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

I decided to create a lifestyle documentary, as for a female student of 18 years, this would be most feasible for me to create (with access to resources / friends of same age to interview etc). For example, it would not have suited me to create a nature documentary. I watched many lifestyle documentaries before deciding on what my own product would consist of / be about. I eventually decided on the health lifestyle genre, particularly looking at the mass media and eating disorders, since I feel as though this is an important topic in modern society and I have witnessed some affects of the media on young girls around me. As explained in my research, my main influence and documentary which relates most closely to my own themes and ideas, is Super Slim Me (click the link to see my analysis), presented by Dawn OPorter. Although this documentary was aired about 8 years ago on BBC Three, the ideas presented are still a present issue in our society. I also carried out further research to be sure of the general codes and conventions of documentaries >> summary of codes and conventions.

After deciding on which channel my product would be broadcasted on (research) I watched multiple documentaries on BBC Three and discovered that the logo is constantly presented. This is a convention of documentaries since it informs the audience of the institution which has broadcast the documentary/show. This benefits BBC Three since if the audience enjoy one documentary, they might continue to watch shows broadcasted by the same channel. Equally, I thought that it was important to choose a channel which targeted my primary audience well, and with a good reputation. At the beginning of BBC Three programs or documentaries, a short animation is shown, and is usually eye-catching and creative with bright colours, directly targeting the young, quirky audience. I therefore included one at the beginning of my documentary so that the audience would immediately have a rough idea of the genre, since BBC Three documentaries tend to be similar in certain aspects. I used this animation from a real media BBC Three production, which established their brand presence in my product.

My documentary: The Perfect Image

Recent BBC Three documentary How Safe are My Drugs?

Also, the BBC Three logo is constantly shown throughout their shows, so I included this in my own product, placed in the top left-hand corner so make my documentary more authentic. The hot pink in the logo relates to its majority of female viewers and thus fitted nicely with the visuals of my product (which is aimed primarily at a female audience).

BBC Threes Super Slim Me

I decided to have an introduction at the beginning of my product, which is a convention of TV documentaries, such as in Super Slim Me, used to draw in an audience and portray the narrative. The first 30 seconds of my documentary is a montage compiled of clips and a voiceover which together, gives the audience a general knowledge of the themes and ideas which will be explored throughout. The fast pace editing is likely to catch the viewers intention, plus this into provides them with an insight of what will later be explored (my product is an extract only, so I have mentioned things that would be in the programme later on: We take a look at the art of Photoshop The screenshots below are short clips from the montage, which each present aspects of the documentary; the 1st shows a model on the runway, the 2nd hints at social media and the mass media and the third implies issues related with body image and self esteem which will also be discussed. I researched Bill Nichols documentary modes, in which he suggests that are 6 different types. My product has aspects of an expository mode documentary, since the speaker provides a point of view and line of argument, encouraging the viewer to agree. However, I have challenged the typical conventions of having an authoritative commentary, [for instance in BBC Ones nature docs, narrated by David Attenborough]. Instead, I decided that using an informal tone, and a presenter similar to the target audience, the viewers can connect with her and her ideas. I used direct mode of address, which is more common in modern lifestyle documentaries, but is still challenging typical conventions of documentaries (particularly expository). This also creates an informal relationship between the presenter and the viewer.Dawn OPorter uses an informal tone in her documentaries.

I have included Lily Allens soundtrack during the intro to make the editing flow, and also it creates energy and makes the footage appear more interesting and exciting.

A short title sequence follows the introduction which is a convention of documentaries. This usually follows the introduction of fast-pace editing and variety of shots.

For example, Sun, Sex & Suspicious Parents is broadcasted on BBC Three and has an intro to draw in the audience, then the title is shown at 02:29 into the show. I followed this code and have included a title about 30 seconds into it.

A modern convention of television; including documentaries, soaps etc, is social media presence. I discovered a company called we are telegraph hill, who create an online social media presence for companies. They have worked with the BBC, and BBC Three in particular therefore I thought that it would be important to incorporate this into my own product.

The screenshots below also show the BBC Threes presence on popular social network; twitter. Plus even individual shows that are broadcasted on the channel have twitter profiles like Snog, Marry, Avoid.

I used the twitter hashtag (#) symbol and the name of my documentary to encourage the audience to look it up on social media and interact by tweeting and using the hashtag.

When researching, I noticed that there were numerous interview sections in current documentaries; with professionals, witnesses or just ordinary people, to provide further information or opinions.

Specially in factual or health and lifestyle documentaries, a convention is an interview with a professional, to back up the argument or ideas that are provided. Furthermore, these interviews that I have included, make my own product appear more authentic, like other documentaries shown on BBC Three.

Another convention, is titles, particularly when introducing the professional or person that is going to be interviewed. This informs the viewer who is being interviewed and what their profession is. The top image is a screenshot from Super Slim Me where I received information for my own; the middle is a screenshot from the interview with a professional in my documentary extract.

This bottom screenshot is from a section with vox-pop style/ short interviews. I shot these with teenage girls - who are the primary audience, so that the audience can relate. I also shot against a white background so that the lighting was natural, and the focus is therefore more on the participant rather than a messy background.

In two of my interview sections I asked the questions directly (as the presenter) to create more of a conversational tone. However, during the vox-pop interviews I asked the questions in a different manner; challenging typical conventions of documentaries. Instead of a voiceover, I used titles to show the questions since the audience would be provided with multiple answers, and therefore seeing the question first, they could think about their own opinion to the question; this is a type of audience interaction. I also used titles over a few of the vox-pops, but instead of using complimentary information, to act as a subtitle to the participants answers, I contradicted what they were saying with true statistics of women in the UK. For example, here, the interviewee says really skinny as her idea of the perfect women. However, the fact provided suggests to the audience that this representation is not realistic.Facts and statistics are a code of the documentary genre, to provide extra information to the audience.

Many documentaries use archive or live footage, plus still images, to provide evidence for the line of argument being explored by the filmmaker / presenter. I used lots of this throughout my product, including footage from established films / documentaries via youtube & mactube. I also used this footage in-between shots of interviews or with voiceovers overlapping, to allow the documentary to flow throughout and project a professional aspect.

I used a few still images as this is a convention of real documentaries, and makes the idea of my own product being on television more realistic. This is similar to BBC Threes Super Slim Me. The images shown are accompanied by voiceover which links to the photographs shown.

This is my final newspaper advertisement for my documentary extract The Perfect Image. Here is an example of my ad in a newspaper spread

Institution / logoTitle - large / boldDate & TimeMain ImageSocial Media LinkColour Scheme

Newspaper Ad for my product(documentary extract)

Sweat the Small Stuff BBC Three current show(2015)

Main ImageTagline / titleLayoutTV ListingsText in columnsColour SchemeSubheading