According to Steve Neale, codes and conventions ultimately convey the idea of documentaries such as interview formats, non-diegetic voiceovers, diegetic music, onscreen graphics, and the use of mise en scene. ‘Our Silent Emergency’ by Roman Kemp (2021), doubtlessly influenced my documentary in its use of conventions. Kemp tends to narrate the documentary through a non-diegetic voiceover, which is an element that I have adapted in mine. During my research on Bill Nicholls's six types of documentaries, I gained the inspiration to create a participatory documentary; I felt as if this subgenre of documentary perfectly matches the description of what I wanted to create. This led me to believe my documentary was participatory because it includes people in front of the camera and not just my experience with the topic such as performative documentaries.
Another convention in which I decided to research was editing and the use of montage and juxtaposition. In my opinion, editing completely creates a sense of mood or tempo in a documentary. Ultimately, editing makes or breaks a documentary. ‘The Voices of Men’ dir. Jonny White (2020) consisted of long, slow edits. This is a very predominant convention that I found in documentaries of my topic area of mental health. My documentary follows these conventions, I believe it allows me to create a great sense of emotion within my documentary, influencing the audience’s emotion towards my documentary. The use of long transitions in editing allowed me to create emotional symbolism within the documentary. It connotes the idea of calmness and wellbeing. Another convention I plan to follow is the use of Factual information conveyed in graphics on the screen of my documentary.
During my A2 coursework portfolio research I decided the primary target audience for my product was young males ranging from 14-21. Regarding my major task, I believe I catered very well to this age group. I purposely decided to make sure my interviewee was a young male of similar age to this audience to offer the Use and Gratification of personal identity. Having someone come out and talk about the mental health struggles, will hopefully encourage more young males to reach out with their own issues and seek help, no one deserves to struggle especially with this stigma around young males. Ultimately that was the key ideology that I hope wasmediated to the target audience. Regarding my minor tasks, the idea of spreading a message was still predominant and I chose Instagram as a popular platform with this age group. On my Instagram page seeking help is a very large factor with links to helplines and charities and the format lends itself to strong visual imagery which appeal to young people. The use of inspirational quotes on my Instagram page are predominant as well hoping to convey this message and create links to the documentary’s ideology.
With reference to my second target audience, (parents or older generation who wish to find more out about their children’s mental health issues or want to know how to help) I made sure that my documentary was easily accessible for everyone, hence why I decided to market the documentary to a wide mainstream audience on BBC2. I believe the use of an interview with a charity consultant in my second interview also provides a professional view to the audience in who they can trust, as they have an expert opinion. The use of mise en scene such as professional clothing and setting encodes the idea of an authority and creates confidence in this audience by validating the young people’s experiences.
The representation of social groups and issues is a central and fundamental aspect of my documentary. The idea of ‘One Man A Minute’ is to influence the change of stigma around young males. Throughout my documentary I have constructed an identity of masculinity through various elements, throughout my interview the use of sad non-diegetic sound helps to convey the emotion and construct an identity. Regarding camera work, my subject decided to be anonymous for the interview, not by choice but I feel as if by making him anonymous is creates a sense of identity throughout the interview. I constructed this representation so subvert the hegemonic representations that men should be strong and not express emotion
My first interviewee consists of a young 18-year-old male who has recently moved out of his parent’s house and is now fully employed. In my opinion, the use of a subject from the target audience will ultimately influence and convey the message of seek help, you’re not alone. The first interviewee is also from a minority ethnic group, which creates a sense of this being an experience that can affect diverse groups. For my second interviewee, when deciding who to pick, I wanted an expert opinion. However, I realised that an issue with bottling up emotions is that young males don’t want to seem ‘weak’ and not brave among females. Therefore, to resolve this issue I decided to obtain the opinion of a professional female. I purposely constructed the idea of men being open in front of women and not feeling this makes them weak, which challenges hegemonic representations, the use of casual mise-en-scene and emotive but soft music in my interview was deliberate to have a relaxing feel challenging hegemonic representation of male toughness.
Throughout my product, I have made sure that clear and consistent branding is shown in my social media, magazine, and documentary. In the article, the date, time and channel are shown which creates a sense of branding among my products as this is also referenced in the Instagram feed. The use of Instagram reels introducing the interviewees helps the audience to recognise both characters. People then correlate and associate these interviewees with the brand and various media products that I have created and this consistent use of young male representations throughout the three products is key both to branding and reaching out to the audience. The use of a consistent colour palette is also predominant in my establishing shots and minor products, particularly relating to the oranges and yellows of the sunset, all these elements come together to match the modern design of my social media and magazine article minor tasks. The use of modern non-diegetic music also compliments the idea of a modern and relevant product. Finally, the use of a consistent font in titling and the BBC 2 Channel ident also makes the branding of the three products clear and guides the audience to where it can be viewed.
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