Evaluation of my documentaries.

• Evaluation of documentary work so far…Evaluate the 3 types/styles of documentary: expository, observational and participatory.
• In terms of the practical work what went well, what could have gone better and why? (so the group documentaries and the interview)
• What techniques and styles of filmmaking will you use for your individual documentary project.
• Initial ideas for your own 5 minute documentary.
•  Make a list of possible topics, people, places, stories…
• What could you do?
• How and why?

      
In terms of practical work, my expository documentary went well, this is because we done everything that was planned and in our brief, in terms of technical things in our documentary it could have been much better, things that could have been better was the editing, I think some areas needed to be cut because its too long, I think the audience would lose interest and stop watching, another thing that was needed in my opinion we needed background music to set a mood for the audience, this is effective for the audience because it would draw more attention in watching the documentary, what went well was the questions and statistics we added for example we added questions and statistics like, 'How do you get to school?' How long does it take to get to school?, Do you experience any bullying because of this?, and the facts would be things like, Disabled people are around 3 times as likely not to hold any qualifications compared to non-disabled people, and around half as likely to hold a degree-level qualification, 19.2% of working age disabled people do not hold any formal qualification, compared to 6.5% of working age non-disabled people. In terms of practical work, I believe that we used good camera techniques and angles, this is good because it makes the documentary look more professional and more entertainment for the audience, also the editing we done was good however could have been better, this could have been the clips being shorter to make it less boring, next time if I was going to carry out a documentary I would use Lavalier Microphones, this is really good and effective for sit down interviews because it only captures the person speaking and no other background sound, another reason why I would use it, is because of the audience, the audience would assume this documentary is a really well made documentary and they would think it's thought through ext. Another Microphone I would use is a Shotgun microphone, 

A shotgun microphone is a highly directional microphone that must be pointed directly at its target sound source for proper recording. Shotgun microphones use unidirectional microphones to achieve this high beam of concentration on the sound source to record the sound. This would help me while recording my subject, for example walking around, or doing some sort of activity, however this is also could be used for interviews. Finally what I would take from this documentary for my final documentary? I would take the effective Camera angles I used, and the types of shots, for example the behind the shoulder

shot, if I was to add a technique, I would add shot reverse shot, I believe this is effective for the audience and it would suit interviews. Moreover the location isn't a thing I would take to my final documentary because I believe it is not an appropriate

 location for documentaries.

The pros of an expository documentary is that you receive first hand information, in other words primary research, this connotes that the information is more reliable than secondary research, however if there was a disagreement people would say that the primary information could be lies, the person you interview could be handing out incorrect information, the cons of expository is that it very time consuming, and sometime can be expensive depending on the person you are interviewing, some people may ask for a fee to interview some may not. Some practical problems that we came against were the people in the street, it really took most of our time because we needed a clear street to film our documentary, we overcome the problem by recording during lesson time, this means that there is less people in the street and there is less distraction, ethical issues, the importance's of it is because they promote the aims of research, such as expanding knowledge. They support the values required for collaborative work, such as mutual respect and fairness. They ensure that the public or the person being interviewed can trust research. They support important social and moral values, such as the principle of doing no harm to others.  

According to the internet Expository documentary is developed by an American documentary theorist, Bill Nichols. It is a classic form of documentary, one of the six main types. It is a documentary that expose a person or a topic. It emphasizes verbal commentary, often using a narrator. Addresses the spectator directly with titles or voices that propose a perspective, advance an argument or recount history. The main conventions are Rhetorical Questions, Facts Opinions Persuasive Techniques.

Moving onto my Observational Documentary, the practical work was much better than the expository documentary we filmed, I can tell this from the effective things that have been done to this documentary, for example the camera angles and camera movement is much better than before, this connotes that the documentary is more professional and it would attract the audience in watching it, the camera movement is much more smooth this is because we have used a Shoulder Rig (Steadi-cam), shoulder rig is a dynamic piece of equipment that moves with the camera operator. It allows you, the filmmaker, the flexibility of movement, which can really help increase efficiency during production. In terms of camera angle and camera movement, we mainly shot with a Mid Shot, because mid shot shows some part of the subject in detail whilst giving an impression of the whole subject, this is effective because it helped us show the audience where the location is and what the subject is which would be Zehra, however with the camera angle we used a lot of different camera angles, one we used was a low angle this is seen at 0:24 on the video, what is show is that the camera angel is low and is almost showing the audience that it is a POV shot, the whole purpose of a low angle is that the character or subject is exaggerating importance or showing power, at this moment is the two girls walking down the stairs is in 'Power' because they are able to help the Subject which is helping to open the door. Another thing that we added that is effective is the facts and information about the subject or the point of focus, at the beginning of the time lapse, we informed the audience who we are filing and what it could be about, we done this by stating the following, 'Zehra suffers from cerebral palsy' and then adding more information by telling the audience what cerebral palsy is. This draws more attention to the documentary and makes the viewer continue to watch.

For improvements we could have made it more informational because it seems that the video is a video to show how Zehra gets around college, and it could get boring eventually, another thing I would definitely improve on is the choice of music, I think that the song we chose to use is very sad, and it could connotes many things, and the audience could take the documentary in a wrong way, if not it would definitely confuse them. What I would add? I would add more camera movement I believe that the camera movements we used were too basic and it could bore the audience and it would lead to them not watching, some camera movements ill add for future reference is, Zoom/Reverse Zoom, Tilt and Pan, these camera movements are used a lot in documentaries and is really effective.





An example of an Observational Documentary is Teen Cribs on MTV, MTV Cribs (also known as Cribs) is a documentary television program that originated on MTV and features tours of the houses and mansions of celebrities. MTV currently produces short-form episodes of the program and distributes it through Snapchat Discover. This show classes as a observational documentary because it follows the teenagers around as they do a tour of their house. The camera focuses on all of the wealthy items and furniture that is inside the house as well as outside. Interviews aren’t included but the teenagers and parents do talk about the house whilst they’re doing the tour of the house. The editing is done really well, for example The speeding up of clips helps to show the less interesting parts of the house quickly and emphasises the good parts of the house when the speed returns to normal. Also the sound is very important, the music makes it more interesting to watch.
From my Observational documentary, I would take the different camera angles and use it in my final documentary, the camera angles such as low and high angles.

Finally my Interview, which is also the
participatory documentary,  I believe that my composition of the cameras was good, this is because it looks professional, the lighting of the documentary is good however could be improved because as seen when the camera switches to me the light is quite bright and it could be less bright, however having the lens flare connotes that the documentary is professional and has been thought through and planned well, to improve next time I will time the lights if possible or move the light further away so the light isn't in the persons eye. Another thing I will need to improve on is the audio quality, I didn't use a microphone, so I need to use a microphone for future projects, the microphone, Lavalier Microphones, this is really good and effective for sit down interviews because it only captures the person speaking and no other background sound, another reason why I would use it, is because of the audience, the audience would assume this documentary is a really well made documentary and they would think it's thought through ext. Another Microphone I would use is a Shotgun microphone, A shotgun microphone is a highly directional microphone that must be pointed directly at its target sound source for proper recording. Shotgun microphones use unidirectional microphones to achieve this high beam of concentration on the sound source to record the sound. This would help me while recording my subject, for example walking around, or doing some sort of activity, however this is also could be used for interviews.
If I was to do a participatory documentary for my final project I will definitely consider using the same location this is because it create a good atmosphere and scene for a interview, and the possible story is would do would be the same, I would consider doing it about basketball, this is because this basketball player (Hakim) has had ups and downs in basketball and I believe I can achieve doing a lot by creating a documentary about him.