The Critical Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My documentary uses ideas from a lot of different already existing documentaries, and also from normal programs. For example Gok’s Fashion Fix. I have developed ideas from these kinds of programmes to create my documentary. This is different to normal documentaries because there are not a lot of documentaries about my subject, of trends. This also applies to how I have challenged other documentaries as there are not many if not no documentaries about my chosen subject. I have used ideas from documentaries and altered them to create my documentary which is not like many others that have already been done, using ideas from Gok’s Fashion Fix I am using the aspect of the documentary being hosted by one main person and then talking to members of the public, also the aspect of comparing designer prices and high street prices. I have recently developed my ideas of my documentary will now consists of a number of interviews and archive footage, detailing what young people think and feel about new styles and the fascination young people have with what celebrities wear, and how they are influenced by these people. This challenges documentaries, as documentaries focus mainly on the adult, more formal convention, whereas I have spoken directly to my target audience, giving a more diverse opinion base.

What have you learned from audience feedback?

I have used a number of different methods to gain customer feedback. My first was through my Questionnaires. The results told me that people aged 18-25 are willing to watch a documentary, they are also most likely to watch the documentaries on channel 4, after 9pm and thus after the UK’s watershed, these people are also prepared to watch a documentary about trends. My second and final way in which I have gained audience feedback is that I have asked my friends on social networking website, Facebook. This has received mixed reviews saying around 80% of the people who have replied to the thread, said that the idea would be good and that they would be willing to watch the documentary. As you can see below I have included a screenshot of my questionnaire, I gave this out to a number of people, all of which provided me with similar or the same answers.

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have used a number of different methods of technology in researching different documentaries, for example I have used the internet to search what types of documentaries are most popular, I have found out that interactive documentaries are the most popular, so that is what I have chosen to do. This makes researching different information and different products a lot easier than having to only physically, locate different relevant sources of information and different products. The next piece of software I have used is Photoshop, I used these to create my ancillary tasks, both the double page spread and the full page advert. I have used this as it makes creating these different products as it makes creating professional photos, and editing these images a lot easier. To edit my footage, I have used is iMovie, I have used this software to edit, cut and put together different pieces I have footage I have previously filmed. This software is specifically designed for an Apple Mac computer. Although the Macs are a lot different to use, than the regular Windows, the software is designed to make film editing a lot easier, for example putting footage which I have filmed into a chronological order.

How effective is your ancillary and main product tasks?

Both of my ancillary tasks are very effective when related to my documentary, as you can see I have inserted the pictures I have created onto the background of a brick wall. The title screen of my documentary is also on a brick wall. I have also inserted a picture taken from my documentary to make sure the documentary and the ancillary tasks both match, I have also used a series of images, these are of the celebrities which are featured in the documentary.