Documentary Mini-Task

A 'documentary' when it comes to film is a piece of media which provides a factual report or insight on a particular subject, often with that being its main purpose. There are five main formats of documentary making. These five consist of expository, observational, interactive, reflexive and performative.

(Blue Planet 2 | 2017)
An expository documentary is a form of documentary which often includes a voice-over for a lot of its run, directly addressing the audience and viewers on what is happening on screen in the film, giving meaning to the events, but not any opinionated statements on them. "Blue Planet 2" is a recent documentary by the extremely well known broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, who has become well known for being the voice of many expository docs during his lifetime. This film, similar to many of his others, involves Attenborough giving an educational voice-over to clips of nature and animals that inhabit many areas of our Earth, specifically being the ocean in the case of this specific film. These types of documentaries predominantly attempt to achieve an experience consisting of both pure objectivity and fact, often teaching the viewers of the film new information about the subject it is revolved around that they may not have known prior to watching.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p04tjbtx/blue-planet-ii



(The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air | 2011)
Observational documentaries are focused a lot more on simply presenting a slice of life to the viewer, without the presence of any kind of intervention from the filmmaker(s). They are hidden from sight throughout, leaving the doc to be centred a lot more on what is not contained, such as any interviews or commentary that may be present in the film. The documentary "6 Days to Air" is a good example of this form of doc, revolving around the short creation process of an average episode of the popular american animated sitcom 'South Park' by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. This type of documentary allows transparent records of whatever event is being covered to be shown in a neutral and non - judgemental way, like in this specific film where the viewer is simply given a deeper insight into the short creation process of the show's episodes, how it affects the people who work on the show and how their thought process changes during each creative week on the show.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgkbiVURAlQ

(Full Force | 2019)

In interactive documentaries, some presence of the filmmaker is evident to those watching throughout its runtime. For example, the YouTube documentary "Full Force" created by Ian 'Idubbbz' Carter follows Ian himself travelling Michigan, getting to meet and get an insight into the life of a fellow creator, known on the internet as 'AirsoftFatty', who turns out to have a very interesting life and personality surrounding him. The video includes clips of Ian talking straight to the camera about the events which are being shown in retrospect, as well as footage of Ian interviewing those around the house he visited and events that took place between those they went out to film during the video's creation. This mode of film making is sometimes criticised for "misrepresenting" and/or "manipulation" of what they are researching and showing in the final product, but are also defended by filmmakers because of the projected image being believed by many to be more important than the fine details.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfwPL-bd_mk&t=5s


(Man With a Movie Camera | 1929)

There is one form of documentary making which is known for the way it attempts to experiment with and expose the construction of the genre of film; these are known as reflexive pieces - documentaries which will consist of capturing 'everyday life', used as bricks to ultimately make quite experimental films and experiences. The Russian film from 1929 which goes under the name of "Man with a Movie Camera" in English is a great example of one of these more abstract types of documentaries. It is clear right from the beginning that this documentary is not like any of the other forms mentioned above in terms of its final product, telling the viewer in text on the screen before any of the clips begin these words in Russian: "this film is an experiment in cinematic communication of real events... without the help of a story". The entire sixty-six minute long feature is completely empty of any voice-over, characters, clear plot or story, and instead is filled solely with clips of soviet Russia from the time period it was filmed. This all leaves the person watching with complete responsibility of what they come out of the viewing experience with, their emotions throughout, and if they have learned anything about the subject it covered or if they feel any different after seeing the visuals they did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGYZ5847FiI&t=656s




(The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann | 2019)
The final form of documentary mentioned above is known as performative. using things like re-enactments of events which are discussed, specific soundtrack choices and exaggerated camera positions in order to create more emphasis on the text's presentation that on its content. The 2019 Netflix limited series "The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann" was a series of eight roughly forty-five minute to hour long performative documentaries, all revolving around the story of the infamous missing child case from 2007. All of these things are done within this form of documentary, due to the fact that the film-makers of these types of documentaries often include them in order to help submerge the audience entirely into the narrative, and present the subject matter that the film is revolved around in a very subjective, stylised, visceral and expressive manner.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80194956


- CONCLUSION -
In conclusion, I would have to say that from the documentaries I have personally watched throughout my life so far, I would class the interactive style as my favourite. Assuming that the personality of the film maker is decent and not bad, I like getting an insight into their thought process behind doing or researching whatever they are in the film, as well as seeing their reactions to what is happening alongside my own. On top of this, the interactive docs with a good person leading them can often add that extra bit of comedy or enjoyability to the film for me. When it comes to unbiased and objective presentation, the expository and observational formats arguably present the information within its content the best. Both forms often present information to the viewer in different ways, either being explained by a voice-over in expository, or simply showing them events occurring and letting them learn from the visuals or the people within the events explaining things in observational, but are the same in the aspect that neither include anything within the films that is not authentic. For example, these forms do not include any opinions held by the film-makers or re-enactments of any events which are being discussed, like in interactive and performative documentaries respectively. The forms that do include these features can often do so in a way that'll affect the opinions of the viewers, especially when the film-makers portray their own opinions on the subject they are covering through the film, which some argue is wrong, as they as the creator of a documentary have a responsibility to present the viewer with unbiased and accurate factual information to those who are watching - personally, I do not fully argue with this argument. While I do believe it is true that documentaries that claim to be educational should stay very strictly to facts and not bend any of the information they present in order to create their own agenda before the viewer, I think that as long as it is made clear to the viewer in some way that the doc will include some kind of opinions and personal beliefs from the creator from the beginning, it is completely fine for them to concentrate more on the entertainment side of the film (as long as no blatant lies are told unless it is made clear to be a parody beforehand), as I do not think that all documentaries need to be strictly educational (especially with the wide variety of styles available to make documentaries in nowadays).

Documentary Formats: Viewings

A 'documentary' when it comes to film is a piece of media which provides a factual report or insight on a particular subject, often with that being its main purpose. There are five main formats of documentary making. These five consist of expository, observational, interactive, reflexive and preformative. Out of the five documentaries we were set to view and research, this is how each fit into each documentary format:

We are the Lambeth Boys = Expository

High School = Observational

Louis and the Nazis = Interactive

Powaqqatsi = Reflexive

The Thin Blue Line = Performative

An expository documentary is a form of documentary which often includes a voice-over for a lot of its run, directly addressing the audience and viewers on what is happening on screen in the film, giving meaning to the events, but not any opinionated statements on them. The effect that this form of documentaries predominantly attempt to achieve is one of objectivity and fact. This definition fits well alongside the documentary 'We are the Lambeth Boys', which is intended to be a nostalgic look at London life in the 1950's. 

Observational documentaries are focused a lot more on simply presenting a slice of life to the viewer, without the presence of any kind of intervention from the filmmaker(s). They are hidden from sight throughout, leaving the doc to be centred a lot more on what is not contained, such as any interviews or commentary that may be present in the film. This type of documentary allows transparent records of whatever event is being covered to be shown in a  neutral and non - judgemental way, such as in the 1968 film 'High School' which takes a look at what education was like in Philadelphia during the time period of its filming.

In interactive documentaries, some presence of the filmmaker is evident to those watching throughout. Like in the Louis Theroux feature 'Louis and the Nazis', Louis (who takes position as the interviewer of the film many times) is on-screen in front of the camera for a large majority of the runtime, asking the people who are being interviewed their questions directly, also on camera. He is participating in the film while making it, interacting with both those seen on screen and us (the audience), and providing his own arguments and/or agendas to the text too, with manipulation of the text done through editing often being a lot more evident in this type of documentary compared to some of the others. Due to this, this mode of film making is sometimes criticised for "misrepresenting" and/or "manipulation" of what they are researching and showing in the final product, but are also defended by filmmakers because of the projected image being believed by many to be more important than fine details.

There is one form of documentary making which is known for the way it attempts to experiment with and expose the construction of the genre of film; these are known as reflexive pieces, documentaries which will consist of that capture 'everyday life', used as bricks to make quite experimental films, such as the documentary titled 'Powaqqatsi' (translating to "parasitic way of life" or "life in transition"), which focuses on exploring technologically developing countries over the world and the effects transition to western-like modernisation has on them. This film, like others of this form, is empty of voice-overs, clear opinions and agendas from the filmmaker(s), and a lack of presence from the creator as a whole.

The final form of documentary is known as performative. This form includes texts like 'The Thin Blue Line', using things like re-enactments of events which are discussed, specific soundtrack choices and exaggerated camera positions in order to create more emphasis on the text's presentation that on its content. All of these things are done in order to help submerge the audience entirely into the narrative, and present the subject matter that the film is revolved around in a very subjective, stylised, visceral and expressive manner.

Researching Channel 4's '3 Minute Wonders'

1 - Research into 3 Minute Wonder -
What is a '3 Minute Wonder'?
3 Minute Wonder is a short television slot on Channel 4 in the UK which broadcasts and shows off first time directors' documentaries in the middle of the channel's weekday 'prime-time' schedule, each documentary being only three minutes in runtime. The directors of the films shown on the series are offered four-thousand pounds by Channel 4, along with their assistance in the shorts creation, to then show them at 7:55pm on weekdays on the channel.

What is the aim/purpose of a 3 Minute Wonder?
The main purpose of this television slot seems to be to help new or unknown talent break into the television industry in the UK with Channel 4's help. This creation by the network is apart of their '4Talent' initiative, which consists of many other similar opportunities for unknowns in the industry, like 'the Channel4 Sheffield Pitch' documentary competition and 'FourDocs'.

What sort of topic would you expect to see on a 3 Minute Wonder?
Often, the documentaries shown during this slot highlight some kind of issue which is currently which is not extremely in the public's eye as of yet. For example, issues that have been addressed in docs shown in the past include the odd condition synesthesia, and domestic abuse.


2 - My Three Favourites -
- Beneath My Skin
- Karl Pilkington: Health
- This is Our Youth: ONM (One Note Music)


3 - My Choices Explained -
Doc #1
1. Why I like it:
I am personally already interested in getting a tattoo at some point in my life and so learning a bit more about the art of it all was quite interesting to me.

 2. What I have learned from watching it:
Some aspiring or learning tattoo artists start off by practising on pigs' skin before progressing onto living human bodies.

Doc #2
1. Why I like it:
I am already a fan of Karl Pilkington and his style of humour so this was fun for me to watch.

 2. What I have learned from watching it:
According to Karl, a scientist has said that humans only have a specific limited amount of heart beats throughout their lifetime.

Doc #3
1. Why I like it:
It was an odd, obviously not serious concept and just looked like it was probably fun for those in it to mess around and come up with & film.

 2. What I have learned from watching it:
I didn't really learn anything from this documentary, as it was a mostly comedic satiric one as opposed to an educational one like some of the others made for this slot.


4 - Market Research into the documentary format and its current viability -
TV Listings:

1. Channel 4
In a three day span (from Monday to Wednesday), 76 shows are shown on the channel. Out of these 72 hours of television, only 2 of these slots were taken up by documentaries, taking up a total of 2 hours and 50 minutes of runtime and 0.039 percent of the channel's output during these 72 hours. Also, none of the documentaries shown were during peak time, always showing at the earliest after watershed, and one being slightly past midnight.

2. ITV4
For another channel, 52 shows are shown in a three day span (again from Monday to Wednesday). Out of these 72 hours of television, none of these slots seemed to be taken up by documentaries, meaning zero percent of the channel's output during this time-frame.

The Nature & Purposes of Research

1 - Primary Research (Source)
Primary research is directly done by the researcher, as they are often looking for data to address their specific issue and not a general one. Instead of relying on data and results that have already been found and researched, primary research is technically 'owned' by them, as the data they need may not be able to be found online. Examples of this type of research includes interviews with others, online or physical surveys and focus groups all done in order to gather information directly from others. Personally, I have had to carry out primary research techniques a few times, for many different projects. The main version of primary research I have taken part in many times is a survey; whether that be filled with questions about parenting during lockdown in 2020, or a more simple set of questions relying on feedback related to a video project I have completed, these are often good, simplistic ways of gaining knowledge from a specific group of people, especially with the help of the internet.

2 - Secondary Research (Source)
This kind of research relies on using data and results that have already been gathered by previous researchers. These results could be found online or in a book for example, and is a much more cost and time effective type of research, but the results are often a lot more general and harder, if not impossible, to find for really specific questions. Very often, I have had to conduct secondary research, mostly in the case of looking for information related to a piece of college work which seems easiest and/or quickest to find the best details about online.

3 - Quantitative Research (Source)
Quantitative research is based on explaining whatever subject is being looked into using numbers and maths. This means by collecting numerical data, such as amounts of people who do or don't do something for example, and analysing that data. These pieces of data can be collected using any example of primary or secondary research tactics. In terms of the professional industry's uses of this type of research, things like ratings of television shows and how many people watched live, and the number of sales and profits made from sales of things like DVDs and CD units are quite common occurrences still to this day.

4 - Qualitative Research (Source)
Qualitative research relies on finding out why and/or how people act in the ways they do, providing in depth information about human behaviour. This type of research can also be done using any types of primary or secondary research methods. These are often the more 'open' type questions in things like surveys, leaving spaces for the person taking part to write in their own answers in a decent amount of depth, as opposed to simply selecting a pre-determined option given to them in the form of a box to tick for example.

5 - Data Gathering Agencies

The BARB (Broadcasters Audience Research Board) are an example of what is called a 'data gathering agency' in terms of the media section of the United Kingdom. These agencies are, as the name suggests, responsible for gathering results and data, specifically relating to a single subject, and, in the case of the BARB, are responsible for collecting "data that represent the viewing behaviour of the UK" when it comes to television programming and "delivering the UK's television audience measurement currency". Another notable place similar to the BARB would be the IMDB, or the 'Internet Movie Database', often used by people to look for details or reviews of media products they are interested in, due to it similarly being an "online database of information related to films, television programs, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan and critical reviews".  On top of these examples, their are many other agencies like these, also sometimes described as 'media research agencies' including the radio related 'RAJAR Ltd', (known as Radio Joint Audience Research), who are essentially the radio equal to the BARB, being responsible for "measuring radio audiences" in the UK.

6 - Market/Audience Research (Source)
This type of research is often done by businesses or companies, as it involves attempting to gather information about target markets or customers. These are often a combination of both qualitative research (including interviews) and quantitative research (like surveys with customers and looking into secondary data). When it comes to how it is used in the film industry, they could look into how much money a movie made, or the reviews it received after its release for example - both of these class as market/audience research.

7 - Production Research (Source)
This type of research is always needed when developing any new product, including in the film industry. This research is the type that finds data and information on how the product is made, and how it is made. Research like this can be done using primary and secondary research techniques.

News Research

News Channel Research:

1. Channel 4 News - April 20th, 8:00pm to 8.15pm (Freeview Channel 4, Sky Channel 104)

Who's presenting it? -
Jon Snow (+ Cathy Newman)

Do they link to anyone else? -
Someone for the deaf and blind story (missed the name), Siobhan Kennedy & Katie Martin (oil), Cathy Newman in studio introducing some stories

What does the studio look like? -
Purple colour scheme, square imagery on glass behind presenters desk, desk in the middle of room,
(*Currently presenting it (mostly) from home(s) due to Covid-19*)

Is there a title sequence? What happens in it? -
(After ad break) 4 News logo animated into form, couple seconds long, shortened version of their theme

How many stories covered? - ~4
Deaf and blind peoples' struggles during the pandemic - lack of interpreters during UK announcements etc, people with disabilities during Covid, US plunging oil prices, "lock-down art"

How did it end? -
Ad break - read out headline(s) they'll follow up on after break, bit of theme plays


2 - BBC News - April 20th, 10:38am to 11:00am (Freeview Channel 231, Sky Channel 503)

Who's presenting it? - NEVER SAID NAME!!
Middle aged blonde woman

Do they link to anyone else? -
Interviewed Aruna Kashyap & Paul Holmes, John Macquire reports about schools, Carol Kirkwood does weather

What does the studio look like? - Reporter on desk in forefront, red colour scheme, lots of desks and computer screens behind glass pane behind reporter, Large TV to her right

Is there a title sequence? What happens in it? -
(Pre-headlines) Around 20 sec countdown bottom right, BBC News Logo bottom left, clips of England playing in background, red graphics added in randomly
(Post-headlines) Red Earth graphic spinning top right, beepy theme, about 5 secs long, BBC News Logo bottom left

How many stories covered? - ~7
Ruby Prince Cruise ship quarantined and remained docked' (interviewed pianist on the ship - Paul Holmes), Safety Equipment Delays, Experimental Treatment (both mentioned on "Headlines"), US Corona-virus Situation (Trump responding to question about his opinions on protests to the lock-down - is okay with it), Bangladesh clothing industry hit (interviewed Aruna), back to school day (BBC plugged their Bitesize program), weather

How did it end? -
(Ad break -all BBC products) - came right after weather, came back with different presenter
(End) Says that's it, leads into local news

3 - ITV Lunchtime News - April 21st, 1:28pm to 1:47pm (Freeview Channel 3, Sky Channel 103)

Who's presenting it? -
Nina Hossain

Do they link to anyone else? -
Carl Dinnen (lack of protective resources), interviewed Paul Brand (care homes), interviewed Sergei Urban (DadLab)

What does the studio look like? -
Bluey-green colour scheme, presenter in forefront, cubic desk in middle (bluey-green and white), Michael Hadfield (Protools Plastic), screens behind a glass panel behind presenter

Is there a title sequence? What happens in it? -
After a quick run through of the headlines, clips of cities edited into montage to theme, zooms out to put greeny-blue itv News Logo in the centre

How many stories covered? - ~6
Lack of protective resources and gowns during Covid-19, number of deaths in care homes gone up, combating Covid related scams online, MPs return to house of commons, Plastic company increased business cresting pro masks, Homeschooling with 'DadLab'

How did it end? -
(End) Says goodbye, shows zoomed out wide shot of presenter at desk, plays theme for around 4 seconds, graphic of itv news logo

4 - Sky News - April 23rd, 9pm to 9:12pm (Freeview Channel 123, Sky Channel 523)

Who's presenting it? -
Gillian Joseph

Do they link to anyone else? -
Beth Rigby & interviewed Kate McCann (Lock-down releasing), Ed Conway (business decrease), Thomas Moore (vaccine testing)

What does the studio look like? -
Black glass desk in centre for presenter, large square screen behind showing white and blue colours, wooden floor, quite empty, modern, tv screens to left of presenter

Is there a title sequence? What happens in it? -
Sky News logo in centre, graphic opens up to show news story on screen shown in widescreen then in a portrait phone view, graphic closes again to show logo again, opens again into the news

How many stories covered? - ~5
All essential workers eligible for tests starting 24th, death count of Covid in hospitals, possible lock-down removal date, hugest slump in business on record, testing new Covid vaccine on humans begins

How did it end? -
(End) Read some headlines for the next show (due to it being a 24 hour news channel), 'Covid-19 Key Facts' displayed on screen,



News Values:

What is meant by the term news values? -
These are general criteria (or guidelines) which help determine how much 'newsworthiness' a story has or how much prominence a news story deserves from the media outlet. Usually, the more values a story has, the more worthy the story is considered.

What are the 12 categories / values? -
Proximity, Prominence, Currency, Conflict, Timeliness, Impact, Human interest, Consequence, Scandal, Extremes/Superlatives, Bizarreness/Oddity and finally the Facts.

What each value is/includes (with examples) -

Proximity:
If something has/is occurring close by, the impact of it on the audience (especially if it is a local newspaper for example) will be larger than if it was just a general story or one from somewhere else. If something is happening closer to the reader, they will be more interested in hearing about it.

Prominence:
Somebody's name who is well-known to many (like a celebrity, a royal, or any other large public person) will attract more people's attention when they are involved in a story than if the exact same story was about any other unknown person. Well-known people, events, or places possess stronger news angles than ones the general public is not as familiar with.

Currency:
More value comes from a new story when it is a trending story relevant to the public concern, like if it was about the national election or the Olympics, as opposed to ones that only a few will care about. A story's 'currency' relates to popular topics that will spark debate and communication among its readers. Often, news sources will produce stories alongside the main ones to give readers a better understanding of the topic it is about.

Conflict:
Arguments, rivalries and disagreements will always peak interest of audiences and readers - it is human nature. Naturally, people want to choose sides and stand up for whatever that side is that they have chosen or feel as if they relate to more, so it is common for an event that is related to some conflict in any way to be enough to make many interested due to that alone. Specific types of stories that often relate to and involve conflict are often those about religion, business, sport, wars, human rights violations and politics as a whole.

Timeliness:
News that is current or is happening at the time of the story's release has a lot more impact than a piece of news that happened a few days previously. New media loses interest very fast, meaning that events from the past (even if that past is only a couple days prior) can become stale - especially when there is always fresh news popping up elsewhere.

Impact:
The more people involved in a story's events, the better. More people will be interested in an event that involved thousands of strangers than one that just involved a few. Similarly, the higher amount of people who are affected by the event will have the same effect - the more involved in a story, the bigger its newsworthiness becomes. Examples of stories with huge impact like this could include a report of the heightened infected number of Covid-19 patients, or a protest with thousands of participants.

Human Interest:
If some sort of emotional reaction is brought out from a reader/viewer learning about a specific situation, it is very possible that the story contains the news element of a 'human-interest' story. These stories can be gentle. nice ones, like videos of new lambs that have been born at a local zoo, or more infuriating ones of something like the most recent incompetence from a country's government.

Consequence:
If an event reported on can/will impact the readers directly, they will, of course, want to know. For example, a report about a new virus hitting the world and its dangers will have a lot more potential consequence to the reader than a report on a new animal being added to the world's endangered species list.

Scandal:
As much as people don't often like to admit it, almost everyone loves to hate on somebody who did something extremely wrong, partly because they enjoy being on the right side of something. Due to this, reporters always want to be the first to report a new scandal that comes out, but a in order to keep the journalist integrity, the facts must be accurate as to avoid wrongful hate being thrown anywhere and the negative affects that can often cause more so than not.

Extremes/Superlatives:
If a reporter can legitimately claim or prove it to be accurate, their readers will likely be interested in the reporters' most recent find of the longest, biggest, smallest, highest, and so on of something in the world. This does not mean a reporter hyperbolising in their story, but instead that the claims are a hundred percent accurate.

Oddity/Bizarreness:
Sometimes. a story simply being really odd and bizarre can contribute to it being enough to make news out of, sometimes even being enough on its own - the more unusual or shocking something is, the better.

The Facts:
It is always important for a report to come out with all the facts associated. As much as the speed of a story's release can contribute largely to the amount of people who read it, if that story has been rushed out and needs to be updated in the future explaining that some of the facts were mis-reported, it can potentially lead to the trust between the reporter and the audience breaking down, meaning that the reader will be less likely to read that reporter's stories again in the future from fear of it not being true.