Storyboards for my Documentary

Upon primary basis I have my beliefs surrounding the background knowledge my target audience already retains towards the topic of anorexia nervosa and various other mental disorders in this category, therefore I intend to enlighten them by informing them all directly of some statistics regarding the severity and incidences o the condition in the opening sequences, therefore they will able to gain a concept of how many individuals suffer from it etc - this almost acts like a preview as it will engage them instantly before the girl is actually displayed on screen ensuring they are intrigue before the main content is shows. The remainder of my docmentary extract I intend to stage in a staggered fashion, that is constantly referring back to the girl and her mother during their personal interviews whilst also focusing upon the female sufferer in question in a routine of normal every day activities (such as cleaning, going out) as this indicates that despite her life threatening condition, she is still an ordinary person such as you and I and is capable of enjoying average interests even with the anorexia plaguing her movements. This is where the contrast fits in between the interview/movement sequences as the voice over will be continued over the filming even when the subject is not present, this indicates that notion further that the girl cannot escape her illness as it is constantly spoken, referred to and on her mind 24 hours a day. In the way the footage is constructed I hope my audience will be able to identify this idea.

These repeating sequences described above will continue until the climax of the documentary (approximately 2 minutes in length) which will generate focus towards how severely ill the girl got, this forwards the underlying acquisition that although she is functioning relatively normally in her life currently, the anorexia had a massive impact on her life which was almost responsible for her untimely death, this emphasises how dangerous the mental disorder is and will allow the audience to appreciate the suffering a person endures as this is no easy battle for anyone. The employment of personal archive footage consisting of photographs of the girl when she was extremely critical in her physical state aids to reinforce this.

High Definition Quality of my Media Documentary

As what is normally expected of a media production, there is usually a standard version of the programme in question accompanied by a high definition (HD) product in addition to the main, this is to offer the audience the choice of a trade off and allows them a choice as to what they prefer to view it in. HD is on average displays a much clearer image on screen and appears more flawless in regards to the original document. I feel by having this other version I will be offering the viewers these two options of film, I'm hoping the HD will potentially appeal more generously to them due to the superior quality it presents as the more attractive the product is, there is a greater likelihood the audience will want to engage with the production




I converted my original file of 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' to a high definition form and imported it into the desktop of my Mac computer before uploading it directly to my media Youtube account, by having the video go public it would give me a better understanding of how much my product actually targets my desired audience as with the documentary in a real life setting (i.e on the internet) it will be engaging with real people rather then those suggested in my hypothesis, so I will be able to obtain authentic feedback as to what their views actually are without any bias (such as if I showed my class members instead).

Final completed Double Page Spread and Documentary Poster

Mood Boards containing Inspiration for my Media Products

To add some variety to the deconstructions and inspirational designs I was observing to gain an understanding of how to construct my three products as designated by the brief I created several mood boards for each task I had to create for my coursework - one for the documentary itself, another for the ancillary task for my advertisement poster and the final orientating around my double page spread. Each mood board can be accessed via the hyperlink that is inserted below. I enjoyed creating these boards as it gave me a more visual aspect towards my ideas rather then being a written analysis, whilst still providing the depth and density. 

http://gb.pinterest.com/aimeecorner/inspirations-for-documentary-poster/

Click here to access the mood board via Pinterest 


http://gb.pinterest.com/aimeecorner/media-documentary-eating-disorders-tv-listing-arti/

Click here to view this particular mood board


http://gb.pinterest.com/aimeecorner/inspirational-documentaries/

The final Pinterest board can be seen here via the link

Music For my Documentary

During my viewing sessions of mainstream documentaries I regarded most profoundly that there was a continuous theme of background music in all of them, it was used in particular sections more dramatically when used to emphasise a fact or a serious story (such as when an individual was giving  history of their illness/experiences to the audience) I perceived the tone of the programme most efficiently through the use of their soundtracks as it allowed me to identify the essential segments of the film whilst also creating a mood which prompted particular emotions from me (for example in 'Supersize vs Superskinny Kids' the involvement of a bleak, depressing soundtrack used during the discussion of the child anorexic sufferers stories allowed me to perceive truly how much they had suffered through the constraints this evil illness subjected them to) therefore I believed background composition would be most effective for  detailing a story (such as the one of the girls in my own documentary) whilst aiding in giving a certain atmosphere to the film (happy, sad, enthusiastic) which would provoke a particular mood or response from my audience. To conclude with I decided to listen to several unique piano soundtracks as I concluded I wanted a calm approach music wise to my documentary as I felt this would give a more 'relaxed' approach to entail how delicately and innocently an eating disorder will develop in an individual.



The first instrumental set of music I listened to was the 'Sad Beautiful Piano' by Sparrow. I felt this tune personified in particular places (especially between the time of 0.07-0.15) the unhappiness and underlying sadness the girls of my documentary feel and experience due to their anorexia. There was such a melodramatic tone within these first few opening seconds which really connected and corresponded with the overwhelming emotion associated with the illness. However as the peice of music continued I noticed how the pitch was amplified and the overall dramatic element of the pianist playing was increasing frequently in sound. This unfortunately is not what I desire as I was hoping to disover a piano sountrack that was relatively calm throughout the piece with having few if to none aggressive instrumental moments. Although this could heighten the sense of anger the women feel towards their condition I believed it did not reverberate that despondance I desired throughout the continuation of the documentary. Essentially I was to use the Sparrow piano soundtrack I could potentially only incorporate the initial 30 seconds which is not satisfactory especially with my extract being an extended 5 minutes in production time, furthermore this would not be benefiical to me. I also noticed that the music repeated itself rather then being a varying track, this is most identifable in the segment 3.11 when the opening sequence is repeated. I wasn't too enthralled by this, I'd rather have a unique piece flowing without then one that continously overlaps, without repeating itself I feel the music would highlight how the illness is ongoing with new circumstances encontered often in each individuals journey (such as new behaviours accquired due to an anorexic mind or the painful process of recovery) it is through all these points brought to immediate attention that discourages me from using this soundtrack at all so I may just discard it from my potential music pieces.




The second piano instrumental piece I engaged with was 'Thoughts', the artist of this such composition is unknown. From the onset of me playing it I was almost instantly deterred, the opening music was extremely aggressive and loud compared to the quiet and melodramatic feel I intended to create in my documentary. Loudness indicates anger and although I can acknowledge that the girls in the film will most likely have some level of aggression directed to their illness, this emotion would most importantly not be there on a consistent basis, I feel the levels if sadness would outweigh it on many an occasion (I can presume this is true after speaking with many of the women I interviewed for my documentary as they described a heightened sense of depression and anxiety which is associated with their anorexia). A calm soundtrack is essential for the most major parts of the documentary, such as the establishing scene and interviews with the participants, I can't really identify a place where a violent outburst of music is required since the whole film is designed to provoke some empathetic response and sympathy from the audience. I feel the viewer would be deterred by the aggression within the music as they would not associate this piece with a programme that focuses upon the underlying sadness attached to mental illness, it does not signify sadness but that of true anger which contains no sympathetic qualities, furthermore this highlights to me they will not be provoked to elicit the correct emotional response I desire (I want the overall feelings of the audience to relate to how the anorexic girls are feeling, if the viewer is given the impression to be angry then they are incorrectly identifying with the girls conditions)




Through listening to the previous two extracts I was beginning to become discouraged by what instrumental intros I had on offer from Youtube as none ultimately fit the strict criteria I had set for myself in regards to what I found most desirable for the music product in my documentary. As a last resort I listened to this final piano piece in the belief I would find what I was most searching for. After engaging with the opening three minuted of the intro I was relieved to have found exactly what I had described. The opening minute of this specific piece is extremely melodramatic and empty in tone, the pace and rhythm is extremely slow in pace and composition which ideally is what I had intended for the opening extract of my documentary - in the beginning scenes I am emphasising the shocking statistics surrounding anorexia which requires a level of sincerity towards it from the audience members. In addition one of the girls will be introduced in this narrow time frame and I feel a slow tempo is an appropriate method of introduction to them which will slowly allow me to increase the frequency of the background music to act as an 'action' pace to keep up with the 'action' explained within her story. The speed in this piano piece increases at 1.04 seconds into the clip, I feel this relates significantly to the build up of 'action' in my documentary clip, more specifically so when the girls story is beginning to unfold as it signifies a journey of discovery is about to be undertaken by the audience, therefore the cascading tempo fits most appropriately with this specific section of my documentary. The rapid succession also indicates to me personally that it is acting as a build up to a climax where something truly awful will happen, my idea expressed here is most coherent which can be identified within 3.02 as the volume dramatically decreases to the extent its almost inaudible. This personifies in the extract of my documentary how serious the girls anorexia descended to (as she required hospitalisation) - the decreased pace amplifies the seriousness as the rapid reduction in sound illierates a dramatic overtake in the situation regarding her illness,  the depressive mood surrounding this event prompting the audience to regard her in a sympathetic light. This contrasts identically with how I desire the viewer to feel, as what I had described in my brief, in the more critical aspects of the documentary (such as the opening and middle) certain events should naturally be more paid attention to so the points in the music where it changes so rapidly indicate to me this is the perfect opportunity to incorporate my serious clips into. There are so many advantages within using this piano soundtrack as it fits the criteria I described for my filming style so perfectly that its easy to conclude this will be the final piece I will use in the production of my documentary 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat'.

Evaluation for my A2 Media coursework via Video Link

This is my four question evaluation which I was conducted to do so as required of me to aid me in gaining an understanding of how greatly I feel I have progressed throughout the entire of my A2 year creating my chosen brief, how I've developed my media skills and most importantly what have I learned in terms of skills aquisition through my construction of these tasks and how previous errors I have made in the past can be appropriately corrected. Furthermore it allowed my own viewpoint to be established in the sense I could detail to my assessors ultimately how I believe the whole coursework element went and whether understandably there was sections I could improve on.

Inspirational Texts for my Double Page Spread

Before I began to compose a basic outline for how I intend my double page spread article to look, it was highly beneficial to me that I conducted some thorough background research into my chosen area, more specifically upon mainstream magazines and the double page spreads they contained within. This would allow me to gain a basic understanding of how to structure and orientate my work, preparing me in advance for what I am expected to produce to conform with standard industry expectations.

The first text I looked at in the Radio Times was the spread for celebrity chef Paul Hollywoods new programme 'Paul Hollywoods Pies and Puds'. The convention that instantly grasped my underlying attention in rapid succession was the enlarged image of Paul himself occupying the entire left hand side of the production, in concept it is so bold and large that for it to fit into the layout of the spread it must overflow onto the adjacent page which contains the article detailing the show. The photograph is in an almost 3D like effect as the pie Paul is throwing gives the illusion it is coming completely out of the page and into the audiences range where they must reach out to grasp it to prevent it falling to the floor. I feel this is a clever technique used by the editor to create an emotional connection between the spread and the reader, by creating the appeal Paul is trying to get to know them better (hence throwing his cooking to provoke a reaction kind of response) it illustrates a bond can be formed as the person in question who the article is focusing upon is attempting to 'make friends' with the audience illiterately, therefore they can see him as more of an existing and normal individual then a mainstream chef who wants nothing to do with them - it personifies that Paul is capable of having average emotions and isn't as selfish as the reader can anticipate him to be because of his high professional status. When referring back to my own double page spread product for my documentary 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' I feel it would be beneficial for me to mimic the effectiveness of what is used in the image above, moreover if my model in the photograph of my own production could connect with the reader in some way this would allow that personal relationship to be strengthened. Under my circumstances a 3D like effect as witnessed in Pauls article wouldn't be appropriate for addressing anorexia, however I feel an emotional response rather then a physical would be the best course of action, in this instance I will probablies be relying more on the model body and emotional language to grasp, intrigue and revoke the audiences immediate attention.

 I feel the colour scheme employed is the second most important aspect of the product. The blue contrast nicely with the lightened shade on Paul's shirt, effectively portraying this article will be entirely orientated around him as they indicate inter-linkage and succession from one another. Another idea I had was that the blue signified a male themed production, this is further heightened through the use of the image of Paul to suggest this spread is aiming at attracting a male audience as well as a female, men can admire Paul's expertise in the kitchen and how successful he has been whilst women can not only admire his cooking skills, I feel the older generation of females may see Paul as attractive, furthermore this adds a generated 'sex appeal' to the product indicating it is attempting to appeal to as many different sub categories of audience members as possible in doing so it would generate the largest reading population as what can be achieved to ensure there will be a great number of individuals watching the show when it is to be broadcast. Regarding the colour scheme for my production, it would be most appropriate to relate it to the nature of my documentary - hence why I desire a black and white theme as ultimately this contrasts and relates to the death, destruction and despondence created by the anorexia, with further emphasis upon the 'black and white' thinking of an anorexic brain, in this mindset they can not distinguish what is right or wrong. This debate can be seen in the article of my spread as it contrasts between the positive and negative elements of the condition, directly related to the 'black and white' thinking. 

The headline for the article is most interesting, the use of 'Man Enough' suggests to me that because baking is traditionally seen as a feminine role, males aren't expected to conform to the job in the kitchen preparing of food etc yet because Paul has took a very dominant role here as a chef, he is defying stereotyped judgements of how men and women are expected to behave in society. Moreover it implies that Paul is worthy enough to bake hence the 'man enough', he is indicating to men how superior he is which reinforces typical patriachial views. For the headline for my documentary double page spread I am intending to employ a rhetorical question referencing to the anorexia itself, in this instance it will hopefully provoke a range of thoughts from the reader as I want them to have an internal conflict with themselves revolving around the illness - in essence why won't it let people eat?

 The colour scheme is consistent throughout with the dominant shades revolving around blue, black and white. To me the blue highlights the masculinity in the article, how it is focused solely upon a male and with blue being a very stereotypical boyish colour it corresponds well besides Paul in connotating masculinity ideas. Interestingly the blue of the studio background contrasts efficiently with the light baby colour of Paul's shirt, the use of two blues in essence creates the link that Paul is directly involved in this article a his clothing relates to the backdrop, however I also get the sense that it brings a very nostalgic feel to the piece. Soft blue is typically associated with the younger generation of boys, such as infants and toddlers, I get the impression that through this colour in particular it emphasises the notion that Paul has reverted back to his childlike persona from many years ago, baking is obviously a passion to him and has been ever since he was a boy so I think this colour specifically references back to all the good times with food he had when he was younger, which understandably brings out an enthusiastic version of himself (you can see this in his joyous expression) which breaks down the walls of his steely hard overtone that many people see him as. Essentially it creates the message that Paul truly has a passion for cooking, the audience can clearly identify this which connects them more throughly with him as they can see there is a softer side to him which was previously unknown. The blue is used again on the headline 'Man Enough' to reference to the male quality of this production, black is employed to dramatise the remaining words of 'To Bake', creating the association that although cooking is typically seen as a very feminine role, that a man is up to the challenge and can produce equally as good food if he sets himself out to be. The boldness illustrates how it is not a task males simply flop at and if they are prepared to really can take on the role of baking in the household. Since my article for my documentary 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' is predominantly focused on very bleak, dismal colours I think it would be difficult to conotate ideas effectively as what has been done in this spread (a direct reference back to Paul's shirt and the background), however I believe it may be appropriate to dress the model in dark shades of clothing despite the theme orientating in black and white. The deeper palette on the items they are wearing will be more throughly emphasised through this background theme, moreover it relates to the models mood - as I want them in a distraught, pained expression the colours of the clothes highlight the mental distress they are subjected to because of the dominant and brutal nature of the anorexia nervosa.

Drop caps are employed to distinguish the most vital segments of the article, this way the audiences gaze is immeditelly drawn to the interesting sections of the text, to keep them enthralled and interested in the product itself, this gives a greater chance of them finishing the entire piece rather then them being discouraged to read it. Moreover my favourite aspect of this double page spread is the employment of an addditional box of text named 'Paul's Verdict' in this it details Paul's personal opinion over some of the recipes he has made and what mistakes to avoid doing when cooking in the home enivornment. This provides a further point of interest to the reader, the more conventions that are present the more appealing the article will look, not only that but it emphasises the personal nature to the spread by including the thoughts of Paul himself it reduces subjective views by the editors, therefore the audience can identify that this is indeed authentic and true life statements that have been said. There is a clever use of a kicker placed directly underneath the main title, the text itself isn't of a serious nature but more of an informal style. It describes how although Paul Hollywood is a famous chef with a stressful lifestyle, he is almost content if someone gives him his favourite scouse meal and allowed him to watch an episode of top gear he would be perfectly at home. This creates the impression to the reader that yes he is a high demand man with a hectic workload, yet despite this aspect of him he is at the end of the day a 'normal' person with average male interests, displaying to them Paul is of equal status to them - in reality he is no different to an ordinary individual with only his job role being the major point in identifying him as a velebirty. Likewise it allows them to realise that he is the same as them, creating a stronger emotional connection between `paul and his reading audience as they will be able to recognise that their lives aren't that much different, it destroys the barriers that would separate them based solely upon media recogniton. With them identifying he is no different then they are more likely to engage with the article as he may have similar interests and loves to them, which strengthens the personal relationship. Additionally the date and time of the broadcasting hours about the programme is specified above the first drop cap of the main body of text, this indicates to the reader when and where the show will be on the network, this technique created by the editors ensures the largest viewing audience will be obtained as they have an understanding of where to watch 'Paul Hollywoods Pies and Puds', guaranteeing they won't miss it. All of these conventions mentioned above (the drop caps, review box and kicker) are to be placed and positioned correctly in my double page spread for 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' as I feel conforming to these typical aspects will allow my production to appear as authentic and realistic as to what is expected from a magazine article such as this. I am definitely employing the use of the unique 'verdict' box, instead of it being focused upon one of the girls I am intending to use it for a completely neutral opinion on the documentary itself, in this instance I guarantee it will be most appropriate to use an independent reviewers thoughts as this eliminates subjective interpretation on the programme whilst also expressing anothers view who has no knowledge as prior to the effects of anorexia.

I deconstructed the double page spread composed to detail the events of a new real life TV programme named 'Goggle box'. Interestingly the first feature I identified as unusual in the layout of the product was the rather radical method of image distribution, commonly in a spread production the editor lays out the photographs in a way so that there is a dominant photo on the left hand page with the writing of the article accompanying it on the right. This spread in particular defies this traditional design as the image is placed central to the page, with it overlapping into both the left and right in equal length. I feel this is to personify the positioning of both the male and females of the house on the sofa, it is noticeable that the man and woman are either sitting on the left or right of the furniture with the crease line of the magazine separating them onto different pages from one another. This draws emphasis upon them creating the notion they have engaged in some form of dispute so are attempting to separate themselves from one another with this particular crease further illiterating the idea further. However I feel the unfounded separation is due to the nature of the show the article is detailing , 'Gogglebox' composes of a camera being placed into a regular household to observe their opinions and thoughts over authentic TV shows broadcast to us, with this in mind it seems more plausible to me that this married couple are at opposite end because their opinions over the shows they are reviewing for the public are entirely different from one another, this therefore can cause the 'dispute' we are witnessing on the page as they can't come to an agreement over their opinions so are distancing themselves to heighten their displeasure to one another at this time. Moreover this highlights the differences both men and women have over television programmes as it is common somewhere in our lives we will have had an argument with the opposite sex over the matter, from this I believe the audience will be able to identify that this show in particular will have some form of conflict in it, but in a comical way rather then a serious - the body language on the two people in the photo is that of a righteous sense of pride, even though they have argued it isn't taken seriously as they still hold their postures high which indicates towards an element of comedy in 'Gogglebox'.  Although the unusualness of the image positioning is intriguing and interesting to view, this style wouldn't be efficient in my own spread as I feel I could lose that dramatic emotional emphasis on the 'pained' posture I intend my model to create, spreading the image over two pages is normally to create a 3D styled effect where the person or object jumps out of the page to elicit a rapid response from the audience. This would defy the sympathetic nature of my own spread as a topic regarding mental illness does not conventionally intend to provoke a physical movement from the reader. 

It is noticeable from the onset of reading this particular article that the 'question and answer format' is clearly identifable from one another. The 'questions' that are asked to the interviewees are highlighted in a profound bold black to draw attention and immediate emphasis to them, this allows less of an opportunity for the audience to by pass this essential form of information. Secondly and most significantly it separates the 'question' from the 'response', this way two sources of information are unlikely to be confounded together, the reader can simply tell the two apart, this makes it easier on their eyes to read and in essence look extremely professional and smart for the overall look of the production. If I was to incorporate an element concise to what I have observed in the 'Gogglebox' article, then I would indeed use a format that allows two different bodies of text to be distinguished from one another for the reasons I stated above, overall I want my product to seem as appealing as possible and by having this level of separation it makes the entire spread look more formatted and presentable, so topic areas can be more easily read without the words engaging in conflict with one another.

The text of the article works its away quite elegantly around all of the images in display, each paragraph is very neatly aligned and the kerning is precise so that the spacing between the words on individual lines matches up to the alignment on the previous, this emphasises the consistency within the editing of the double page spread making it appear more professional and interlinked rather then if the text had been randomley positioned all over the place. The rolling style of the text where it seems to flow and continue from one another creates the impression of TV credits in my mind, as the paragraphs themselves are displayed in such a way that they appear to reference to the style of wording you would commonly see in the credits at either the beginning or end of a TV programme, this directly references to the nature of the show.  Essentially this has aided me in regards to how to appropriately distribute the paragraphs of my own article, obviously I desire the main body to be exclusively located away from the image on the right hand side of the spread, however I need to enable an element of continuity in my work with the spacing between each body of text in proportion to one another so it is not to seem unprofessional or messy. 

The use of 'The Real Royale Families' as a headline is a pun upon the popular 90's programme 'The Royale Family' which focused upon the lives of a downtrodden under- privleged family with most of the filming orientated in their living room whilst they watched mainstream television. I feel this is a very sophisticated reference to this show as realistically 'Gogglebox' is attempting to recreate the content of 'The Royale Family. however instead of using actors they have asked genuine real people to take the role instead and are therefore analysing authentic viewing habits of the general public themselves. This realistic vibe could potentially attract a large number of audience members as through my background research I discovered average people want to witness true to real life events rather then staged, with normal people being used this strengthens the desirability of the 'Gogglebox' show as it is conforming to the expectations the public intend to see on the network. The format of the text is very basic, a main body occupies the left hand page as it details a brief introduction of what the reader will anticipate from reading the spread and entails a preview of what will be described in the content, with a standard question and answering layout following there after, the question being displayed in bold above the response which is in a semi-dark colour, allowing them to be distanced from one another. Essentially this enable the audience to recognise the more important elements of the wording (e.g the questions), drawing their attention instantly to this vector enables them to engage with the more critical and appealing sections, this ensures their interest won't waver and will be more then likely absorbed with reading the content. The insertion of a secondary image in the bottom right hand corner accompanies the main one in the centre of the two pages, the use of which helps to elevate the fact there will be more then one family focused upon in the show which provides a greater variety in what is expected to be shown to the audience. Having more then one focus point prevents the viewing public becoming bored and uninterested, so by keeping their attention elevated by having a few households it discourages them from abandoning viewing 'Gogglebox' keeping the viewing numbers fairly stable. By therefore displaying this photograph in addition, it entails the range of content to the readers. Similarly to the Paul Hollywood spread the 'Gogglebox' feature contains a kicker,which addresses the audience directly yet informally, this chatty style creates a more personal connection with them rather then speaking to them in a professional tone, an informal code of conduct creates the illusion the writer is speaking to a friend rather then an accomplice, which bonds the audience and editors further as if they were 'friends'.

The colour scheme chosen in this particular spread relates to the natural world and concept of the animal kingdom, with the photo shoot of the two presenters having been taken in the African desert, the remaining palettes selected for the text and backdrop correspond extremely efficiently with this idea of the wilderness and beauty of the animal kingdom beholds. The background is a simple basic white tone, although it isn't overly appealing, I get the impression it was incorporated to allow the brightness and spectacular awe of the naturalistic colours of the desert in the photograph to be highlighted to the audience. From a distance what you immeditally notice is the vibrant green hues of the trees and the umbrella, with the dark muddy brown of the dirt also being significantly eye catching, its this mixture of dark and light that overall directs the readers gaze to the photograph as the initial starting point to grasp attention. With the backdrop being white it prevents it from being too appealing, therefore it won't compete with the more important elements (such as the images for example) for the majority of the audiences viewppoint. If these convention were to conflict then there would be an overload of points of interest which can be off putting as the public will not know which area they are to focus upon the most. In essence it reduces the appeal of the spread and can discourage people to read it, so I feel the use of basic colours in the layout has been beneficial for this double page product in particular. The headline recycles the same swampy, army coloured green that is in the image (on the umbrella and trees) this creates a direct link to the photograph, emphasising that the title is describing what is occurring in the image, furthermore showing continuity in the production. This green allows us to relate to nature itself , as it is a colour we commonly expect to see when in a human free environment that is left to develop into its natural expectations, green signifies grass, therefore purity is represented through this solitary shade, critically emphasising how the programme will be focused upon nature that is untouched by man so in that respect is 'pure'.A bolder version of black is used in the remaining segments of the headline allowing it to be highlighted significantly against the accompanying words of the article, it indicates that it is of major importance to the reader as it will be giving some impression and detail of the content of the spread, therefore giving a 'preview' of the story of what is to come to the audience. Two drop caps are evident in this production, reflecting back to what I observed in the 'Man enough to bake' spread, this is another technique used to grasp the audiences attention to the more important and intriguing vicinities of the product, it ensures that if the readers is enthralled by a particular section (hence willing them to continue reading). The colours of the drop caps contrast perfectly with the green and black hues presented in the images which symbolises the flowing continuity throughout the double page spread.

As what has been displayed in all of the double page spreads I have chosen to deconstruct, the 'Africa 2013' presentation contains a kicker to allow further details of where information regarding where the programme is set and most importantly which presenters are co-insiding with it. This gives the audience a further insight as to what to anticipate from reading the article and if they are interested in the show then they will have an understanding of which mainstream presenters will be joining in with the filming. This is vital as it ultimately determines whether or not the audience decides to read the product or is deterred from it. Certain individuals may not like this category of documentary (e.g nature), could have a deep disliking for the presenters or the show may not appeal to them in general - if that is the case then the kicker will inform them of this information so as to prompt them to continue reading or disengage. However it is a critical tactic by editors as it may be so that the kicker appeals details to intrigue people who have a passion for this category of programmes or may be interested in general so the information displayed may actually create more potential readers then what was expected.

The construction and placement of the images present in the 'Africa 2013' spread mimic that of traditional magazine conventions with the main photograph occupying the entire page on the right leaving the left to exhibit the essential body of text detailing what the article involves. The central image displays the two presenters of the programme, Simon King and Kate respectively, who can be identified as the main people in the content as they are essentially who the editors want to draw the main focus upon, this highlights their significance to the plot to the audience. The photo has in some respects avoided mainstream notions in the sense this is not a studio based shoot but one that has been adhered to upon location, importantly where the programme has actually been filmed in the wilds of Sfrica. This creates a powerful strong link to the nature of the programme as it indicates to the reader that the photographer has gone to extreme efforts to represent to them the actual environment its to take place in, therefore personifies the sense that 'Africa 2013' will be indeed be shot and recorded in Africa itself. It allows a trustful relationship to develop between the editors and audience members that they will be indeed witnessing on screen the images that have been displayed towards them. I am intrigued mostly by the two presenters holding up the umbrella between them as if it prevent rain falling upon them, yet it can be clearly identified there i no rain present. Although it is obvious the underlying message is there is no chance of horrible weather in Africa, it is pretty much sunny all year around so they are making a joke of it by holding up the umbrella to personify the superiority of the climate, yet despite that I feel it is also an indication to british weather as well. In Britain we are commonly known for our abundance of rain and lack of sunshine, due to this programme being aimed at a british audience entirely, it seems to be  pun towards them in that viewing this show the audience can disengage from the awful weather around them and immerse themselves in a 'dreamlike' state with the magical weather conditions seen in Africa. It importantly directs the audience away from their bleak, ordinary, dull lives and gives them the opportunity to create a fantasy of their own about an ideallic world, removing them from their average mediocre lives. I feel this is a very well developed emotional connection with the audience and if I could recreate a similar concept within my own product - for example creating that connection between the anorexic girls and the reader - then there is a higher chance they will be able to sympathise with their detrimental situations.

Justification of Shot Types/Elements within my Documentary

During the editing stages of my documentary I incorporated some conventions I had seen in mainstream programmes broadcast to ensure my own production followed these themes, this would allow it to be as authentic and professional as what I could possibly achieve. Essentially my film would be complying with the standards seen in the media industry itself to this day so I felt I had effectively regulated myself to working with the conventions to not only please my audience but distributors as well should they ever stumble across my film in the future.

It is a conventional trend that in most professional documentaries, especially with those focusing upon serious life issues that require some sort of justification, facts are commonly inserted into the main film, this provides further emphasis over the matter being discussed and directly informs the reader of important knowledge that will help them develop more understanding on the subject. For example in my own product I included authentically checked facts about anorexia, allowing me to confirm not only how many individuals suffer from the condition but also acting as reinforcement to the viewer that it is more common in society then what they may initially perceive. Facts are commonly associated with health related shows, these can be identified in episodes of 'Embarassing Bodies' which require further emphasis upon an illness, such as indicating statistics of how many individuals suffer from it, since my production is health occupied in addition I feel as if I have complied to these standards extremely thoroughly.

Although not present in all documentaries I decided to add as an additional preference, the names of the girls to their stories at the start of their own individual clips. I felt this would be essential in creating an emotional link between the audience and the girls speaking on the screen, therefore they can recognise that this is their own personal experiences they are speaking about that have no been manipulated by the filming crew in any manner. Moreover it establishes to the viewing public how sensitive the issue will be, as the women involved may have not spoken about these events to anyone previously, furthermore this aids in the audience being able to elicit a form of empathy towards them and to admire the challenge they are doing by speaking to a camera without any prompting. The use of the word 'Story' explains how the content that will be described in the footage actually occurred  therefore is true to real life and was not a staged event which personifies the realistic nature of the programme further.

I decided to include the names of the girls and their family members in the running time of the filming. This illustrates to the viewing public the people on screen are genuine, real life individuals who have names and occupations - rather then just being a nameless model in the sequence. To me it also aids to emphasise that emotional connection even more between the target audience and the girls that they can identify them by their own name and to show they actually exist within our society as members of the public. This is a common element I witnessed in many of the health related documentaries - especially the likes of the programmes 'Supersize vs Superskinny' which often used the naming process to allow us to recognise the stories  being spoken about (particularly the anorexic ones) involved real people that live amongst us.

The addition of extra footage of the girls personified that they conform to ordinary activities allowing us to realise there is more to them then their anorexia alone and that they are perfectly capable of engaging with average life occurrence without difficulty. It also aided me as a method to break down all the interview sequences, if the viewers were to continuously watch endless amounts of interviews then it would very quickly become monotonous and would cause them to disengage with the content of the programme. To avoid this happening I knew it would benefit me to have this extra filming, to make my documentary more appealing and interesting. For the sections where the girls were preparing food I altered the colour consistency to black and white, not only did I recognise this would follow the conventional black and white theme that was running continuously throughout my three products  but it helped to distinguish the problem that is being addressed- the anorexia nervosa itself. This differentiates it from the rest of the footage to pinpoint directly the cause of these girls problems and to show it is the 'danger' in all of this that is causing the 'black and white' irrational thinking of the females themselves. I'm taking a unique approach by altering the colour like this as I have not witnessed it within a mainstream product just yet, so I'm hoping it will be effective in justifying its job.

The use of archive footage within the running time of the documentary allowed me to re-illiterate the severity of the girls conditions and how dramatically and frighteningly the anorexia had not only devastated their physical self but also how it had consumed them mentally as an additional side effect. I'm hoping these kind of images will shock the viewing public, as I feel the 'shock factor' is truly the only way I can reverberate my message within the content most effectively - literally how this evil illness robs so many people of their lives and the potential they hold within their beings. It also aids in showing how this awful event actually did occur in these women's  lives and hopefully justify to the viewers that they should never have really been subjected to this fate at all. Through the incorporation of photographs from the girls personal files, phones and cameras it further emphasises their anorexia actually took place as these images offer valuable insight of the occurrences that have happened in the past. Additionally using archive footage of them when they were healthy indicates they did have a relatively average and happy life before the illness stuck so the audience will be informed they weren't always like this, preventing them from assuming the gild have suffered from this all of their lives. Traditionally in health related documentaries this type of footage can be seen to offer an understanding of how severe an individuals condition may have developed to use as the 'shock factor' I previously described so in this respect I feel I have conformed to regular technological standards in the media industry.

I decided to use extreme close up shots to really emphasise the importance of particular scenes, these were commonly used in my documentary when the subject being interviewed talked about a serious matter - this allowed me to capture their entire facial expression and emotions they emit to re-affirm the sheer vitality of that particular sequence as what was being spoken about was critical to the foundations of the content. Hopefully this would confirm to the target audience how severe the girls anorexia turned into, this should provoke an empathetic response which is what I'm intending, not only that but it informs them how the condition is not a 'phase' and is seriously a life threatening mental illness that claims lives. I have commonly seen shots like this during major scenarios in documentaries when something concerning is being detailed - whether this is health related or about other instances such as an interview during a war film.

Additional footage of the ducks in the park were used in the style of an establishing shot to act as a continuation sequence from when the girl first entered, this implies a closing scene - by this point she has left the park, not only that but her story is now at an end and we are ready to move on to another. This is a closure essentially and indicates how she is tying to deal with her illness as best as what she possibly can yet it will always be lingering there in the background, just as how the birds will linger in the safety of the park.

Progress Update 3

Final Completed Media Documentary - 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat'

After a month of hard, consistent work and effort I have finally completed my footage compsition and editing for my documentary 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat'. I am pleased to inform I am also ahead of my time manaement constraints, in this instance it has allowed me more opportunity to work and update my blog of the piees that are urrently assent. To begin with I exported my video from the Premier Pro Software, this allowed it to be converted to a quicktime video that would be then available for the exam board to watch.

I made two copies of the documentary - one is in standard quality without any additional enhancement and the other is in high definition so is visibly more brighter and alert then the latter. I felt it would be beneficial to have two copies, not only to see how they compared but as a reserve in case one was misplaced and I needed a back up file to prevent me loing my work altogether which would be highly detrimental.

The following stage for me was to upload the video onto the social networking site 'Youtube', my lecturer felt this would be an interesting strategy in gaining public interest as ultimately she desired to see how my finished product would do in the real life industry with true members of the pubic who would act as my target audience. Once the file had concluded exporting, I logged onto my Youtube user account and sucessfully added it to my channel, the documentary video can be seen in the link below: 

To conclude I emailed the ULR to my lecturer Kaye so she could send it off to the moderator of the campus Helen who would be standardising and marking our work once the deadline had expired. Her opinion was valuable criticism to what i had produced as it would offer a neutral and unbiased insight into what another media teacher perceived my documentary to be like, this would aid me in gaining positive and negative feedback over my production so I an identify areas of success and improvement for future tasks.

Reflection and Comparison with Last Years Task

To help me gain a level of understanding of my own personal improvements during the time I have been present on this media course it was recommended to me that it may be beneficial to compare and contrast together my coursework pieces from AS and A2 level together. This would highlight greatly how my skills have developed regarding photo editing strategies, concept idea designs and how much knowledge I exhibit in acknowledgement of appropriate and important common conventional themes present in media products that I have replicated within my own work. I chose to compare some samples of my work from my music magazine piece from last summer with the brief I am currently engaged with for my second year task.

I compared my music magazine front cover which I developed the previous year for my AS coursework with the advertising poster for my TV documentary 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' as although they weren't identically themed products (i.e they were not both front covers for magazines) in context they appeared fairly similar in construction and layout so made ideal candidates to reflect against one another. Easily the most major criticism of my music magazine is the image that I have opted to use upon the front cover quite frankly I am humiliated at how weak and amateurish my editing skills were at the time of me first undertaking media as a subject. Although my photoshopping skills aren't as severe as what other individuals might be for starting a new course such as this, it can be clearly identified that a magic wand tool was used to cut the image of the two girls out of its original backdrop as there are some slight edges and inconsistencies around the outline of the women, at the time of my constructing the front cover I overlooked these errors however now with more experience I can distinguish them quite easily and it would be understandable for my work to be marked down for this as in whole, jaggered edges make the product look unprofessional and as if any person could have created it - therefore it would not correspond with a mainstream magazine in that particular setting and its likely the audience would easily overlook it if it was displayed in a shop due to these errors. However when contrasting back to my poster there is no rough edges at all, partly this was because I didn't need to use the magic wand tool. Yet this image in particular looks more smooth and of an industry standard then the one above, the model seems to have a purpose in my A2 coursework and she advertises what she is designed to - the horrific physical effects of anorexia nervosa whilst the two girls in the magazine front cover look like they have no real purpose and do not connotate any response or emotion as a whole. This lack of appeal means they fail to connect with the target audience which acts as a deterance for them buying the magazine. The use of colours in both of the pieces of work correspond well with the whole layout, however there is a remarkable difference in consistency and the way that colour has been displayed. For the project 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat', the blending of the dark neutral colours reflects well the mature, adult mindset that is required for the documentary - essentially this will appeal to the desired target audience (18 and above) and will act as a repellent to any individual below the age range, I did not want children or teenagers engaging with the product due to them not being able to fully comprehend the seriousness of anorexia but also they might be disturbed and quite frightened by the effects the illness can have upon a sufferer both physically and mentally. On the other hand an adult audience would be able to respond more positively to it as they have had more life experience and knowledge to know how o prepare for what is to be bestowed in the documentary - they can easily regard this is of a serious content and will know how to engage with the situation more throughly. However when deconstructing the colour scheme of my magazine front colour I feel the palette has failed to identify with the target audience entirely. Originally I was aiming to appeal to a more older generation of music lovers from the onset ages of 17-25 and the genre i specifically selected to focus upon was the indie/alternative set. I don't get he impression my choice of colours was very accurate in portraying this - the brightness thoroughly makes the magazine stand out which is a bonus because it means more members of the public are likely to notice it if it appeared upon a newsagent shelf environment and out shadow similar magazines which use darker shades therefore outcompeting them based upon visual purposes. Despite the positivity the overwhelming use of yellow alludes to the idea this magazine is targeting a younger age range as this is the colour scheme that is more associated with ( for example young children to mid teens) this bypasses the age range I was hoping to attract, this consequently means I will lose out on selling opportunities for two reasons - the first being I am not enveloping the immediate attention of my desired audience and secondly although I may engage the interest of younger readers they are unlikely to be able to relate to the content through the use of language and choice of artists involved as indie is not a subculture general related to younger readers. The text on the music magazine in in particular is basically all over the place, there is no consistency running throughout as the variety in font changes far too often (this is noticeable especially on the additional accompanying article names), this loses the conventional appeal and gives the impression none of the articles relate to each other in that of the indie genre but of entirely different spectrums, in addition it may be too visually disturbing for the reader to look at as there will be many different points of interest to engage with, which could discourage them from buying the product as they wouldn't know which of the articles was the most important. The positioning of the text as well is not consistent, kerning is a major issue as some of the wording is not in equal spacing with one another and different sized font is used on pretty much every word which is highly unprofessional  I can also pin point some of the letters have been stretched on a number of the titles whilst it remains compact on others which is a major editorial flaw. This makes the whole overlook of the magazine quite immature and not believable in a realistic environment. I can identify the use of drop shadows on at least two of the titles of the adjascent articles on the magazine front cover, although I can remember from last year that I employed these in an attempt to make the product appear more interesting and eye-catching, in this respect the idea failed because without the continuation of drop shadow on the rest of the text throughout the page, these two words look incredibly out of place and therefore pointless as a use of empahasis. When I contrast this back to my documentary poster the use of font is incredibly appropriate for the purpose it is portraying. I used the 'KG Skinny Latte' style for the title of the programme, it is fairly unique against the other fonts and the idea was it to stand out well over the other aspects on the page which i feel it does. The font itself is quite childish but I believed it personified well the anorexic body and how the sufferer returns to a childlike state due to physical complications, moreover the use of 'Girls' in the title rather then 'Women' further emphasises how these females have reverted to a pre pubescent form of themselves and alongside the frail image of the model the whole concept ties in and complements each other perfectly well. This consistency is missing from the magazine screen shot you can see above. The style used upon the review is that of a basic concept, the simplicity is favoured here as if I had opted to use a more extravegant style then it would have conflicted with the headline for the attention as the dominant font, this would create the conflict of the audience being unable to identify which is the most important areas to direct their focus over, the inability to correctly identify which is the title etc could act as a repellent from them engaging with the poster as a whole. I firmly believe in this manner that the simplistic style used on the remaining words aids to avoid this issue as a whole. The bold of the name of 'The Guardian' and the five star rating doesn't necessarily overwhelm the title as although they are both equally as appealing and dramatic to look at, they do not engage a battle for dominancy as the headline (which is the most important of the two) is significantly larger then the latter which prevents this event from occurring at all. In essence it allows the audience to correctly notice which is the aspect they should relate most throughly with. Lastly it is identifiable I used a logo in both of the productions, however one ultimately has a competitive advantage over the other - in this scenario it regards the documentary poster. The BBC institutional logo has been correctly paced in the bottom right hand corner, it is significantly reduced in size as compared to the title of the documentary so as not to create any immediate conflict with another, yet it is still enhanced enough to be noticed by the audience so they will be able to correlate that this networks broadcasting channel is where they will be able to locate the programme 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat'. The positioning of it allows the logo to be noticed, but in the same respect it does not overwhelm the main title. Importantly, the symmetry between the headline and the BBC indicates that these two elements are related to one another and correspond together as an entire entity, this means the audience will notice that the BBC network is appropriately the most likely place to view the programme. When comparing these deconstructions to the magazine logo the same unfortunately does not apply to it. Logos are generally smaller in size in comparison to the more important aspects of the product (such as image, title, kicker) because they are the main selling points, the logo is essentially there to establish the company who has produced it, this means it should still be noticeable yet does not have to be bold or dramatic as there is no reason for it to compete with the remaining conventions. This is not the case for the magazine as the logo is almost identically in proportion to the title 'Fleet', this disregards the manner I explained before forcing these two elements to compete with each other which discourages appeal from the product. Whats more I think it is incorrectly positioned in contrast to the poster logo, it should be located more 'out of the way' therefore it would prevent irrelevant competition on the page. I feel my lack of understanding towards conventional themes is ultimately what let me down in terms of grades during the construction of this task the previous year. I will admit it upsets me how little effort or even background research I put into this task, I am grateful at how motivated I was to develop my skills as what can be evident  in my documentary poster as I feel I have improved significantly and quite dramatically in the short space of time between these two coursework productions in terms of media knowledge and skill specialism in creating items in such a short space of time. I believe firmly my commitment to improve in this subject payed off this time.

When observing both of these double page spread articles I have produced over the course of my two years in media studies I can identify and bring to attention a large number of major differences that separates them in terms of the grade boundaries. The primary one displayed is from my music magazine brief which I completed for my AS courswork the previous year, this spread was made entirely on the Adobe Photoshop programme which contrasts critically with the 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' article that was specifically assigned as an auxilary task for my video editing brief for A2 this current term, this was develoepd within the Premier Pro software. Deconstructing these two side by side the most primary distinction lies with the layout of the spread themselves. In the music product there is no clear page boundaries, there is no crease aligned down the centre of the document to highlight this is part of a two page article, instead a poor choice of colour palette offers some incentive where it is to be located. The images are placed entirely in the wrong sections with both of them positioned at the top and bottom of the pages respectively, this completely ignores conventional magazine trends as normally an enhanced, enlarged image will act as the central selling point, in this case it would occupy more or less the entire left page, sometimes even overlapping into the adjascent which contains the main body of text for the article. In the first image this layout is not achieved with the vast majority of the pages occupied by texts, to be honest it makes it look boring with nothing appealing or very eye-catching to gaze upon. Just looking it, the layout is so unprofessional and would never pass as a mainstream production, to me its very childish and I'm  ashamed that not a lot of thought and effort actually went into producing it. In contrast these concerns are evaporated once you compare it to the documentary double page spread. Because it was created on a very ample and high tech programming software that is used for the creation of magazines used in the media industry, individual pages are easily noticed as that 'crease' has been created allowing the reader to recognise these two pages are interlinked together. This specifically enagages with the traditional conventions required, a large blown up photograph is displayed upon the left page with the text of the article corresponding with it on the opposite. All these elements are placed in their correct positions, unlike the music magazine where the photos have been spread all over with no correlation to each other., this makes 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' article more authentic and therefore more likely to be found in society on our newspaper shelves and stands. Another aspect that appears to me is the quality of the images used on the spread themselves, a clear difference can be seen between the music magazine and the article for my mental health documentary. Although I admit one of the photographs from the music one was created in a studio environment with essentially up to date and high powered equipment/lighting, it fails to correspond with the image that accompanies it (which was taken on an ordinary webcam). This causes confusion between the overall look of the production, the audience can be awed by a stunningly captured photo on the left then be left dumbstruck at how downhill the beauty of these images deteriorates as the pixilation is extremely noticeable in the second. What is made is a boundary showing how much potential this product could have had, furthermore how it was thwarted by the lack of effort in the remainder of the images which caused the quality to rapidly decline. When looking at the model in 'The Girls Who Wouldn't Eat' production on initial glance you are instantly captivated by the expression and posture she is poised in, it truly personifies the sense of emotions being rev berated, how sad and depressed she is through the consequences of her illness. The audience cannot help but feel pity and empathise with her situation, in addition the underlying quality of the image itself is extraordinary and it can be identified this was created with an expensive, effective device. Compared with the music magazine images there is no emotional connection or relationship that is formed between the reader and editors, the model in the photos appears to be 'posing' there is no expression or message she is trying to personify to the audience which makes her sort of a canvas - boring and unemotional. She does not connect with the vibrant, eccentric young woman who is described in the article therefore she does not correlate with the character she was supposed to be pre-disposed to. This could deter the reader from engaging with the article as they may feel the writer has 'lied' about the person in question and they aren't made out to be who they thought, in the end this could make them avoid the piece of writing all together. This however is not the case with the documentary article as the model illustrates the overwhelming sadness and anguish that is described within the meanings of the words of the spread, moreover this emphasises that relation more strongly. Regarding text work and font the key difference between the two products is consistency and variety. The style for the lettering opted for in the music article is very basic like what is traditional of a printed production, yet it does not fit the overall 'look' of the piece - they don't seem to fit together and I would more then liely expect to see something of the sort in a newspaper rather then a music magazine for young adults. This consequently loses the youth and young appeal to the spread so it is not specifically designating towards the desired age range as potential readers but that of a more older generation. A major contrast is that unlike the documentary article it does not contain any further text elements, these include; a kicker, drop caps, names of writer and photographer and a correctly placed headline. All of these inconsistencies further deteriorate its statetory position as an authentic media article, the unprofessional look makes it conform to that of a childs work, it would be easy to assume that the audience would have no intentions of even considering oppsing to read it because without these additional aspects it makes the article appear bland, empty and therefore very boring in comparison with the latter. The documentar double page on the other hand has a certain qyality to it, all of the identifable elements I spoke about are present which give the end resulting product a very noticeable, eye-catching layout with many convetions to graps reader attention. Not only that but it complies with standard media practises containing all the apsects a mainstream magazine spread would include. This point alone is what allows it to drastically overshadow its competitor in terms of professionalism, credibility and most importantly 'wow' factor to its intended audience.