Evaluation Q1

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

In the early stages of this project I did a lot of industry research on documentary films and what was already out there. I came across many different types of documentary and many different types of techniques used to engage the audience and focus on the story and characters within the film. From the beginning of the planning stages I knew that my aim was to make the audience think and to reflect on how it might relate to them. The topic of ‘freedom’ was an idea that I wanted to use for a long time before making this piece and being in India gave me a great opportunity to explore this in a different culture. I researched a lot about the uses of B-roll footage within documentary and how to keep the audience engaged on the story and the interview footage. This was very beneficial and useful when considering shot selection and editing the final product. As the topic and story within the interview was quite hard hitting, I wanted to make sure that none of the shot choices or music felt gimmicky which might take the audience away from the seriousness of the main topic.

Here are some screen shots from the final piece to display the shot selection.

I looked at media products that were out in the industry that dealt with a similar topic and how they had used factors such as music and shot choice to keep the audience focused on the images and story. I found that using slow tempo and quiet music underneath a voiceover or interview such as in the "Portrait of my Father" documentary I did a textual analysis of, worked extremely effectively as you are drawn into the dialogue and the music creates a relaxed atmosphere which makes it easier to watch. In some cases the absence of music during dialogue also works very well as your attention is focused on that one sentence or story at that time. This is evident in the Alfred Dunhill portrait interviews. As my topic of freedom is very vast I knew that it would have been virtually impossible for me to address everything that came under the word 'freedom', therefore I looked at a number of documentaries and the content they portrayed to the audience to make sure it was a unique topic. After my interview with M.D Jos I knew that due to limited time to film and to meet people to interview he would be the base of my documentary due to his compelling and deep story he had to tell. As I was filming him speak I knew that I was very lucky to find someone as passionate and actively involved with ‘freedom’ as he was and knew that it was perfect for the questions I wanted to ask and issues I wanted to raise.

                                                                                                            

Much like with many products out there in the industry there are many other media formats surrounding it such as magazine write ups and advertising campaigns. The ancillary tasks in my project mirror what these other forms of media do and what impact they have on the success of the main production. Many documentary films, much like with my own, deal with hard hitting and gripping topics therefore the target audience for this piece may vary from young adults who are interested in the topic to older people who prefer hard hitting stories of real life events in a area of the world very different to ours in the western world. I wanted my target audience to be as wide as possible therefore made sure the shot selection and music didn't cause tedium when viewing it.