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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Research Interviews
As well as our initial research questionaires, we recorded interviews with two members of our teenage target audience. These were two males and females and both of them were students who were asked the same questions:
- How often do you have Takeaways?
- What type of Takeaway do you prefer?
- If you were on your own, would you order a Takeaway over cooking?
Blank Questionaire
Questionnaire on Takeaways (Circle your answer)
1. What is your gender?
Male
Female
2. How old are you?
16-20
20-25
25-30
30-40
40+
3. How often do you have takeaways?
Never
Once every 3 months
Once every 2 months
Once every month
Once every 2 weeks
Once a week
More than once a week
4. Would you have a takeaway as an actual meal or just as a quick alternative?
Meal
Alternative
5. Do you find takeaways expensive?
Yes
No
Some
6. Do you prefer to get it delivered or to pick it up?
Delivered
Pick up
7. What type of takeaway do you prefer?
Indian
Italian
American
Thai
English
Chinese
Mexican
8. Do any special offers ever tempt you?
Yes
No
Sometimes
9. Do you usually have one with your friends, family or on your own?
Friends
Family
On my own
10. What type of takeaway is your least favourite?
Indian
Italian
American
Thai
English
Chinese
Mexican
11. Do you tend to order the same meal or go for something more adventurous?
Same meal
Something adventurous
12. What is the maximum amount you’d spend?
£0-£10
£10-£15
£15-£25
£25-£35
£35+
13. Do you buy a drink(s) with your takeaway?
Yes
No
Sometimes
Rarely
14. Do you usually order one on a weekday or at the weekend?
Weekday
Weekend
15. Are you always satisfied with the service you receive with your order?
Yes
No
If not please explain why…
16. If you were on your own would you order a takeaway over cooking?
Yes
No
Sometimes
Rarely
17. Do you order one in the day or at night?
Day
Night
18. How often do you watch television?
Every day
Every other day
Every couple of days
Every few days
Only to tune into a particular programme
19. What font do you prefer?
Arial
Times New Roman
Comic Sans
Impact
Lucida Handwriting
20. Do you prefer to have a male or female voice over?
Male
Female
21. What music do you prefer to listen to in a light hearted documentary?
Classical
Ambient
Pop
Jazz
Acoustic
Rock
Electronic
22. What is your favourite colour?
White
Black
Red
Blue
Green
Pink
Orange
Yellow
Purple
Running Order
Here is a chronologically ordered list of the techniques in which we plan for our documentary to be. This included shots, timings, narration, advert breaks and the total length that we planned for our documentary to be. This came to 26 minutes. However, we are only producing the first five minutes of our documentary, so there is a border at this point on the sheet.
Location Sheets
These are our location sheets. They show different locations on each sheet; each diagram is labeled explaining where all of the rooms are on set. The first sheet demonstrates the location of the ground floor of sophie's house so when we begin to film our group will understand their surroundings and be able to work in them. On the second sheet, there are two different sketches. The front of The Raj, which is a local Indian takeaway/restaurant in Culcheth and then a bird's eye view of the same location. Similarly to the house, our group will have a better understanding of The Raj when we start to film. Both sheets provide notification of the dates we will be film on both locations, Health and Safety and the address. We can therefore consider any important factors in each area pre-filming.
Monday, October 17, 2011
DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS - Detroit Lives
TYPE OF DOCUMENTARY
This was a mixed documentary that strongly favored cutaways, reconstructions and interviews as methods of presenting factual accounts to the audience.
THEMES
All of the sub themes were constantly related to one main theme of the past industries in Detroit from 1945-1972 after post war America. There were sub topics of how art and music are trying to recreate opportunities to Detroit. There was also some mention of how the media only generates negative publicity towards Detroit because of the drug infested neighborhoods and the many abandoned factories.
NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
The linear structure of this documentary was led by interviews. There was no 'Voice of God' that some mixed documentaries choose to present their information by. Instead, Jackass star Johnny Knoxville was the most common figure on camera and he acted as a presenter in this Detroit Lives. The exposition of this documentary is established within the first minute of edited footage by Knoxville. He tells the audience that he is going to find out about Detroit's industrial problems and if they can be solved. The leads towards the middle of the documentary, where there is an analysis of Detroit's possible opportunities and how music could create opportunities for the city. By the end of the film, the audience is left to decide whether Detroit could one day have a future similar to its 'Boom Years' of the past.
CAMERAWORK
As soon as Johnny Knoxville mentions that he is in Detroit, there was an establishing location shot from a moving car of some of Detroit's buildings. This is very justifiable, straight to the point and in some ways the perfect way to open a documentary. The camera is canned up slightly to allow the audience to understand how large some of the buildings in Detroit are. There were some panned shots in the cutaways. Most notably, one of the panned long shots was used to create a comparison between one of many old factories and a new school in Detroit. The age on these buildings was made more obvious because of this. Some of Detroit's super long shots were taken from a helicopter. This was despite the location already being established earlier in the documentary.
Not all of the interviews used a tripod to keep the camera steady. Often, when the interview subject was standing up, no tripod would be used. When an interview subject was sat down, there would be a tripod to keep the camera steady. This does not just add variety to the interviews, it adds some personification to the camera angles. This is a code that Detroit Lives sticks with throughout. Interviews varied in terms of angles. There were some full body shots of interview subjects that cut to mid close ups ups. In car that Johnny Knoxville was driving, there was a fixed camera with a microphone facing towards the inside of the car.
MISE-EN-SCENE
Bright colours stood out among darker backgrounds. This helped in keeping the audience interested in what was happening on screen and tried to elaborate on Detroit's potential. The clothing that some of the interview subjects wore was one factor that contributed to this. One elderly African American male subject wore a pink shirt. In some ways, it helped make what he was saying much more relevant because of the Racial tensions that occurred in Detroit during the downfall of its industry.
At one of the interviews in a darker area of the abandoned theatre, there was a door that had been opened wide to allow natural lighting to shine to where the camera was focused on.
At one of the interviews in a darker area of the abandoned theatre, there was a door that had been opened wide to allow natural lighting to shine to where the camera was focused on.
SOUND
Whenever Johnny Knoxville appears in the classic Cadillac car, rock music was always played at the same time. The pitch of some of the music from a bar was briefly raised in a cross cut from an interview. This was relevant because it was just what the subject was talking about. The same music then fades to the level it was at before so that the subject could carry on talking. There was some diegetic rock music from the local band 'The Dirtbombs' when they were performing at Scion Garage Music Festival. There was some bad language in this documentary, usually coming from Johnny Knoxville, but it was censored by a bleep.
EDITING
In terms of editing, its style was very repetitive. The pace was almost always at a medium level except for when there was a short montage of artists who had performed in Detroit in the past. Cutaways were almost a constant feature of this documentary and to some this could be seen as boring. On the other hand, this could be seen as creative because of everything the editor cut to being relevant to the discussion on screen.
ARCHIVE MATERIAL
The very first clips in this documentary are archive footage from news agencies who are reporting about Detroit in a negative way. This is pre-evidence before the mention of News agencies having a negative and biased attitude towards Detroit in modern times. There was a montage of artists who had appeared in Detroit in the past. This included The Stooges and Alice Cooper. Separate from this montage, there was footage of MCS playing in Detroit in 1970 and short clips from two music videos belonging to the rapper White Milk.
There was archive material that was used in a re-constructional manor too. It helped the narrative explain to to audience that industrial car companies such as General Motors and Chrysler used to be based in Detroit during the industrial boom.
GRAPHICS
Like many other documentaries, white text on a black or transparent background is a common feature here. The opening credits are in these colours and are animated. Sometimes, when a new location appeared on screen, in the bottom left corner small and white text appears to help establish the location. The graphics for the names and titles of the interview subjects appeared on the left or right side of the screen, depending on the camera angle.
Like many other documentaries, white text on a black or transparent background is a common feature here. The opening credits are in these colours and are animated. Sometimes, when a new location appeared on screen, in the bottom left corner small and white text appears to help establish the location. The graphics for the names and titles of the interview subjects appeared on the left or right side of the screen, depending on the camera angle.
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