FINAL PRODUCTION- CRITICAL REFLECTION
FINAL PRODUCTION- CRITICAL REFLECTION
I researched numerous theorists as well as the documentary genre itself to use different ideas to help with my final production and my media campaign. I looked at older productions such as The Night Mail (1936), directed by John Grierson who said that documentary genre is “the creative treatment of actuality” and who used narrative to structure his ideas, as well as reconstruction, music and poetry. However, I also looked at new creations like The Social Dilemma (2020), a Netflix Original Film directed by Jeff Orlowski who focused on interviews and graphics. I researched Bill Nichols 6 modes of documentary to learn the different styles of the genre and how to classify them. Also, I managed to incorporate the basic conventions of the genre including interviews, cutaways and archive footage, but was inspired by what Robert Flaherty did in his production of “Nanook of the North” (1922) in the way he staged scenes which weren’t strictly realistic in order to convey a deeper truth. When filming, many of the shots taken were also staged, as I tried to recreate what had already happened, but only incorporating the footage I thought was necessary. For my social media page, I looked at other documentaries such as David Attenborough’s account on Instagram and Netflix’s on Facebook to learn how to market my final product. I learnt that posting consistently was key, as well as sticking to a theme. I also noticed that hashtags are very helpful to be noticed by more viewers. I researched my primary targeted audience and based my campaigns on their preferences, such as focusing on the family itself.
In my final product, I focused on the representation of family as well as the issue of family separation. I challenged the image of a stereotypical family as the father is at home currently not working, while the mum works multiple jobs and the children both live away from home. As Levi-Strauss’ binary opposition suggest, I placed happy moments between the family before cutting to more serious shots contrasting the two. This emphasised the sadness when the daughters were talking about their departure. There is also a comparison between the parents and the children. In the shots with the daughters, there is a more relaxed atmosphere created for example by the mise-en-scène in the interview with the two of them sitting on a bed and both of them laughing, whereas with the parents the majority of the shots are more serious and emotional, such as their individual interviews. For this reason, my preferred readers, according to Stuart Hall’s theory, can be debated as no one is represented as weaker or more negative than the other and all of them are shown as equal. However, women aged 30-40 are more likely to enjoy watching it as they are more likely to relate to the mother in the extract, which is why, arguably women of this age are preferred readers.
My primary targeted audience are ABC1s and 2s, 30- to 50-year-olds with a strong female skew, particular mothers with families, who according to Blumler and Katz’s ‘Uses and Gratifications’ theory would consume my product for social interaction as well as entertainment purposes. This group would be ‘aspirers’ who might be considering the implications of living abroad with their families. My secondary targeted audience are younger, (between 16 and 25) who would use it for information as well as entertainment and who would relate to the teenage daughters in the programme. From the beginning of my documentary, there is a happy non-diegetic soundtrack along with warm coloured shots which encode the expected positivity of a family show, with a strong ideology of the importance of family relationships. I use a non-diegetic female voiceover throughout, a presenter who would be appealing to these target audience as her delivery is always friendly and relaxed as to give the audience a sense of knowing the family, and to develop the upbeat and personal tone.
To engage my primary target audience of parents, I contrasted many happy shots and sequences with sadder ones to make it more emotional. For example, the last interview with the mother in the extract is particularly emotive when she discusses being apart from her daughters, and the cutaways to happy family scenes in the kitchen emphasize this. My narrative structure is similar to Todorov’s theory, beginning with an equilibrium and then a disruption, which gives the audience a clear journey through the experience. The point is to give my extract a sense of entertainment as well to make it more interesting and engage my audience. Since my product is light-hearted and fun, I consistently post images, videos and GIF’s on my Facebook page along with information and sometimes games in the captions so that my audience can participate. Lastly, my magazine has images and interviews with the people so that my audiences can connect to them and relate to them more.
The main theme of my documentary is ‘family’ suggesting that the people involved help create a sense of branding as they appear in photographs across all platforms. The posts I upload on my social media focus on them, and in my magazine there is an interview and an image of them where the importance of family is highlighted. The setting in France is also part of the branding as the shots are bright and mostly warm toned in terms of lighting and colouration. Furthermore, the stereotypes of the South of France such as palm trees, the sea, croissants, French houses are part of the aesthetic which would appeal to aspirers. The font chosen is a sans-serif font in red that looks modern as it fits the interior of the family’s house designed by the parents. The font in my magazine and in my captions on my social media is also sans-serif with the exception of the writing I would like to stand out. The narrator also plays an important part for the branding as the captions on my social media posts and quotes in my magazine seem as if they have been written by the woman from the voiceover in my documentary. This is because her way of talking and the script makes her sound like a storyteller as well as a friend which is what I wanted to bring into my other products offering the audience a sense of ‘presumed intimacy’ (Chris Rojek). There is also an enigma (Barthes) around the narrator as her name isn’t stated in the documentary or in the magazine, but her ‘voice’ is recognizable by ear but also on paper.
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