Rationale for my coursework idea

RATIONALE

Out of the many different briefs presented to me for my media assignment the original idea that appealed strongly to my persona was the option of producing a segmented short clip from a new tv documentary approximately lasting five minutes once recorded. Also vital to be included in this particular package was a double page spread from a magazine outlining the documentary and also a newspaper article that focused upon it as well. Immeditately I concluded I wanted to focus entirely upon real life occurances that happen every day in society – I want my product to appeal to the target audience therefore orientating it around something we can relate to or we are familiar with in a sense, that way it wouldn’t appear too outlandish that the audience would have a zero percent chance of ever experiencing (like a tropical expedition documentary for example).  I was therefore strongly influenced by my own experiences with life for inspiration so I have decided to center my documentary around the world of eating disorders, most importantly how food issues effect us all to the present day through the use of the media (celebrities broadcasted on tv, magazines, internet streaming sites etc) whilst showing us the harsh reality of how mentally painful it is to live in such a lifestyle by interviwwing current and recovered anorexia nervosa sufferers.

The target audience for this product have to be sophisticated in a sense to fully understand and appreciate the severity of the illness itself so I will be focusing on attracting the attention of young adults and anyone over the age of eighteen, this age range have more emotional understanding and appreciation whereas younger viewers may be visually upset and disturbed by the phyical consequences of the devastation of anorexia (moreover graphicness such as the emaciation of the bodily frame) Moreover a large percentage of eating disorder sufferers are between the ages of 14 and above so there is a significantly raised chance of older individuals experiencing this compared to someone who is classified in a younger age category.

 For both the magazine and newspaper articles I would like the central photography to be incorporated in a black and white effect – particularly with the girls who the documentary will be focusing on. This reflects the ‘black and white’ thinking of a person suffering with an eating disorder, they view the world through their own thoughts and judgements with the illness convincing them they are always in the right leading to the belief everyone is against them. The dull hue also describes the feelings of isolation and entrapment an individual will feel as their illness drives a wedge between those they love and cherish the most. The shots of the girls I want as the main images I would highly prefer to be blurred and distorted, for me it helps to highlight the mysteriousness around the subject – what causes people to inflict such self harm upon themselves? Not only that but it reflects how ‘out of reality’ anorexia can take someone making their existence seem lost and misplaced as they lose themselves from those around them and into the illness itself.

Due to the nature of my brief instructing me that I need to fulfil the criteria of both a magazine and newspaper feature revolving around the content of my documentary I think it is essential the colour scheme overall should be the primary method of attracting reader interest to my media production. Due to my target audience ranging from young adults to middle aged citizens it is necessary to not only revolve the colour scheme around the documentary but the public as well, it is of importance to gain the interest of the correct target age range as this allows the feature to be viewed potentially by the largest number of people possible in the age margin. I have resorted to incorporate a neutral colour scheme to both the magazine listing and the newspaper coverage; this will provide the most basic of shades from grey, white and black. This may seem mediocre and boring yet I believe it relates to my concept perfectly and ties in remarkably fitting with the complexity of eating disorders. It not only portrays the sad, lonely existence of the ordeal of an individual suffering from the illness, but the numbness they feel ( it is commonly described that patients feel ‘cut off’ from the world and that they live in a reality of their own with only the disorder for comfort) this therefore reflects their separation from society itself. Moreover the neutral tones appeal strongly to the adult age range I am focusing upon, as visually it is not intriguing to an individual of the younger generations who are potentially more engaged by bright, sharp and colourful productions, whereas an adult would be fairly able to decipher the severity of the topic through the usage of dismal colours. I think most importantly the shades I am choosing help to reflect the sincerity and severity of the situation for a person enveloped in the snare of an eating disorder, it also expresses the public health and beauty genre as bland colours are often of use in many traditional hospitals and inpatient services where these illnesses may be treated. Most importantly it markets a mature mindset to fully grasp – hence why adults are being targeted.

An important aspect of creating a feature is to ensure you can claim the audience’s immediate attention almost instantly – this certifies success. So for me relying on a balanced colour scheme and well constructed font/text can guarantee a successful production. The main headline for the articles will be encased in a striking, dramatic bold font – this will easily grasp the reader’s point of interest. Although I am primarily orientating around a neutral colour layout I have decided to include a cover line for the features, this I wish to be presented in a visually dramatic burgundy/scarlet red shade. A tone of this proportion is not easily overlooked by someone browsing through a magazine; red connotates danger, a warning, which essentially is the reaction I am intending to provoke. For someone suffering from an eating disorder, particularly anorexia, there are many physical complications which range in severity and eventually leading to death if not treated effectively. These consequences are what I wish to highlight through the use of this colour – that the outcome for a person who is not effectively treated is not a joyful one. Red can be seen as symbolising the heart as well, and how it is the heart of the individual themselves which drives their illness to the extreme and is the bearer of the life they are losing, yet it can be seen as the audience lending their heart and sympathy towards the situation. Hearts symbolise the health genre which this documentary is moreover focusing upon and how the staff of many hospitals fight to save the lives of those seriously malnourished on the brink of ebbing away completely. The red contrasts well against the neutral layout making the cover line easily identified on the page itself. I want my cover line to be of an original origin and want to venture away from the classic cheesy line a writer might use relating to the programme or a piece of information detailing the content of the show so I decided upon using a quote taken from one of the girls interviews – this conveys highly the personal nature of the documentary and that real life people are being focused upon. This is appealing to the audience as it indicates this is someone’s thoughts and feelings – not a mash up piece of script a writer has thrown together, reflecting the very serious real life situation they are involved within. Due to it being directly taken from an individual, the quote should be presented in italics with speech marks to symbolise this point further. The main informative body of text that describes the contents of the documentary will be situated underneath the cover line, this is to allow continuity and a rhythm to be established within the article, this way the audience can clearly identify that each individual piece of text is linked to one another and follows in a traditional continuative editorial fashion. The font here will be smaller then the cover line to minimise the risk of them blending together and appearing as one long continuous feature which may appear off-putting for the audience to read, the different sizes will allow the reader to distinguish the centre piece article from other related pieces of text. The font on the main body will be presented in black to link in with the neutral tone establishing that vital consistency. Important words will be displayed in italics to divert the readers gave to these important selling points of the feature which will be more easily imprinted and remembered later.

Since the layout for the magazine could be constructed to follow so many different paths I initially found it challenging to employ an appropriate plan of what I’d guarantee it to look at when presented to my target audience. I decided to firstly go for a more obvious method of placing the main headline at the top of the page, which would carry on over both sides of the double page spread, this emphasises the importance of the documentary to the audience. Underneath this on the right hand side would be the follow up cover line which will explain a few more minor details about the programme to engage additional interest from the reader. I’m confining the main body of text which focuses entirely upon the documentary to the right page of the spread to allow the left to expose the large image relating to the documentary – this photo is what I am relying upon to gain me the maximum visual interest from the audience as entirely possible.

Whilst I was researching ideas for what I could possibly create within the content of my products I observed, read and watched various forms of media to gain more insight into the target area of documentaries my brief focuses upon. I began by viewing stereotypical health related shows such as 'Supersize vs Superskinny' and 'Embarassing Bodies' as I was interested throughly in the method of filming the chose, most commonly the Steadicam technology that was employed to film individuals during their personal interviews. This relates massively to the content of my documentary as i would hopefully be filming girls with many forms of eating disorders, I feel it would be most appropriate to film them in a traditional interview style with the camera equipment mounted upon a tripod. This would prevent it from wobbling and therefore create a very professional, sleek look to the documentary. The words of the girls would have to be taken extremely seriously as ultimately they would be documenting their hardships and battles faced with a devastating illness, this deserves a level of respect so by keeping the technology steady it would help to illustrate further the seriousness of their conditions. In the cases of the programmes I mentioned above, Steadicam allows the audience t directly connect with the individual on the screen as they can have a stronger relationship with their stories, as the lack of camera movement personifies the dramatic and sometimes serious tales they have to tell which in turn causes the viewer to focus on them more intentionally and to highlight the nature of what is being discussed. I am interested in using a dolly at some point as I feel it would be beneficial to follow the girls of the documentary around in their every day lives, this would show a sense of 'normality' and that they can engage with an average life rather then being completely absorbed by their eating disorder every moment of the day. For reference point I was inspired to watch 'Supersize Me'. Although this is a movie it ultimately is a documentary in essence, revolving around the obesity epidemic caused by the many fast food industries that are distributed in our nations. This is typical hand held footage which is shaky and slightly disorientated, normally this is employed to cause confusion in the audience yet for this programme in particular it is used to 'track' the main narrator as an 'in the moment' filming technique as they follow him around his every day life. It is highly effective as it appears to be filmed during real time rather then in a scripted situation so emphasises the spontaneous nature of the documentary and the effort that has been given to perceive a very realistic environment the audience can engage and empathise with. Since my content focuses upon eating disorders in an average household, in an average living area it may be of great use to go for a hand held filming style as this would enable the viewer to recognise these girls live in similar environments as them, making the connection stronger between the audience and the girls, that they aren't just unique individuals but are just as normal as me and you. The viewer may also be able to relate to the settings in the documentary (housing estates, shopping malls) as these are typical places we would go to and be found in during an every day course of life, familiar environments provides a comforting edge to the audience that they can relate to these nostalgic areas.

Furthermore I was influenced by a book I read a few months ago called 'Thin' by Grace Bowman, a young woman who has fully recovered from anorexia. Not only did the content of the novel startle and disturb me at times, I felt like incorporating some of the concepts she mentioned (such as exercise, restrictive behaviours) could enhance my documentary, overall I would consider asking the girls questions like this if it is to highlight the destruction of the illness (and therefore alarm and shock the audience) whilst also prompting a more intriguing and interesting content of my programme which would allow the viewer to remain engaged with it. Most importantly I was heavily influenced by the front cover of her publication as it portrays a woman with anorexia, yet you can't see her face so all emphasis is upon her body. This concept truly fascinates me in that excluding someones facial features could pull more attention to them physically (which would be beneficial in portraying the physical complications of the illness), I think it would be an amazing idea to take with me for when I develop the poster and double page spread for my brief and what type of images I should consider using.