Essay (major final task)

 

Name of the documentary: Harry Evan’s Strictly Unusual vehicles: The History of the SUV

How does it represent social issues or groups?

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

 How do your products engage with the audience?

 How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

My research into the topic showed that the majority of successful car documentaries or documentaries of a similar style and genre to mine have a presenter, generally someone who is already a well-known presenter such as James may or Richard Hammond for car documentaries or for history documentaries Dan snow or Peter Snow. Their stile of presenting most of the information via a Piece to camera mixed in with either dramatizations or visualisations for history documentaries and for car documentaries archive footage of the vehicle being discussed, this is where I took a lot of inspiration from to help come up with a unique blend of documentary stiles and Genres. I used Steve Neale’s Genre theory I chose Steve Neale’s theory because I think it fits my idea for my Documentary the best as I have tried to fit the codes and conventions of a car documentary while breaking some to keep interest, the main break from convention being the small sketch about the marketing of the Niva, something unheard of on a car documentary. My research also showed what the best method of advertising would be to get the most exposure to my target audience of men between the ages of 15 to 50, a large age range but an interest in cars is a wide topic. The best social media to use where Instagram and Facebook as the younger audience between the age of 15 and 25 are more likely to use Instagram and those between the age of 25 to 50 are more likely to use Facebook.  

My documentary piece represents several social groups and issues the main being men and Russian stereotypes, this is because the subject of the clip from the documentary focuses on the Russian SUV the Lada Niva which appeals to a mostly male audience although there still is a female following to the car online however it is not to the same universal scale as the male audience, and it covers Russian stereotypes because there is a sketch that leans heavily on the Russian stereotype as well as jokes and information thought the piece, to attract a male primary audience there is humour mixed in with factual information that would turn off some viewers without the humour being there. The negotiated audience is anyone interested in cars no matter the age or gender as there are many more female cars enthusiasts than most people would think, especially regarding Russian cars, this negotiated audience is also likely to use the same social media as the intended audience.

I have put humour in the documentary as the topics covered are full of boring stats and Analysis so to help the viewer both be entertained and learn something about the vehicles covered, I tried to make it funny and a bit tongue in cheek. The way I have presented both social groups that are represented are in positive lights although I use Russian stereotypes for their comedic value there is nothing deeper than the stereotypical soviet incompetence that ends up being effective or made out to be. For the male social group, it is also positive as the documentary covers vehicles that the older viewers might have seen or heard of before, but younger viewers might not have which is why it was important to keep both audiences engaged, too much analysis and info would turn off the younger viewers too much humour without any info would turn off the older audience and the younger would learn nothing from watching which is why I struck a careful balance.

I created a sense of branding by taking my favourite parts of car documentaries and history documentaries combining them to create a unique documentary that hasn’t been done before, although a focus on a presenter as a character is a standard convention of the car documentary sub-genre but the addition of sketches is a break of the convention, it is closest to a renactment from a history documentary however due to its comedic focus instead of being a perfectly accurate.

There was a lot of revision and changes needed to the final piece, from it being a large amount of footage only containing the vehicle with a voiceover edited on top, to a majority piece to camera and in person footage of the car mixed with a voice over and only limited use of archive footage. The majority of the changes were influenced by feed back from my teachers as well as my research.

My choice in editing software was my biggest mistake as I chose to use Adobe rush which although a good editing software it has a maximum of 3 free shares which was not enough for the number of drafts I needed so if I were to do this again, I would use Premier pro because it is much more in depth.

There where also many issues with hardware mainly to do with the camera as it had a major issue with losing focus during filming and the microphone would sometimes work and then the next time you press the record button without changing anything does not work running many takes and not giving any indication of it happening at the time.

However, despite the many issues with production and post production the final piece it came out quite well for something that I have created, it fits its genres codes and conventions and breaks them enough to be interesting fitting into Steve Neales theory, and is according to those who have seen it an easily watchable documentary that they would watch to its conclusion if it was a complete documentary.

By Harry evans