Closed questions - Can be answered with a single word or short phrase.
examples:
How old are you ?
Where do you live ?
Are you happy ?
using closed questions can; give you facts, are very easy to answer, are quick and easy to answer, allow to the questioner to keep control of the conversation.
Usage of closed questions
act as an ice breaker to open a conversation.
For testing and understanding. e.g. so you want a car ?
To set up a desired positive or negative frame of mind in them. e.g. Are you happy with your current supplier ?
For seeking yes to the big questions ?
you can turn any opinion into a closed question that forces a yes or no answer.
Open questions - An open question is used when you wish to receive a long answer.
Although closed questions can be given long answers open questions are designed to have this effect
They as the respondents to think and reflect.
They will give you opinions and feelings.
They hand control of the conversations to the respondent.
Actively listen to the answer
usage of open questions.
develop conversation.
Find out more about a person. What do they do ? Need ? Think ?
Getting people to realise there problems.
Thursday, 17 November 2016
Monday, 17 October 2016
Unit 27: Factual Programme Production Techniques for Television - Task 1
Accuracy and balance
Accuracy and balance are a very important part of the documentary film making process. Documentaries must be kept accurate and supply there audiences with accurate and précises information if they wish to present it as factual. If they do not do this then my may experience legal issues during the film making process. One way that film makers are able to get around this is by portraying information, that may be still up for debate, as opinion so that they are still able to influence an audience in which ever way they decide.
A documentary also however should try to stay balanced by presenting both sides of the argument. This is particularly important in regards to investigative documentaries which are exploring sensitive subject areas. For example Louis Theroux's latest documentary on Jimmy Savile attempted to offer a small amount of balance by interviewing people that didn't believe that he had done what people had accused him of. Another contributor said that she only ever saw the good in him and so could not judge him on what she had not seen. Although the documentary its self is no longer on a subject that is up for debate it still went to some effort to create a sense of balance.
Accuracy and balance can sometimes interfere with each other as creating an accurate documentary may mean that it is naturally supporting one side over the other removing total balance from the final product. This is what I believe has happened with Louis Theroux's 2nd documentary on Jimmy Savile.
Impartiality
Impartiality in documentary film making means that the production team should not support either side of the argument/subject matter. This is also very important in investigatory film making as any opinion that the production team hold could end up reflecting within the final product effecting the balance and potentially creating a bias piece of film that benefits one side more than the other. Doing this could offend people related to the subject matter and cause a whole sea of issues on the legal side of things.
Objectivity & Subjectivity
Opinion
Bias
A bias in factual film making is showing a topic or person/group of people in a certain way purposefully due to the production teams inclinations or prejudices. An example of when this has happened is with Louis Theroux's: My scientology movie. In the documentary scientologists are conveyed as crazy violent brainwashed individuals who worship a mentally unstable leader. The film did not dwell on whether the scientology church had done anything good with the power that it has. This was most probably to do with the fact that Louis mostly worked with Ex members of the church who share all of the awful experiences that they have had in the past. These stories make for a much more interesting documentary but do however create a strong bias of opinion which in turn will affected how the audience view the group.
Representation
Representation in factual film making can be influenced/changed by a number of different things. For example subjectivity can vastly change how a topic is depicted in a documentary due to the emotions that could possibly change things such as the tone and balance of the piece. Another area to consider for representation is how easy it is to manipulate what a contributor is saying to make it sound like they are saying something completely different. Although this is highly unethical it is most likely used quite often to change the representation or tone of the documentary.
Privacy
Privacy is a very large issue within factual film making as any contributor who is giving information must have there privacy protected at all times. There is certain questions that an interviewer or production team should not ask so that they are completely respectful towards each subject. For example in the documentary lift there was a scene were a participant talks about how his bi-polar and how mother and father both died in a short period of time when he was very young. He revealed in an interview that he first learnt about this information whilst talking to the man off camera and asked him is it would be okay to film him talking about it in the lift. This obviously made that moment slightly fabricated due to the fact that it was presented as if it was the first time he had ever heard this information. However this was completely necessary in order to maintain a respectful level of privacy and ensure that he was completely okay with saying those things on camera.
My Documentary
With my documentary I am going to try and create the most accurate and object piece possible. I will speak to a range of people with different opinions in order to keep a sense of balance in the final product which will also help me to remain as unbiased as I can. I understand that I must be cautious about how the people or groups are represented in my documentary as if I portray anyone in a bad light this will cause ethical and even legal issues with my film. I will not manipulate any of the footage to make them look a certain way.
In regards to privacy I will first have a discussion with all contributors and discuss with them everything that I plan on filming and make sure that they are okay with it.
Accuracy and balance are a very important part of the documentary film making process. Documentaries must be kept accurate and supply there audiences with accurate and précises information if they wish to present it as factual. If they do not do this then my may experience legal issues during the film making process. One way that film makers are able to get around this is by portraying information, that may be still up for debate, as opinion so that they are still able to influence an audience in which ever way they decide.
A documentary also however should try to stay balanced by presenting both sides of the argument. This is particularly important in regards to investigative documentaries which are exploring sensitive subject areas. For example Louis Theroux's latest documentary on Jimmy Savile attempted to offer a small amount of balance by interviewing people that didn't believe that he had done what people had accused him of. Another contributor said that she only ever saw the good in him and so could not judge him on what she had not seen. Although the documentary its self is no longer on a subject that is up for debate it still went to some effort to create a sense of balance.
Accuracy and balance can sometimes interfere with each other as creating an accurate documentary may mean that it is naturally supporting one side over the other removing total balance from the final product. This is what I believe has happened with Louis Theroux's 2nd documentary on Jimmy Savile.
Impartiality
Impartiality in documentary film making means that the production team should not support either side of the argument/subject matter. This is also very important in investigatory film making as any opinion that the production team hold could end up reflecting within the final product effecting the balance and potentially creating a bias piece of film that benefits one side more than the other. Doing this could offend people related to the subject matter and cause a whole sea of issues on the legal side of things.
Objectivity & Subjectivity
Objectivity in documentary film making is making a judgement based on what is presented to you in ways of footage or evidence during the production process. To create an objective documentary the message of your final product should not include any of your own emotions or personal opinions as by doing this you may present what you believe as a fact which could cause a huge amount of legal issues because of how powerful a piece of media can be at influencing its audience.
Subjectivity in film making is making a judgement based on you're own personal opinions and emotions and not on any outside influences. In film making this can change the entire tone of a piece due to the emotions that are being presented to the audience.
Opinion
Documentaries can very easily make their audiences form strong opinions of the topic they are covering. The opinion that is shown through a documentary is altered by everyone of the other key issues discussed. The media is a very powerful tool in which to influence peoples ways of thinking, this is why documentaries one touchy subject areas must stay as unbiased, accurate and object as possible. An example of when a documentary has strongly influenced its audiences opinion would be with the film Black fish which was about how killer whales were stolen from the wild and taken to Sea World. Due to this documentary Sea Worlds profits dropped dramatically and they were forced to close down there killer whale breeding programme and stop all killer whale shows to the public.
A bias in factual film making is showing a topic or person/group of people in a certain way purposefully due to the production teams inclinations or prejudices. An example of when this has happened is with Louis Theroux's: My scientology movie. In the documentary scientologists are conveyed as crazy violent brainwashed individuals who worship a mentally unstable leader. The film did not dwell on whether the scientology church had done anything good with the power that it has. This was most probably to do with the fact that Louis mostly worked with Ex members of the church who share all of the awful experiences that they have had in the past. These stories make for a much more interesting documentary but do however create a strong bias of opinion which in turn will affected how the audience view the group.
Representation
Representation in factual film making can be influenced/changed by a number of different things. For example subjectivity can vastly change how a topic is depicted in a documentary due to the emotions that could possibly change things such as the tone and balance of the piece. Another area to consider for representation is how easy it is to manipulate what a contributor is saying to make it sound like they are saying something completely different. Although this is highly unethical it is most likely used quite often to change the representation or tone of the documentary.
Privacy
Privacy is a very large issue within factual film making as any contributor who is giving information must have there privacy protected at all times. There is certain questions that an interviewer or production team should not ask so that they are completely respectful towards each subject. For example in the documentary lift there was a scene were a participant talks about how his bi-polar and how mother and father both died in a short period of time when he was very young. He revealed in an interview that he first learnt about this information whilst talking to the man off camera and asked him is it would be okay to film him talking about it in the lift. This obviously made that moment slightly fabricated due to the fact that it was presented as if it was the first time he had ever heard this information. However this was completely necessary in order to maintain a respectful level of privacy and ensure that he was completely okay with saying those things on camera.
My Documentary
With my documentary I am going to try and create the most accurate and object piece possible. I will speak to a range of people with different opinions in order to keep a sense of balance in the final product which will also help me to remain as unbiased as I can. I understand that I must be cautious about how the people or groups are represented in my documentary as if I portray anyone in a bad light this will cause ethical and even legal issues with my film. I will not manipulate any of the footage to make them look a certain way.
In regards to privacy I will first have a discussion with all contributors and discuss with them everything that I plan on filming and make sure that they are okay with it.
Documentary research plan
For my documentary I am planning to research lots of different aspects of the spiritualism subject. I feel like the most important part that for me to research is the origins of spiritualism. This will give me extra information and give me a clearer view of the sort of questions that I should be asking any contributors of the documentary.
I am also going to research famous spiritualism events and see what kind of weird things have happened in the past and whether that other spiritualist believe that those events are true.
Another area that is necessary for researching is about famous spiritualists who will most definitely be referenced through out the documentary. Julie is a well known spiritualist who draws a huge amount of appointments for people who wish to speak to there dead loved ones and to her spiritualism events.
I am also going to research famous spiritualism events and see what kind of weird things have happened in the past and whether that other spiritualist believe that those events are true.
Another area that is necessary for researching is about famous spiritualists who will most definitely be referenced through out the documentary. Julie is a well known spiritualist who draws a huge amount of appointments for people who wish to speak to there dead loved ones and to her spiritualism events.
Tuesday, 27 September 2016
Documentary Idea Pitch
Yesterday I pitched an idea for our college documentary to the rest of the class and our tutor.
The idea was about a group of spiritualists and the experiences that they have had during there time in that industry. I would make the documentary as subjective as I possibly could including the opinions of people who do believe in the supernatural and from people who do not. I would love to be able to film a first hand experience by going to an organised event and filming exactly what happened and possibly interviewing the people who have the experience of talking to there dead relatives. I would of course need to get permission for all of this to happen by asking if I would be able to film during a show but I already have permission to interview most of the spiritualists. I think that the actual pitch its self went very well.
The idea was about a group of spiritualists and the experiences that they have had during there time in that industry. I would make the documentary as subjective as I possibly could including the opinions of people who do believe in the supernatural and from people who do not. I would love to be able to film a first hand experience by going to an organised event and filming exactly what happened and possibly interviewing the people who have the experience of talking to there dead relatives. I would of course need to get permission for all of this to happen by asking if I would be able to film during a show but I already have permission to interview most of the spiritualists. I think that the actual pitch its self went very well.
Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Lift
Synopsis
A man stands in a lift with a camera to engage in social interactions with the residents of a housing block in order to gain an insight into there daily lives and invoke thought within them.
Review
A very entertaining film that made you more aware of the differences in peoples lives compared to your own. The interview style questions that made people engage with him had a clear effect on them by making them think more carefully about there lives. people who's stories would never have been told had a chance to show the world who they were.
The documentary is a mixture of a reflective and interactive style due to the fact that the film maker is interested in what the outcome of his research is, when filming the documentary he will not have known what the outcome will have been. How ever it is also partly Interactive due to the film maker asking people that the documentary focuses on questions to spur along the story.
I think that due to the location and proximity that was forced upon people during filming the narrative was naturally formed due to the fact that people felt as though they needed to talk to avoid the situation becoming increasingly awkward. This slowly led to people becoming more comfortable with talking to the camera and slowly opening and revealing things that they otherwise wouldn't.
If the documentary had of included a higher level of planning and included footage of people outside of the lift I do not think that it would of been as good because part of the character of the documentary is that what happened was completely random. I also think having footage from outside the lift would have taken away from the intimacy that was created due to the confined space
A man stands in a lift with a camera to engage in social interactions with the residents of a housing block in order to gain an insight into there daily lives and invoke thought within them.
Review
A very entertaining film that made you more aware of the differences in peoples lives compared to your own. The interview style questions that made people engage with him had a clear effect on them by making them think more carefully about there lives. people who's stories would never have been told had a chance to show the world who they were.
The documentary is a mixture of a reflective and interactive style due to the fact that the film maker is interested in what the outcome of his research is, when filming the documentary he will not have known what the outcome will have been. How ever it is also partly Interactive due to the film maker asking people that the documentary focuses on questions to spur along the story.
I think that due to the location and proximity that was forced upon people during filming the narrative was naturally formed due to the fact that people felt as though they needed to talk to avoid the situation becoming increasingly awkward. This slowly led to people becoming more comfortable with talking to the camera and slowly opening and revealing things that they otherwise wouldn't.
If the documentary had of included a higher level of planning and included footage of people outside of the lift I do not think that it would of been as good because part of the character of the documentary is that what happened was completely random. I also think having footage from outside the lift would have taken away from the intimacy that was created due to the confined space
Thursday, 16 June 2016
Contracts
There are 2 different types of contracts that can be used within the film and TV production industry, the first is the confidentiality contract and the second is the exclusivity contract.
Confidentiality contracts are used for very secretive projects, when the production companies do not want any kind of information or spoilers leaking to the public. An example of when this type of contract will have been used recently is with the production of the new Star Wars film. During filming no photography of any kind was allowed on set. This was in order to make sure that the public did not receive any information that they were not meant to. Any photographs that were taken and placed onto social media would have been checked by senior members of production to ensure that everything that was include was okay.
Exclusivity is where a production company secures the rights to create a film or a TV show based on a story or already existing concept/idea. This type of contract also means that they are the only people with the rights to do so for as long as the contract states. The most common exclusivity contracts are used production companies whointented to produce a film or TV adaptation from a book. An example of where this was used is with Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones was orignally a very popular book entitled "A song of Ice and Fire" until HBO decided to use its story line to create their hit TV show.
Confidentiality contracts are used for very secretive projects, when the production companies do not want any kind of information or spoilers leaking to the public. An example of when this type of contract will have been used recently is with the production of the new Star Wars film. During filming no photography of any kind was allowed on set. This was in order to make sure that the public did not receive any information that they were not meant to. Any photographs that were taken and placed onto social media would have been checked by senior members of production to ensure that everything that was include was okay.
Exclusivity is where a production company secures the rights to create a film or a TV show based on a story or already existing concept/idea. This type of contract also means that they are the only people with the rights to do so for as long as the contract states. The most common exclusivity contracts are used production companies whointented to produce a film or TV adaptation from a book. An example of where this was used is with Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones was orignally a very popular book entitled "A song of Ice and Fire" until HBO decided to use its story line to create their hit TV show.
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Flowchart/ Job roles and working patterns
Art Department:
Production designer
Supervising art director
Senior art director
Art director
Standby art director
Assistant art director
Production buyer
Senior draughtsperson/set designer
Art department coordinator
Draughtsperson/set designer
Set decorator
Assistant set decorator
Junior draughtsperson/set designer
Art Department assistant/runner
Job roles in the media industry can be split into 6 categories.
- Technical
- Creative
- Editorial
- Managerial
- Sales and Marketing
- Financial
Creative jobs require you to be imaginative and able to expand on the ideas of others or yourself. It also requires a good level of team work for when it is necessary to work in groups. Some jobs included in the Creative branch are; Script writer, Set designer and Cinematographer.
Editorial jobs are mostly based in the print industry. The jobs require you to be able to check through work and ensure that there is not mistakes and also have good communication skills in order to communicate with the rest of your team to ensure you create the best product. Some jobs that are included in the editorial branch are; TV/Film editor and Newspaper editor.
Managerial jobs require you to oversee members of staff and there work. You must also be to take control of situations and communicate with the other people in your team. Some jobs that are included in the Managerial branch are; Director, Production manager and Floor manager.
Sales and Marketing jobs require excellent levels if communication with potential customers or businesses in order to promote the product. You must have people and communication skills as the sales market is highly competitive. Jobs in this category include; Marketing executive, publicist and film promoter.
Financial jobs require you to be able to handle a budget successfully and know how to channel money into new projects. Some jobs included in the Financial branch are; Producer and production accountant.
Contracts in the media industry are very different to the kind of contracts you would find within regular jobs. They are usually much more flexible than traditional jobs.
The most common types of contracts that are found in the media industry are;
- Full-time
- Part-time
- Fixed-term and freelance
- Shift work
- Office hours
- Irregular and anti-social hours pay
- Salaried
- On completion
Full time contracts mean that you work the hours of a regular member of staff, usually 39 hours a week. With a permanent contract you are also entitled to company benefits including pensions, sick pay etc.
Part time contracts mean you work lesson than full time still must work a specific amount of hours a week. This type of contract also entitles you to company benefits but on a smaller scale due to fewer working hours.
Fixed term or Freelance contracts are temporary contracts that only last for a limited period of time. With these contracts you are required to fulfil all criteria stated in your contract. Fixed term contracts can still entitle you to company benefits if specified in the contract but a freelance worker will have to sort out there own benefits such as pension and sick pay.
Shift work contracts mean that you receive certain set hours that you must work. e.g. 8am - 6pm. Shifts can include late hours or night shifts and are most commonly used for companies that must be active 24 hours a day like radio stations or TV stations
Office hour contracts are the most regular kind of contracts. They usually give times of 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday and are common in office based administrative jobs.
Irregular and anti-social hours are a bit like over time. This is for when an employee works for longer that there usual hours and are paid extra for it or for when the hours that are being worked are too early or too late and are deemed unsocial. This is very common in the media industry as not everything goes to plan and can involve working very early mornings and late nights. These extra payments are meant to make people want to work anti-social hours and for longer than their contract requires.
Salaried contracts are set annual wages that is broken down into a monthly wage. A salaried wage will be advertised as the wage per year but then will be paid out in 12 monthly instalments.
On completion contracts mean that you will only receive payment once you have completed the work set out in the contract fully. These are quite common in the media industry.
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