Final Products

Please find below my final products:
1) Documentary
2) Newspaper Advertisement (click for full version)
3) Double Page Spread from a TV listings magazine (click for full version)

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Evaluation question 1

1. In what ways does your media product USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE forms and conventions of real media products?

From the research that I conducted into the lifestyle documentary sub-genre as a whole, I found that there seemed to be boundaries and guidelines (i.e. media forms and conventions) established in place that the majority of productions closely follow. Thus, in order to aim to achieve the most successful and generic product, my main objective was to adhere to these conventions, rather than attempting to challenge or oppose them. After all, it is rare that TV docusoaps revolving around animals radically challenge established forms and conventions; it is seen as a very 'safe' and conventional subgenre for TV producers and audiences. Furthermore, the 7pm Sunday evening timeslot is also a family oriented timeslot, when audiences will be looking to consume safe, familiar and conventional content. This is shown by other shows that have aired during this exact timeslot include: The World's Most Famous Train and Kevin McCloud's Escape to the Wild. (click for links).

However I did make the conscious decision to develop new conventions in existing products on television about horses. These shows usually concern the higher profile areas of the sport, such as showjumping, eventing and racing. Horse showing is perhaps a more niche area to explore, which is therefore likely to be new and more interesting to contemporary audiences. Usually the majority of programmes based on a particular trainer, team, horse or rider, focus upon the much higher profile fields of competitive riding; such as show jumping, eventing, racing and dressage. Some of the most popular examples on recent TV being; Frankel's Legend, Carl and Charlotte: Dressage Superstars and Dark Horse: The True Story of Dream Alliance. Thus through selecting a field that is not so widely recognised or promoted, I was somewhat developing the existing conventional approach to this sub-genre.

 

(LINK)

There were many specific elements of my documentary that are especially conventional to the subgenre that I have aimed to integrate with. The soundtrack for example was a professional sounding audio track which I found from a website that produces  pieces to be used within existing TV shows and advertisements. The soundtrack also was very much in keeping with generic, upbeat tone and pace of the soundtracks that would be featured within a lifestyle documentary. This is because the genre is usually concerned with offering positive representations of people's lives, and inviting the audience to participate. You can listen to the soundtrack, embedded below.


Another way in which I used the generic conventions of the genre was through presentation of my production as a traditional 'docusoap'. This was a term coined by Frances Bonner (2013), explained in her academic publication Recoding Reality. The chapter 5.2 Docusoaps explores the way in which lifestyle documentaries, "take viewers into particular workplaces and show what happens there week after week, interweaving several narrative threads". This notion more or less captures the essence of my production, as well as addressing the subgenre as a whole and the way in which lifestyle documentaries present to an audience an almost structured and scripted version of reality, in order to enhance the quality of entertainment of viewers. I quite like the concept of 'taking' a viewer into this particular workplace (The Craig Elenor Equestrian Agency), thus creating the idea of a shared experience among my audience. Furthermore, although a documentary is intended to be a transparent window, a non-fictional media construction, it is important for there to be some structured narrative threads. A true fly-on-the-wall documentary, where the camera simple sits and watches, would not be interesting to an audience. I therefore had to ensure, both during planning and post-production, that I constructed the product to contain appropriate variation (action shots, talking heads, interior/exterior shots) to keep the audience entertained. These are all conventional techniques used by documentaries to construct products that are a) true representations of a workplace, but also b) entertaining, and therefore profitable.

My documentary production follows the conventional approach of aiming to portray this very organised and structured view of reality. I filmed over three whole days, yet on television would have only one hour to 'tell a story' so to speak. One of the main ways through which this is achieved is through the use of the characters addressing the audience within their talking heads, giving a far more relaxed and natural sense to the programme. This was something that was regularly reflected within my own documentary, as Sara and Craig were sat facing their audience, talking directly to the camera within all of their interviews. Moreover another conventional aspect that I followed within the structure of my product was the way in which a regular narrative, in the form of a voice over is commonly intergrated in order to break up the sequences of interviews, whilst also enhancing the audiences understanding as to what they are viewing. 

My documentary is therefore largely conventional. I have used conventions from existing media texts through the use of continuity and montage editing; combining talking heads interviews with a range of shots of Craig and Sara working around the yard. I believe that this has made for a successful product as audiences will be drawn to the sense of familiarity. However I will also need to entertain them and keep them interested; the most original thing about my documentary (or where I have developed existing conventions) is therefore the fact that I have focused on horse showing, a field that my audience are likely to know very little about. I am satisfied that I have successfully balanced this need for FAMILIARITY with ORIGINALITY.

Reference:

• Bonner, F. “Recoding Reality: Documentary Film and Television” in Stuart Hall, Jessica Evans and Sean Nixon eds Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices 2nd Edition London: Sage, 2013.

Evaluation question 3

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Within the research portion of my production, the audience feedback that I received proved to be a crucial element in furthering the success of my product. From my Initial research I had already formed a very clear idea as to who my target audience would be and had quite an established grasp of how I would go about addressing them. However it was through my audience research that I was able to further enhance the way in which I did so, gaining insightful and helpful comments from them that greatly influenced my final product. I communicated with my audience throughout my research and planning process in a number of ways; including focus groups, receiving comments on my YouTube posts of each draft, as well as interactions via social media.

The main way in which I was able to engage with audiences was through the use of focus groups. I feel as though these are an easy and effective way to receive clear and detailed feedback. Within each of my focus groups I was able to directly ask questions to my participants and also engage in discussions with them that may not have occurred to such length via digital means. I conducted focus groups firstly with several people, with varying degrees of interests in horses and riding. I felt as though this was a necessary step to take, seeing as I plan to almost exclusively be addressing those with a some what established interest in the sport. As the very first stages of my audience research, this enabled me to find out if a showing documentary would even be something that my audience would be interested in, before asking further questions regarding the content that they would wish to view if at all. The feedback that I received at this stage not only allowed me to continue with my production with confidence that it would prove popular with audiences, but this also established the specific age group and gender that I would be engaging with.

Once I had a clearer idea as to exactly who my target audience would be and how to better address them, I then began to gradually construct my first draft, which I then shared with audiences in a variety of ways. Firstly, I played it to a group of media students and recorded their reactions to it, the purpose of which being to provide me with technical critique of my work. I would say that this also proved to be a rather important aspect of my audience feedback, as it enabled me to create a far more professional and dynamic production. It was in fact through their responses that I was introduced to the 'Ken Burns' effect, the subtle use of transitions, both audio and visual, as well as considering the sequence of my shots. Needless to say it was equally important to receive audience feedback in terms of technicality and effective use of technology as well as regarding the content and style of my production. 

From the information that I received during this process I then completed a second draft, consisting of a far more advanced use of effects and tools available on the software of Premiere Pro. Which I then posted on both social media sites and YouTube, enabling me to then gain the further opinions of my target audience. Several of the comments posted suggested that I incorporated almost introductory subtitles, when both Sara and Craig were first featured within the production, to instantly establish them as characters to the audience. This was the main suggestion that I took on board and I now feel as though it was something that should have been included before.

For me, my audience feedback was a method of informing and enhancing my work, rather than having a great deal of impact on its construction. I already had developed a clear idea as to what it was that I would product from my research into existing products. Nevertheless the responses that I received gave me a great deal of insight as to the improvements that needed to be made to achieve the most effective result. Audience feedback has therefore been most important in helping me to refine my product, and fine tune each of my various drafts into a highly refined final piece.

Evaluation question 4

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

I was required to engage with a wide variety of media technologies throughout the research and planning, and production, stages of my documentary and its ancillary productions.

The main software that I engaged with throughout the creation of my main product was Premiere Pro. This was something that prior to the beginning of my A2 course I had never utilised before. Initially I was only familiar with how to use the most basic of tools, such as placing files, confining them within different folders and inserting my footage in the order that I desired. However as my production progressed I was urged to experiment with and explore more and more of the effects available within this programme, an important aspect when aiming to achieve the highest possible standard of production. This lead to my viewing of multiple YouTube tutorials, learning how to use an array of tools, such as the 'Ken Burns' effect, which proved to be the most challenging at first, however enabled me to achieve a far more refined and dynamic production. The Ken Burns technique is defined by the Digitization Guidelines Glossary as:

"A post-production technique of embedding still photographs in motion pictures or animated slide shows, displayed with slow zooming and panning effects. "

Another feature that I learned how to use effectively via YouTube tutorials was the ability to fade audio. This was an especially important aspect within my documentary, given that constantly throughout there were different audio clips being introduced and layered, being my soundtrack and various voice over clips. I feel as though being able to gradually fade these both in and out of the audio, contributed greatly to the success of my production as a whole, making it appear far more professional and polished. Without these smooth transitions, the early drafts of the documentary felt very disjointed.

Photoshop was another software that I was required to utilise not only during the construction of my ancillary products, but also within my documentary itself. It was a necessary tool when creating the subtitles that I would include, as well as the introductory title shot (see below) before embedding them within my documentary. However it was during the construction of my print advertisement that I used Photoshop the most. Firstly there was the editing of the image, adjusting the basic elements, such as the brightness levels, exposure and tone. I also needed to reverse the image that I chose to use, in order to allow enough room for the text box and logo to be located in the conventional area of a Channel4 ad, which were also created using Photoshop.

For my TV listings magazine feature, Adobe InDesign was the basis of my work. This was the only software that was necessary in the construction of this ancillary product. Since I already had previous experience with this software having used it during my AS course, I had quite a clear understanding as to how to use it. I began by laying the basic foundations of my double page spread, inserting columns into the correct region and placing all of the images in the positions that I had planned within my sketches and drafts. I felt that I was able to use InDesignin far greater depth in comparison to last year. As you can see from the screenshot below I learnt to effectively use grids and guides to successfully construct my page. Attention to detail is key when designing the composition of the page; ensuring that text, columns, headings and images are all accurately aligned is hugely important.

Regarding the research and planning portion of my course work, Blogger.com was the main software that I used to both document and review my work. This was a programme that I was very familiar with having used it during my AS course, and feel as though it is an extremely easy way to record and look back over your work in an organised and clear manner. Staying organised during pre-production is hugely important to ensure that all the necessary planning is completed and logged. I also used YouTube, All4 and BBC iPlayer when completing my research into existing products. These digital, online and on-demand video services allowed me to easily access a large range of television and documentary content, pausing it at my own convenience to make notes and analyse specific conventions and techniques. In addition to this there were other programmes that I utilised on my blog to enhance my posts and make them more dynamic and interesting for the reader. I did not use a great deal of these, however the main one that I used quite often was Slide Share. The insertion of Power Points is a simple and easy way to make what could have just been pages of writing and images, into a far more visually engaging post for readers. Also it was a highly useful thing to do when annotating various images for my ancillary product research.

A final area of media technology that I used was hardware. I used a DSLR Canon EOS 700D camera to complete my filming, along with various other lighting and tripod equipment. I also experimented with the camera, completing three main shoots of filming, to ensure that I used to camera to its full capability. The first time around I ensured that I used the camera smoothly and effectively. The second time around I experimented with zooms, pans and tilts, whereas the third and final shoot was to use the shallow and deep focus settings on the camera. Using these additional features on the camera allowed me to create a more professional product; an entire five minute documentary without any variation in camera shows would have been unappealing to my target audience.

I have therefore used a good range of media technology throughout the project. Many of them I used in my Foundation Portfolio, but I have developed my confidence and overall ability with each of them. It is important to use a range of technology throughout all stages of production (including pre and post production) to ensure that the product is able to appeal to audiences in the digital age.

Evaluation question 2

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

 
Media convergence is  "the coming together of computing, telecommunication and media in a digital environment", (Pavlik & McIntosh, 2011). The promotion of a product across multiple media platforms is a vital aspect of its marketing and establishment as a brand. Within our contemporary digital age in order to remain at the fore front of audiences' minds it is important that a product is well supplemented and supported through the use of successful and instantly recognisable ancillary products, presented via a variety of media platforms.

This notion was something that I considered greatly when conducting my own production task, as well as its by products. I knew that in order to maintain a clear and distinguishable brand there would need to be fixed conventions communicated across each of my products, that would also remain in keeping with those associated with the institution that I was producing for, in this case Channel 4. I would say that as a whole regarding the sub-genre of lifestyle documentaries there are established conventions (discussed in Q1) that the majority of productions adhere to. Furthermore those that are promoted by Channel4 follow an even more specific pattern of generic conventions, in order to be clearly established and identifiable. Thus, prior to any planning or production of either my documentary or its ancillary products, I conducted a vast amount of research into these areas.

After analysing and reviewing an array of Channel documentary posters and different articles in TV listings magazines, I felt as though I had developed quite a clear understanding as to what was required when going about creating an effective combination of a main product and its ancillaries. Channel 4 is a media institution with a very unique and identifiable sense of branding. Within the realms of Channel4's recognisable and established branding, it seemed as though the use of simple, striking and minimalistic imagery was key. All of their documentary posters that I analysed portrayed images that were directly in keeping with the nature of shots featured within their main product, allowing the audience to instantly associate them with one another.

Moreover the repetition of the Channel 4 C4 font text appeared to be another convention reflected through both their main productions and their ancillary products. Therefore in order to mirror this notion within my own work I ensured that the images used throughout both my advertising campaign and magazine feature directly resembled the nature of the shots featured within my documentary, and that the text used within my subtitles was also used within my advertisement in the same colour and generic font. In addition to this, in order to further establish the branding of my product across these media platforms, I also ensured that within each of them, the main visual focus was an image of Sara and Craig. Not only did this mean that I was constantly relating back to the key content of my main product, but also presenting an established representation of the two main characters within my documentary to my audience.

In terms of my magazine feature it was important that I was able to promote my documentary and encourage readers of the magazine to tune in. The main focus of my article was a large image of Sara and Craig, resembling the framing and location of their talking head shots within my main product. Indeed because the image was taken on the same day as filming, their clothing is also the same, further establishing a clear relationship between my print and broadcast products. This again is a method of maintaining the idea of reiterating the same visual imagery to my target audience, so that each of my products are identifiable and directly associated with one another. Moreover the additional images features within the subsection of my article ('Craig and Sara's Biggest Wins') portraying Sara and Craig's most notorious successes, mirrors the content of my documentary through which their professional backgrounds were explored.

However the main way in which I aimed to relate my magazine feature to my documentary was through the style and nature of the article itself. Throughout my production the voice over embedded presents a clear and conventional tone, one which I aimed to continue through the voice within my article, to establish a direct association between the two print and broadcast productions. The main article itself features an interview with Sara and Craig in print format. In this sense, the Radio Times double page spread is a continuation of my documentary. It explores the lives of two show pony producers and give audiences an insight into their work, be it through the broadcast platform (documentary), or the print platform (magazine article).

Overall I feel confident that I have achieved an effective combination of my main product and ancillary tasks. After conducting a vast amount of research into the generic conventions and stylistic features that are expected to be followed by a Channel4 product, which I then applied to my own work. I have reiterated a clear pattern of visual imagery and tone across all of my three productions, which hopefully would establish a clear and identifiable brand identity and house style to my audience.

Reference:

• Pavlik , J. and McIntosh, S. 2011., Converging Media: An Introduction to Mass Communication. 3rd ed. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Progress on magazine feature

Now that I have completed the greatest wins box I am really pleased with how it looks, I feel that I have achieved the engaging and light hearted affect I was trying to achieve and am now ready to move onto the main body of the article. To begin with I decided that my main headline definitely needed to be some sort of pun or play on words to do with horses, showing or riding. When looking through existing products I felt that headlines really set the tone for the rest of the feature, and a pun is usually the way in which it is done. After experimenting with a few different phrases I decided upon "showing off". It not only links to their profession of producing and competing ponies on the showing circuit, but also refers to the documentary and article in themselves, in that it is all about them being able to proudly "show off"about what it is that they do and the wonderful success that they have already had together as a show team. In addition to this I also added in the columns that the body of my article will fill.

Analysing TV listings magazines

Analysing TV listings magazines from Molly Kushner

Starting my TV listings magazine double page spread

I have just began to start working on my double page spread for my documentaries magazine feature. In terms of the layout and styling of it, as shown by my sketches it will be constructed in a very similar way to that of the Top Gear article that I analysed. I felt that this was a particularly eye catching and engaging spread, and achieved the right balance between image and text which I too was keen to achieve.
To start off with I have been working on the "CRAIG AND SARA'S GREATEST WINS" element of the article, positioned in the bottom right hand corner of the second page. I feel that this enables me to add some background information of Craig and Sara's most notable previous success without needing to include an overwhelming amount of text. Furthermore the almost collage like arrangement of the image I feels ads a more light hearted sense to the feature, hopefully capturing the essence of my documentary. I have now positioned all of the images and have began inserting the body of the text within this area, that very briefly gives some information regarding each achievement and what made them so special to them. To begin with I created the basis of this element using a series of text boxes to almost mark out where each picture and its additional caption would go. This was then followed with the insertion of each image and then finally the text and captions.

Sketches of double page spread

Please find below a mock-up for my double-page spread. I have based this upon my research into existing TV listings magazines (such as Radio Times and TV Times), as well as the images from my photoshoot with Craig and Sara.

Mock Up

Beginning my ancillary products- Print Advert

 I have recently started to progress with completing the ancillary products to supplement my documentary piece. I began with my print advertisement, as I had a very clear idea of what it was that I would be aiming to produce, from the research that I have conducted into the conventions and styles of existing Channel4 products of this nature. Initially I chose to start with this rather than my TV listings magazine double page spread, due to assuming that it would be something that would not be too time consuming. Firstly I began with making some minor adjustments to the image that I selected from those I had taken whilst staying in Yorkshire of the two show pony producers I will be documenting. For this I only needed to take several shots as I already had a very clear vision of what I wanted; something simple, capturing both of them stood outside of a stable with a horses head reaching over the door from between them.

 

 However I greatly underestimated the time and patience that would be required when adding the logo and text to my advertisement. After finding two very detailed style guides to the rules and guidelines of creating a Channel4 print ad, I decided that in order to make my own production as precise as possible I would follow these exactly. Although I was already aware after reading through these that the measurements and margins involved in placing the Channel4 logo in the correct position and at the right scale would be difficult, I completely underestimated just how long it would take. There were a wide variety of elements that this included, the most challenging of which being constructing the isolation area around the logo. This was something that had to be completely exact to the guide lines given, thus I had to conduct multiple mathematical equations in order to achieve this. However now that I have completed it  I am extremely pleased that I did so, as it has meant that I am confident that I have followed the conventions of a real Channel4 ad as closely as possible.
 In terms of the text positioning, as well as its size and the colour of the text box surrounding it, the guide lines were no where near as strict, meaning that this was the easy part. I simply matched the colour of the text box to that of the logo, (which was the same as the lightest tone of Craig's cap). I then positioned this in the bottom left hand corner, which from my research proved to be the most common place for text to be inserted.

The only major change that I needed to make to my image was to reverse it. When shooting for my print advert I was aware that in the composition and framing of my images I would need to allow room for the Channel4 logo's required isolation area and positioning indicated by the style guides. Nevertheless once I had cropped the image down to the size and frame that I felt was the most effective, I found that there was not enough room to accommodate this, hence the need to reverse the image so that this issue would be resolved and the conventions till maintained.

Titles

A common generic convention of television documentaries is the use of titles and captions so that the audience are fully aware of who, or what, they are seeing on screen in the mise-en-scene. This is particularly common with talking heads interviews.

When editing my documentary I added titles and captions accordingly but was not happy with the initial results; the font was too plain and distracted the audience from the documentary. I therefore decided to use Photoshop to further develop this convention, and establish a further relationship between my documentary and ancillary products. I used the C4 font, and borrowed the colour scheme from my promotional advertisement to construct three titles:

1) AT HOME - the title of the documentary
2) Craig Elenor - caption for the first talking heads interview
3) Sara Parrott - caption for the second talking heads interview.



This is the main documentary title screen.

This is the caption that will appear with Craig is first introduced to the audience.

 This is the caption that will appeal when Sara is first introduced to the audience.


As you can see I have clearly followed the established conventions of using the Channel 4 font, with a coloured background behind. The colours connote the rural setting of the documentary, and also follow a clear colour scheme. The horse icon is playful and follows the documentary's light hearted and 'homely' tone. I was particularly pleased with the results, which you can see below.

Final draft of script

The Craig Eleanor Equestrian Agency. Run by Sara Parrot and Craig Elenor; two of showings most successful competitors. We headed up to their newly established yard in North Yorkshire, to find out more about this promising combination and what lies ahead for the forth coming season.

At the very top of his craft, Craig has taken championships at some of the most prestigious shows in the country. Regularly competing at The Horse of the Year Show, winning the overall Cuddy supreme accolade, with the six-year old riding pony stallion, Rendene Royal Charm.

Also no stranger to success, Sara Parrot is a well-known face in the ridden coloured classes. The non- native pony stallion, Winchester D swept the board for Sara, shown here winning at the Horse of the Year show in 2010.

But what is the day to day running of such a successful showing yard, producing ponies and horses to the very highest standard?

One of the teams open ridden ponies to be shown this season is Severnvale George, to be competed in the mountain and moorland class.

However it is not just about showing the open ponies, a large element of Sara and Craig’s role is breaking and schooling the young horses, preparing them for a potential show career.

Beginning of Editing Review

I have recently started to edit some of the footage filmed for my documentary and began to develop my introduction. Despite having used Premiere Pro once before for my preliminary task, I am still very much new to the software and thus I am still learning about how to use it. Having thoroughly planned my production with story boards and timelines and having a clear idea in my head as to what it is that I aim to create, I have been able to edit footage rather quickly in terms of the order of which my shots will follow. The more difficult part of my editing that I had greatly underestimated is syncing my transitions successfully to my background music, Clap Tap. This is something that not only requires paying a great amount of attention to detail to the song, but also due to the variations of pace, tone and introduction of new instruments, this has in turn been something that I have needed to account for regarding the shot sequences. This is probably the most time consuming element of my editing so far, stressing the need to watch and review my production over and over again to ensure that my shot transitions and pace are edited at exactly the right point.

 
After starting the process of beginning to edit, I decided to make folders within which to categorise all of my shots. Since I had to complete all of my filming during such a short period of allocated time, I re-shot everything several times, to ensure that there would be enough variation of shots to choose from when it came to editing. However this obviously left me with an abundance of footage, which meant that when scrolling through it all to find a particular shot I was wasting a great amount of time.

Analysing Channel4 print advertisments

Annotating channel 4 print ads from Molly Kushner

Storyboard

Please find below a storyboard of my main documentary production. A storyboard is a visual representation of a sequence of shots. I produced this after my first video shoot, when I had a clear idea of the footage that I was going to have to work with. This then helped me with my second and third shoots, as I had a clear idea of the shots that I wanted to produce and the direction that my documentary would follow. Furthermore the storyboard is also currently helping me in post-production as I work towards editing and completing the production.

Storyboard

Soundtrack

The soundtrack that I selected to use as the background music is Clap Tap, from premium beats.com. I wanted a soundtrack that was upbeat and active, but not so much so that it would distract from the content of my filming. After considering a series of songs this was the one that I felt best suited my genre and would be the most engaging with the audience, as well as a good pace to edit to. Moreover there was a sense of building to this soundtrack, how it started off more subtle and then developed into a more powerful piece, which again would be an interesting element when applied to my editing and its change of pace throughout the documentary.

In addition to this at 0:33 there is a fade in the volume of the song, before it restarts again with a slightly faster pace and singers in the background. This fits perfectly with the sort of timing that I had considered my introduction to last, thus there will be a clear distinguished break between the start of my documentary, before the main body of it. Furthermore it was hard to find a song that was both engaging and active, but had a subtle and quiet enough beginning to suit the voice over that will be played over it during my introduction. Not only does Clap Tap allow for this during my introduction, but also then builds into a faster pace to suit the rest of the documentary.

Channel 4

I have decided to advertise my production as a Channel 4 documentary, due not only to their popularity but also because of the diverse range of genres that they produce. I think that my show pony documentary would fit into either the 'Lifestyle' or 'Sport' category, as despite it being based on competitive horse showing, it is focussed on two show pony producers every day life and running of their yard. To enhance my understanding of the conventions and style of a Channel4 newspaper advert I have managed to find two Channel4 identity style guides, which has greatly helped with generating ideas for my own product.

C4 Mini Style Guide by Jessica Sawyer

C4 Full Style Guide by Jessica Sawyer

Newspaper Advert

As a part of my production I am required to create a newspaper advert, therefore have conducted some research to gain an understanding of the different sizes they can appear in


The majority of newspaper advertisements tend to be either a half page of quarter size, thus I will creating one in keeping with this. It will be a half page ad so will need to be 265mm x 184mm, and I will aim to achieve the style of those of Channel4, which are very simplistic, clean and bold.

1st draft Script for voice over

Voice over talking over:

Archive footage and introduction-
Sara Parrot and Craig Eleanor, two of showings most successful and well known competitors. Taking titles at some of the most prestigious horse shows in the country. Recently starting their own newly established yard together, where their skills of immaculate turn out, as well as producing, riding and showing horses are combined.

introduction- whilst showing shots of yard and horses
We headed up to North Yorkshire to the Craig Elenor Equestrian Agency to find out more about this promising combination and what lies ahead for the forth coming season.

Timeline of documentary

Filming review

Following the recent filming of my mini documentary I have looked back over my work and reviewed what was successful and what is in need of improvement. Since I based my filming on my showing team's yard in North Yorkshire, which is a great distance from where I live, I completely my filming over a three day period within which I stayed there. Although this was beneficial in that I had an allocated time to focus and complete my production work, it was also a real challenge knowing that I did not have long to look back over my filming and retake everything a sufficient number of times in order to gain enough variety of the same shots. Thus despite my filming on the whole being successful, after reviewing my work I have had to schedule another stay with them to go back and shoot some of the shots that needed improvement.

I went there with a clear idea as to what I was aiming to create and detailed planning of the specific shots that I needed to produce. Therefore I managed to produce some good footage that I will be able to use, however after reviewing various shots it is clear that several shots will need to be redone. These are only really filler shots, as on a handful of occasions I had filmed without a tripod and thus these were a little shaky therefore not to the standard that I was aiming for. Although looking back now and realising that I should have done this differently, at the time when dealing with the fluctuating lighting and weather filming outdoors, sometimes I felt that there was not enough time to set up the tripod and simply just held the camera. However I have now learnt from this and on my next visit to film in a few weeks whether I am filming or not I will need to leave the tripod assembled somewhere so that it is at hand whenever I need it and will not have the same problem again.

Particular shots that I am certain to retake  are mainly my establishing shots, as after researching similar to products to what I aim to create these  play an important in establishing the mise-en-scene. I was especially pleased with the framing of some of the ones that I shot of the bridles and saddles in the tack room, however the shaking of the slight camera distracted from the content of the shot.

Despite the need for improvement with some of my filler and establishing shots, the filming that I felt was the most successful was my interviews. These were thoroughly planned and thought through, from the script to framing of my shots, thus I was able to shoot these quickly and efficiently. Moreover it was a great help that both of my interviewees were used to being questioned on camera and came across naturally and confidently. In addition to this since I had already practiced and experimented with different microphone devices there was no need to repeat these clips due to poor sound, which would be a very important aspect due to the fact that they would be filmed outside.

Filming screen shots

Working the horses shots

      

                                          Filler shots of horses






                                                                    Location shots






                                                                 Interview shots






                                                              Mise-en-scene shots

My target audience

Gender	My target audience will be mainly female, as showing is a rather female dominated form of competing.  Moreover I feel as though the more relaxed, almost educational approach that I am taking would be better suited to women’s interests.
Age	I will be addressing a slightly more mature age group, ranging from around 35-45, as judging by the interest already being shown by followers of The Craig Elenor Equestrian Agency’s facebook page, this would be the most popular audience. However as a whole existing products of a similar nature do seem to attract a rather broad spectrum of age groups.
Hobbies and interests	Although I feel as though there is not necessarily a need for my audience to be directly involved in or take an active interest in showing, I do certainly feel as though I will be targeting those who do have a rather strong interest in horses or riding in some way.    They are likely to read publications such as ‘Horse and Hound’, ‘Horse Gossip’, ‘Showing Journal’, ect These are all magazines that are aimed at this age a mature, mainly female audience, with an interest in horses and competitive riding as a whole, whilst there are also strong elements involved showing features within each of them. In addition to this, I would expect my audience to watch programmes on channels such as ‘Horse and Country’, airing similar existing products, as well as many other insightful productions based on horses and countryside life.
Social Demographic	ABC1 middle and upper class members of society, since horses and riding is a pass time associated with wealthy people