research for documentary

Primary Research
We have gathered primary research together such as interviews for our documentary. We have rung many different shops to try and get interviews some saying yes and others saying no. We managed to get interviews with Lemon tree in stockton heath, Dolly daydream in warrington town centre and afflecks in manchester where they have many different types of shops on all four floors we can interview at. This would be a great help as it is all differnet types of fashion we are looking at.



The main locations we are going to to film our documentary is Warrington town centre for our voxpop questions and to visit the shop dolly daydream and to get shots of different types of people and different types of shops. We are also visiting the city of manchester. This is because we have interviews at afflecks palace. (http://www.afflecks.com) This location will help us as it is a very diverse city with mnay different types of people and fashion. Another location is stockton heath as we are visiting the shop lemon tree (http://fashione.co.uk) to interview an empolee. This is very local to our college so that will help us to be quick with filming and traveling with the camera will not be a problem. We will use voxpop questions in manchester and stockton heath also.



Mice en scene is another big part for our documentary as it gives meaning and makes the topic more important. Props we will use will be fashion garments and products to show the latest fashion in different shops. We are having the voxpops questions asked in town and city centres this is because the location relates to the questions and it gives the audience a real feel for high street fashion. This means the background

Secondary research

We will look at youtube videos focusing mainly on fashion shows. For example- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQns6xRXnLI These shows depict the styles that are new in 2010. As you watch the clips on youtube, you notice firstly that most of the models used are of a slim build, this in our opinion portrays a vision of what females and males think they should look like. Our questionnaires show that mainly women follow this trend of thinking that the way to look is slim, which overall means that they might try many approaches to get this look. As well as women fashion shows, we also looked on youtube for male shows,for exmaple- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AheArNSF7YM this proven to be useful in finding but the way men are portrayed in most of the clips we found are not as what males in working class society feel they should be.

This meant that in fashion shows the designers would depict there ideal male and draw what they felt would best describe the wear. This still appeals to some males and made them feel they needed to change there dress sense in order to stay with the trend that is fashion. This was also a choice as male and female fashion shows are sometimes inter-related to show equality in society.

We also looked at videos of shops opening their stores for sales,for exmaple-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7soo1uTfzZw this proven to be big events for the stores that have the fashion sales and also for the people that like sales. We noticed they line up in hundreds in populated areas.

We have looked at a number of films, examples being “sex and the city” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcVjzC4xDpg
and also “The devil wears prada” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zicgut4gpwU we have discussed the way that they show fashion in films and relate to day to day lives of people involved with fashion and how they go about with fashion. By making films about fashion we thought that more people would be enticed to buy more fashionable clothing. This makes a target audience wider and allows more fashion to be thought of for future clothing ranges.

Cosmopolitan or Vogue are known to be the most popular fashion magazines. This is because they have the highest fashion range and show the latest fashion which is being released in the next few months.

we eventually came to the thought that fashion as a whole, has the possibility of changing the lives of many people, either by stereotypical values or by people placing fashion as a set life.

running order

This is the running order of what we wanted our documentary to be like.

Formal proposal for documentary

Formal Proposal



The main topic of our documentary is fashion. This includes sub topics such as how the economy affects peoples fashion budgest, and how the fashion industry affects peoples styles and views on others.

Our type of documentary is a mixed documentary as we will include a voice over which leads the narrative, interviews with shop oweners, vox pops, archive footage such as fashion shows, shop openings and past news reports for evidence, the use of music bed underneath which is relevant to the subject. We will use young, popular music to fit in with the topic and the target audience.
The style of the documentary is going to be linear, as we introuduce the topic, discuss all factors and finally come to a conclusion. Also we are giving it an informal feel, as the topic is fashion, and we want it to be upbeat instead of usign a formal style as this is usually used for serious topics.
This documentary will appear on Channel 4 at 7 o clock.

We chose this time as it would be an easy time for people to watch when they have come in from work, school or college. We found out from our questionnaire that most people watch TV from 8-9pm as this is when most popular soaps are on TV, instead of putting it on at a time where we would have to comepete with these popular shows we put it on the block before as it would attract a similair audience. We chose Channel 4 because it is a popular channel and features many documentaries, therefore we could gain a similair audience, and they also show programmes for the younger generation who we are aiming our documentary at.

From the questionairre, Most of our target audience prefer to watch Channel 4 other than any other channel so having this documentary on Channel 4 as it has a strong following already
Considering the documentary is about fashion we want to aim it at this audience as they are most fashion considerate and most interested in this subject. Also the fact they are the main target audience for most fashion designers. The ages of our main target audience are from 18-30. Also, the fact that they often have opinions and this gives them a chance to see different view points about an area which is highly popular.

The majority of our target audience are females, although we are going to include some sections based on men, as they are also obviously a major part of the industry. We are aiming it at females more as the fashion industry is more focused towards them, and they take more of an interest is the subject. Most people shop once a week although a minority of people shop 4+ times a week.

Primary research will consist of
For the secondary research, we have looked at online videos focusing on fashion shows. These shows depict the styles that are new for the current season of the time. As you watch the clips online, you notice firstly that most of the models used are of a slim build, this in our opinion portrays a vision of what females and males think they should look like. Our questionnaires show that mainly women follow this trend of thinking that the way to look is slim, which overall means that they might try many approaches to get this look. As well as female fashion shows, we also looked online for male shows, this proven to be useful in finding but the way men are portrayed in most of the clips we found are not as what males in working class society typically look like, therefore giving a distorted view to what the peopel in society feel they should look like. We are oging to cover such topics in the documentary.

We also looked at videos of shops opening their stores for sales, this is an event that thousands of people can relate to, especially those who watch the documentary. The clips we are choosing are quite extreme to excite the audience as they feature hundreds of people queing at doors.
We have also looked at a number of films, examples being the Sex and the City films, The Devil Wears Prada, Confessions of a Shopaholic. We have also discussed the way that they show fashion in films and relate to day to day lives of people involved with fashion and how they use it in their day to day lives. We are going to discuss how fashion in the media such as this affects daily lives and links to other areas of society.

Others uses of fashion in the media is the multi million pound industry of fashion magazines. Cosmopolitan, Elle and Vogue are well known fashion magazines with catwalk fashion and highstreet, but there are hundreds of other magazines looking at niche markets. We are going to discuss why people choose what magazines they choose and why the most popular ones are that.

Outline of Content
• Archive footage of different fashion shows
• Archive footage of shop openings- Topshop/Topman, Primark, Macys
• Archive footage of fashion films – Devil Wears Prada, Confessions of a Shop-a-holic
• Archive footage of fashion TV shows –Ugly Betty, Sex in the city
• Answered vox pop questions
• Music bed underneath it
• Interviews with managers of major high street stores , and Boutiques in Stockton Heath.
• Voiceover throughout that leads the narrative
• Cutaways to the fashion shows from the interviews.

Resources
• Camera
• Battery
• Tripod
• Microphone
• Headphones
• Green/blue screen – for mise-en-scene ready for interviews so we can bed footage behind it such as fashion shows shop openings, panning round shops etc.

Target audience research

We had to conduct research into our target audience and had to construct a questionaire so we could gather information about the audience's knowlegde on the subject we are focusing our documentary on. By doing a questionaire and handing out to our target audience we can find our likes and dislikes and people's opinions about the subject which will help us make decisions about the content about the documentary and will result in statistical information that we can use as evidence in our documentary. Some of the answers that are produced in the questionaire can also help us find possible questions that we will use in the documentary. By doing this questionaire will also help us to decide when we would broadcast our documentary as we can find out what time of day is most popular for our target audience to be watching the tv and we can find out what tv channel is most popular to our target audience so we can get the biggest numbers of viewers who will be interested in wacthing the documentary.





Are you...Male/Female


Most of the people we asked were female so this may vreate bias within our questionaire although quite a lot were male.











How old are you ?
18-21 22-25 26-29 30+



As seen in the graph the majority of our target audience who did the questionaire were aged 18-21.



Which do you prefer Highstreet or Designer ?


From the graph we can see the the large majority prefer to shop at high street stores than designer, we will use this as a statistic in our documentary.












What shop do you prefer? Please Circle
Topshop/Topman Zara Bank Republic Primark Burton Other


From the graph Topshop is seen as the most popular shop to shop at although Zara and Primark are also quite popular.











Why do you shop at this shop? Please Circle
Price Style Location Other


From the graph we can see that from their previous answer most people shop at the given shop because of their styles of clothing.










Does appearance matter to you ?Yes/No



From this graph a huge minority said that appearance does matter to them. This will be used as a statistic in our documentary.

Would you rather spend less money on clothes and get more or spend more and get less?
Less Money/More Money

From the graph we can see that the majority of our target audience would spend less money and get more. We will most likely use this as a statistic in our documentary.

How many times a week do you go shopping ?Once a week Twice a week Three times a week Four +

From this graph we can see that the majority of our target audience goes shopping once a week.

How much do you spend on clothes in a month ?£0-£40 £41-£81 £82-£122 £123+

The vast majority of our target audience spend between £0- £40 although a minority do spend over £123, because this is a shocking statistic we will most likely use this in our documentary.

What is your favourite colour ?

We can see in this graph most peoples favourite colour was red and the least favourite colour was black, we will most likely use this as a statistic in a documentary.

Would you travel for fashion peices ?
Yes/No

In this graph we can see that the vast majority of people wouldn't travel for a fashion peice although a small minority would.

Questionaire

1) Are you male or female? male/female

2) Are you aged..
18-22 22-25 26-29 30+

3) Do you prefer highstreet or designer? highstreet/designer

4) Which shop do you prefer?
topshop/topman/Zara / Bank/Republic/Primark/Burton /Other

5) Why do you shop at this shop?
Price/Style/Location/Other

6) Do you like to spend a lot on clothes? yes/no

7) Does apperance matter to you? yes/no

8) What clothes shop do you like and why?

9) Would you rather spend less money on clothes and get more or spend more money and get less clothes?

10)In choosing an outfit what would be the highest price you would pay?
£10-£20 £21-£31 £32-£42 £43- £53 £54+

11) How many times a week do you go shopping?
Once a week/Twice a week/ Three times a week/ More

12) How much would you spend on clothes a month?
-£50/£100/£150 +

13) whats youir favourite colour?
Purple Blue Pink Yellow Black White Orange Green Brown Red Other

14) do you think society forces youi to wear high brand clothing? yes/no

15) Would you travel far to buy the latest fashion? yes/no

16) What is your worst fashion disaster?

17) How much would you spend on a pair of jeans?
£0-£20 £21-£31 £32-£42 £43-£53 +

18) watch time do you watch televiision at?
Eearly/ Mid day/ Late/ Early hours

19) What is your favourite tv channel?
Channel4/Channel 5/ BBC3/ BBC4 / ITV

20) do you watch documentarys and why?

Target audience interviews

Brainstorm of content for documentary

Interviews
Floor workers/managers in shops such as: topshop, topman, river island, republic etc.

Managers in shops such as stockton heath, lemon tree/Ibizaa

Students studying fashion/fashion designers.

voxpop questions in the highstreet/ Warrinton town centre/manchester city centre
old or young people.

Narration
Based on feminisom as fashion relates to woman and viewers can relate to the female. The target audience would be young as the female would be young and funa nd fashionable. The majority of the viewers will be female.

Shots
Interviews- closeups, extreme closeups, mid shots. the interviewer will not be in the shots.

Establishing shots of warrington town centre, manchester city centre and the trafford centre. Also highstreet shop signs

Panning shots of the highstreet and views of shops and shop displays etc.

Possible music
We have concidered getting music made for our documentary as it would be modern. Also the music should be very catchy and edgy as it is about the fashion industry.

Possible archive footage
General people shopping
Stereotypes of groups toether
fashion shows
Clothes bein designed or made
Store openings
Sales
Shopping bads
displaying or ordering in shops.

Content
Fashion

We came up with many ideas for our documentary but our final idea was based on fashion. the reason we chose this is it is in everybodys day to day lives and it is every where: such as television, magazines, the media and real life. Therefore we would gather many opinions and perspectives and a lot of archive and non archive footage for our documentary. We will use many cutaways to mark the points of interviews and many other shots also.

initial plans

As a group we came up with all of these ideas for our documentary. Overall our three main ideas were music, games and fashion. We then chosen fashion because it relates to everybody lifestyles and mnay viewers would watch this and the target population would be very popular. It is everywhere in society. We plan to make theis documentary as realistic as possible by i9nterviewing professionals and people who work in the highstreet shop and also maybe designers. We will also use many archive footage, for example fashion shows and catwalks etc.

brainstorming

We then came up with many ideas to what a documentary could be about and we came up with a lot of different types of topics to help us decide what we wanted to base ours on.

Ideas
Army
War
Religion
Teachers
Time
Children
New Goverment
Social networking
Social problems
Biscuits
Charity
Police
Science
Money
Drugs
Obesity
Health
tattoos
fashion
hairstyles
crime
music
youth
unsigned bands
football
america
celebritiys
magazines
education
heros
drinking

Codes and conventions

Codes and Conventions

-The interviewee is filmed using either medium shot,medium close up or just a close up, use a variety of the anles to create variety. Station the camera to either the left or the right, never the center, and always maintain the rule of thirds.
-The person being interviewed looks at their interviewer not the camera.
-Mise-en-scene background relates to the topic not something unrelated.
-Light is always is in front of them not behind them. Eg Blue Screen
-Questions are always edited out.

-Cutaways are included to break up the interview, maintain attention, and to help avoid jump cuts when questions are edited out.
These are either archive material or something that relates to somethin said in the interview. The interview can anchor meaning to the image.
-Graphics can also be used for the same reason.

Documentary Analysis

When we were first introduced to documentarys we were asked to look at two main documentarys to get use to them and to help us for when we finally plan and make our own documentary. We also looked at them so we could understand the codes and conventions of documentary and to understand how to construct a good interview and how to make it look and sound professional.
We were given two documentaries to focus on. The first one is

- In the Teeth of jaws part 1

This documentary was very succsesful as it defined what a documnetary should be like and what it should have in it. The documentary is about the making of the film jaws and how it was put together. It is a mixed documentary as it has voiceovers, archive footage and much more. It put the point across well and made people enjoy the making of jaws and made people intreeged to watch the actual film. It included interviews with all of the cast and also the audiences of who has watched the film. The interviewer is placed just off centre of the screen looking to the other side. This is because it makes it look natural as if he is speaking to somebody and not just himself. This also shows that they are the main focus and the main point of topic. There was a lot of cutaways shots to make it very effective and to make it relate to what the documentary was talking about. Another part of the documentary which stands out is the background of where the people are being interviewed. This is because it relates to the topic and relates to the person being interviewed and it fits well to what is being said and what the documentary is about, What is shown is posters of films and pictures of sharks heads etc this is to relate to the topic of the documentary again. Throughout the clip, they also use cutaways of footage such as clips of merchandise and clips from the show its self, to keep the audience entertained and to anchor meaning to the interviews. It also features alot of cut aways using graphics, such as the image of the world, again to anchor meaning to the clips and to give the clips power.
,

Then we were given another documentary to look at

The simpsons 20th anniversary special in 3D on ice part 1

This documentary was about how the simpsons is a big inspiration in everybodys lives. This is a mixed documentary because it has many interviews, voiceovers and archive footage etc. This documentary also had many cutaways to make interviews look important and effective. The backgorunds in this documentary is also very effective as it relates to the topic well and relates to the person being interviewed at the same time. The documentary interviews real public people who are huge fans of the simpsons who go to extreme lenghs to have everything label'd the simpsons. The person bein interviewed again is sat into the corner of the screan talking to the other corner this is because it makes it realisitc as if he was having a conversating with somebody about the subject of topic. This Documentary was appealing to many viewers as it is very dated and it is interesting as the simpons is a big hit show which is in everybody day to day lives.

These clips gave us an idea of how a documentary is filmed and how interviews are shown and consrtucted through the use of film and camera angles and shot etc. It gives us a structured idea of how to make a documentary our selves and lets us anlayse it also. In these documentarys i noticed they used a large amount of cutaways edited into interviews. This is to break up the interviews and to illustrate what the interviewee is talking about exactly. This has helped me a lot for when i come to create my own documnetary in a group.

Also another reason why many cutaways are used is to avoid jump cuts when questions have been edited out. Cutaways can be either archive material or suggested by something said in the interview and therefore filmed after the interviewInterviews o they are never filmed with a light source behind them. For example in front of a window or with the sun behind them; the light is always in front of them.

We then watched some documentarys in class to analyse to makes us more involved with documentarys and to help us understand more of the meanings and the codes and conventions of them.

The first one was called- The devil made me do it.

The devil made me do it is a documentary which involves Marilyn manson, music and crime. It is a narrative about a group of girls who murder a nun. The question is why did they do it? what made them do it? was manson an influence or not? This docmentary tries to make you lead to the one side of the debate. It is very affective as it makes the audience feel for the storyline and it is a true story of what can happen in real life situations. This was a mixed documentary as it has observations and interviews, voiceovers, experts and archive footage and reconstructed footage It shown stereotypical people such as goths, emos etc The colour of the documentary was dimmed down to represent the colour black which represents death and the devil. It uses different camera angles such as close ups and extreme closeups to show importance in what the interviewee is talking about. There are also two shots and midshots of the teenage girls to show how similar they are. The music being played sets the tone of the scenes as it was very church like for when the archive footage of the nun being murdered was shown. Soundtrack music was played at the Maralyn Manson concerts and when he was being interviewed. This is because it relates to him and to the genre of music and makes the viewers realise that Mansons lyrics are not appropriate and this could be the reason for the killing of the nun.

Another documentary we looked at was called marketing movies. I could not find the video of this documentary afterwards.It was about choosing the right target audeince for the right movies and how merchandise effects films and peoples lives etc. This was also a mixed documentary this is because it used voiceovers, interviews, experts and archive footage. It was set in the right places to get a feeling of cinemas. for example it had archive footage of film premiers and the red carpet. The background related to the topics of each itnerview and went well with the person being interviewed.The beginning was up beat and fast editing was used and the documentary shown the importance of marketing and how it can decide the success of a film. The middle of the film also shown how marketing was important and shown how the lion king made money. Bits of evidence was also shown in these parts as evidence was used from the film mouse trap. The ending shown the finished product and was a persuasion to go and watch the film in a way to the viewers of the documentary as they will want to see the final product after watching the documentary. This leaves it to the audience to decide whether the film was a success or not.

We then also had to choose two of our own documentarys to look at and analyse. I chose a documentary on 9/11

I chose this because it is very effective as it is a real life sitatuin which affected many peoples lives in mahy ways.They used archive footage and real footage of the crisis what went on. They used full shots of people who witnessed 9/11 to show importance and to show how regular people can be effected by such a big cause. It made the audience feel something which makes it a succeseful documentary,

Another documentary i chosen was Hannibal Lector

I chose this documentary because it is a real life sotry and would make the audeince feel something for it. It is a mixed documentary as it has voiceovers and archive footage etc. They used many cutaways to make the interviews work and make them affective. The reason we are looking at many different mixed documentarys is because our final documentary we make is going to be mixed. The setting is very dull and colourless, This is to get into the feeling of something bad has happened or that something frightening is happing in the documentary. The opening graphics are had red then dull colours also. This expresses the devil and blood. as this relates because it is about somebody evil. A lot of cutaways were used to and back from interviews. this is to make it affective and to make it fit into the documentary.

Genre analysis

A documentary
The purpose of a documentary is to document an event which has to have evidence to support it. Documentarys can have real footage filmed by the person producing the document and reconstructed footage as well as archive footage. Reconstructed footage and voiceovers can be added to add meaning. Documentarys can also be problematic as some resemble elements of truth where as others are not as truthfull. As a media student we should question this because it is very important.

John corner 1995 said " What distinguishes documentary is the portrayel of the recorded sounds of images of actuality"

It does not mean give actual footage all the time. They can use actors to play a certain character. For example in history olden times actors would be needed to play characters who are not alive now. So the actors would not be the same characters as they would of been in the past.

Documentaries are constucted. They do not have to have analysis it can be simply descriptive and leave the viewer to there own opinion. This is because documentarys should not be biased and poeple are entitled to there own thoughts and opinions.

Documentary was defined in the 1930's by a man named John Grierson and his team helped him also.

When shedualing a documentary positioning is very tricky this is because what is shown before and after is very vital in a documentary. Most documentarys offer a balanced view point but others in modern days are very biased British documentaries are renowned for their investigative journalism. This apposed what the goverment or the society are suggesting. Many documentarys today give a one sided view on a situation aand make you feel for one side.

The creative treatment of actuality
How creatiive should a documentary be?
Some of a documentary is fake for example characters and camera angles can be used effectively but can be not real.

A film maker names Dianne Tamnes said " Truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing a film. I mean its your truth that your seeing. Everybody who makes a film is puttin their own truth on the screen" This means that documentarys are not all truthfull and you yourself are what makes it truthfull by the end of the documentary.

There have been a lot of debates about documentarys as many people do not agree with eachother. This is because everybody has there own opinions on documentarys. Some people may agree and like them while others will disagree and not like them at all.

Their is a range of six genres in documentarys
Documentarys are not just about facts they are about sound and recorded images etc. This causes critical arguments because this is were the word truth becomes involved.

If it is under 30 mintues it can not be classed as a dacumentaryand if it is over 30 minutes it is a documentary. This is because they have to be long to get enough detail and facts, archive footage and real footage to make it a good documentary.

There are 5 central features to a documentary.

• Observation- becomes an eyewitness on the event and pretends the camera is hidden.



• Mise en scene- Tells the story and advances the arguments.



• Interviews- Pictures may be over the interview, inbetween segment interviews and full flowing interviews



• exposition- the line of argument. what is your documentary saying?



• dramatisation- audience is an eyewitness to the dramatic event.



• reconstruction- a take place based on facts.
  
  When it comes to mice en scene in documentarys this is a very important part to make a documentary work well. The background reinforces the content of te interview or it is relevent tp the interviewee, providing more information about them in the terms of occupation or personal environmentAnother importance in a documenary is the positioning of the interviewer. If the interviewee is on the right side of the frame, the interviewer should be postioned on the left side of the camera. If the interviewee is on the left side of the frame the interviewer is postioned on the right side of the camera.

Documentaries can take many months to plan and make. The public feel like they have a right to know what is happening. That is the whole point of a documentary to gain authority.

Dennis O'rourke said " It is critical that film makers be rid of the fantasy that the documentary can be unproblematic representation of reality and truth can be conveiently dispensed and recieved like valium"

Documentarys represent the transformed world. If money is tight documentarys will be cut as they are not that popular. rating winner issues are, Sex, war and order and violence. controversial ones are not popular with television because it may affend advertisers. Documenaties are made to make the audience feel something. If they did not do this there would be no point.

There are many types of documentaries.

Direct mode of address- Nature programmes, voice of god ver authoritve speach as if its true.

Fly on the wall- Cinema virtie. a style of film that looks like a documentary, observational. editing creates meaning and camera effects behaviour of the subject.

Mixed- Most popular, interviews, observations, narrative and voice overs.

Docudrama- reanactment of events as they are supposed to happen based on fact for exaple hillsborough 1996- only ever hoped to delever fiction. they can be dangerous and misleading.

docusoaps- phenomoneon of recent years, jobs in society, airports, cruise liners etc. these are very popular and cost hardly anything to be filmed.

Disneyfication- which dumbs things down.

Documentary AS task

Before we went onto A level we had experience at AS level on documentaries so we would be ready for when we came back to college. We were given information about documentaries and we watched a few clips of them and analaysed them to help us further. After that we where then asked to storyboard a documentary and it was based on mobile phones. After that we then filmed around college to see how many people use mobile phones, what they use them for and what type of mobile phones they had.

we did a questionaire to help us find out information for when we filmed.
After we filmed we used adobe premier to edit our footage and to make it look like a documentaey. We used mobile phone tones for the music and used cutaways to swop from each interview.

This made us confident for when we went into our second year of media studies to study documetaries.