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UNIT 31: Social Action Documentary / UNIT 5: Working to a brief

POST 1:

Monday 9th September 2019


Looking at documentary ideas:

Social media and the stereotypes associated with it.

  • Bullying
  • not good - for people
  • not useful - for people to use
  • bad for mental health
Stereotypes doc will challenge:
  • Personal actions - accounts, businesses
  • how to use it to make money/ correctly
  • portfolio
  • what young people think - interviews
  • what old people think - interviews
Somehow work out how to change older people views, using the information and younger interviews
- their reaction.  ------ shows that there is a change that this documentary has caused.

Use 'The Great Hack' - on Netflix - for design/ inspo

Go out and get B-roll around London/ online businesses. How real businesses use social media + visiting their shops....

ANGLE:

'Professional' POV (my POV/my knowledge)
+ Non biased POV - aware that social media can be bad

Completely honest views on social media.



The great Hack:

Raises awareness of the darker side of the internet, but also showing that it is extremely versatile for different uses.

How to 'protect' yourself on the internet - as well as the amount of data people already have about you (Shock factor).

Narrator, does most of the background knowledge and interviews.

Very 'RAW' seeming - can hear the interviewer talking + responses.

Use of animation + visual tweets etc... draws audience in... UNIQUE


Other documentaries:



Social Animals: - On Netflix









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Post 2:

Monday 16th September 2019

Social Action/ Community media

  • Advertising of specific topic. can bring a change, via documentary, posters, campaigns etc...
          • can include multiple forms of media 
Local Change

    • target issues within a local community.
      • drug abuse, littering, gangs, etc...
  • there are many ways in which this can bring about change.


National Change


    • Targets issues within a nation
      • throughout the whole of the United Kingdom, or another country.
  • British heart foundation - also a campaign, to bring about a national change and response.

Global Change

    • Targets issues throughout the whole world
      • Global warming, wars, plastics, amazon rain forest, racism, etc...
  • The Kony Campaign


The differences between Small, Local campaigns and larger global campaigns:

Kony 2012 & Food For Thought. Both campaigns.


Purposes:
  • The purpose of the Kony 2012 campaign was to raise awareness of the atrocious behaviour of Kony, abducting and using children as child soldiers in Uganda. The idea was to get the American people to persuade the US Government to help Uganda fight this problem.


  • The purpose of the Food For Thought documentary campaign was to raise awareness of the smaller businesses that are being put out of action, due to certain circumstances and rising rent in London.


Impacts:
  •  The Kony campaign managed to get thousands of young Americans to support the movement, and ended up persuading the US Government to send troops to advise, but not fight, the Ugandan war. However, many argue that they failed, as Kony was never actually arrested, let alone found.
    • The documentary was full of action, and was fast paced, with lots of effects that made the doc flow well and seamlessly. 

  • The Food For Thought documentary, although was released after the shop had shut down, tried to impact the audience, by showing how much heritage and history was behind the company, and it was simply being shut down because the owners were loyal, and the council and other larger companies are not.
    • This doc uses a much more personal layout. It interviews the owner, as well as delving in to her thoughts. It uses a shallow depth of field, really isolating her, and making it feel more personal to the audience.

Comments:
  • There were many peoples thoughts from class who's opinions differed. For instance, some said that using Gavin, the narrators child, in interviews, was very impactful. Yet some believed that this was disrespectful and not needed, as he is too young to be told about this.

  • Some felt that this documentary was boring and irrelevant, yet some felt that it was still important. This is a very good argument, as it wasn't as exciting as the previous doc, but it was still very personal and still created an impact, as well as raised awareness for similar issues that could happen within the area.



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POST 3:

Monday 23rd September 2019


Stop killing our children:
car crash victims

  • tragic and graphic stories told by victims
  • facts
  • personal opinions
  • photos of people that died
  • how difficult it is
    • to deal with
    • to fight justice system
  • interviews of professionals 

Throughout the documentary, it used many shock factors; one of which was using the victims close family, who all described the deaths in an extremely graphic way. This helps to cause a change on its own. Combined with the facts, which let the audience know clearly what the statistics of deaths and types of death there are, which helps to make a change in specific places.

The documentary also provides important information to the audience, as well as ways to protect against road side casualties. For examples, using examples from Hollands capital, Amsterdam.

It lays out the information and personal events clearly, so that the government and other people, that are watching, can easily cause and promote the change in the system, especially the justice and support systems for victims.  


https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/the-islands-only-taxi/

purpose
how was the personal impact
impact on audience
specific techniques
(soundtrack, dialogue, personal stories...)
back up points with evidence.


'The island's only taxi' is a short documentary about a scotsman, who moved to Eigg, a small island off of the coast of Scotland. 

Charlie, the taxi driver, mostly talks about his experiences, and who he meets on his journeys on the island. However, the purpose of this documentary is to spread awareness of the importance of living 'in the moment'. He describes how the island doesn't have any phone signal, so you have to talk face to face. He also says how he likes to watch the sunset, and that he logs the 'picture' in his head. 

This has personally impacted me, as, although I try and live in the moment, I also like to document my time through pictures or filming, to place in an edit for multiple people to see. However, it has made me change the way I do this.

It would impact the audience in the same way. To spend less time documenting, and spending time, on their phone; and having fun and enjoying the moment that they are in, which has long been a debate since camera phones came out. To emphasise the unrealisticness and weirdness of being able to take photos on your phone, Charlie calls it a 'magic phone'.

There were many techniques used throughout to keep the audience engaged. One of which was the way the camera followed Charlie around, showing what he was talking about to the audience. As well as the incredible views and remoteness of the island, almost any member of the audience would like to experience it. It was also narrated by Charlie, with B-roll cutting in between his interviews.

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Post 4:

Monday 11th November 2019

Documentary Planning:

Using techniques from 'The great Hack' on Netflix. Cinematography and how they keep the documentary exciting.

My documentary will be about how media can be used for good. E.G. work, jobs, how I've used it to build a business, as well as how friends have done similarly. I will also be interviewing people that just use social media, for talking and normal use. I will also be interviewing my grandparents, and their thoughts on social media. I will then show them the interviews of the others, and try and change their views and opinions on social media.

The doc, will be split up with B-roll of the general public, and stock footage looking shots, such as scrolling through social medias.

I will be narrating the documentary, as I show the audience how I actually use social media to create work and manage my business. Showing them examples, and also surprising the audience with things that they wouldn't associate themselves doing, that is related to social media. - Their social media presence, as well as other interesting/extreme facts.

Ideas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lqJ5PlZuT4

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