Friday 25th of November
This was our first day of filming and it went very well. 4 people attended this shoot so we split up into 2 teams. One team went outside and collected a number of cutaways and establishing shots (Taylor and Rhys), whilst the other team remained in side to gather as many cutaways of the inside office space as possible (Me and Matty), The more cutaways the better.
Once each team had captured all the footage that was required we gathered together in the main spiritualist related building in order for us to conduct a number of interviews.
For the first interview I was responsible for working the stationary camera and asking the interview question. I also used headphones to ensure that the audio was recording and that we could clearly hear the answers the contributor was giving.
During the second and third interview I was just responsible for asking the questions and making sure that the answers that were given were elaborate enough to explain and give information to the audience.
Monday, 28 November 2016
Monday, 21 November 2016
Critical approaches task 1
Quantitative research
Quantitative research uses numbers in order to gather information about certain topics. Things such at graphs and statistics are classed as quantitative research. In a political campaign quantitative research is very important and is used to identify audience demographics such as age and yearly income so that each candidate knows exactly which type of person they are attracting and how they can do a better job both with ensuring they keep that demographic on board whilst also attracting other demographics if possible.
For example in the 2016 presidential election Donald Trumps main age demographic target was middle aged. So he catered to ensure that he would not lose there vote by promising to change things that would effect them the most. For example he promised that he would stop jobs from leaving America and encourage companies to come back to the states to do business. Many areas that support Trump used to be primarily industrial areas but in recent years much industry has closed down to set up shop else where meaning people lose there jobs. By promising to bring Jobs back he is securing the middle aged vote as they and there children are the ones who have been mostly effected by this issue.
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is used in order to gain more knowledge on specific topics of interest. Examples of qualitative research would be things such as focus groups, questionnaires and any other form of primary research that offers extra detail. In a political campaign qualitative research is very important in order to understand exactly what the people whos votes you are trying to gain want from you. Using qualitative research helps candidates to determine exactly what policies they wish to include and what things they wish to change if they get into power.
For example before running for president Hillary Clinton will have conducted many surveys and focus groups in order to find out what type of things the people that she wishes to target want to change. From there she would have been able to mould a stronger campaign with clear points of change highlighted by her selected audience. Hillary's main target audience is women and one of Hillarys policies that suggest she has taken feed back from that group is her policies on gun control. Most of the female population of America believe that there needs to be stricter gun laws in place and feel uncomfortable with guns in the house, this clearly shows that Hillary has listened to her audience and made changes accordingly.
Audience classifications
Audience classifications are used to categories different groups of people into more manageable segments. Things such as demographics and psychographics are all taken into account when creating audience classifications. Within elections audience classifications are vital in order to make clear exactly who each party is trying to attract.
Quantitative research uses numbers in order to gather information about certain topics. Things such at graphs and statistics are classed as quantitative research. In a political campaign quantitative research is very important and is used to identify audience demographics such as age and yearly income so that each candidate knows exactly which type of person they are attracting and how they can do a better job both with ensuring they keep that demographic on board whilst also attracting other demographics if possible.
For example in the 2016 presidential election Donald Trumps main age demographic target was middle aged. So he catered to ensure that he would not lose there vote by promising to change things that would effect them the most. For example he promised that he would stop jobs from leaving America and encourage companies to come back to the states to do business. Many areas that support Trump used to be primarily industrial areas but in recent years much industry has closed down to set up shop else where meaning people lose there jobs. By promising to bring Jobs back he is securing the middle aged vote as they and there children are the ones who have been mostly effected by this issue.
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is used in order to gain more knowledge on specific topics of interest. Examples of qualitative research would be things such as focus groups, questionnaires and any other form of primary research that offers extra detail. In a political campaign qualitative research is very important in order to understand exactly what the people whos votes you are trying to gain want from you. Using qualitative research helps candidates to determine exactly what policies they wish to include and what things they wish to change if they get into power.
For example before running for president Hillary Clinton will have conducted many surveys and focus groups in order to find out what type of things the people that she wishes to target want to change. From there she would have been able to mould a stronger campaign with clear points of change highlighted by her selected audience. Hillary's main target audience is women and one of Hillarys policies that suggest she has taken feed back from that group is her policies on gun control. Most of the female population of America believe that there needs to be stricter gun laws in place and feel uncomfortable with guns in the house, this clearly shows that Hillary has listened to her audience and made changes accordingly.
Audience classifications
Audience classifications are used to categories different groups of people into more manageable segments. Things such as demographics and psychographics are all taken into account when creating audience classifications. Within elections audience classifications are vital in order to make clear exactly who each party is trying to attract.
Critical approaches Task 2
Ideology is a “system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy”. - Wikipedia
Ideology of Donald Trump
During the 2016 presidential election ideology was a key focus for both of the political candidates. The candidates both focused on each of their target audiences ideologies, in order to sway them into voting for their campaign and not their opponents. Both candidates took a hugely different approach to which ideologies they would focus on and therefore both had a very different idea about who they would target primarily.
Donald Trump's campaign took on a much riskier style of promotion by using scare mongering tactics to convince the population of America that voting for him was the safest option. Every thing from his speeches to his campaign video were used purely to instill fear into anyone who viewed it. A great example of this is a video his campaign posted on the republican website towards the end of the election. This Particular video focused on what a dangerous place America had become for its citizens. It included footage from a range of terrorist attacks, both in America and from other countries, including the Orlando night club shooting and the attack on the airport in Brussels, Germany. This video was clearly used as a way to make the American people afraid of the danger america is in and highlight one of the main issue that scares people the most, Islamic and “homegrown terrorism”. In recent times terrorism has been a huge issue globally and a lot of people do not think that the governments of the world are doing enough to stop this from reoccurring. Trump took this and focused on this a lot more than his opponent did. This gave him an edge and the support of a large percentage of the American people who have been affected by, know someone who has been affected an act of terrorism or are just terrified that it could happen to them. this also reaches out to his main demographic the white middle aged man, who may think that more should be done to protect America and increase homeland security.
Hillary’s campaign video on the other hand ,that was released at a similar time and featured on the Democrat website, focused on how great America was and how if everyone works together they can make America an even better place to be. While this was a very lovely message it made it seem as though Hillary was ignoring recent events and therefore not reassuring the general public that she is able to prevent these things from happening. Hillary did not use her source of media efficiently enough and did not give the american people any amount of confidence in her ability to protect them. Due to the serious nature of the subject Hillary should have referenced the subject more so that people could clearly see she was prepared to tackle the issue effectively.
Trump also disagrees with a whole range of different policies that Hillary endorses. One example of a policy that Trump disagrees with Hillary on is gun control. Hillary is a huge supporter of far stricter laws regarding gun control believing that there should be a number of guidelines and rules that people must meet before they can own a gun. This correlates with Hillary’s main demographic being women as women are the largest group of people who feel uncomfortable with guns and would prefer to see them restricted. Trump However believes that there should not be any regulation regarding guns and fully supports the second Amendment that “All Americans have the right the bear arms”. This once again increased his number of supporters and focuses on his primary demographic the white middle aged male as white males make up 61% of gun owners. Expressing his opposition to gun control also encouraged another one of Trump's demographics to vote for him, The polls clearly stated that the southern states were strongly supportive of Trump this was probably due to his views on gun control as the southern states of America are all extremely pro gun with 50% of all households in the south owning a gun.
Another Ideology that Trump uses to increase his number of supporters is the relations that America has with other countries. With the rising tensions between America and Russian, Trump has made it clear that he wishes to create bridges between the 2 nations and calm everyone's nerves. The world is closer than ever to an all out nuclear war and with Trump in power that would be a lot less likely to happen as he believes that America should stay away from any kind of world affairs regarding military action in other countries. This has made him extremely popular with veterans who may have been injured in wars and families of veterans who have been killed in action. There has been many times in the past where the American Military have invaded other countries causing many fatalities of American soldiers. Most of these wars have been strongly opposed by the American people and so Trump stating that he wants to increase homeland security and not send troops to other countries is a huge selling point for him. This also links to his main demographic as 78.9% of American war veterans are white.
The media's role in the campaigns
No matter what campaign is involved the media always has an effect on the outcome. However during the 2016 presidential campaign the media took on a particularly slanderous role. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were met with an onslaught of bad press and controversy regarding there pasts and personal lives. It seemed like every week an new video or Federal investigation was being announced to the world, if either of these candidates had anyone else running against them they would have very clearly been beaten but because they were both as bad as each other the polls remained extremely close all the way through campaigning.
It is of course the media's job to inform its audience about anything of interest, especially when it comes to choosing who is going to run one of the most powerful countries in the world. But how far is too far.
During the political campaign Hillary Clinton was caught on camera stumbling and almost fainting whilst attending a public event. It was later revealed that Hillary had been recovering from pneumonia but she did not want to miss the event so went anyway. The press and TV news had a field day with the footage that was taken and plastered it all over the TV and news papers questioning her health and whether it was up to scratch and able to handle the stressful role of being President. Some people could argue that it showed just how determined Hillary was to put everything she has into running the country even after being quite ill but instead it was used against her to question her capability.
Donald Trumps past was also dragged back up after a video of him making inappropriate comments about women was posted on the internet. The remarks that he made were certainly not appropriate but the video was taken years before he even considered running for president. So should be people base there decision about who they want to run the country on someone being ill and a video that was many years old ?
In conclusion I think that much of what the media was relaying to the public throughout campaigning was not completely relevant to the time and confused the public meaning that they did not take time to look at each of the candidates policies so that they could make the correct decision for themselves. Without the slanderous media involvement I believe that a lot of the people who didn't vote at all would have as they would have been better equipped with information about each parties policies rather than pointless scandals
Thursday, 17 November 2016
Interviews for documentary
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.
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.
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.
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