Research on documentaries

What is a documentary?
A documentary is a film that attempts to "document" some aspect of real life. They're often wrongly assumed to be unbiased when really documentaries are the most biased form of film, because they incorporate not just the subject matter, but the director's attitude towards the subject matter as well.

Purpose of a documentary

Document
o report with evidence something that has actually happened
o Shows this with actual footage or reconstruction
o Use with a voice over to anchor over images as they can rely on the recipicant themselves with perhaps the occasional interjection than an unseen narrator.

John Grierson created the term documentary in 1926
Documentaries are not just about facts though instead facts are used to create social critical arguments therefore inviling the audience to draw their own conclusions.

Feature of documentaries

Observation
o Most documentaries contain sequences of observation
o Programme makers pretend that the camera is unseen or are ignored by the people in the documentary. Mise-en scene shows the story and meaning of the documentary

Types of documentaries

o Fully narrated has an all screen voice over which are used to make sense of the scene on screen. The narrator always seems authoritive as they always know what they are thinking about.

o Fly on the wall have no commentary or voice overs. The camera is hidden and gets left to record the subjects without any interference which helps the audience to come to their own conclusion. It has diagetic sound and is aimed at specific individuals.

o Mixed documentaries are when there is use of interviews, observation and narration so they can advance the argument. The narrator is fully offspring.

o Self reflective are when they use a subject of a documentary to acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the film maker. They make a point of drawing attention to the film makers role in constructing a view of reality.

o Docudrama are the reactions of events as they have actually happened.

o Docusoaps are the programmes that follow the everyday life of certain individuals with designated occupations.

o Themes

o Current affairs v documentary are dressed as the news and show political issues.


Visuals
o archive footage
o street scenes
o open countryside
o close up of faces

These are some of the stock materials used to suggest the intended meaning or emotional qualities of a particular theme.

Interviews
Interviews can be held anywhere and the setting does affect the meaning. They normally start with factual questions which puts the subject at ease with questions at the end that give an emotional and challenging grip.

Vox pops is a technique that consists of street interviews of the general public with each person being asked the same question. The answers are then sprung together in a fast sequence and the opinions are a general agreement to a diversity opinion.

Narrative conventions

Documentaries rely heavily on traditional narrative conventions ie. there is a beginning, middle and end.

Beginning
Gives the central questi0n of the documentary which is posed in an intriguing way. Also at the most dramatic piece of action footage or the start of quick interviews are cut in conflict with each other and will grab the audiences attention.

Middle
Often examines the issues in human terms focusing on people and their opinions. Conflict strengthens in the middle section. However apparently conflicted evidence may be introduced but all complications must hopefully support eventually the exposition which is a line of argument.

End
The exposition is fully apprent towards the end and the audience has no doubts as to what the programme is saying and there might even be a course of action that the audience can take to address the problem.


Media Research Task
Who are the target audiences of the five UK terrestrial TV channels?
BBC One- Everybody
BBC Two- Minority
ITV3- Adults
Channel 4- Teenagers and young adults
Channel 5- Adults

What types of documentary are shown on each channel?
BBC One- Eastenders
BBC Two- Car booty
ITV3- Coronation street
Channel 4- Hollyoaks
Channel 5- Home and away

What are ‘We Media’? They are a studio, research center and network for ventures that use technology to bring people together.

Define democracy: it is the common people of a community as distinguished from any privileged class; the common people with respect to their political power.
What is Web 2.0 and how does it differ from Web 1.0? Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Web 1.0 was all about being dependable while Web 2.0 is do the land grab and damn the dependability. Web 1.0 sites have stamina. The new Web 2.0 version is much better to the Web 1.0 in respect to several aspects. In common parlance, Web 2.0 refers to the way we use the internet presently. Web 1.0 used to simply read passively but Web 2.0 websites invite participation from the visitors in terms of rating, commenting, submitting new posts. Web 2.0 is that it is highly dynamic and pacing up with the modern lifestyle of the people.

Why is Wikipedia generally considered an unreliable source of information? Due to the fact that Wikipedia allows any person with internet access the ability to add or edit content, there are numerous errors in the information found on this website. The difficult part is determining what information is correct and what information is false. There have been some instances of information being added to an entry as a prank or practical joke. They are also opinions of others.

Who owns the following: YouTube, My Space, Twitter, Facebook
Youtube- Google
Myspace- Intermix Media
Twitter- We media
Facebook- We media

Explain simply Marshall McLuhan’s theory of the Global Village. The "global village" theory posited the ability of electronic media to unify and retribalize the human race.

What is ‘social realism’? is the use of realist art, literature, etc as a medium for social or political comment and is a style of painting, esp. of the 1930s in the U.S., in which the scenes depicted typically convey a message of social or political protest edged with satire.

Name the UK tabloid newspapers
· The Sun
· The Mirror
· The Daily Express
· The Daily Mail.

What does cross media ownership mean? It's where one person or group owns more than one form of media - radio, TV, newspapers, especially in the same area. Cross ownership also refers to a type of media ownership in which one type of communications (say a newspaper) owns or is the sister company of another type of medium (such as a radio or TV station).

What are vertical and horizontal integration, with respect to media industries? Vertical integration is an organisation’s control of a media product from the production of content through its distribution and exhibition. Horizontal integration is the ownership of production facilities, distribution channels, and exhibition outlets in a number of media industries and the integration of those elements so that each can profit from the expertise of the others.

Define the following terms:
· Globalisation is a process enabling financial and investment markets to operate internationally, largely as a result of deregulation and improved communications

· Media Imperialism is a theory stating that smaller countries are losing their identity due to the force-feeding of media from larger nations. As the larger media corporations begin to take over, smaller media companies are either being forced out or swallowed up.

· Cultural Imperialism is the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating, or artificially injecting the culture of one society into another. It is usually the case that the former belongs to a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter belongs to a smaller, less powerful one.