Critical Reflection

Will Brookshaw

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

Conventions I have used which you see throughout all documentaries are Interviews these are a very powerful tool and when conducted right can really add to a story being told. When watching Terry Hearn’s ‘Out of the Blue’ (16th July 2021) documentary I found how he managed to use interviews to great effect along with this having matching shots over his interview which made it extremely interesting. I used a non-diegetic voiceover for parts of the documentary and due to this being a participatory documentary, I gained inspiration from Bill Nichols six modes of documentary and found participatory documentary to be best suited to mine. I feature in the documentary speaking which is use of diegetic sound, I found this made the media more engaging for the audience. I used non diegetic intense music with a fast paced montage of mix of scenic shots, fish, Otto casting and lake shots, so I felt I had to challenge this common convention and but a twist onto this in an attempt to increase the engagement of my younger target audience while still being able to please the secondary audience. Through research and watching ‘Battleship Potemkin’ (1925) I found that Sergei Eisenstein‘s method of montage used would be extremely effective with the videos I have filmed, due to them being able to show emotions and meaning through juxtaposition and how long shots last, all the shots have a meaning which when following a journey, in this case, Otto’s to catch Single Scale this montage was filled with meaning. Steve Neale’s genre theory consists of ‘repetition and difference’ So I felt that I had to follow some of the main conventions as stated above however as long as the main conventions were followed or even if they were slightly adapted this would have the desired effect I wanted in which I wanted it to be obvious it is a documentary, however, I wanted to put a modern more young twist onto this.

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

The main social group you stereotypically find fishing are older 30-40 C1 or C2, who the vast majority are male. I kept with this stereotype for the secondary target audience however, for the primary target audience I catered for the younger age groups 18-24. It is a common misconception that we kill the fish we catch, however, I made sure to show footage of looking after the fish and showing them swim off after capture to show the care we have for these fish, along with the use of mats’ slings and other objects which symbolize looking after the fish. With the main subject being Otto who is an 18year old B1 male, I found that this will also represent the smaller groups which Are slowly increasing as this would gain a great following from that younger social group. Blumler and Katz believe that the consumers have an active role in selecting the media they consume, so I feel with having Otto (younger carp angler) really made the primary target audience which who are younger choose to engage with this media product and consume it over any other fishing documentary as they obtain the gratification of personal identity.

How do your products engage with the audience?

I made sure to cater to this younger audience (18-24) by first off the story of chasing that one fish as typically men this age are very competitive so they might like the sense of trying to catch this fish before anyone else does. The use of fast paced modern non-diegetic music in the montage also catering for younger demographics, this along with beautiful visual shots to grab their attention makes fishing very appealing along with social aspect and having a good time, these factors really drawing in the audience and making it engaging. One of the main factors for this being engaging for the younger audience is how we use a 18year old who is a sponsored angler as the main subject, this can be seen to be engaging as being sponsored to go fishing is a goal of many anglers in this age range and hearing someone speak about there angling can be seen as motivation to do what he does and complete goals like him to be like him, this is very engaging for this age group if not the most important factor with engaging with this age demographic. For my secondary target audience as they are between 30-40 they may especially find the social aspect engaging, getting away and treating fishing like an escape. A documentary which has my secondary target audience as their primary is Thinking Anglers ‘Fishing for the Unknown’ (7th March 2021 Directed by Si Bater) through analysing this documentary I found techniques that would be effective for my secondary target audience through use of shots however with use of music I can then make it more suited for my Primary target audience while still keeping the appeal for the secondary target audience. The establishing shots are used to make a very calm atmosphere somewhere were these people working a 9-5 busy work like may want to go and escape all making this documentary very engaging this is enhanced by the use of a drone, I also thought that the ideology of being outside in nature is a huge factor due to COVID really inspiring people to get out and go fishing.

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

Some successful branding on TV that I gained inspiration from is a program called ‘Monster Carp’ (2019 directed by Neil Spooner) throughout the series they kept a strong sense of branding not only in this series but throughout Instagram, Facebook, and youtube. Throughout my social media, magazine, and documentary, I made sure to have a heavy emphasis on being a modern production whether that be through edits especially the faster paced edits, and also with the use of San-Serif text fonts. The heavy use of Otto being featured also brings a sense of branding as people recognise him and associate him with the various media products I have produced. Even the colour palette that you see throughout with clothing and mise-en-scene all are used to give my documentary a solid branding. All these come together along with modern music to match the modern design of the Instagram and magazine making them all interlinked.