Evaluation Question

1
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media productions?
Josh Rowles
Newspaper Advert Poster
For my poster it was important that I had a clear idea
set out to follow. With the idea of my film being
based upon volunteers who work at an aviation
museum I felt that it was appropriate to link this in
with old World War Two propaganda posters. I
researched what common themes the wartime
posters shared so I knew what I needed to include to
secure a successful product.

I found that there is a block of colour at the bottom of

poster with block text with a simple message. I
decided that my poster needed this to fit with
convention but to fit it into the poster category I
made the simple text into the title and date of the
documentary. Channel 4, the channel my
documentary was designed for, always locate their
logo onto the poster. For the majority of times, the
logo is centrally on the far right. I adopted this and
included it into my poster so that it could
recognisably be a TV programme.
Newspaper Advert Poster
Also, when researching wartime posters it was clear
that there was an essence of pride for the country. I
have achieved this by including a union flag in the
background and by having a row of volunteers
looking into the distance as if a force of aircraft are
airborne above them.

The aircraft was included to make it directly

understood that the documentary was based around
aircraft. Without this, it would be very difficult to
know what the direct link of all these images are.

The images of my volunteers have been posterized,

by emphasising colours and simplifying photos to
give it a blocky and simple look. This is because the
war posters were designed differently with limited
resources so to give the poster the vintage look I set
out to achieve.
The poster fits the conventions of typical
posters which include the channel logo,
programme title, and date the programme is
shown. I found that after looking at enough
posters that the main subject(s) look heroic
such as the Paralympics poster I
deconstructed, a low angled shot of the heroic
athletes. I have tried to replicate a heroic
stance with my volunteers looking into the
distance as aircraft fly overhead.
Documentary
Before filming my documentary I performed some research into how the film makers shoot their
shots and the scenery they include in the background. It was clear to see that the documentaries
always had a relevant object in the background of their scenes which was slightly out of focus. As
seen in my below screenshot I followed this convention to maintain a professional feel to my
documentary. During my research and deconstructions, much like the Gloster Meteor documentry I
deconstructed I have followed convention when filming interview shots by using the rule of thirds
which is more pleasing to the eye giving a much more natural feel to the film for the audience.

It is also important that the interviewees were very close up to camera, this was essential to keep a
personal connection with the viewer. A benefit of also doing this was that it also stopped visitors
interrupting us while we were filming these interviews. A direct link can be taken from this shot and
the newspaper advert because the aircraft in the background of each production are of the same
type of aircraft.
I also found that in documentaries there are many establishing shots used throughout. This is a
great way of allowing the viewer to follow where the topic focus is going. This screenshot of a scene
is at the start of the documentary following the opening and introduction. I particularly like this
scene because this is a panning shot of the front of the museum and in the background the engine
of an aircraft can be heard above. The opening of the documentary can directly be linked with the
radio advert because both include a brief description of the museum and during the advert clips of
interviews can be heard building the foundations to the documentary.

I have tried to follow example from the Guy Martin Vulcan documentary where there are lots of
establishing shots of where he is before anything is said about what is happening. I also followed
convention that I have a narrator then go onto explain what the establishing shots have been
building up to.
Many of my shots that I use in my
documentary are establishing shots. I found
that some quite a few of establishing shots
are panning shots which can be used to see
a location from a single spot. It was
important that I used many of these
establishing shots of the museum because
my film is the opening scenes of a full
length documentary. Again, in other
documentaries I had deconstructed such as
Jet! Where there are establishing shots of
the airfield accept my establishing shots in
my example to the right is inside the
workshop.

A variety of shots of both exhibits and

archives are also good to include because it
shows the variety of content that will be
covered by the documentary. I found that
the opening of documentaries are
establishing shot heavy. As well, shots of
inside and outside exhibits add variety to
the lighting.
I included shots with both people in and
shots without people. This was because I
found that when shots include people our
focus is drawn towards the people and not
the environment around. I have included a
variety of both types of shot. In the Guy
Martin and Jet! Documentaries we can see
that the interviewees are stood sometimes
with others around to give that feeling of
reality, I have tried to use shots too with the
general public around.

The lighting inside is bright which keeps the

mood and atmosphere of the documentary,
the non-diegetic, easy listening music
playing in the background also adds to the
mood and maintains a high and joyful feel.
This is typical for documentaries because
they are delivering information to their
audiences, having bright and happy
environments make for a more enjoyable
experience while watching.
When interviewing my interviewees I
asked them to involve the question in
their answer. This helps with editing
because I do not need in to include an
audio clip of someone asking the
question. This is a convention that is
sometimes followed but in more real
situations you can normally hear the
questions being asked some someone
other than the interviewee, this is a
convention I have adopted after
watching the Jet! Documentary in my
research stage of the project.

A variety of high and low angled shots

are also used to show the size of the
aircraft and the environment the
museum has.
The radio, although only audio can still follow conventions. During my research
this was by far the hardest to find examples of because not many documentaries
are advertised over the radio and instead you get adverts for buying products so
this made it very hard. I did some further research and found that typical radio
adverts would include short and effective pieces of information such as what time
it would be shown, what the program is called, what channel it would be included
on and what the programme was about all in the space of 20-40 seconds.

My radio advert includes all of these conventions and is similar to what is heard
from the Dispatches advert. I have specifically tried to fit with the ending when
the narrator specifies what the time and channel the programme is on. I too have
located this at the end of the advert, following convention I found with all
deconstructions I performed.

I also found that including clips from the documentary itself is very typical for
adverts like it does in the Mutiny documentary advert is useful and helps link the
two providing the audience with a small taster.

In conclusion, I think I have followed conventions accurately and well to create

products that can clearly be identified as the products they were designed to be.