The nature and purposes of research in the creative media industries.

Primary research.

Primary research is self generated research such as surveys/ questionnaires; interviews; observations; analysis; and online forums. This is used in the creative film industry to help inspire ideas and a persons opinions on a certain subject, based purely off others thought and ideas. Also this allows people like Directors, Writers, Producers etc. to know the sort of media that the people want and what sort of ideas will make them good money and will be appealing to the audience and make them want to watch the finished product.
The primary research that I have conducted concedes of; a survey/ questionnaire based on peoples opinions of documentaries, and I asked questions about what people thought and felt about my topic of mental health and how they, as an audience, would feel about a documentary based upon that topic; several interviews, I interviewed a staff member at the college who deals with those who suffer with mental health, I also interviewed a student who has suffered with mental health complications. I did this because I wanted an insight into what other people have gone through and to give my audience an insight into the help and support that is available. Also I interviewed myself about my own issues and advice; I visited online forums on Facebook such as the SPNfamily page to talk to people about their mental health complications and to get inspiration from others about what support and information I should give. 
Example/ proof of my survey/ questionnaire:

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Examples of the questions I asked in my interview with the teacher:
1) What is your role at the college?
2) In what ways does the college help those who suffer with mental health issues?
3) Do you think mental health issues are medically overlooked?
4) What do you like and dislike about what you do?
5) Do you feel as if what you and others do, helps those in need?

Examples of the questions I asked myself and my fellow student:
1) How have you suffered with your mental health?
2) What have you been diagnosed with?
3) What are your coping mechanisms?
4) What advice would you give to other sufferers?

Online forums:

Secondary Research:

Secondary Research is where I haven't conducted the research personally but I have found it from what others have written and produced themselves. This normally means collecting a summery of other peoples existing research. This can include mediums like books; websites; newspapers; articles; visual media; audio media and official statistics. This is a good way of getting professional opinions off others and again helps develop ideas within the creative industry.

The secondary research that I conducted consisted of; NEWS STORIES and ARTICLES (newspaper), about those who have suffered with mental health complications and about those who have lost someone to suicide; WEBSITES, specifically ones related to helping those with mental health complications and giving advice on how to improve your mental health, also ones about the facts and figures of mental health in the UK and around the world; Other peoples documentaries on YouTube, I watched other peoples documentaries about depression etc. to give myself advice on how to order and what to include in my documentary.

Quantitative research:

Quantitative research is to do with statistics and ratings; the numbers in research. This includes things such as ratings on videos, readership views, hits on a website etc.
Some Quantitative research I collected was the results of me survey/ questionnaire, this is because of the statistics from the answers a group of people gave me, this will show the ratings and opinions of anonymous people and the ratio of their answers; especially the multiple choice questions. Another example was the YouTube ratings of the YouTube documentary video above, this shows how popular the video is to the public and how often it is watched. Another example I used was how many hits and shares were on the websites that I used for my research, this shows how popular the page is and it also shows if the page is genuine; this includes also the statistics I found related to mental health.

Examples of the statistics from my survey:

Example of the statistics from the YouTube video:

Example of website ratings:  
                               

Example of the statistics I found on the websites:

























Qualitative research:

Qualitative research is peoples views and opinions or answers that cannot be quantified into numbers or graphs because they are the peoples own words and opinions. This is also because they will be in more detail and will be physically hard to put in to numbered data. This also means that more quality and depth are involved in this type of research.
Some Qualitative research I collected was some of the longer, written questions from my survey; I did this because some of the questions I asked required more than a simple YES or NO, as I needed more information to help me with my documentary.

Examples of the longer answers from my survey:

Data Gathering research:

B.A.R.B (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board): An organization that measures how many people watch each TV show and how often they are viewed. Also they measure how popular each TV channel is by how many and how often people tune in to that channel. They then notify the broadcasters and the advertising industry so they know what channels are good for business. They do this by boosting the audience viewing figures by giving them what they want.

R.A.J.A.R (Radio Joint Audience Research): This is the authentic body in control of calculating radio audiences in the United Kingdom.

IMBD (Internet Movie Database): A website where you and look up Movies; TV; Showtimes; Celebrity profiles; Media related Photographs and Events; Media News and Community.

Boxofficemojo: A company that ranks Films and Movies in order of viewer popularity. It also compares old rankings to the new ones. This is based on how many tickets, DVD's etc. are sold and how often they are watched online.

A.B.C (Audit Bureau of Circulations): 

N.R.S (National Readership Survey):

Audience and Market research:

Some examples of Audience and Market research include; Audience data and profiling; Demographics and Geodemographics; consumer behaviors, attitudes and awareness; product market; competition and competitor analysis; advertising placement and effects.
In the production of my documentary the Audience and Market research I used includes; the survey I sent out to my target audience. My target audience is mainly aimed at Males and Females of all ethnicity's between the ages of 5-50, with the same secondary audience of those who are over 50. I performed this research to find out if my target audience would be interested in watching the documentary I wanted to make. I did the same thing when I made my Dove advert (see previous blogs).

Examples of my Audience research from my Dove survey;

Examples of my Audience research for my Documentary;

Production research:

Some examples of production research includes; the viability and the content; placement media; the finance and costs; technological resources; personnel; locations.
The production research I conducted was within the paperwork, this included the location releases so that I was allowed to use
the locations and this added to it's viability. Also with the paperwork was the Adult and child releases, this gave me official permission to film or record audio and media images and it was viable for the production. My product cost nothing so there was no finance costs. All the technological resources such as the DLSR cameras; ZOOM and ROAD mics; Tripods; SD cards etc. were supplied by the college so cost nothing and they were always available.

Examples of my location releases:

Examples of my Adult and child releases:

Pre-Production Paperwork

3 minute wonder: Proposal

I have decided to do my documentary based on issues associated with Mental Health. I will look at real life stories and how real people have been affected; bus also how they are recovering, I will look at personal methods of how young people with these issues are helping others and themselves get better. Also I will look at the statistics and the financial side of Mental Health issues and if/how young people in today's society are receiving help for these problems.

The format of my documentary will be presented as a cross between an expository documentary and an interactive documentary. This is because the filmmakers presence will be know when I am doing interviews. However, it will also be not known as I may use a disembodied voice-over commentary. The genre of my documentary will be infotainment and also (hopefully) educational.

My primary audience would be the younger generation both male and female, as Mental Health is affecting more young people everyday and it is a disease that can effect both genders as equally. My secondary audience would be the parents and the elderly generations both male and female, as a lot of family's don't recognize when their young child has got a mental health problem and it gets often overlooked by the older generations. Also several Mental health sufferers who are middle aged, had these problems when they were young; or they developed these issues because of grown up life.

The aim of my documentary would be to raise awareness of Mental Health issues as they are often glamorized by the media or ignored or passed off as not important and it's "all in your head" and "you'll get over it". When actually it is very serious and is a genuine hurtful problem to those who suffer with it. Also I aim to look at the recovery process and hopefully give a message to those who are suffering that there is a healthy way out and I will hopefully be able to give them the boost they need to seek and receive the help they need. Also I hope for this to be informative to those who are unaware of the issues and the help that is out there.

I could film at the college and at my house so there will be only some locations I will need permission to use. Also it means that I will not have to pay for transport or worry about the ruled and regulations of filming in public.

I could probably handle the filming myself as there is not much camera work and editing involved. However, I will need several people who are related to mental health issues in some way to interview. Also I will need some voice actors who will speak others statements if they do not wish for their voice and faces to be known. Finally, I will also like to interview the colleges student welfare officer to receive feedback from an adult who has to deal with students mental health problems while at college, also to get feedback about what help colleges and schools offer students who are suffering.

Examples of some simple interview questions:

1) What help is there for young people who suffer mental health issues?

2) What help do students get at college?

3)

4)

5)

I won't need to buy any costumes or props as the young people with simply dress in casual cloths and the adults who are being interviewed will wear smart/casual. No props will be needed as it is all camera work, interviews, voice-overs, and facts.
Because of this there should be no budget when making this production.


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Research Dossier

Secondary Research:

1) - http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/11/mental-health-services-turn-away-23-of-under-18s-referred-to-them

• Mental Health services turn away 23% of under-18s who are referred to them. 
• 1 in 10 youths aged between 5 and 16 suffer with a Mental Health problem, this is the same as 3 per every classroom, which equals to 720,000 youths across England.
• The Office of National Statistics states that for boys aged between 5 and 19, suicide is the most common cause of death. This totals to 14% of deaths. It is second most common for girls of this age after traffic accidents, equaling 9%.
• In 2012-13 more than £704m was spent on children and adolescent mental health services. This is the same as 6% of the total mental health budget or around 0.7% of the total NHS budget.

2) - http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/number-of-children-prescribed-anti-depressants-increases-by-50-in-seven-years-a6920576.html

• The number of children who are superscribed anti-depressants has increased by 50% in the last 7 years (between 2005 and 2012).
• WHO (World Health Organisation) director of mental health names Dr Shekhar Saxena responded with; 'Anti-depressant use amongst young people is and has been a matter of concern because of two reasons.' 'One, are most people being prescribed anti-depressants without sufficient reason? and second, can anti-depressants do any major harm?'
• Another worry was that children under the age of 18 were being given non licensed drugs for their age group.
• The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines state that these drugs should not be used to treat mild depression in children. The same applies when it comes to treating a child with moderate and severe depression, they don't believe it should be used unless it is also combined with a concurrent psychological therapy.
• Chair women of the Royal College for GP's, Dr Maureen Baker, said that anti-depressants would rarely be the first initial treatment option for children and young people. She stated 'But with such long waits for patients to see a specialist or to get a psychological therapy referral, drug therapy is sometimes seen as the only option for GP's to best support patients, who may be in extreme distress, and their family.'

3) - http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/depression-affects-the-body-as-well-as-the-mind-study-finds-a6925791.html

• Depression effects the body as well as the mind. Research states it causes an imbalance to how the body attacks harmful molecules.
• Depression cause a change oxidative stress, which is an imbalance in the production of free radicals and the body's ability to neutralise them with antioxidants.
• Depression should be treated as a disease which studies have found impacts both the physical and mental health.

4) - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-s-teenagers-are-stressed-drink-too-much-and-think-they-re-fat-a6932431.html

• Some say that Britain's teenagers are stressed, drink too much and think they are fat. Teenagers are becoming too stressed because of the pressure they face at school.
• 73% of girls and 52% of boys in England felt pressured from school work.
• 16% of girls and 22% of boys in England said they actually like school.
• 72% of girls and 81% of boys in England find it easy to talk to their mums about it.
• 10% of girls and 12% of boys in England drink alcohol at least once a week.
• 31% of girls and 25% of boys in England have been drunk on two occasions or more.
• 71% of girls and 84% of boys in England reported good life satisfaction.
• 50% of girls and 25% of boys in England think they are too fat.

5) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35973174

• News story about a charity for bereaved family's that is demanding the government investigates the ways in deaths of young people in mental health units are recorded.

6) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35565216

• News report: David Cameron called for the nation to focus on mental health after a review revealed inadequate, underfunded care, leading to "thousands of tragic and unnecessary deaths".

7)- http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_children_young_people/real_stories/2774_hayley_overcoming_depression_and_how_i_cope_on_bad_days

• A real story:
• Recovery tactics: Have a cup of tea with your friends; Go for a walk in the park; Call up a friend you haven't spoken to in a while and have a catch up.; Read a good book; Clean the house; Put on your favourite film; Exercise; deep breathing; sleep (sometimes can help).

8) - http://www.mhww.org/strategies.html

Some good coping skills include:

Meditation and Relaxation Techniques: Practicing deep breathing techniques, the relaxation response, or progressive muscle relaxation are ways to help reduce stress and induce relaxation.

Time to Yourself: It is important to set aside time everyday to allow yourself to relax and escape the stress of life. Give yourself a private, mini vacation from everything going on around you.

Physical Activity: Moving around and getting the heart rate up causes the body to release endorphins (the body's feel good hormones). Exercising provides some stress relief.

Reading: Escape from reality completely by reading. Reading can help you to de-stress by taking your mind off everyday life.

Friendship: Having friends who are willing to listen and support one through good and bad times is essential.

Humor: Adding humor to a stressful situation can help to lighten the mood.

Hobbies: Having creative outlets such as listening to music, drawing or gardening are great ways to relax and relieve everyday stress.

Spirituality Actively believing in a higher power or divine being can have many health benefits. In recent studies, it has been found that people who pray have better mental health than those who do not.

Pets: Taking care of a pet helps distract the mind from stressful thoughts. Studies Show that pets are a calming influence in people's lives.

Sleeping The human body needs a chance to rest and repair itself after a long and stressful day. Sleeping gives the body this chance so that it is ready to perform another day.

Nutrition Eating foods that are good for you not only improve your physical health, but they play a major role in your mental health. When your body gets the proper nutrients, it is better able to function in every capacity.

Negative coping skills:

Drugs

Excessive alcohol use

Self-mutilation

Ignoring or storing hurt feelings

Sedatives

Stimulants

Excessive working

Avoiding problems

Denial

Tips for better mental health:

Build Cofidence - identify your abilities and weaknesses together, accept them, build on them and do the best you can with what you have.

Accept Compliments - many of us have difficulty accepting kindness from others but we all need to remember the positive in our lives when times get tough.

Make Time for Family and Friends - these relationships need to be nurtured; if taken for granted they will dwindle and not be there to share life's joys and sorrows.

Give and Accept Support - friends and family relationships thrive when they are "put to the test." Just as you seek help when you are having a tough time, a friend or family member might come to you in their time of need.

Create a Meaningful Budget - financial problems are big causes of stress, especially in today's economy. Over-spending on our "wants" instead of our "needs" can compound money worries. Writing down where you money is going helps you keep a closer eye on your finances.

Volunteer - being involved in community gives a sense of purpose and satisfaction that paid work cannot. Find a local organization where you life skills can be put to good use.

Manage Stress - we all have stressors in our lives but learning how to deal with them when they threaten to overwhelm us will help to maintain our mental health.

Find Strength in Numbers - sharing a problem with others who have had similar experiences may help you find a solution and will make you feel less isolated. Even talking about situation with people who have not experienced what you are going through is a good way to gain outside perspective.

Identify and Deal with Moods - we all need to find safe and constructive ways to express our feelings of anger, sadness, joy and fear. Channeling your emotions creatively is a wonderful way to work off excess feelings. Writing (keeping a journal), painting, dancing, making crafts, etc. are all good ways to help deal with emotions.

Learn to Be at Peace with Yourself - get to know who you are, what makes you really happy and learn to balance what you can and cannot change about yourself.

9) - Documentary showing what it's like to live with mental health issues.

10) - The truth about depression BBC documentary 2013.



Primary Research:


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Research: 3 Minuit Wonder

1) What is a 3 minute wonder?

It is a Media text lasting 3 minutes that allows for personal comments and opinions to be spread publicly.

2) What is the aim/ purpose of a 3 minute wonder?

The aim/ purpose of a 3 minute wonder is to create a short and to the point documentary about a topic which the maker believes to be of importance or have a relevance to them or their audience personally. It also allows for audiences to see a genuine side to and hear genuine comments from the public and find that their opinions and beliefs are shared by other people.

3) What sort of topic would you expect to see in a 3 minute wonder?

The types of topic you would expect to see is any topic that the person making it is passionate about. As these forms of documentary's can be based around anything that is of interest to the person making it or be focused around the audiences interests.

Examples of 3 minute wonders:




The reason I like this documentary is because I have always wanted a tattoo myself and it shows that tattoos aren't a disgrace and they actually can mean a lot to someone and be a reflection of who thy are inside. It can be meaningful to someone and remind them of things to help them grow as a person. From this mini documentary that old tattoos that you know longer want can be easily covered up to mean something different as the person is growing up. This documentary is in the format of a Observational documentary. This is because the creator of the documentary is present on the camera and uses a variety of different camera angles and techniques.




The reason I like this documentary because I enjoy and take up art as a hobby. Also i am very fond of street art, I find some of it to be very meaningful and makes even the most boring street come to life. From watching this mini documentary i have learnt that there is a lot of speculation towards street art as some think it is art and it should be allowed, or that it is just pure vandalism and should be banned. Also from the interviews from street artists i learned that there is right or wrong way to create art, some can be rude, some can be personal, some can be meaningful, and some can be abstracted and wild. I learned that every street artist is different, not just by their names, but in the form, manor and place where they choose to present their art. I also found out that graffiti and street art are two different things. Street art is considered a good thing and is liked by a majority of people nowadays, whereas graffiti is considered bad and is disliked by a majority of people. This documentary is in the format of a observational documentary as the film maker themselves aren't present and asking questions.




The reason I like this documentary is because it is a personal, true story about a real person who is going through a genuine problem and it shows the long, hard struggle of a full recovery. I find these types of documentaries really moving and emotional, but also they people they are about inspire me to keep going and never give up. From watching this mini documentary i have learned the physical effects of a tumor patient and what they have to deal with after their ordeal. Also i learned that a full recovery from such experiences is possible and that hospitals support and look after their patients to make sure they are comfortable and go through the correct, although slow stages of recovery. This documentary is in the format of a Observational documentary as the audience are experience a 'slice of life' as a 'fly on the wall'.

Market research into the documentary format and it's current viability:

In the channels BBC One, BBC Two, ITV and Channel 4 TV listings, from 3:00pm - 8:00pm show a variety of factual programmes. Channel 4 apears to show more factual programmes throughout Television peak time due to it's target audience, Whereas ITV in Television peak time they show more Soaps.

Introduction to the News.

BBC News at 10
21/03/2016
10:00pm

The stories that were covered in this broadcast; in chronological order were:

1. Welfare cuts- David Cameron speaking in Parliament. 
2. The young teenage killer, given 20 years in prison for running down a cop and killed him in a stolen car.
3. Scotland yard closes down the controversial investigation about the historical allegations of a pedophile ring. 
4. A man who rescued a baby from a sinking car in which five people drowned.
5. Barack Obama meets Cuba's leader in the first visit by a US president since the Cuban revolution.
6. Sports- England's women look for a 2nd win in the 20-20; facing the host India in a cricket tournament.

The opening sequence of the BBC news at 10: 

In the opening sequence to the news it begins with an eye-catching and vibrant animation of a red version of the globe with the names and places on it. Also rings are animated to go over the globe. The globe is used because the news is covered world-wide and their are stories coming in from all over the world about both happy and devastating occurrences, and also so that the audience knows what is going on in the world, and by using the globe in the opening sequence it lets the audience know before the news has begun that if they watch this programme they will be watching and learning the news, not only in their own country, but all over the world.
After this animation it fades to a panning shot of the BBC newsroom and then fades again to the presenters seating area ('stage'), before finally fading to a shot of the news presenter as they begin to present the news. These shots are used to show that the news is real and genuine.
The audio/ backing track of the news opening is authoritative and engaging, this makes the audience attentive and alert to what is about to happen. The audio is present from the start of the opening to the end and it slowly builds up before coming to a close as the presenter begins to speak.

News readers/presenters:

• Fiona Bruce - Age:51. Gender: female. She is a British television journalist, newsreader and television presenter.

The role of a news reader/presenter:

• The role of a news reader/presenter is very important, as it is your job to either host certain programmes; interview people; report on important issues and events that are happening around the world.

The skills needed to be a  news reader/presenter:

• Have a positive, engaging personality, and to be naturally outgoing and confident.
• Have good eye contact the the audience.
• Be able to communicate and have a good understanding of what you're reading.
• Have good communication and presentation skills.
• Be inquisitive, with good research and interviewing skills.
• Be aware of the media law.
• Have the capacity to handle stress and be able to make quick decisions under pressure.
• Have a broad range of interests, and be knowledgeable of current affairs.
• Be knowledgeable with the requirements of the health and safety legislation and procedures. 

Hew Edwards BBC short video.

• News ordering - This involves making a TV or a Radio News Bulletin, or use a selection of video/text based reports.
• Running order- Is a detailed ordered list of when each news story will be presented.
• The story that is most likely to be shown first is the Leading Story, which is the one that is considered the most important. The final selection is made by the News Editor who is in charge of the final decision on what news stories will be covered and in what order they will be presented o the news.
• Other stories followed by this are ranked according to the audiences interest in them, also making sure there is a good mixture of both good and bad/distressing stories.
• It is important to be able to adapt and make quick changes to the news builtin as the news can change throughout the program or you can get a sudden news flash of something that is happening right at that moment which is important and so must be reported.
• The term 'slow news day' simply means that there is not much going on that needs to be reported.
• The final story in the news is known as an 'and finally'. Its function is to conclude/summer-rise the news. It can also be used to do a final weather/sports/happy news report.
• News Values- decided by Galtung and Ruge. It is a list of the guidelines and criteria for all media outlets.

The News story I have chosen:

• This news story is about the riots that took place in London at the beginning of August 2011. It is about young people causing havoc on the streets because they were afraid of the police. The reason for this being that on Saturday 6th August 2011, in Tottenham, a local man Mark Duggan was shot dead by police during his arrest. So the people performed a silent protest against the police which soon turned more deadly and violent. However, when the violence spread to surrounding city's it became unclear as to if the incident in Tottenham was still the cause of the uprising.
• Those rioting, looting and using violence were teenagers and young people, this is evident as over 1,000 of them who were arrested were under 20 years old. Also to try and arrest and put a stop to the rioting, over 6,000 policemen were deployed on the streets; they arrested thousands and the prisons were full. Also politicians condemned the violence, such as David Cameron who had returned to England from his holiday abroad to try and sort out the rioting.
• The rioters in this story are represented as the bad guys, whereas the policemen and the politicians are represented as the heroes and the ones who will put a stop to the rioters. Also the shop owners and those who died are represented as the innocent victims of the riots.
• I personally feel pity for the people in the story. I feel sorry for the shop owners and the people who died and their families in the aftermath of the destruction. I also feel afraid as the rioters did of the police, as some of the rioters really must have been afraid to have that reaction, but I also express a dislike towards them as it was wrong and harmful to react in the way that they did, and some of them were only doing it because they wanted to destroy stuff and do some looting.
• I believe the story to be narrativeised, because it was put together specifically for the audience to be able to follow the flow of events and not to get confused by what is happening.

Discussing bias:

• Bias through selection and omission: This means that not all aspects of the stories are included. An editor can decide of whatever story he/she wants to be in the news, or they can choose to cut certain details out of a story and have them be ignored and instead replace them different views and opinions. Example:

• Bias through placement/order: This refers to the importance of a news story. It is considered that stories on the front of a newspaper or at the beginning of a report are more important than the ones that come after it. Example:

• Bias through headlines: The headlines are the most important in a report or newspaper as it is the thing that catchers the readers/audiences eye first, because they are printed in large bold fonts. So depending of how the writers what the people in the story to look, they have the power to make the headlines misleading; for example conveying excitement when it is not, and expressing their approval or disapproval. Example: The title of this news article makes out that Obama is racist towards white people.

• Bias through shot selection and camera angles: Photos are also important in newspapers as they can make a person look good, bad etc. Photos are chosen based on what the public opinion is of that particular person or event. Example: the photo of Ed Milliband makes him look common and gives the reader the impression that this is all that he is.

• Bias through names and captions: Names, captions and labels also have a strong effect to the news. It can be used to describe people, places, and events. Example:

• Bias through use of language: Language such as the use of positive and negative words can be used to express a certain opinion. Also bias language in the news also can influence people by the tone and the expressions of a newscaster chooses to use when saying certain words or talking about certain stories. Example:

Types of Documentaries.

What is a Documentary? 



Expository Documentary:

An expository documentary film includes an disembodied and authoritative voice over (a running commentary). This form of documentary also includes various images and clips which are used to be descriptive and informative.
Example Below:



The Life documentary series produced by David Attenborough, (the clip above is episode 7 of his 2009 series 'Life'; the episode is called Hunters and Hunted). David Attenborough is most know for his animal and nature related documentary's, for example the clip above is an example of his work with filming and giving interesting facts about nature and its wildlife. A David Attenborough documentary's such as the one above, is a good example of an expository documentary. This is because Attenborough uses his well known professional voice to directly tell the audience what is happening on the screen. This also means that he will talk over images that are related to what he is saying. Also Attenborough uses full proof facts about what he is talking about, which makes it more interesting and relevant to what the documentary is about; his own opinions and those of others are also sometimes used to get the people point of view. As a result this makes the documentary seem more real and truthful.

Observational Documentary:

An observational documentary is used to try and get a 'slice of life' and to be a natural and direct representation of what is being filmed. The film maker themselves becoming invisible and nothing more that a fly on the wall.
Example Below:

Children Underground documentary, Directed by Edet Belzberg. This is a documentary about homeless Romanian children who were born as victims of  the nations reckless population growth policy during the communist era. It is mad to simply stand by and watch as the homeless children struggle to survive on the streets and in the subways of Bucharest, Romania. This is a good example of an observational documentary as the film maker themselves aren't on camera and are simply recording the events of the children as they happen naturally; making the audience get a 'fly on the wall' look at the lives of these children, but in some cases it makes the audience want to interfere and do something to help the poor children. Also it gets the audience to think for themselves about what is happening withing the film and they can then interpret their own meaning and theories of what they see.

Interactive Documentary:

An interactive documentary is where the film makers presence is clearly know. It also involves them (the film maker) interacting with the people or events; for example in things like interviews. This gives a specific response and real comments from those being filmed.
Example Below:



Inside Death Row, documented by Trevor McDonald is about what life is relay like for the inmates inside death row. This is a good example of an interactive documentary. This is because the filmmakers presents is known on camera and they have regular interviews and interactions with the people he is interviewing and he also poses questions to the audience, making them engaged and involved with what is happening on screen. He also expressed his own questions and opinions and uses manipulation to get the truth out of who he is interviewing.


Reflexive Documentary:

A reflexive documentary is used to focus the audiences attention on the conventions of the documentary's representation. Rather than have the audience focus on the events and people that are being filmed. This type of documentary focuses more on how they are filmed. Its is used to challenge a documentary's ability to expose the truth.
Example Below:



The day Banksy came to Folkestone documentary, shows the aftermath of the amazing artwork of Banksy after, during the night, he painted the town with his always intriguing art. The talking used in this documentary is simply the surrounding people who are slowly gathering around the artwork on the wall and discussing it and giving their own natural/genuine opinions. This documentary focuses more on the way in which it is filmed, it uses slow motion to capture the audiences and the news reactions and a variety of shots simply showing the artwork from all different/possible angles. This makes the audience watching the documentary think and focus only on what the documentary is about, which is Banksy's artwork. It makes them really think about what it means to them personally.


Performative Documentary:

A peformative documentary converts the attention away from the world and towards the expressive dimension of film.
Example Below:

This documentary made me incredibly emotional; thoughtful and speechless. It is a documentary about a true story of what happened in Auschwitz to a Holocaust survivor. She wants the world to know her story and to know the hard, disturbing truth of what really happened to those held captive, tortured and murdered in concentration camps such as Auschwitz.

I prefer Expository and Interactive Documentary's because they are more interesting and because there is always something happening so I find it more engaging, informative and just more enjoyable to watch. Also I find these forms involve the audience allot more and therefor help the audience become involved with the topic that is being talked about. However, that being said. I actually believe Observatory documentary's to be the most realistic and truthful/ honest form of documentary as it just happens in the moment, the scene will set itself and there will be no outside involvement. It will be true and natural, not staged as other documentary's are.

Documentary formats: texts

La sortie des usines Lumière



I find this piece of media to be extremely believable and genuine, as it shows a natural event of workers leaving the Lumière factory at closing time. No editing has been used in the film to show it is just a continuous event and is happening in real time, and not at different times or as a staged occurrence.


Night Mail



I believe that this documentary is not a continuous flowing of events and happens at different times on different days as some of the shots are clearly staged. For example when the man is pulling the levers to allow the train to pass, it is clearly a fake or a different place as it would be impossible to fit the camera behind the leavers; we know this because we get a shot from straight behind the leavers and then from the front/side. Also to be able to get the needed aerial shots, they had to use a toy train set.

Bowling for Columbine



I believe this documentary to be strategically cut and edited to only get the results that the document-er wanted based on the argument he was giving. He wanted to manipulate his audience to have the same opinions as he did. He did this by recording himself opening up a new bank account in America that came with a free fire arm. He cut the footage of him entering the bank; applying for a bank account with he free gun; and signing the necessary paperwork for the licence to have the gun; and then finally get the gun. He edited the footage as if this all happened within a matter of a few hours, implying the system of Americans owning guns was corrupt and dangerous as it allowed anyone to own a gun. He even wore the same clothes to make it seem this way. However it would have taken weeks for the paperwork to be checked and analysed to make sure he was of proper mental health and logic to own a fire arm.

When Louis met Jimmy



I think this documentary was genuine as it showed everything that went on with the interviewer and the interviewee and it wasn't edited or cut to alter the audiences opinion of it. This allows the audience to make out their own conclusions about the answers and reactions given by the interviewee. The interviewer has a specific way in which he talks to the interviewee as he wants the truth and he believes he is hiding something. So he uses persistent questioning and manipulating what the interviewee says to try and catch them off guard.

We are the Lambeth boys




This documentary is made so that the audience acts like a innocent bystander or just simply a fly on the wall. This allows the audience to deduce what they themselves think is happening and to make their own judgments on what they believe to be happening. However, some parts where two people are talking it looks as if the director has gone "the camera is on you, just have a conversation". This is not true in most cases as it looks as if it is just all natural and what generally happens.