Documentary Evaluation - Harlow Town Shoppers Paradise

Over the past 2 weeks I have been planning , filming and editing the documentary which is titled "Harlow Town - Shoppers Paradise". I will be evaluating the planning , production and post production work. Firstly I would like to start talking about the planning part of my work. When me and my group began planning for the documentary we wanted to concentrate and make sure that the documentary that was filmed contained many key aspects such as many different interviews , having a key presenter that everyone can relate to, image montages that will have older images of the town, captions in which introduce the presenter and archive images from the older Harlow town. When we first started to plan we came together to write down a variety of different ideas in which  we could include within the documentary. We decided on the sound/music that we were going to have during the documentary in which we did spend time researching to make sure that we could use certain parts of certain tracks. We also established through previous documentaries that we had watched , that we wanted to have a focus on the interviews that we were going to have throughout the documentary. We also came up with the idea for the title sequence that we were going to use in which was taking a numerous amount of clips leading up to the start of the town centre.

Another important point which came into question when we were planning our documentary was where the filming would take place around the location. We needed to think about what would be suitable to show a good representation of Harlow town centre as a shoppers paradise. We decided on the parts of the town centre in which would be filmed for certain aspects of the script. We also came to an agreement about the many different props that we would need when we came to filming the documentary. We decided that we needed the presenter to be dressed smartly with the people that were going to be interviewed to look like they were shoppers from the town. The final aspect in which we focused on during the planning process was a concentration on the script throughout the documentary. We carefully and concisely planned the script for each scene was going to take place throughout the documentary. The language used in the documentary also played an important role because we needed to create a certain tone about the town. The language used was clear , concise and straight to the point in terms of information.

Another aspect I would like to evaluate is the filming/production work. As I have mentioned above , we decided to film around many different places around the town centre and chose carefully the footage that we wanted to show of the town. During the filming of the documentary , some of the planned filming locations that we had previously planned to film , we couldn't because of the restrictions that were in place at the time. In this situation whilst filming, we decided to improvise and work with what we could and find another part of the town to film which again would be suitable for the documentary. Whilst filming in the different locations I did find that because of time restrictions we had to film the majority of the footage within the same area but showing a wide range of services/shops around the town centre. If we would have had more time to film that I believe we would have filmed within a wider range of the location. One point that I particularly like about when we filmed was that we filmed much more than we needed so that we were able to view the clips and chose which would be the best to have on the documentary and also what footage we could use to improve the documentary. During the filming stage , some aspects of the dialogue were changed due to the fact that it was much easier for the presenter and the interviewee  to remember , but the same message was portrayed to the audience. Lastly , whilst out filming we decided that we would change the plans that we had previously planned because we were not allowed to film in the shops that we had previously wanted to. This again caused us to improvise and decide on the spot where we would film those certain scenes.

Lastly , I would like to evaluate the post production side of the documentary. After all of the filming had been completed we were able to upload the clips and began to edit them using the imovie software. Once the clips had been uploaded me and my group began to place the clips in which we had recorded in the correct order so that we could then start to edit them. Me and my group first decided to watch the unedited footage all the way through in order to gauge what clips we needed to add captions and effects to close the clip and introduce the clip. After doing this we began to edit the footage starting with the title sequence in which had all of the group members names on screen. We then began to add a caption to the clip in which the presenter was introduced so that the audience could relate to the presenter. After this we added a variety of different transitions throughout the documentary such as the fading in and fading out effect so that the transition between the 2 clips ran smoothly. One thing that we wanted to keep and not have any effects during was the many interviews in which we had during the documentary because we decided it looked best to have the clips jump from one to the next. The many different music elements that we added during the documentary were also important because we wanted to create a certain ambiance about the footage. The songs that we included within the footage were that of "these shoes are made for walking" in which is shown through the footage of 2 shoppers trying on shoes trying to emphasize the point that the shops in Harlow are a shoppers paradise. At the start and end of the documentary we had a song which is the instrumental from "You Only Live Twice". We decided to use this because of the angelic ambiance that would be portrayed whilst the documentary is being watched to portray to the viewers that Harlow really is a shoppers paradise.

Overall , I have learnt a lot from this experience of creating this documentary. I think in future projects I will try and equally share out the time I have to plan , film and then edit because I did feel that my group didn't leave enough time to edit at the very end of the project because of the huge amount of time required for filming. I also believe that it is important when out filming the project that clips that are wrong with the actors saying the wrong dialogue should be deleted at that point as my group had to re watch clips in order to then delete a huge 60-70 clips that we couldn't use. I think that if my group had used the time that we had avaliable much more efficently then we would have had much more time to edit the footage to then boost the quality of the footage.

Documentary - Analysis

A documentary can be defined as many different things such as a knowledge based programme with numerous amount of facts which are presented to the viewer throughout the programme. However , a definition which is given to us by John Grierson states that a documentary is a "creative interpretation of actuality". This gives people the opportunity to analyse this in a certain way. Many people would perceive this definition as a programme in which shows us real life with a creativity imposed. This creativity could be in  the form of editing , adding music or soundtracks so that the audience get a certain message through the manipulation of the footage. In today's world documentaries play an important part of the television that we watch with channels being created for the purpose of just showing documentaries. These documentaries which are shown on a channel such as the discovery channel can be stereotyped. These type of documentaries are aimed at men/women which are of middle age. However, all documentaries can be manipulated in order to entice a different audience.

As I have mentioned above John Grierson gave us his definition of what a documentary is which he stated is a "creative interpretation of actuality". As John Grieson was a Scottish documentary maker he understood what concepts had to be included within. The definition that Grieson has given us is open to interpretation. John mentions "actuality" which to many people will be the showing of real life. The creativity side of the definition means that the maker of the documentary has again used certain techniques to be able to manipulate certain footage within a documentary to send out a certain message. This can be done with the use of certain music/effects and editing. This then leads to the question of "can real life be captured in the real world". It is hard to capture the real life in a documentary because as soon as the creator starts to inter fear with the footage and starts to add effects such as a voice over and starts editing the footage, this is no longer "real life". I believe that it is an impossible task to be able to capture real life on camera unless the footage is unedited. Another point I would like to consider about documentaries is that fact of is it right that certain documentaries which deal with delicate subjects. There is an ethical element that has to be considered. Documentaries which want to show a certain event which shows horrific scenes from something like a war I believe shouldn't be shown due to the number of ethical concerns.

Documentaries can take on a different forms. These forms are either realist which is the imposition of minimal recorded material such as that in a "fly on the wall" documentary. The next is a formalist documentary in which imposes a particular narrative structure on the recorded material such as that in "fly in soup" documentary. The last form that a documentary can take is a subjective documentary which expresses the film makers personal vision within the documentary. However, any documentary can use a mixture of the three forms above as it is seen in modern day documentaries. 

There are also many different types of modes in which these documentaries can take. These are Poetic modes, expository mode, observational mode, Participatory mode, Reflexive mode and performative mode. Poetic mode first appeared in the 1920s, were a sort of reaction against both the content and the rapidly improving grammar of the early fiction documentaries. The poetic mode moved away from continuity editing and instead organized images of the material world. Expository mode means that in the documentaries the the viewer is being directly spoken to viewer by a voice over in a narration. The voice over tries to persuade the viewer to agree with the certain argument that is being put across. 

Observational mode are documentaries in which try to observe modern day life in a less intrusive manner because of the improvement in technology. This allowed many documentary makers to make a variety of documentaries without the need to make it obvious that filming was taking place.  Participatory mode states that it is highly unlikely or impossible for the filming of the documentary not to influence the events that will take place when filming. In this mode we get an understanding of how the film makers presence influence the events that do take place whilst filming. 

Reflexive mode are documentaries in which clearly demonstrates the consciousness of the power of reading within the documentary. These documentaries lead us to think of how the world in represented within the documentary. The last mode that a documentary can take is the performative mode. This type of documentary    stresses about the emotional response to the documentary.  They are designed to make us experience what it might be like for us to possess a certain specific perspective on the world that is not our own. 

Within a documentary there may also be that of editing techniques used to disguise certain aspects of footage. This may be carried out on a interview which certain parts may have had to be re shot for some reason. This use of "cut - aways" will disguise the way that the footage within the documentary has been manipulated. The documentary maker may also want to allocate a certain setting for each an individual person within the documentary. This would allow the audience to recognise immediately who this person is.

In modern day documentaries the use of titles/title sequences would have been used. The opening title sequence will allow the audience to be able to understand the genre of the whole documentary. This should allow the audience to immediately know what the documentary is all about without having to watch any of it. Throughout many documentaries there will be especially when people are being interviewed and or questioned a title on screen to give there name and sometimes their profession (if it is linked with the documentary). This is an extremely good way of allowing the audience to find out numerous amounts of information about people on screen.

Throughout a variety of different documentaries , effects may be added to the footage to create a sense of remembrance to the audience. Many documentaries may have many image montages at the end of the footage to then send a message and remind the viewer of the many important aspects that were shown within the documentary. The effects can be used to create a sense of mystery if something like a fade out and in was used within a documentary. The effects can be used to enhance the footage and evoke certain emotions of the viewers.

Adding music/effects to a documentary is a good way of also evoking emotions of the audience. The documentary makers will have purposely placed music within the documentary to make sure that a certain emotion is created for the viewer within certain points.Lastly, the documentary can have a certain way in which the narrative is shown to the viewer. The documentary maker will have been clever enough to be able tell a story in a particular way in order to make the audience think differently about the subject being discussed.

One documentary that I have watched and would like to analyse is the new channel 4 documentary entitled "Educating Essex". This documentary is based in a secondary school and gives the viewer an insight into the day to day running of a modern secondary school and how teachers deal with the many problems that occur. The documentary consists of continuous interviews with the head teacher, deputy head and many of the student which are featured in the programme. The way the documentary has been constructed I believe is an observational mode trying to show us an insight into a modern day secondary school , but because of the improvements within technology , means that the documentary is less intrusive. The audience of this documentary would be surrounded by more of a younger audience , although I am not out ruling a more mature audience. The documentary has been edited and the footage manipulated so show all of the "trouble makers" or badly behaved students within the school to try and emphasize to the audience what teachers go through every day (although this may not happen in real life). This again means that the documentary maker wanted to represent the school as having a bad reputation when this may not be the case. The documentary maker wants the audience to decode the events so that there may be a different message to be taken from  the documentary for different people. 

Evaluation Of Music Video

I have analysed my music video in the form of a presentation on prezi. I have discussed the many factors which influenced my decision into how I would be filming the music video and how Andrew Goodwin's theory can be seen within the music video. I have discussed why my group decided to film in the location that we did with also the way in which the genre of the music influenced our decisions on mise en scene. I have also discussed the technical aspects within the music video and have evaluated them. The Url to access the prezi is http://prezi.com/kuiadb5cjfb6/a2-media-music-video-evaluation/