Evaluation questions

 1.In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Prior to planning my documentary, I watched and researched into a variety of different types and sub-genres of documentary in order to understand how they conform or differ to the typical conventions of a documentary and apply this to my film. My topic- the reasoning behind lasting popularity of vinyl records, was something I chose as it is something I am very interested and passionate about and wanted to get this feeling across to the audience. However a lot of the documentaries I first watched were rather hard-hitting and serious, for example Michael Moore's 'Bowling for Columbine' and were rather different to the type of feeling I wanted to create for my audience. Consequently I decided to look for smaller, music documentaries and found several that were very similar to the atmosphere I wanted to create, 'Last shop Standing' was very useful as it revolved around a similar topic of vinyl and had relaxed, atmospheric interviews and created a desirable feel towards vinyl for the audience, this was a good starting guideline as inspiration for my film.

I feel that my end product does very much conform to general conventions of documentaries, I used several interviews and for this applied the 'rule of thirds' when framing the shot, so that the subjects were positioned more to a side of the frame and also used a mid shot to make it more interesting and rather intimate. I also assured that I interviewed them without moving them so that they were more natural and relaxed, adding realism to the documentary. In terms of editing the interviews, I used several cutaways to keep interest and back up some of the points the interviewees were saying and had a variety of different appropriate shots to choose from. A big part of my film that very much conforms to the documentary genre is the montage at the beginning. I took inspiration from Shane Meadows 'Made of Stone' for the opening to my film and similarly mine begins with a 'voice of god' style voice-over which introduces the topic followed by a small appropriate quote to back up the voice-over and then a small sequence that introduces the montage which shows a variety of clips, photos and newspaper headings that introduce the topic more broadly and reiterate the point of the documentary.

In terms of sound and music, I found that as my film could be classed as a music documentary, that choice of music was important and saw that in the documentaries I watched, the sounds and music were very much instrumental in adding interest and creating a certain emotion. Therefore to fit in with the topic surrounding a revival of vinyl popularity, I chose modern songs that had an older more vintage sound, for example the music over the montage is a modern cover of an older song and also has lyrics that emphasise something lasting- 'Rock 'n' roll is here to stay.' Thus creating a romanticism and nostalgic feel towards the topic. For sounds I used a non-diegetic voice-over throughout to help to re-emphasise the topic and help it to flow better. In my interviews I also had a lot of ambient sound to create a busy, intimate and interesting atmosphere and to add realism and consequently I feel that my product does very much conform to the general codes and conventions of a documentary which help to get my point across and create a professional, interesting feel to my product.

2.How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I was very fortunate to have acquired a very good camera and editing suite not long before I began filming and found media technologies paramount in the each stage of the creation of my film. I heavily relied on the internet initially for researching, gaining contacts to interview and to able to watch many documentaries on sites such as Youtube and BBC iplayer. However media technologies were most necessary when filming an editing, I used a Canon Powershot SX510 camera which enabled me to film in HD and was very compact and easy to use and therefore gave me room to vary my shots and also meant I was able to get some very good quality, crisp and clear shots of records which added to the romanticism of vinyl and the general feel I was trying to put across. Although it was fairly new, I managed to adapt to the new camera fairly well and was generally very pleased with all the filming and photo quality and practised with it prior to my first interviews until I felt quite confident. Although, there were a couple of clips from an indoor shot that were a little dark, however when editing I was able to improve this and generally was very happy with my camera and filming. The editing posed more difficult as initially there were a couple of problems as I had not had the opportunity to do a lot of editing and found it difficult to get used to a new editing suite. I used Cyberlink PowerDirector 10 and I had some minor problems when playing back what I had on my time line, however was fortunate enough to have advice from someone who works with computers that was able to easily resurrect the issue. There was also some slight sound issues with a couple of interviews as I was unable to acquire a microphone until after and decided not to use one particular interview. However in the other interviews, there is some ambient sound that actually creates quite a busy, intimate atmosphere and is quite beneficial to the documentary. 
Fortunately for my voice-over I was able to acquire a microphone and used a Blue snowball microphone to ensure that the voice-over was clear, especially as I used music over the voice to add interest and emotion.
In terms of evaluation technologies were also very important as utilisation of web 2.0 allowed me to share my film on sites such as Facebook and Youtube and meant I was able to gain good feedback and opinion from different perspectives and my target audience. Therefore I generally found that the technologies I used were very beneficial and easy to use despite some minor issues with editing and am very happy with the end result.

3.What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

I produced several films before the final cut and got feedback from people within the target audience to see what could be added to improve my film and make it more suitable. For example, my first finished film had no voice-over and less cutaways making it sligltly less clear and informative, as I already knew about the topic having audience feedback was important in suggesting how clear and well it actually flowed from another perspective. The addition of more music and the voice-over made the film far easier to understand and the use of music has given my film a more interesting feel and makes it appear more like a  music documentary therefore  fitting in with the topic. The extra cutaways and some cut down clips have also made it flow much better and some long clips of interviews, particularly the first, which initially seemed quite repetitive now have been cut to more appropriate lengths with just key information and now consequently seem less tedious. In this respect I was very grateful for audience feedback and being able to see the film from another perspective.

I was able to take advantage of the internet and posted my documentary to Facebook and Youtube to gain a broader opinion, and was very happy with the feedback I got. There was no negative feedback and I felt that it was very well received, I had lots of comments stating that it was 'very interesting' which was very encouraging that the overall topic was enjoyed as that was the aim of the documentary as my interest in vinyl is not generally hugely shared, so I felt the interest in this suggests that the objective of educating in the documentary was met. 
The feedback I received was also from a varied age group and as my target demographic is quite broad I felt it was very encouraging that the topic and general feel of the film was well received and this has shown me the huge importance and help of audience feedback and how social media can very much benefit this.

 

4.How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary task?
To answer this I have presented it in the format of a Prezi:
Click here: 
 Question four- Prezi 

'The Vinyl Revolution'- final video

  

Here is the final cut of my documentary about the lasting popularity of vinyl records- 
'The Vinyl Revolution.'

Soundtrack

As my topic was vinyl records, I felt it was important to make sure I had a good choice of music to fit with the topic and create a good atmosphere and mood. Therefore I tried to use modern artists with an older sound to reflect the modern revival of vinyl- an old format of music.Consequently for the opening I used
'It's all good' by The Vaccines as the intro is quite relaxed and upbeat with a sixties sound and I thought it was very appropriate for the introduction.

Then for my montage I used a modern cover by Jake Bugg of an older song- 'My My Hey Hey' by Neil Young which had very appropriate lyrics referencing music- 'rock n roll will never die' and I thought it was very suitable to accompany my montage.

The final song I used was at the end- 'Still life' by The Horrors and I felt it had a good introduction with a slightly rocky beat that could be used over the interviews and then the heavier sounds later are very appropriate for the credits.

 

As I was using several songs I was aware of copyright and I also emailed each record company in an attempt to gain permission:

Filming- Locations and Interviewees

When it came to filming my documentary I really wanted to meet and interview people in really small, raw and atmospheric locations with people who were interested and passionate about the subject.

To begin with I wanted to interview a record owner and after some research was lucky enough to find a shop in The Guardian readers top ten record stores in Britain- 'Rubber Soul Records,' which was conveniently a short train ride away in Stoke. I emailed the owner- Robert Barrs and thankfully he was happy enough to oblige and I was able to go to his store and interview him.

The shop was perfect for the type of setting I wanted despite some slight issues with filming due to the cramped nature of the shop however Robert was good to interview as he seemed down to earth and relatable and gave a good insight into his opinion of vinyl records.

 

As well as a store owner I wanted to meet with some record dealers and had already thought a record fair would provide a good location, atmosphere and insight into a possible different or similar perspective. Consequently from meeting Robert I was able to find out about an upcoming record fair nearby in Newcastle-Under-Lyme in a pub called The Old Brown Jug and was able to go along and gain another couple of interviews. 

The pub was a great place to interview as it was quite small, rather dimly lit and very inviting and provided a great setting and atmosphere. I was able to interview two sets of people- online record dealers, Richard and Scott and a younger female and Older male dealers- 'charlie Boy' and Grace Austen, however upon editing discovered the latter clip was not appropriate for my film as the sound quality was poor due to background noise and the interview was not as information filled as the initial so I didn't use it.

For the final bits of filming, I was able to use culminations of shots from the locations in which I interviewed and shots I filmed at home for my montage and for extra clips. Consequently I was very pleased overall with the variety of clips and interviews I had acquired and the small, raw and atmospheric locations.

Planning

My first stages towards planning was a vague mind map of my initial ideas followed by a more detailed sequence of sketched storyboards based on what types of clips I wanted to acquire and how I wanted to order this. Generally my film followed these plans and is similar to the story boards and initial plans.

The first cut of my video, prior to feedback

Promotions- Facebook page

As social media sites have become increasingly popular with varied target audience, I thought a good way to reach my target demographic, as it is a wide age range, would be through Facebook. Consequently I set up a Facebook page to promote my documentary:

 

Listings magazine

I also chose to do a listings magazine as I felt my skills at graphics and the presentation of a page overall are quite strong. I used some bright colours to stand out and add interesting against the white background. I thought the most dominant picture was a bold, interesting and appropriate enough image to be the main focus out of the images and also was able to use several other small images that stood out and allow the reader more information as to what the programme is about without even reading it. I also used a large coloured quote which conforms to a standard convention of listing magazine articles and allows the reader to gage a sense of what the programme is going to be like without giving too much away.

The over all view:

Each individual page, first page:

Second page:

Listings magazine research

I found some similar double pages from Radio Times, which is the sort of listings magazine I would want my documentary to be featured in. I liked the use of a large, dominant image to initially show the reader what the programme is about, then multiple, smaller images to entice the audience in and suggest more about the topic of the programme. I also like the use of different coloured fonts and sizes to make the page look interesting and busy but still maintaining an easy to read clear document.

Ancillary- Newspaper print advert

I chose to market my documentary for a channel 4 audience and based my print newspaper advert on other channel 4 print adverts. The font is clear and stands out especially as it has a white background. The image I have used is from the record fair I conducted my interviews at and I felt it was bold, colourful and interesting enough for a stand alone image and the white stands out nicely against it. The channel four sign is a good size and stands out enough with detracting too much attention away from the main image and title.

Ancillary poster Research

Font:
The font I chose for my poster was Bebas, I found it  because it is the logo font for a band I like called The Vaccines:

I thought that it would be a good font to use as it simple, straight, clear and stands out but also looks quite professional. I decided to use it for all the text on my print advert for continuity and to keep it simple and clear. It was particularly effective for my title:

Whilst finding the font I discovered a fan made poster for The Vaccines and found it good as inspiration for my poster as it is quite edgy and simple without eliminating a varied audience.

 

I liked the use of one image to fill the entire page, similarly to the channel 4 print adverts and also thought the font with a highlighted background was rather effective at enhancing the text and drawing the attention to some text which is tricky against a bold, coloured image similar to the image I used on my advert.

Newspaper advert

As I was aware I would need to choose a channel on which to market my documentary for and to include on the newspaper advertisement. Based on my target audience- being quite spread out, as vinyl fans tend to be mostly 30-35 year old's and a new audience of under 20's. Therefore I felt that Channel 4 would be a perfect channel to showcase my documentary as it states- 'Our shows are targeted at the 16-34 audience' which generally encompasses my audience, also Channel 4 is known for a number of documentaries on a variety of topics and different genres therefore as a channel it appeals to a large number of people. 

In terms of channel four's print media adverts, they are relatively simplistic and have little text and a large image that will initially engage the reader and suggest the topic.

This is an example of a channel 4 advert- the picture is eye-catching and as it is for a follow up documentary series, it is clearer to readers already aware of the show what it's advertising for. It is exceptionally simple- the font and text colour is plain but clear and the channel 4 logo is slightly bigger to draw attention to where the reader will be able to  view the show, it also placed in the center left, a positioning synonymous with channel four. Finally the date is in the bottom corner however has a white background to the black text to highlight the importance of the date and help the reader to remember.

Research- Statistsics

In terms of research figures and information for my documentary and to include in my listings magazine article, I found these websites particularly useful and trustworthy as one is BBC news, one bpi and one from The Telegraphs website which are all trustworthy unbiased in terms of figures.

The Telegraph, Vinyl sale statistics:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/10556186/Vinyl-sales-highest-for-15-years.html

BBC Newsbeat, vinyl sale statistics:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/24551472

bpi- British Recorded Music Industry, vinyl sale figures and consumer statistics:
http://www.bpi.co.uk/home/vinyl-revival-continues-as-lp-sales-reach-highest-level-in-more-than-a-decade.aspx

Music week- General music sale statistics for 2013:
http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/streaming-value-shoots-up-in-2013-but-album-and-singles-sales-dip-bpi-stats/057146

Music ally- General music statistics for 2013:
http://musically.com/2014/01/01/uks-1bn-recorded-music-revenues-in-2013-included-103m-from-streaming-subscriptions/

Interview technique and framing

 For my interviews I wanted to research framing and composition of the subject being filmed so I could conduct my interview according to general conventions of interviews.
I researched the rule of thirds and it was clear the best positioning of the interviewee was to be slightly to either side of the frame with less of a direct profile shot. Also generally with a mid closeup, like this example.

I tried to apply this for my first interview and felt it was important to get my interviewee in a natural comfortable position with a backdrop establishing the setting adding interest to the interview.

Similarly in my second interview I positioned my subjects to the right of the frame with a clear, relevant backdrop to the left where the frame is empty of people.

'Made on Stone The Stone Roses '- music documentary analysis

As part of my research I felt it would be important to look at a music documentary as it would help me understand the type of audience interested in a music documentary, which mine will be a form of. Consequently I found this documentary, showing the events and build up to the Stone Roses come back tour. IMBD announced that it is the 45th most popular music video according to the IMBD research, which is fairly high, however I felt that as it celebrating a British band made by British director for a predominantly British market, as mine will also be broadcast in Britain, including British people I felt this would be more appropriate.
I also particularly liked the style of filming and the style of editing is very much how I imagined my documentary to be. I particularly liked the sound and editing at the beginning- with a slow-motion tracking shot of Ian Brown walking along side the crowd with no diegetic sounds but just a voice over quote from Alfred Hitchcock. I found this very effective and would like to open my documentary with something similar, possibly a short sequence followed by a montage with no sounds apart from an appropriate, inspiring voice over.

Interview with Graham Jones, author of Last Shop Standing.

In order to gage a broader understanding as to some of the main reasons why there has been a significant revival in vinyl popularity and sales of the last couple of years, I was fortunate enough to arrange a telephone interview with author of 'Last Shop Standing' book and now documentary film. I have been able to watch several clips from 'Last Shop standing' and was particularly interested not only with the content but with the generally bright and positive style of filming and the relaxed and very nostalgic vibe it created. Therefore I felt he would be perfect to inform me about not only the vinyl revival but also about his approach to the documentary.

Graham Jones- Producer and author of ‘Last shop standing’ interview.

Why do you think there has been a significant increase in popularity of records over the last couple of years?
‘It all started with record store day which started about six years ago in America. The record companies got behind it and put out a few hundred releases that you could only get on vinyl. This got people going back into record shops to gain collectibles and record companies are now putting a lot more things out on vinyl. It something people actually treasure and collect and the whole package of a vinyl record means something to people. When I use CD’s I will listen to them in the car but when I finish I throw them into the glove compartment or throw it on the seat but when I think of listening to a vinyl record I would never think of taking it off the deck and throwing it across the room and I like to look after it and keep it in perfect condition.’

How far do you think that record shops are responsible for this?
‘When I wrote the book last shop standing it was in 2009 we only had 269 record stores left in the country. Now in 2013 we have 298 so that’s 30 more that have opened in the last 5 years than have closed which to me is great news and all down to vinyl because you’re never going to see Tesco getting out 12 inches next to the baked beans the way they did with CD’s. So people buy vinyl from record shops as appose to getting them in the post and it’s that reason why we have more record shops now than we did in 2009.’

What do you thing is the main attraction of a vinyl record over a CD or download?
‘There is nothing wrong with buying downloads or CD’s, music is now more popular than ever, we have more options of listening to downloads than we did. The music industry tried to get rid of vinyl and tried to get us all to buy are music collection all over again by buying CD’s and they did this because when the CD was invented they said to the artists we cant pay you as much because its cost so much to develop as on a LP so artists were getting far less royalties on CD’s as they were on Vinyl records so therefore the music industry wanted us as consumers to buy our record collection all over again because they were making a lot more money on CD’s than they were on LP’s. There is nothing wrong with LP’s I think the sound is actually better but the industry wanted us buy CD’s so they could make more money off them. These days the industry wants us to be downloading as they will make more money off them than they would off LP’s and CD’s.’

What is the main target audience of people buying records?
‘I think it’s more spread out now. A few years ago you would find a lot of people buying records would be male and over 30. But since record store day took off so many young bands now are putting stuff out now on vinyl. It many cases it might be 500 copies of a 7 inch or a 10 inch or a 12 inch. I still work for a record company I still go out and visit record companies every week and about five years ago we would put about 2% of our leases out on vinyl an now every key release that comes out we put out on vinyl and it comes out on download and it comes out on CD. The record companies are making some really good vinyl and it comes with a download card or it comes with the CD so you could listen in the car and listen to the vinyl in your home. Things are improving vinyl sales are going up by big percentages every year whereas CD sales are continuing to fall. Digital sales are going up for not by as much as someone like me thought a few years ago I certainly thought at this stage digital would be a lot further.’

What was your initial approach to your documentary and what sort of view did you want to get across?
‘Blue print media approached me and said they wanted to turn my book into a film. I did think it was going to be very difficult to get a lot the humour that was in the book into the film but it seemed to work. What we tried to do was tell the history of the record shop so we went to the oldest record shop in the world and we went to the oldest family owned record store in the world, we went to a record shop that used to have the Beatles as customers and a record shop that sold 500 copies of Bill Haley’s Rock around the clock when it came out. We showed all the good things that happened but also we filmed a record shop closing down.  But it finishes on a really positive note; we interviewed a shop in Southsea called pie and vinyl that only sell pies and vinyl. It shows these day record shops have to diverse to survive they can’t just rely on all the things they did in the past. Rough trade is a perfect example everyday they've got bands on, they've got an artist or a book reading but they have an event on every day. They've got a café, they've got computers, they've got great merchandise and a great selection of books but there are so many records shops out there who are like rough trade where they have groups on every week or month and they serve coffee or they've got cafes. One shop said to me we make a 300% margin on our coffee and we make 30% margin on our music, that’s the problem with record shops, the profit on music is so small and I'm pleased to see they’re actually surviving.

One of the big reasons why we lost so many record shops and why record shops are opening now is because the government introduced a law called low value consignment release 12 years ago and it was designed to help dairy farmers of the channel islands and it meant anything shipped form the channel Islands under twenty pound they didn't have to have VAT on it. So what happened was a very clever company called Play.com realised they could ship CD’s into the UK without having to pay VAT and before you knew it Amazon, Tesco and HMV and all the big high-street supermarkets all set up operations in the Channel Islands. So if you bought a CD off the internet 3 years ago 95% of CD’s plus ones bought online were shipped form the channel islands to avoid paying VAT. The government eventually scrapped this release and within a few months they left the Channel Islands. Therefore all the prices on CD’s went up by about £1 or £1.50 but the nation didn’t seem to really notice but for record shops it’s been fantastic because it’s now a bit more of a level playing field. So if a few years ago someone could go your selling this for £9 but on Amazon its £7 because record shops had to pay VAT so that has made a huge impact on record stores as they’re working a much bigger margin than they were two years ago.’

Research- 'Last shop standing'

During my research into The Vinyl Revival I was fortunate to discover a documentary called 'Last shop standing.'  The documentary details the initial decline of independent record shops, the recent revival of records and the subsequent effect on independent record stores. It has been based on a book of the sane name, written by record distributor Graham Jones.

I particularly found a number of the clips useful as they use a mixture of montages and interviews and have a nicely chosen soundtrack. I would like to do similar types of takes in my documentary and feel that 'Last shop standing' has a relaxed, slightly edgy vibe which I have taken inspiration form and would like mine to have a similar atmosphere. the interviews are quite relaxed and intimate but done in interesting, raw locations that reflect the topic and add realism to the documentary and make the interviewees quite relatable. It has also emphasised the importance of a good soundtrack to add to the mood and message that is being put across to the audience.



Documentary forms and conventions

I researched into documentaries and the typical forms and conventions involved with in them.
In order to present the research clearly I have presented it in the form of a prezi.

Documentary forms and conventions