Coursework: Pre-production

Pre-production work for a documentary is a little trickier than narrative filmmaking as by definition you don't know exactly what your interviewees will say or do.

However, we can still enhance our prospects of producing professional-grade work by planning everything we do have control over. Work through the following pre-production tasks and plan out everything you can.

Research

Never stop carrying out research! Although you've done your main research as part of your summer project and perhaps watched the programmes we suggested back in July, keep watching more documentaries (particularly those similar to your subject/topic) to see how they use conventions, shot types, montages, music, voiceover, text on screen and any other aspects to professional documentaries. 

If there's something specific you're not sure how to set up, watch some professional examples and try to replicate the style or format they use.

Script

A documentary script will need to be a working document because you don't know exactly what your interviewees will say. However, there is a lot that you CAN plan: the opening montage shots, the title sequence, music, voiceover, how you introduce your interviewees, how you link the different interviews, how you end your opening sequence to clearly signal that the documentary is going to continue for another 27, 37, 57 minutes depending on the format you have chosen.

You can find an example documentary script opening here. This one uses two columns - one for video and one for audio. It's a good format which forces you to think about what video and audio you will need for each part of your production and it helps to plan cutaway shots, introductory montages and more.

Interview questions

One element that links closely to your script that you HAVE to plan is the interview questions. Think carefully about the kind of thing your want your interviewee to say and then write questions that give them the opportunity to do that. Plan follow-up questions and be prepared to think on your feet during the filming if your interviewee says something interesting or unexpected. Finally, ask your interviewee if they can include the wording of your question in their answer as this will make your job when editing MUCH easier.

Here's a good webpage with video that goes through top tips for writing documentary interview questions.  

Shot list

Once you have a script, your shot list should be pretty easy to put together. This is every shot you plan to shoot in each location / interviewee / section of documentary. See it as a working document that you print out and take with you when filming - literally tick each shot off as you film it so you can be certain you have enough. Focus particularly on introductory montage shots, cutaways, close-ups and other shots that will help you in the final edit. Here's an example of a shot list:

You don't need to worry about the lens but shot number, description, equipment, movement, shot type and estimated time are all very helpful to think about in advance of your shoot. 

Look at this still from the BBC documentary Fever Pitch (about the creation of the Premier League in the 1990s). Note the multiple cameras and lighting set-up used to achieve the professional end result:

Mise-en-scene

This is another area you can plan in advance and doing this well will help you pick up the 15 marks awarded for Media Language. What iconography are you including to ensure your audience understands your topic and gets to know your interviewee? Plan your interview location, costume, make-up, props, lighting and setting for each part of your documentary. 

Shooting schedule

Finally, plan out your shooting schedule and make sure you can get everything filmed in the filming window we have given you. Be realistic: filming a three-minute documentary is going to take TIME and you're going to need to plan several days to get all the different elements filmed. Leave some time as backup in case anything falls through and make sure you have a plan B. 

Your shooting schedule can be as simple as a Word or Google Doc / spreadsheet. Include when, where, who is required, planned equipment and any other aspects you need to arrange. 

Coursework: Statement of Intent, pre-production and filming

Our coursework projects are really starting to take off with some brilliant preliminary exercises. Now it's time to update our Statements of Intent and plan our documentary filming schedule.

The next stages of the project are critical - this is where the video project will stand or fall. The next tasks and deadlines are as follows:

Statement of Intent second draft - THIS WEEK
Submitted as a NEW blog post AND hard copy from Microsoft Word / Google Docs. Statement of Intent guidance is provided by AQA in their NEA Student Booklet but we strongly recommend you also look at our Statement of Intent questions to consider document too (you'll need to log in with your Greenford Google account to open these documents). 

Finally, here's an example Statement of Intent from 2019 (different brief - TV drama trailer) to give you some ideas on how you can use layout and bullet points to include a large amount of information without going too far over the word count.

Statement of Intent deadline: Week commencing Monday 1 November

Documentary pre-production and filming

If you are planning to film over half-term, you'll need to plan your pre-production this week (script, shot list, mise-en-scene and shooting schedule). Keep an eye out for blogposts to help with this planning over the next two weeks.

Filming of documentary

Filming window: Friday 22 October - Monday 22 November.
Deadline: Monday 22 November

Tutorials
While you work on the above deadlines, you will have another tutorial with your coursework teacher looking at your latest Statement of Intent and checking pre-production planning. For those who film early in the filming window, it will also involve checking the 'rushes' (the film clips as they come in).

Mark scheme

A few of you have requested the mark scheme for the Statement of Intent. You can find it in the A Level Media specification document here - on pages 21-22 (if you keep scrolling you can also find the mark scheme for the remaining 50 marks for your productions).

If you need a recap on the brief from AQA, you can find the brief here - Brief Three: TV documentary.

This is the moment you need to step up... we're demanding professional standards to match the incredible production work Greenford Media students have produced at A Level in the past. Good luck!

OSP: The Voice - blog case study

Our second Online, Social and Participatory CSP is the Voice newspaper website - a niche publication targeting the black British community.

The Voice has a significant place in the social and historical context of race relations and representation in Britain, launching in 1982 in the wake of the Brixton race riots. It is also the perfect case study to further develop our understanding of Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory we studied last lesson.

The Voice - background and notes

The Voice, founded in 1982, is the only British national black weekly newspaper operating in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GV Media Group Limited, and is aimed at the British African-Caribbean community. The paper is based in London and is published every Thursday. 

The first issue of The Voice was printed to coincide with the Notting Hill Carnival in August 1982. Its cover price was 54 pence, and was only sold in London.

You can read more of this background from the original source - the Voice website About Us page.

The Voice: social and historical context

In 1981, the Brixton race riots shone a spotlight on race relations in Britain. 

The Voice emerged in 1982 partly as a result of these riots – both due to the need to offer a voice and representation to black Britons and also due to a business loan from Barclays Bank. The bank was keen at the time to improve their reputation with the black community due to investments in Apartheid South Africa.

Social context - The Battle for Brixton documentary:

The Voice analysis: production values

The Voice offers a strong contrast to Teen Vogue with significantly lower production values across its digital operations – website design, video content and social media. However, the growth of digital technology means that the Voice can effectively compete on the same playing field as Teen Vogue, albeit targeting a niche audience.

Watch this video on influential black women in business and compare it to Teen Vogue’s video content – similar in ideology but very different in production values (note the view count for the Voice video too):

The Voice: representation

The Voice was launched to cater for the interests of British-born black people. Applying Gilroy’s work on “double consciousness”, it could be argued that the Voice was launched to give black audiences an opportunity to see media through their own eyes rather than through the prism of white, often-biased (or even racist?) mainstream British media. This also links to Hall's work on representation and the idea of individuals having their own 'conceptual map'.

The Voice: industries

The Voice is owned by Jamaican media group the Gleaner company and published in Britain by GV Media Group. It is a significant contrast to Teen Vogue and the international giant Conde Nast.

Recently, in a similar move to The Guardian's request for donations, The Voice asks its readers to support the publication by paying donations via PayPal. This raises interesting questions regarding the financial viability of online news media and particularly niche publications such as The Voice (or indeed magazines like Oh Comely).

The Voice: case study blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'The Voice case study' and complete the following tasks:

Overview: Media Factsheet #229 - Applying Post-Colonial Theory to The Voice Online

Read Media Factsheet #229 - Applying Post-Colonial Theory to The Voice Online (login using your Greenford Google account) and answer the following questions: 

1) What does the factsheet suggest regarding how The Voice is constructed from a media language perspective?

2) Complete Activity 3 on Page 2 of the Factsheet - analyse The Voice's website and suggest a possible demographic and psychographic breakdown for The Voice's audience.

3) How can we apply Stuart Hall's audience theories to The Voice?

4) What is an anti-essentialist perspective and how does this link to Paul Gilroy? 

5) Choose three of the key terms from Gilroy's post-colonial theory on page 3 of the factsheet and apply them to The Voice as a media product.

6) How does The Voice link to Gilroy's Black Atlantic theory?

7) Look at page 5 of the factsheet. What news stories are highlighted as examples of the way the media reports differently depending on the race or ethnicity of the victims?

8) How does the factsheet summarise and apply wider media theories The Voice on the final page?

Language and textual analysis

Homepage

Go to the Voice homepage and answer the following:

1) Does The Voice homepage tend to use news or magazine website conventions? Give examples.

2) How does the homepage design differ from Teen Vogue? 

3) What are some of the items in the top menu bar and what does this tell you about the content, values and ideologies of the Voice?

4) Look at the news stories on the Voice homepage. Pick two stories and explain why they might appeal to the Voice's target audience. 

5) How is narrative used to encourage audience engagement with the Voice? Apply narrative theories (e.g. Levi-Strauss and binary opposition, Todorov's equilibrium or Barthes’ enigma codes) and make specific reference to stories on the homepage and how they encourage audiences to click through to them.

Lifestyle section

Now analyse the Lifestyle section of the Voice and answer the following:

1) What are the items in the sub-menu bar for the Lifestyle section and what does this suggest about the target audience for The Voice?

2) What are the main stories in the Lifestyle section currently?

3) How does the Lifestyle section of the Voice differ from Teen Vogue?

4) Do the sections and stories in the Voice Lifestyle section challenge or reinforce black stereotypes in British media?

5) Choose two stories featured in the Lifestyle section – how do they reflect the values and ideologies of the Voice?

Feature focus

1) Read this Voice opinion piece on black representation in the tech industry. How does this piece reflect the values and ideologies of The Voice?

2) Read this feature on Michaela Coel supporting Oxfam's Second Hand campaign. Why might this feature appeal to readers of The Voice?

3) Read this Voice news story on Grenfell tower and Doreen Lawrence. How might this story reflect the Voice’s values and ideologies? What do the comments below suggest about how readers responded to the article? Can you link this to Gilroy’s work on the ‘Black Atlantic’ identity?

Audience

1) What audience pleasures are provided by the Voice website? Apply media theory here such as Blumler and Katz (Uses & Gratifications).

2) Give examples of sections or content from the website that tells you this is aimed at a specialised or niche audience.

3) Can you find any examples of content on the Voice website created or driven by the audience or citizen journalism? How does this reflect Clay Shirky’s work on the ‘end of audience’ and the era of ‘mass amateurisation’?

Representations

1) How is the audience positioned to respond to representations in the Voice website?

2) Are representations in the Voice an example of Gilroy’s concept of “double consciousness” NOT applying to this text?

3) What kind of black British identity is promoted on the Voice website? Can you find any examples of Gilroy’s “liquidity of culture” or “unruly multiculturalism” here?

4) Applying Stuart Hall’s constructivist approach to representations, how might different audiences interpret the representations of black Britons in the Voice?

5) Do you notice any other interesting representations in the Voice website? For example, representations or people, places or groups (e.g. gender, age, Britishness, other countries etc.)

Industries

1) Read this Guardian report on the death of the original founder of the Voice. What does this tell you about the original values and ideologies behind the Voice brand? 

2) Read this history of the Voice’s rivals and the struggles the Voice faced back in 2001. What issues raised in the article are still relevant today? 

3) The Voice is now published by GV Media Group, a subsidiary of the Jamaican Gleaner company. What other media brands do the Gleaner company own and why might they be interested in owning the Voice? You'll need to research this using Google/Wikipedia or look at this Guardian article when Gleaner first acquired The Voice.

4) How does the Voice website make money?

5) Is there an element of public service to the Voice’s role in British media or is it simply a vehicle to make profit?

6) How has the growth of digital distribution through the internet changed the potential for niche products like the Voice?

7) Analyse The Voice’s Twitter feed. How does this contrast with other Twitter feeds you have studied (such as Teen Vogue)? Are there examples of ‘clickbait’ or does the Voice have a different feel?

8) Study a selection of videos from The Voice’s YouTube channel. How does this content differ from Teen Vogue? What are the production values of their video content?


Homework and deadlines

There is plenty of work here - at least 3 to 4 hours - but this is the only blog task on the Voice and covers all four of the key concepts.

Finish for homework - due date set on Google Classroom.

OSP: Paul Gilroy - Diasporic identity

There are several important theories we need to learn and apply to our Online, Social and Participatory media unit.

These include Clay Shirky's End of Audience theories, Stuart Hall's work on representation and reality and Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory of black diasporic identity.

Notes from the lesson

Stuart Hall: representation and reality

Stuart Hall suggests individuals each have their own conceptual map – effectively what we use to decode and understand media texts.

Building on this, Hall outlines three approaches to understanding the relationship between reality and representations: 

Reflective approach: the media simply mirrors (or reflects) the real world. This is a limited approach that minimalises the power or complexity of the media.

Intentional approach: the producer of the text constructs the world as they see it and the audience accepts those values encoded in the text. This is effectively the dominant or preferred reading (reception theory) and leaves no room for the negotiated or oppositional reading.

The constructivist approach: this was Hall’s preferred approach and closely matches reception theory with preferred and oppositional readings. This suggests concepts and signs do have some shared meanings but they are not all inherent and can be interpreted by the audience in a number of ways (dependent on their own ‘conceptual map’).

Paul Gilroy: black diasporic identity

We first explored Paul Gilroy’s theories of black diasporic identity when studying music video.

This is the idea that black identity is informed by diaspora – literally the ‘scattering of people’ across the world. He suggests this creates a “liquidity of culture” that means black identity is formed by journeys across seas, not the solid ground of a home country or culture.

Importantly, Gilroy sees this identity as impossible to reverse – there can be no return to the place of origin as the experience of slavery and displacement can never be “rewound”.

Gilroy: black British identity

The Voice newspaper was formed in 1982 to create a voice for the black British community. Gilroy wrote of the dominant representation of black Britons at that time as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation”.

Gilroy suggests diaspora challenges national ideologies and creates “cultural tension”. This tension helps to create the diasporic identity but often comes with negative experiences such as exclusion and marginalisation. 

More succinctly, Gilroy sums this up as the white racist’s question to BAME people: “Why don’t you just go home?”

BBC controversy

Gilroy wrote about this in the 1970s and 1980s but it's been in the news much more recently with Brexit and Trump bringing debates about race and immigration to the fore. In 2019, the BBC found itself embroiled in a controversy regarding BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty's response to Donald Trump suggesting congresswomen should 'go home' to the countries in which they or their parents were born. The original clip and full article can be found below:




Paul Gilroy and Russell Brand

In 2017, Paul Gilroy took part in Russell Brand’s Under The Skin podcast, exploring ideas and modern culture. Watch the following two extracts and consider how Gilroy’s ideas reflect recent events and media culture.

Extract 1: 17.50 – 25.45
Extract 2: 44.30 – 48.08

Paul Gilroy - blog tasks

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets or you can access it online here using your Greenford Google login.

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?

2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?

3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it?

4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity?

5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)?

6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this?

7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.

8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?

9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?

10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.

Due date: confirmed by your exam class teacher and on Google Classroom.

Make sure you've also got the last sections of your Teen Vogue case study complete:

• Teen Vogue - audience and representation
• Teen Vogue - industry and social media

Coursework: Preliminary exercise feedback and LR

The preliminary exercise is a brilliant opportunity to learn or refresh the basics of filmmaking before creating your actual coursework project.

After the screening of the preliminary exercises in class, you need to create a blogpost called 'Preliminary exercise learner response' and embed the video from YouTube. Then, complete the following tasks as your feedback and learner response:

1) Type up your teacher's feedback in full plus a summary of the comments you received from other students in the class.

2) Using a combination of your own reflection on the preliminary exercise and the feedback you were given, write three WWW bullet points and three EBI bullet points for your TV documentary interview.

3) How effectively did you complete the objective you laid out in your mini preliminary exercise statement of intent?

4) What have you learned from the preliminary exercise that will help you in the actual coursework project?

5) Now you have completed the preliminary exercise, will you change anything in your actual documentary plan? This could include interviewees, the focus/angle on your topic or technical elements such as mise-en-scene, camerawork or editing.

The deadline for these feedback and learner response tasks will be set by your coursework teacher and on Google Classroom.

OSP: Teen Vogue - Industry and social media

The final aspect of our work on Teen Vogue involves an industry case study and textual analysis of the magazine's social media presence. 

Industry is the final key concept to address in this in-depth study. It's important to remember that the exam question could cover anything from how Teen Vogue makes money to what attracts audiences to their social media pages. This means we need comprehensive knowledge across the board.

Notes from the lesson

Industry: Conde Nast

Teen Vogue is owned and published by Condé Nast, an American media organisation that publishes around 20 magazines including Vogue, GQ and Wired. The company targets a wide range of different audiences – 164 million consumers across its brands.

In March 2018, Condé Nast announced the launch of Influencer Platform Next Gen, a digital campaign that links advertisers and content creation. The goal is to “connect to a new generation of audience”.

Income sources

Teen Vogue’s main source of income is through selling advertising space online – adverts that are targeted using browsing history. 

However, they also monetise their customer data and loyalty, encouraging readers to register online for updates, offers and access to the ‘Insider’ area of the website. This data can then be sold to other companies or used to attract ‘advertorial’ or sponsored content. 

Teen Vogue also makes money through YouTube with plenty of 1m+ views on their video content. This is an example of digital convergence – a traditionally print-based product moving into multimedia and accessible on one device.

Finally, they run events such as the Teen Vogue summit and US tour.


Teen Vogue: fashion industry player

Although Teen Vogue has been creating headlines for its political content in recent years, it is also an important part of the fashion industry. Both editorial content and advertising is designed to create a strong desire in their audience for products featured. This links to Condé Nast’s role as a major media company interested in maximising profit.

Some argue that Teen Vogue’s more diverse coverage offers a form of public service through its political coverage. But are features criticising capitalism hypocritical when the brand is owned by a media giant like Condé Nast?

Teen Vogue: Industry and social media blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Teen Vogue Industry and social media' and work through the following tasks to complete the final aspects of your Teen Vogue case study:

Industry: Condé Nast

1) Research Teen Vogue publisher Condé Nast. What other magazines do they publish and how much money did they make last year?

2) What are Teen Vogue’s main sources of income?

3) How are traditionally print-based products like Teen Vogue diversifying to create new income streams?

4) Why is sponsored content and ‘advertorial’ particularly important in media linked to the fashion industry?

5) Do you view Teen Vogue’s content as a form of public service media or is Condé Nast simply interested in clicks and profit?


Closure of print edition research

Read the following short articles to learn the background to Condé Nast's decision to close the print edition of Teen Vogue in 2016 and then answer the questions below:

BBC: Teen Vogue: How will going online-only affect readers?
New York Times: Condé Nast Ends Teen Vogue’s Print Run
Folio: Your Teen Vogue Hot Takes Are All Wrong

1) Why does the BBC suggest “Teen Vogue’s digital game is strong”?

2) What does the BBC suggest is responsible for the Teen Vogue website’s success?

3) How did Teen Vogue justify the closure of the print magazine?

4) In the BBC article, David Hepworth suggests there is a risk to going digital-only. What is it?

5) How do online-only publications make money?

6) What does Sarah Penny suggest regarding audience consumption for print and digital – and how might it be changing for Generation-Z?

7) What does the New York Times say Conde Nast is known for?

8) The New York Times states that Conde Nast expects to bring in less revenue in 2017 than 2016… by how much?

9) The Folio article also looks at the switch from print to digital. Pick out a statistic that justifies the digital-only approach.

10) Finally, Folio also highlights some of the aspects we have studied elsewhere. Pick out two quotes from the article that link to our work on the Teen Vogue audience, representation or design.


Social media analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of Teen Vogue's social media presence:

1) Look at the Teen Vogue Twitter feed (you don’t need to sign up to Twitter to see it but may need to log-in at home). How many followers does Teen Vogue have?

2) Now look at the content. Classify the first 20 tweets you can see using the sections on the Teen Vogue website: News & Politics, Fashion, Entertainment, Beauty, Lifestyle, Wellness and Homecoming. What does the Twitter feed focus on most? Does this differ to the website?

3) How are the tweets and headlines written? Can you find examples of clickbait?

4) How does the Twitter feed use videos and images?

5) Analyse the Teen Vogue Facebook page. How many ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ do they have?

6) Click on the Videos link on the left-hand menu. What type of content do the videos feature? Does this differ to the website or Twitter feed?

7) Now look at the Events tab to explore past events. What are these events and what do they tell us about how audiences interact with the Teen Vogue brand?

8) Go to the Teen Vogue Instagram page. How many followers do they have on Instagram?

9) How does the Instagram feed differ from other social media channels?

10) What examples of digital convergence and synergy can you find on Teen Vogue social media including the Teen Vogue YouTube channel? (E.g. opportunities to engage with the brand across different platforms). 

This is your final set of blog tasks for Teen Vogue and will complete your comprehensive case study for this in-depth CSP. Complete for homework - due date on Google Classroom.