform and educate the audience about the subject or topic. The camera and crew are normally invisible to the audeience. The documentary is scripted and accompanied by a voice over narration.


Observational -
This is a greater degree of naturalism, its where the camera crew or filmmakers are enabled to record people in their natural enviroment with a minimum of fuss.


Fly on the wall -The aim of this mode is to give the audience a sence of unmediated access to the world. It approaches to blend into the background as the subjects go about their daily business.


Interactive/Reflexive-In this mode the filmmakers presence is fully acknowledged, with the filmmaker often both author and character in his or her movie, often appearing in shot and interacting with other people in the film or programme. The film might offer suprises, play with conventions or aim to provoke reactions from subjects and the audience.