Pitch Feedback

After pitching our Documentary idea I showed my documentary idea to one of the other media teachers just to get their opinion on my documentary, I was told that adjusting the idea would be best or change the idea completely. I felt that because I had planned the documentary so much it would be a shame to chuck it all away and start all over again so I have stuck with the idea of "Life As A Sixth Former".

Although one teacher didn't really like the idea, the other people who I showed the documentary pitch to liked the idea and liked what I could possibly do with it. They were really interested in to what the documentary could be like and what the possible outcome could be.

I decided after though that I would change the name of the documentary from "Day In The Life Of A Sixth Former" to "Life of A Sixth Former" This was because we didn't think we could get all the footage that we thought we could do in one day. So we decided that we are going to film over a number of days so that we can get a good amount of shots so that there isn't any problems with being short on clips.

We wanted to show different areas of the school in the shots so that the interviews would show different areas. We didn't want it to be all the same areas because there are different places to go in the school.

Another point made was that because I was working on my own they suggested it was a lot of work they suggested me working in a group where the other people can help to do more work instead of struggling and not getting the best documentary.

Documentary research

What we Are Filming it on:
Our documentary is called 'A life of a sixth former' we are going to film 3 different students that study at Ravens Wood School. These 3 students all do different subjects and have different lifestyles in and out of school.

Who are we filming:
We will be filming various different things they do around school, such as talking to others, walking to and from lessons, working wihtin the lesson, and other things they do within a day at Ravens Wood.

Tyler Lewis-Kilden : Tyler is Ravens Wood school sixth form head boy. Tyler does 4 A levels studies hard and only goes out at the weekend if he has the time. He's a dedicated student that has a worked hard through his time at Ravens wood. Tyler is gay but says it doesn't think it changes people opinion on him, he is nice down to earth individual.

Olly Friend : Olly Does BTEC media and BTEC sport at Ravens Wood. Olly is a student that likes to go out and socialise rather than stay in school do his work, he likes to go to the gym as he is very sporty and also likes going out to watch films.

Jade Mason : Jade is a year 12 student that also studies 4 A levels. she studies hard but then also likes going out and socializing with her friends. she's a very nice individual that gets along with everyone. people say jade is a very 'smiley' person.

Why we have chosen to interview these students:
as our idea is a life of a sixth former we want to capture different peoples lives within sixth form, we understand that everyone is different from each other studying different subjects, having a different approach to how they work and also who they socialise with. we wanted to get three different students that all have a different lifestyle, a student that is in charge spends most his time studying and improving there grades the best they can. Also a student that concentrates on their subject but also at the same time goes out and has fun with her friends. And lastly a student that doesn't care much about his subject and just enjoys doing what he wants going out and socialising. Once I had finalised what documentary i wanted to achieve I had to undertake various pieces of research to make sure i have everything i need to create the best documentary I can.

As our  documenatry choice was 'Life of a sixth former'. The research I have done is to gather various different facts about documentaries about school or even a 'life' of someone in there chosen career. These relate to my documentary and feel if i gather as much research about these topic areas then my documentary will benefit most.

My first bit of documentary research i collected was about Educating Essex.
Educatinf Essex is a British documentary television programme produced by Twofour for Channel 4 that ran for seven episodes from September to November 2011. It uses a fly on the wall format to show the everyday lives of the staff and students of Passmores Academy, a secondary school in Harlow, Essex, interspersed with interviews of those involved and featuring narration from the director and interviewer, David Clews.

I felt that Educating Essex related to my documentary very well as it was had story's from the teachers and most importantly the students. we got to see what the students was like with there different opinions. Students are most important as within our documentary

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-essex/on-demand/49967-001

I have taken this interview to see what journalists say about documentaries like this, i felt that it was exciting and good. Within this article they discuss the foul language and the discussing use of different gestures, while reading this article i feel that they are only taking out the bad within the documentary, i feel it is aimed at a younger target audience, that is why they have taken the students perspective as well as the students. to be able to film this documentary they had to get staff students and parents approval to be able to place 65 camera around the school and have then continuously on while the day goes ahead. like all documentaries they have a main focus point. Their main focus point was the deputy head of the school Stephan Drew. As the camera where rolling throughout the day it caught the good and bad. This can be bad on the school as if they have shown possibly there 'banterous' side but the public taking it literal and serious. However to watch the documentary on channel 4 page you have to agree that you are over the age of 16 and there is strong language, so within the article it it slags off the bad language but it does warn viewers before watching it.

Educating Essex has given me a better understanding on what i need to do to be able to film within the school, how i should go about what should go within the documentary, and what sort of perspective that i want to put across to the audience. 






My documentary is based in a school, but is a 'life' of three different students, my next bit of research will be about how i show a 'life' of someone what needs to be filmed and even what questions need to be asked within the interviews. 

I have moved from looking at different documentary to an article on 'a life of a doctor' I felt that this article would help me collect all the different kinds of research I need to make sure that my documentary will be the best. 

http://www.brightknowledge.org/knowledge-bank/medicine-and-healthcare/careers-and-courses/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-junior-doctor

I have decided to look at this article as i want to see what is spoken about, what Does she explain, I need to find out the main concept of 'life of a' so when I go to film my 3 different students i know what to film and also what to ask. 
I noticed within this article the doctor explains what course she is doing and how long she is doing it, she explains how she has got to where she is and even the choices she has made to be there. However the thing that really stood out to me was how she gave the timing of the day of what she done and when. for each major part of the day she gave a very good solid answer explaining in detail exactly what she was doing and at the end of this article she explains the ins and outs of being a doctor. 

Reading this article has given me many thing to think about for when I plan my documentary. I Have realised that a 'life of' someone isn't just about there day to day activities, even though that does pay a very important role, but its also what they do, why they have chosen to do it or in some cases why they are forced to do it, do they enjoy what they are doing if so why, how did they get in the situation they are in now.   

Evaluate Commentary

after releasing our Documentary we reviewed it by talking about what was going on and how we filmed the documentary as an explanation to the audience.

We went over what went well and what we could have improved if we were to film it again.

With the documentary we found that the beginning was interested as we were basically giving people a tour of the school so starting off at the school sign and gradually getting to the school common room then into the class room. If we were to do this again i think we would have done more footage of the school that the sixth form see but we would have speeded it up so that it wasn't too boring.

After that we explained the students we would be following for the documentary and how they are around school before we went in to the interviews.

We started off with interviewing Jade and we had some footage of her walking around the school and how she was in class and around her friends. We mixed all of this with her interviews so that we could show different angles when filming her. If we were to do this again I think that we would have made sure that we picked the surroundings better for the interview as often the background noise was very loud.

After that we started interviewing Olly, the footage we had originally got of Olly wasn't any good so we had to re shoot his interviews so that we could hear him and get more information out of him as he doesn't talk much! We interviewed him outside where we could here him a lot better and again we put clips of him in class mixed into the interviews too.

Lastly we filmed Tyler, he was the most interesting person to film as he had a lot to say and he enjoyed being filmed so we managed to get a lot more footage of him. We also added footage of him playing around having fun whilst also being serious doing his work. At the end there is a clip of Tyler stating that he feels like a Kardashian being filmed all the time, which was funny because that was what we were basically doing.

At the end we have some black and white pictures of Jade, Olly and Tyler where we have spoken about what they are doing now and what they plan to do next year, we felt this was a good end because it was an ending to  the documentary.

props list

Location Recce

Location Recce

Film title: Life of a sixth former

client: Mr Evans

Producer: Kieran Mcwilliam

Date:

Director: Olivia Griffiths

Writer:Tom Madkins

Ravens Wood School is where we will be filming our Documentary. we shall be Filming within our scheduled media periods within the school. All the students that we have chosen to interview study at this school. We will be filming within different parts of the school to capture them in different activities.

Filming Problems - the filming problems that we may occur, are If there are to many students in the hall we have chosen to interview most students. there could be a lot of noise over the top of the interview. If the student isn't in on the day that we decide to do the interview either due to there lesson being cancelled or them having to do other priorities. 

Details about the location - Oakley Road, Bromley BR2 8HP -01689 856050

Health and safety concerns - Where we have set up the camera in the main hall, 
it is in the way of other students either blocking the way causing people to trip. Walking
through the corridors, having the risk of bumping into people as it can be very busy
and dropping the camera. Fire alarm going of and being busy due to a large 
amount of students being rushed out of the school. 

Film title: Life of a sixth former

client: Mr Evans

Producer: Kieran Mcwilliam

Date:

Director: Olivia Griffiths

Writer:Tom Madkins

Access - We will access the main hall with the corridors within the school. This is Where we have chosen to do most our filming as we want to have a good backdrop for the interviews. 

Filming problems - This room can normally be very busy due to the amount of students that use this hall. there will be a lot of noise and we will need to pick a time where there are less students so we can hear what the interviewee has to say but then also have enough students to give a decent backdrop. 

Details  -Oakley Road, Bromley BR2 8HP -01689 856050 - Sixth form old hall.

health and safety concerns - Where we have decided to place our camera. fire alarm going of 

causing many students to possibly knock over the tripod. 

Film title: Life of a sixth former

client: Mr Evans

Producer: Kieran Mcwilliam

Date:

Director: Olivia Griffiths

Writer:Tom Madkins

Access - We will access the courtyard through the main hall, we have chosen to have an interview in this location as we feel it best suits one of our interviewee. 

filming problems - as it is outside the camera lighting may be off, also if it is windy while filming it could interfere with the sound. 

Deatials - Oakley Road, Bromley BR2 8HP -01689 856050 - courtyard. 

Health and safety concerns- if a sudden change in weather, can interrupt the filming or break the equipment, 

What is a documentary

A documentary film is a nonfictional motion picture intended to Document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record. Documentaries are a very good and successful way of learning about various subject matters. these ranging from animals to space. There are many different documentaries based on the same topic area, however depending on how it is films and the way it has been shown can give the viewer many facts, details and perspectives on that particular subject. 

Documentaries are a very strong way of showing people lots of different facts and  information about all kinds of subjects matters. Documentaries can be made based on any topic, i have seen documentaries varying from world wars to a pizza delivery guy. However no matter what the documentary is about it will always have these key features 

• Interviews with various different people
• Archive footage
• Key facts 
• voice overs
• reenactments
• written text

Documentaries are a way of showing the world things of the past in a different perspective. many documentaries will of had their story told. but told by the news or even a book or magazine article. however these would of been told the time of the incident or subject matter. having no time for the real details. Documentaries are a way of an individual film maker and their crew to research one topic looking deeper into it for many years, they will interview many different people views and opinions on it all using past facts finding more facts to tell the story. 

Documentaries can be a very bias way also of showing the world something, the film maker has done many years of collaborating different fact and different views, but is the truth really what they want to show? yes some documentaries are just all facts and figures about one topic area and you can tell that it is just an 'untold' story. Some film makers may leave some of these facts out or even edit their film differently to give a different perspective. The perspective they want to get across. But there argument, or neutrality, is accurately grounded. 

Documentaries can vary in time, some can be 5 minutes long and some can be 2 hours long. The longer documentaries will be, mainly the big topics areas they are.  A documentary however only becomes a documentary if it has a story, storytelling comes across in documentaries, you can tell people the facts, but documentaries show this about someone life or an event they will go from the beginning to the end, the middle is mainly the main event, what people want to find out about.

During this unit i have watched many different documentaries, studying the different formats in which they have been laid out and the similarities between them. However one producer has produced what i feel a very simple but fascinating documentaries, the way they are filmed and documented make them suitable for any age. David Attenborough was the producer that i felt captured his subject very professionally.

He is best known for writing and presenting the nine Life Series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, which collectively form a comprehensive survey of all life on the planet. His documentaries are on nature, he has many many small documentaries about 45 minutes long. Attenborough is the writer producer and narrator or all his documentaries, throughout his career he has spend many years collecting all the filming and information he needs to collect to produce his work. 

Legal and ethical guidelines

In a documentary there are various different areas to consider when it comes down to the legal and ethical guidelines.

When it comes down to the legal requirements you have to consider the copy rights of music that you have decided to use with within your documentary. If you have chosen to use a song that isn't produced by yourself then you would need to contact the music producers to get permission for using your chosen song in a public production.

Libel and Slander are both defamatory processes. This basically means, each one discredits the party of whom the statements are made about. However each one is very different and unique from each other. 

Slander:
Slander occurs when one makes a false talking statement to another individual. These transmissions can also occur by certain body movements and hand gestures. Slander does not include communications that have been recorded or transfixed. There has to be public  a public statement made to another person.
Examples:

• Relating to someone that a husband is cheating on his wife
• Saying a doctor has fake diplomas on his wall
• An employer claiming an employee stole equipment  
• Stating that a severed finger was found in the soup at a restaurant 
• Accusing someone of stealing your television

Ethics:
Ethics in a documentary has to have a moral to the story and it has to have a meaning. Ethics in a documentary is the heart of the story. 
For example: our documentary which is based on a life of a sixth former. we are trying to reflect with this documentary what people get up to in school, how do they spread there time with exams lessons ans social life.  

Libel:
Libel is when someone makes a false statement about another person. the statement that is made damages the other persons reputation. In order to constitute libel there must be a publication of the statement. The statement can be made to one person or many people. e.g. in a public speech. Cartoons, signs and artistic depictions can contribute to libel making it different to slander. 
Example:
In  2011 'David Beckham's claim for libel and slander against a celebrity magazine that alleged he slept with a prostitute.' - http://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/feb/15/david-beckham-magazine-libel-judge


Slander and libel must be expressed as a factual statement. This means that the statement that is said or shown cannot simply be a opinion about a person or entity. For example, if someone says "He's wearing red, i don't like him", then this would be a matter of opinion not a statement. Therefore this isn't and doesn't have anything to do with Slander and Libel. 

Libel is different to slander because slander refers solely to spoken words: 
Radio or television both involved spoken words, however as these words are transfixed broadcasting in television and radio are conveying libel.

Documentary Diary Log

10th October 2014
My original plan for my documentary was to use the schools head girl to base my documentary on, as Estelle (head girl) on how joining the school affected her and how she managed to find a way to make a impact on the school for her to become head girl. Unfortunately when asking Estelle she did not want to take part so I will go back to thinking of doing a life as a sixth former to see if there is any way of doing that.


20th October 2014
Today I showed my documentary idea to one of the other media teachers just to get their opinion on my documentary, I was told that adjusting the idea would be best or change the idea completely. I felt that because I had planned the documentary so much it would be a shame to chuck it all away and start all over again so I have stuck with the idea of "Life As A Sixth Former".


11th November 2014
Over the half term I have been looking at different ideas for my documentary. Originally I was working on my own as of today I have had Tom and Kieran join my group for extra help and ideas. I am now definitely stuck with the idea of doing life of a sixth former, this is going to involve watching a sixth former and how they are in the environment, how they work and how they interact with their friends throughout school. When interviewing them we will do it in the common room when it isn't busy and so you can have a good distinctive sound from the students and set the scene of where they are.

25th November 2014 
The last week we have been getting all of our footage together so that we can edit our documentary properly so that with all the footage we have captured we can make our documentary into something interesting and something people want to watch.


2nd December 2014
Today we started editing our documentary and because we are starting to edit we need to make sure we have all the right clips that we need in order to be able to make the documentary as good as we can make it. Currently the documentary has potential but we need to make it as good as we can so that when we make our final adjustments we will be able to know exactly what we want to do so that it won't take as much time and it will be much easier.

15th December 2014
Today we filmed a bit more of Jade and Ollie because we felt we needed more following on them so that we could have more footage so that we would have more than enough clips to choose from for our editing.
After today of filming we have uploaded the footage on to the computers so that we could continue to edit our final bits of footage.

6th January 2015
We have started to add different clips to our editing so that we could make the documentary more interesting and so that we could add more information to the clips. We have decided that at the beginning that we will have a voice over to describe what the documentary is briefly about in order for the audience to get an idea.

14th January 2015
We are in our final bits of editing, today we went to re-shoot our clip of the school sign so that it is a clearer shot, we chose today because it wasn't as bright outside we knew that there wouldn't be a glare on the school sign.

Shooting script

Storyboards

Conventions In a Documentary

Voice overs within a documentary.
the voice over will normally be authorized in some way encouraging the audience to think that they either have some kind of specialist knowledge or, as in the case of the people like Michael Moore and nick Broomfield: 'the right' opinions that people should pay attention to.
Example: Micheal Moore Bowling for columbine.

Real footage of events,
Documentary is essentially seen as non-fiction although there are debates around surrounding this.
however a convention of documentary is that all events presented to us are to be seen as real by the audience
documentaries often go to great lengths to convince us that the footage is real and unaltered in anyway, although editing and voice over can affect the reality we as viewers see.

Technicality of realism
Including natural sound effect and lighting to emphasise emotion and drmatisfy what is happening Nick Broomfeilds use of this in 'biggie and Tupac' when they 'run out' of sound

Archive footage/ stills
To aid authenticity and to add further information which the filmmaker may be unable to obtain themselves.
Example:

1962

USA

Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler

Louis Clyde Stoumen

I have chosen to use this as an example, as within many WW2 footage, there is only a linited amount. This means many different documentaries that are based on the same subject matter with all use simular or the same footage.  
Interviews with experts
used the authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. sometimes they will disagree with the message of the documentary although the filmmaker will disapprove them in some way.

Sound
listen out for the use of non-dietetic sound. why has there been music added what effects does this have? is sound used as a bridge between scenes and if so what meanings are made ?
example would be: "surprise me" - how much does the use of childish music undermine McDonald.

Set - Up
not just reconstructions of events that have happened in the past but also setting us typical scenes.
so if you want to quickly convey classroom you might ask a class to put their hands up likes there's a lesson in actions and the teacher just asked a question. strictly speaking what you are showing inst true the teacher didn't ask a question, it is a cheap way of getting footage a crew might have to wait 15 minutes if they waited and wanted the scene to be natural. there is an issue however because crews make a habit of using set ups thy will only using images of reality that audiences already recognize. producing fresh images and ideas is impossible. theirs a sort of viscous cycle here. if you show radically different images from inside a school you may reject them as atypical or unreal but f i can only offer you a reality you already know about how i can change your opinions.

Visual coding.
Things like mise en scene and props. is that the doctor any less a doctor if shes not in a white coat or wearing a stethoscope, or a builder in a high visibility jacket and a hard hat with workmen boots. has someone been ambushed in the street to make then look shifty.

Production log

Company Name

• Pink Ladies Production - Decided by the group on the 22nd October 2014
• 11th November 2014 - Questions chosen for the interviews
• 22nd November - People chosen for the documentary 

We chose the 3 students (Olly, Jade and Tyler) because they all have a different attitude to the schools environment and their social life. Olly is a quiet student who completes his work but to the minimum and focuses heavily on a good diet and gym. Jade is a perky student who is bright and achieves good grades and like to go out at he weekend. Tyler, the schools head boy is a big role model to the school. He is polite, bright and completes his work to a very high grade.

• 24th November 2014 - started filming documentory 
• 1st December 2014 -first footage uploaded to final cut
• 8th December 2014 - Interviews for doc. started taking place

We had to re-do Olly's interview twice as we had mad a crucial error of not checking the lighting on the camera. When we watched his interview, the lighting was way too dark so we made sure the aperture on the camera was at a correct number for a good lighting.

• 13th  December 2014 - Filming sixth formers walking to around school/working in class

We had the same problem whilst filming Tyler walking to class as we had to go outside and we had the camera set to the lighting that was in the hall. So, when we stepped outside, the camera let in too much light and the film was too bright.

•  19th December 2014 - Filming sixth formers socialising with friends
• 5th January 2015 - All footage uploaded to final cut
• 6th February 2015 - Final edit complete;

News vs Documentary

Within the news and documentary there are some similarities, they both tell people information about a certain topic. however there are many  differences, for example:

News:
Within news programs the information told is what is happening around the world at the present time, they will report new news every days however there are some cases where they do refer to the past however this will only occur if it is an anniversary of that particular. also it may occur when someone that was involved in that even has died or been caught in the news for other reasons.
In news reports they have to dress very smart look straight into the TV and talk very clearly and strong. also, the information told will be narrowed down and said in just a couple of minutes.   
journalist from the news wont take long collecting the information they will interview possibly a few people but wont be in depth and will only be a few people.

Documentary:
A Documentary is different to the news the information normally told in a documentary will be found and discovered over many years then told whenever, the documentary will have the information spread out the whole episode or even the series, it will still be clear to the viewer due to it normally being narrated over the top of what footage is being played. the filmmaker isn't normally caught on camera, but if he is then he will be wearing whatever is appropriate for the situation, this is due to the fact he is working and at the time he may only be talking to one or 2 people not the whole world. In a documentary as well the film maker will interview many people over a certain period of time or film certain things over a long period, this also gives very good perspective when showing the documentary as it people witness what they are being told about instead of it being a man or women in a suit.

In Both: Archive Footage: this is where other footage that has been taken by someone else  will be shown within a clip. Archive footage will mainly been shown within news if what they are currently showing relates to a historic event, they will take clips from this historic event and will show it to the audience explaining what is happening. In documentary's archive footage is very common to be shown. as within documentary's it is mainly about one subject so the filmmaker will use all kinds of footage from past and present to display the feel for the subject.  

Voice over interviews: Documentary's will have various voice overs but the main is narrative, they can narrate different facts over the top of different footage. Also within documentary's  different kind of interviews. They will all be displayed in different manners, the interview could be played over the top in a voice over from or either just shown on the screen. In News Interviews don't occur as much, journalist will be shown explaining and stating facts on what they have discovered, however they will occasionally ask either a member of the public a few question or even a high up employee of  a company or business that has been looked into.

Text: Text will appear on documentary with different facts. facts will appear n the screen in text format. within a news program there many bee all kinds of different kinds of texts such as stating who someone is, or having the topic area titled what location it is being filmed in and also the time. 

Sound: Documentary will emphasize sound, making it boulder and louder, also adding special sound effects. sounds will draw the reader into the footage more even making it more dramatic. news doesn't really have many different types of sound, however it may before and after the program.

Dramatization: This will is used in both documentary and also news. Within documentary sound will be emphasized with mainly only bias clips making it very clear on the point the film maker wants to make. facts will be enlarged with even some being voice overs to really get the the interviews, different effect will be used to give the clips more emotion. However within news it is mainly the journalist, the way the present emphasizes what is being told making it more dramatic, their tone in voice and also there body posture and how they move while speaking.

Realism: realism is where the genre of the documentary can relate to many people. such as super nanny, this is relates and everyone has a family. Realism connects with the viewers more. it showing the viewers the effect of different topic areas. they have to take everything into account for, such as costume due to the era that they want to show, everything has to be 'real' to set the right mood. 

Story Ideas

Within my group i have thought of 3 different ideas for a documentary.

My first idea - The difference between non league football and professional football.

The reason we came up with this idea was down to the fact 2 members of our group play non league football. we have also spoke about the different condition that we play in and our passion or the sport drove us to think also about how different professional football is to what we play. there are many differences such as the quality played, the money involved, as they get paid to play and non league some teams the player pay the club, also the conditions and environments, professionally if it rains the pitch can be drained or if it snows the pitch can be heated, non league the game will just be called off. also i feel the most important factor is how the players act, professional players are very 'professional' in what they do, they are mostly on TV and if not they have a very large crowd, they have to be sensible and 'controlled'. non league even if there are family watching you can get away with a lot more making the game possibly more dirty and unsportsmanlike. we would interview ex player as see what they felt while playing professionally and also non league players and what they think of the game.

Second Idea- Life of a Sixth former.

We came up with this idea due to the fact all of our group go to sixth form. when discussing this we figured out that for some students life can be very different. there are many factors that depend on this such as how many subjects they do,what sort of friends they have, family etc. we thought that everyone is different but all study at the same school. we want to find out how hard they work at school and if they do what motivates them or if not what is holding them back, we want to capture them in school doing things they would normally do in everyday life and compare different people to see what they get up to and also if they are a lot different to each other discover why there grades at the end of the year are similar or different. we will interview 3 different student, one will be a female student that gets on with their work however still has a social, another will be a male that doesn't work hard and rather a social than to do work. the last person we are going to film will be head boy of sixth form he works very hard to get his work done and get the best possible grade.

Third Idea - the difference between being 18 and 17.

we came up this this last idea and we thought it was a main topic area with teenager around this age, in the UK and many other places around the world at the age of 18 you are an adult  and can do anything they wish. however at 17 the main thing that becomes legal is driving. during the year many friend ship groups have people that are old in their year or young people are turning 18 throughout the whole year, we want to find out how much better life is now that they are 18 but then is it a downside being older than everyone as all their friends are still 17 they don't have anyone to go clubbing with. we also want to find out if being a 17 year old is challenging when your friends are turning 17 and are going out and they cant go. also we will discover many 17 year old get away with being 17 but yet still get let into the clubs and get treated like an adult. we will interview people that are old in their year and have turned 18 and also people who are very young and still are 17 while all there friends are  turning 18

Issues in a Documentary

Documentaries have many pros and cons within them. However there are some main issues that people may not see as a viewer but can effect the way in which what has been documented seen differently. I feel the main factor of this is when interviewing people, it mainly depends on what question is asked, however everyone has there own opinion which can make things very bias, or if not explained properly can sometimes give people the wrong idea and opinion on something. this can also give people the wrong information in the person being interviewed gives there opinion making it sound more like  fact and then  if the film maker doesn't give the proper fact it can make the viewer believe differently.

Another factor that can cause issues is the filming itself, if the editing and filming, if the documentary is just interviews of people asking them about a certain subject area then it can be very boring and samey, also if there is not much footage on what the documentary is about then the viewer can get bored very easy and not be interested in what is being said even if it is the valuable information.

There are other issues that are small but can also play effect. things such as if the film maker has a main subject point but steers off the point and starts interfering with the main subject choice, Also i feel how much information is being told can either draw the viewer in or steer them away. if to much information is being said at one point then it can be hard to take it all in, Also if the information is pointless  and useless then it might draw people away.

Another small issue is the length of the documentary, if it is very long then towards the end viewers may be tired and then they miss the conclusion and may not understand why it was produced, or if it to short then the filmmaker may find it hard to get all the information needed within the length of the documentary making it rushed and not as exciting.

The last small issue that might be is the language that is used, if it to technical then it will be very hard to understand, but then if it is to simple then it may make the information sound fake.


Accuracy - Accuracy and precision are defined in terms of systematic and random errors. The more common definition associates accuracy with systematic errors and precision with random errors. Another definition, advanced by ISO, associates trueness with systematic errors and precision with random errors, and defines accuracy as the combination of both trueness and precision.
Accuracy is very important through documentary making, if the film maker isnt getting the right information, telling people facts that are wrong or inaccurate then the film will be non-fictinal. i feel that accuracy is one of the main features within documentary film making.

Balance - A state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.
Balance also plays a very important part, deoending on what the documentarys is about if the film maker wants it to be engaging then each aspecrt of the film such as archive footage, interviews, and also where the facts are being told.

Impartiality -  Is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper reasons.

objectivity - The objectivity of my documentary is finding out how three people react to a situation they may not be comfortable with. We followed three students around so that we could see what their reaction would be, and how they would work with the cameras as well as showing their day to day life.

Subjectivity - Subjectivity refers to how someone's judgment is shaped by personal opinions and feelings instead of outside influences. Subjectivity is partially responsible for why one person loves an abstract painting while another person hates it.

Opinion - In general, an opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement about matters commonly considered to be subjective, i.e. based on that which is less than absolutely certain, and is the result of emotion or interpretation of facts. Opinion can be a huge changing point within a documentarys, due to if the film maker has a different opinion to who he is filming or interviewing, or even on the subject area then it can change the way the film maker asks questions or even how the how film is edited, The producers may want viwers to see their side of the story what they feel should be shown and not the whole picture.

Bias - Bias is an inclination of temperament or outlook to present or hold a partial perspective, often accompanied by a refusal to consider the possible merits of alternative points of view. People may be biased toward or against an individual, a race, a religion, a social class, a political party, or a species. Biased means one-sided, lacking a neutral viewpoint, not having an open mind. Bias can come in many forms and is often considered to be synonymous with prejudice or bigotry. Being bias can impact the the way in which the veiwer could see the main focus point. Film makers have to be careful to who they decide to interveiw. If they decided to interveiw to many people that are bias one way then it will change the whole opinion to the documentary.

representation - We were trying to show what it was life in the life of a sixth former, how things have changed since the lower school and what they do now their in the sixth form. They represented different types of sixth formers and thats what we were looking for and they really represented that.

Privacy - Is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves, or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The boundaries and content of what is considered private differ among cultures and individuals, but share common themes. When something is private to a person, it usually means that something is inherently special or sensitive to them. Documentarys are the best way to exploite infomation, they tell people the facts on past and present showing the world what people may not see with the naked eye. however Telling the deep inner facts can be very private. people explore things that can be private to someone or soemthing, possibly upsetting

Case Study: The Art Of Killing

What is the main genre of this documentary?
The main documentary mode in my opinion is observational. i have come to this conculison due to the fact that there is a lack of communication with the filmmaker and the actors. the main parts of film is where following the 'gangsters'. There are long takes throughout the film, this shows what sort of effect it had on people and how they act with what they have done. the main actors feel they are making a film, however the cameras is always rolling catching every they do in and out of there acting.

 Are there any sub-genres?

Also another genre used throughout this film was performative. They re-enacted events that happened in the past to capture what they had done. The main actor Anwar Congo felt a lot differently from beginning to end. When they were making the re-enactment scenes Anwar changed his view on he had done. He realized all the harm he has caused people and how sick it was. It has took him all his life to realize what he had done. Anwar said he had nightmares but never changed his opinion, however he started to feel differently over the 8 years of filming and going over everything. performative documentary is quiet personal to the people that are involved and telling the story.  Reflexive is also a sub-genre for this documentary; reflexive is where the audience is aware of the techniques  used within the audience. They get confused   it was a representation off the community they live in and how they feel they should be treated in their community.

What relations did Joshua Oppenheimer have with his subject?

Joshua had learnt the native language of the country he was going to film in. This helped him fit in and communicate easily with the Indonesian people and be able to understand their social network.

Being able to speak the native language has made him fit in better made him more respected and easily understood on what he is trying to achieve and find out. Joshua also spent 8 years altogether filming and finishing this documentary. He would of spent a lot of time with people that lived their and experienced what has happened he also spent time with the main 'gangsters' forming friendships and really getting into detail about what had happened and how they felt at the time and present.

How did it help/hinder the documentary?

Joshua First went to this country trying to find out as much as he could about the topic, asking different people for all the facts they knew. However Indonesia was and still is such a close nit community it was very hard for them to let out the information that Josh and his team needed. In the end Joshua realized that he wasn’t going to get the information he needed by asking question to people in the community. They needed to re-think their strategy and find a different way of getting information. He knew that many people in the area liked the idea of being a movie star he used that to his advantage. He spoke to the main ex gangsters ____________ and they agreed to make a film on what they had done, they also asked other people in the community to help re-enact what happened in the past through the knowledge off the Anwar Congo from his first hand experience. This helped Joshua build and form a relationship with the subject.

What was the relationship between the documentary and reality?

 At the beginning of the documentary Anwar Congo wouldn’t show any remorse to what he had done. He was proud to share to the rest of the world what had happened. He gave the impression that what he done was right. Towards the end of the documentary you can see that Anwar Congo was starting to feel differently about what he had done. We first started to see this when he was re-enacting the past. More scene were re-enacted and you could tell he was beginning to see what he had done, and how many lives he had effected. You first see this when he is getting tortured, Herman Koto puts wire round his throat and begging’s to pull, once the scene is over Anwar is a state he can barely moved and feel drained. The main point in the film is when Joshua makes a point of saying while the torture scene is being played back to him is 'you say you feel terrified there but you knew you was only filming you will never be as terrified as the people you tortured as they knew they was going to die. The last scenes in the film is Anwar going back to where he was at the begging of the documentary (the location where he killed many humans) while he was he told us that he killed 'human begins' not 'communists' the then starts to retch showing he has come to terms with what he has done.

How did this documentary represent its ideas?

Throughout the documentary there are many different styles used to give the effect it did. There was observational filming which gave most the main styles to the filming experiencing what they was doing and talking about while not acting. Interviews also took place so you could fully understand what they were talking about and why. There was some primary imagery, which helps the viewer visualize what it may have been like back, then, voice-overs gave effect to the films and also related media.