final documentary

Final documentary

confirmation email of booking the equipment with the techs

call sheet

name	number	meeting	location
Abigail mbaki	07490496092	Thursday 23rd – 30th	Abigail’s house, dianni’s house, dalston shop, college
Daisy abeka	Daisybk01@gmail.com	Monday 27th – 30th	College, dalston shop
Lucy hollingsworth	07495910813	thursday 23rd – 30th	dianni’s house, dalston shop, college
Dianni scarborough	07415824304	Monday 27th	Dianni’s house, college

Call sheet  

development ideas

task 1b abigail redraft

For this task I will be writing a report demonstrating my understanding of the codes and conventions of different types of factual programming for television. I will be reviewing 1 documentary, 1 news broadcast and 2 factual programs.  

The documentary that I will be reviewing is " Reggie Yates: life and death in Chicago”. This documentary is interactive. This is because as Reggie being the film maker he is actively engaging with the situation the documentary is about for example in the documentary Reggie attends the monthly police review board which is a chance for citizens to air grievances. While Reggie is at the meeting he questions individuals about the Chicago police and also gives us his past experiences with the police. The Reggie Yates: Life in Chicago documentary incorporates and is also reliant on the honesty of the interviewee’s, their input becomes central part of the film.  
This documentary also includes images of testimony or verbal exchange to demonstrate the validity of what the witness state, whilst investigating the subject. For example  for images of testimony the documentary shows footage of Preacher Catherine Brown , a "volunteer working to improve relationships with the community and the police" was dragged out her car by the police whilst her two children were in the back seats, then the police officers pepper sprayed her children. To back up this testimony the documentary shows the full footage of the incident which was recorded by the police while she explains her story. 

Reggie Yates includes a representation of different viewpoints, by getting every ones point of views across by keeping it balanced. He hears the community’s point of view and also the police's point of View by attending a memorial service for cops who were killed on duty. There is no definitive argument because the audience have the choice to pick what side they agree with.  

In this documentary we are aware of the camera crew because at some points in the documentary Reggie turns to talk to the camera and also for example a police officer who did not want to be filmed said" get that camera out my face".  

The secret life of 4, 5 and 6 year old's  

 The secret life of 4, 5 and 6 year old's is a factual program that observes the “secret life of 4, 5, and 6 year old's to find out what girls and boys really think of each other. This factual program is observational because the children are being observed every second and we can see that they are being observed by Dr. Alison Pike and Professor Paul Harris Jones who are watching the children through a screen and can hear everything that is being said. In this case we cannot see the film maker.  There are long takes in this factual program which allows us as viewers to know that nothings been said.  In this documentary there are relatively long shots which allows the audience to know that nothing has been cut out. These long cuts happen constantly throughout the documentary from when the kids are playing or talking so as the audience we can also feel more involved. As we are aware that there are a lot of realism aspects in this documentary due to the fact that it is an observational documentary. The camera work is unobtrusive, this is because since they are observing children, the camera will cause attention and the kids may stop what they are doing because they are being watched. There is no use of dramatisation in this documentary because it is not reacting a novel or a film , it is reality. 

This factual program also falls under the category of expository. There is a voice of God narrator that we cannot see which addresses the viewers and explains what we see, the audience are listeners who are being told about the subject. For example when a child was crying on the show as the audience we are aware of this because we can still see and hear it, but the voice of God explains to us that she is crying and reasons why.  Interviews are also used in this factual program for example questions are asked and the children have to answer to the question. 

House of teen Mums  

 The "house of teen mums" is a factual program about teenage mothers who live in a hostel with their babies and are waiting to get a property of their own. The House of teen mums falls under the category of expository.  The house of teen mums has a voice of God, a narrator that we cannot see. This narrator explains to the viewer what we see and what is happening, there is a direct relationship between the images we see and the voice over. As the audience, we are the listeners. For example before each teen mum speaks there is a voice over that introduces them and tells us the audience what the mother is doing at that moment of time.  There are no interviews in this factual program. This program is also an interactive program. The teen mums are aware of the presence of the camera because they talk directly to the camera and make eye contact. Each individual teen mum has their own monologue, for example when they each explain their story of when they ended up pregnant and how they ended up at the hostel. There is also a representation of multiple viewpoints, for example each of the teen mum's express their opinions about the hostel and this gives us various amounts of ideas of what it is like being a teen mum and living at the hostel. 

MAN VS FOOD  

The factual program Man vs food falls under the category of Performative. The documentary is straight forward, the film maker Adam Richmond is the star of the show and centere of attention. As the audience we follow him throughout his journey as he battles eating different types of foods. In Man vs food Adam Richmond organizes interviews with restaurant owners asking them about information about the food he is about to eat and why the restaurant is so popular in the area. He also interviews customers who attend the restaurant and asks them questions such as "why they like the food so much?” In this factual program the personality and views of the film maker is  unrevealed as we accompany him during his quest. Adam eats a range of foods and puts his own health at risk , which makes this factual program a performative because he is performing by eating a range of different junk foods. Also in this factual documentary there is a hand-held camera which follows Adam throughout which makes the audience feel more involved as they watch. There is a narrative structure in this documentary because in every episode the format and the narrativisation are pretty much the same . Every episode starts off with the film maker introducing himself and what restaurant he will be visiting in the city. He then shows what food he will be eating and the history of the restaurant.  

News report  

The ITV news report is interactive. The reason for this is because the presenter John Fernandez is seen as the film maker, as the film maker the presenter engages with the situations actively that they are talking about. For example in the Channel Islands more than 300 people were given penalty fines for using their mobile phones whilst driving and the presenter gives us an example of how you can use your phone by being in the car if you are parked and your engine is switched off. He does this by demonstrating in a car. Also in the news report it incorporates interviews with witnesses who give their honest opinions in which makes them central part of the film.  

The news report includes images of testimonies that back up the subject, for example Jersey when they show the footage of Thomas Crow, a man that had killed a family of 4 due to looking at his mobile phone whilst driving. There is also a representation of different viewpoints in the news report, for example when the public are giving their monologue opinions, they show different people who are in different locations.  The film maker speaks directly to his subject / audience because he is always giving direct eye contact with them.