A2 Media Coursework Evaluation

6
EVALUATION A2 MEDIA DOCUMENTARY EVALUATION.

Transcript of A2 Media Coursework Evaluation

EVALUATIONA2 MEDIA DOCUMENTARY EVALUATION.

1: IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF MEDIA PRODUCTS?

My media documentary is based on the NBA star, John Amaechi and his role in young people’s lives. John Amaechi, raised in Heaton Moor, Stockport, started his basketball career in Manchester and has gone on to play in the NBA. John Amaechi has founded the Amaechi Basketball Centre in Manchester, the home of Manchester Magic and Manchester Mystic teams which has given many young people the opportunity to engage in the sport and opportunity to play for England Basketball internationally. It is a documentary on the lives of young basketball players in the UK and how the sport has affected their lives. A lot of young people are never encouraged to participate in the sport because it’s not very common and aren’t aware of the opportunities to get into the sport. The documentary also looks into the social aspect of the sport and how basketball brings about social opportunities for young people.

For several parts of my documentary I have used a common convention of media products which is a voiceover. The voiceover plays over the clips of John Amaechi’s career and clips of his time in the NBA. This also includes another convention; archive footage. The clips of John Amaechi are archive footage and I used YouTube as my source. I have also used archive footage of John Amaechi’s speech during the Hour of Inspiration at the Beyond Sport Summit & Awards 2012. I have also used radio clips of sports announcers talking about John Amaechi. Archive footage is also used in the documentary Hoop Dreams, a basketball documentary that I have previously analysed.

In several areas of my documentary I have used cutaways; during an interview I have cut to a different clip with the interview still playing. This means that the audio during the interview that is initially diegetic then turns to non-diegetic when the clip cuts away, therefore the interview audio alternates between diegetic and non-diegetic. I have also used background music throughout.

I have used several different tech codes and different camera angles. Firstly, for interviews I have usually used medium close up/close up at eye level with the interviewee, this consistent with other media products. For the footage of game play, most of the shots are medium long shot/long shot.

My documentary – archive footage Hoop dreams 1994 – archive footage

Interviews themselves are a convention of media products and are used in most documentaries. During the interviews, I have used name captions, as shown in nature documentaries when usually interviewing specialists on the subject of the documentary.

It could be said that my documentary challenges some conventions of media documentaries because I have used archive voiceovers and radio clips. This is not used a lot within media products, however I think it works with my documentary.

My documentary – name captions Dark Matter & Dark Energy in the Universe Documentary – name captions

The editing for my documentary is non-linear similar to documentaries that I have studied; however there is still a linear narrative. I have used selective editing with the gameplay when editing my documentary. I have also used fade in and out transitions and dissolve transitions which are also often used in documentaries.

In conclusion, I think my documentary has mainly used forms and conventions of other media products such as: Voice over, archive footage, cutaways that alternate between diegetic and non-diegetic, selective editing, interviews, name captions, eye level camera angles – MCU, CU, MLS, Diegetic interviews and non-diegetic background music / voiceovers.

My documentary - Fade in transitions

Whilst filming not only did I have to take into account the position of the interviewee, but how it could be done appropriately to adjust to the editing. The sound was also my responsibility, so this had to be up to the standard of excellence of other real media products. The shots had to be precise and correct. During the interviews I had to learn how to frame the interviews accurately, one form that I used in the interviews the most was putting the interviewee on the Left hand side of the camera, which shows a sense of dominance. Whilst framing an interviewing I had to take into account the rule of thirds. This is the most common rule for photographic composition.