- What is the agreed focus of our documentary?
- Will our idea stand up under scrutiny from our teacher?
- Who would be the target audience for a documentary with this focus?
- How can I develop and demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge and understanding of our chosen topic?
You will be working in Production Teams for all of your lesson time this week. In that time, and completed for OHL, you will need to address the objective questions above. You will need to provide evidence that you have addressed the questions in your personal Production Log. Whilst you are completing this lesson's work, I will audit your Production Logs to make sure that you have completed last week's OHL (Production Details & Documentary Research).
Group Communication
When working in a production team, good communication is the key to success. Don't wait until your timetabled lessons to share information. You need to be able to communicate between lessons. You could arrange a physical meeting, but 'virtual meetings' are often more effective as group members can access the meeting at different times. Therefore, why not consider a group Facebook page (you can't access it in school though) or use group text messaging. I'm sure you can find a way of sharing information beyond the limitations of the lesson!
Group Communication
When working in a production team, good communication is the key to success. Don't wait until your timetabled lessons to share information. You need to be able to communicate between lessons. You could arrange a physical meeting, but 'virtual meetings' are often more effective as group members can access the meeting at different times. Therefore, why not consider a group Facebook page (you can't access it in school though) or use group text messaging. I'm sure you can find a way of sharing information beyond the limitations of the lesson!
Questions 1 & 2
Once you, as a group, have agreed a topic, you need to persuade your teacher that you can achieve the required outcomes with this topic as a focus for your documentary. Your teacher will require convincing of the following points;
- There is an 'issue' or 'truth' to investigate or seek (your documentary needs a 3-act narrative)
- You can explain why an investigation of this topic is important
- Your documentary is likely to have audience appeal (you need a target audience)
- You have an idea of the type of footage you will want to shoot and that the shooting of this footage is realistic and achievable ("We're going to interview the Prime Minister" or "We're going to film B-Roll of bull-fighting in Spain" would be worrying proposals!)
- You have an idea of the type of people you may wish to interview, including 'experts' who can illuminate the issue for you (but not necessarily their names yet)
- You have an idea of the type of B-roll you may wish to collect.
- There is an opportunity to include the conventions of your documentary type; talking-head interviews & voice-over for expository documentaries, a 'presenter' or filmed researcher for participatory documentaries, use of stills, use of B-roll, etc.
To convince your teacher, complete the Project Focus Summary in your Production Log (embedded Word document) and submit to your teacher. You can present your summary in any way you want, including question and answer format, extended writing or a table. There are other methods too. This is one of the documents that is likely to be 'shared', with all group members having the same summary in their portfolio. However, everyone must contribute, so I suggest that you complete this document in today's lesson time. You must address the points raised above but you can also include any other information you consider relevant that will help your teacher to evaluate your proposal. Identify the intended deadline for the submission of this summary in your Production Calendar.
Question 3
You need to identify a target audience for your product. There are many ways to collect target audience information, including;
- Examine audiences for similar existing products (IMDB, Pearl & Dean, BFI, etc)
- Survey people's interest ("Would you be interested in..." or "Which of these topics...", etc)
Once you have collected evidence to suggest a target audience, you need to construct a Target Audience Profile (TAP). You completed a TAP in Unit B321, so you know how to do this. However, a TAP without firm evidence to support your proposal is worthless, so don't JUST do a TAP! You should research existing audiences individually and, once you've shared your conclusions, agree and construct a group TAP (you should always have a single TAP for the whole production team).
Present your existing audience research & TAP on the Target Audience Research document in your Production Log (embedded Word doc). Identify a deadline for the completion of this work in your Production Calendar.
Question 4
OK, you've agreed a topic and identified a target audience, now you need to demonstrate some understanding of the topic you've chosen. There are several ways to do this;
- Write a short essay (1 to 2 pages only)
- Construct a 'Key-Facts Sheet', using bullet-points, clip art, charts, etc.
- Construct a mind map, separating information into categories
Other methods exist too! You must be prepared to share this information with your group next lesson and your contribution will be assessed (I can feel another 'token task' coming on!)
Record a deadline for this task (next week's lesson) in your Production Calendar. Present your research in the Topic Research document in your Production Log (embedded Word doc).
Out of Hours Learning
- Update the Lesson Evaluation document (see sidebar)
- Update your Production Diary to summarise the progress you have/will make this week (in Production Log).
- Complete the Project Focus Summary (in Production Log)
- Complete the Target Audience Research Document (in Production Log)
- Complete the Topic Research Document (in Production Log)
