How do your products follow conventions? (Jack)
The use of conventions make or break a product as we have learned throughout our course. We have been very meticulous as a group in researching conventions and experimenting with how to apply it in our products, more specifically with replicating form and genre codes effectively.
Our analytical research into various ‘social commentary’ documentaries relating to Qatar has shown that there is a trend of displaying statistics on-screen in between shots to increase credibility. This is a convention we replicated in response to the social documentary ‘Sealine: Reckless Driving’. Like the former, our documentary uses a predominantly black-and-white colour scheme for strong visual contrast without distracting the viewer too much from the information provided and the message. Some shades of red are also added in for the graphics, as our research into colour psychology has suggested the colour red symbolises danger, violence and fear, which is what we want our viewers to associate with the phenomenon of reckless driving. This points the audience into a dominant preferred reading. The red provides a simple splash of colour that pulls the viewer’s attention to the statistics shown on the screen and illustrates the grave and serious nature of our documentary without overcrowding the screen. Semantically, the colour also serves as a narrative plot device as it foreshadows the following shots and statistics that elaborate on the fatalities of reckless driving. The statistics were pulled from yearly reports from official authorities and institutions to add a sense of gravitas and realism to our product. This further communicates to the audience the urgency of the matter before calling into action. The reason we did this is because it adds cohesive structure to the narrative of the film, as a constant use of direct address too early has the risk of being seen as too confrontational. Instead, the filler shots combined with the bold statistics create a healthy balance in effectively bringing to light this social issue without enabling passiveness in the audience.
Another convention incorporated was the use of point-of-view shots of stunts being performed. This forces the audience to take a more active stance and live through another person’s, gaining a better understanding of the circumstances and more importantly realise a greater emphasis on just how dangerous stunts can be. We realised this might be an uncomfortable for some viewers so we shortened the clip’s duration until we felt it made our point without causing distress. This feature was far too integral to delete as it connects with the viewer on a personal level and forces them to think about whether they side with our message or take a more negotiated or even oppositional reading.
More universal documentary genre codes, however, include voice-overs and interviews, both of which can be seen in our film product. The voice-over was a result of analysis of various documentary modes, through which we learned expository modes conventionally have an ‘omniscient’ narrator who voices over stills and rolls to provide background information. This was written following further research into more general statistics and facts about Qatar to provide a backstory to less aware watchers, or viewers outside Qatar and the GCC region. This is because our product is a call to action not only to locals but for a more global audience; many documentaries provide a backstory to further audience comprehension and promote the globalisation of products. This kind of backstory is also available on our website, with plot descriptions and cast and crew information in an effort expand our target demographic. As for the use of interviews, these can be used to bring in a second opinion that support the filmmaker’s message, through a more objective approach or, in our case, a more personal approach. Any heartfelt emotion conveyed through interviews are arguably a persuasive device to convert the viewer’s line of beliefs to a more similar format that lines up with the message of our documentary. When we see Ian Maund expressing subtle sorrow over the loss of his friend to stunt driving, a sense of sympathy is sparked within the viewer, perhaps guilting them into agreeing with Ian and bring to focus that this is a real issue that affects real people. This is an effective rhetorical device used in most personal documentaries that attempt to call about social change, for example in reckless driving documentary ‘The Impact of Your Choice’. The emotions are used to explain the dangers and risks of reckless driving, rather than through the use of statistics alone. This is another blend of conventions used to create an effective message delivery system.
Our products follow some other general conventions associated with short film documentaries, such as font. Documentaries often use spaced out black or white font with hardened edges to create a smooth, sophisticated look that does not overcrowd the occupying scene. We replicated this form convention in our documentary titles, postcard and website. This provides the audience with a clear heading that gives most of the attention to the representative picture in the postcard, the minimalistic background of the website and the establishing shot in the documentary.
Documentaries also often tend to have background music, colouring and lighting that matches the tone of the product. While the tone of our documentary shifts, it can overall be described as ‘serious, gloomy and critical’. This is firstly seen in the use of melancholic soundtracks to implement the eventual fatality and gloominess associated with reckless driving. This allows our documentary to introduce the decidedly moody tone of the product and stay in the back of our audience’s minds. I used simple yet professional looking transitions between shots in our short film documentary and timed it accordingly to create a subconscious connection to the background music and as a result a constant awareness of the mood. I did this to make our documentary not only look better but follow generic conventions associated with short film documentaries. The documentary also starts off with somewhat static shots that utilise high-key lighting which eventually turns into low-key lighting shots to reflect the narrative progression of a more idealistic, peaceful tone to a more grim and gritty mood in our documentary. This sense of tonal shifting is a convention used to create a sense of symbolic contrast that further illustrates why reckless driving is wrong to the viewer on a subliminal level.
Moreover, the determining of setting was a convention that we followed somewhat sparingly as we had less control over location as this was a documentary, however in more personal documentaries interviewees are often matched to a setting based on comfort level as well as symbolic representation. This can be seen in all of our interviews, many of which we have scrapped to preserve the narrative device of ‘Chekhov’s gun’, in other words making sure every shot in the film was absolutely necessary in the overall plot of the film. For example, Ian Maund, a more reserved and professional figure, can be seen in his area of workplace, matching his more experienced outlook on the subject matter, whereas Torque, a younger stunt driver, is interviewed in the privacy of his home, reflecting his more open attitude and youthful outlook on the matter.
To complement the short film documentary our group created posters and a website not only to follow with conventions usually associated with documentaries but also to promote our short film documentary. Our postcard follows conventions through the use of composition and colour scheme as it corresponds to the other products’ colour scheme of black font on light backgrounds and a picture that incorporates the rule of thirds. These are all generic conventions although in order to challenge them aswell we did not freeze frame a part of our short film documentary we actually had a photoshoot to make our postcard look more professional and challenge generic conventions. Our website follows conventions through the use of simplicity and basic layout to not over complicate our audience. This works well as it links with the postcard and the documentary’s minimalistic and simplistic design, creating a sense of branding and further promoting globalisation due to the website’s easy navigation and the postcard’s clear headlining.
-Don’t know what you were trying to say about freeze framing, so use your own words
-Also mention more editing stuff you did - longer takes follow expository conventions etc
How do your products challenge conventions? (Sanaz)
As a group we tried progressing from A2 in terms of conventions. We learned that certain conventions can define a genre so we previously mostly only followed them.
However over the course of our time making different products we learned that genre conventions are not set in stone, that genre is a more fluid concept that is less easy to define. This made us feel more comfortable with subverting conventions, deconstructing them and even challenging them instead of simply ascribing to them.
Most documentary conventions are followed, such as the use of interviews, dialogue, voiceovers, and a non-diegetic score as previously mentioned. However, we ended up subverting and challenging several conventions along the way for the sake of creating an effective delivery system and an overall coherent, thoughtful short documentary.
Creating an objectively ‘thought-provoking’ documentary is not always about following established rules, but rather modifying or tweaking them to both the producer and consumer’s liking to contribute to an overall efficient and methodical outcome.
One prominent example of challenging conventions that we decided on very early was the purpose and message behind the documentary. We got this idea of tweaking a more abstract narrative convention while conducting our audience research.
A focus group stated that they had a high preference for documentaries that take strong stances on social issues rather than documentaries that play devil’s advocate. As a representative sample of our target audience, the focus group believed documentaries that don’t argue for a particular side or turn important issues into ‘debates’ are in abundance, so we decided to forego the objective ‘omniscient’ approach typical of most expository documentaries and instead opt for a more personal, subjective approach on a controversial topic.
This was received well in our audience feedback as it guides the viewer into taking a particular stance instead of sitting on the fence on such a relevant social issue that concerns life-or-death.
This is especially important because part of our main target demographic is youth living in Qatar, who may be uncertain of what stance to take because they are too close to the matter to form an appropriate, ethical or objective take on reckless driving, maybe out of peer pressure.
We address this by using a member of the target demographic, Torque, who actually shares our views to an extent. This subverts social expectations of youthful members of society agreeing with more ‘reckless’ and ‘dangerous’ activities that may be considered socially unacceptable by older generations. This allows us to use our target audience’s impressionability to an advantage as we suggest to them which way to lean.
Another convention we challenged was using only two interviews in our final product. While we initially had far more interviews, we eventually narrowed it down to the two interviews of Ian Maund and Torque as we felt they had the most honest and raw communication.
The sincerity is more likely to be appreciated by the audience, and more importantly their high amount of experience, however different, provides a realistic look at the world of stunt driving. It can be argued that documentaries that use fewer interviews are less informed due to the lack of outsider opinions making it more biased.
However, mostly interviews who support the documentary’s message are used anyway, and we feel comfortable using only two interviews. This is because they are both highly experienced so have a vast amount of knowledge of Qatar’s underground stunt driving scene, not to mention the fact that they both represent opposing sides of our target demographic in terms of age, nationality and opinion.
This creates a subtle sense of ‘binary opposition’ often not typical within documentary narratives. The binary opposition further communicates to our audience that it is acceptable to have conflicting opinions, allowing the documentary to provide a trustworthy argument that is more likely to be internalised by the viewer, converting their beliefs to ours.
The lack of variety in interviews also shifts the attention to the viewer instead, nudging them to actively consume our product and thus spurring action which is the ultimate purpose of our documentary.
One convention we subverted to further enhance the effectiveness of our product was using background music, voiceovers and interviews all in the same short documentary. This is a less genre-specific convention and more to do with shorter documentaries.
Regardless, through the various short documentaries we analysed, a pattern was noticed based on the approach taken and mode of the documentary. Those that used more personal approaches often had no voiceovers so instead emphasised intertitles and interviews.
Those with more objective tones almost always had voiceovers, often with no intertitles and very little emphasis on interviews. Our documentary subverts such a code and modifies it to create what seems to be an overall rounded, smooth and punchy short film. The combination of objective voiceovers and factual evidence in the form of statistical intertitles with sincere and personal experiences from the interviewees blends both contrasting approaches to form a holistic yet strongly aligned perspective that our viewers have the confidence to take a dominant preferred reading to.
-Also say anything you have to say about challenging postcard conventions
How do your products represent social groups or issues? (Mariam)
Our documentary discusses a very sensitive sociocultural topic that has the potential to often be interpreted negatively very easily. As a result we were very careful in planning the representation of different social groups within the product. We cut back on the interviews and narrowed them down to just two, as aforementioned, to represent a social dichotomy and incorporate a sense of binary opposition for narrative appeal; audiences are more likely to be affected when two elements of a product contrast strongly. This is also extended to the other products to support the synergic branding between our products, for example the contrasting saturation and colour tones displayed in our postcard as well as the black-and-white colour scheme on our website. Furthermore, the symbolisation of social dichotomy within our product plainly illustrates the complex and divisive nature of reckless driving, as many seem to strongly oppose it or strongly support it. By using two opposing forces in the form of characters as a representative sample of our target audiences, it is suggested to the viewer that the opinions of both social groups are valid and have some foundation of truth, whether young or old, foreign or local, professional or unemployed. This sense of acceptance is likely to quickly open the viewer to outside suggestion, allowing our product to discuss the ethical and moral issues that arise from reckless driving or stunt driving. Audiences are also more likely to consume a product through a dominant preferred reading if any of the characters are socially similar, which is why we chose two individuals from completely contrasting social backgrounds and experiences. The one thing they have in common is the opinion that reckless driving is potentially fatal and higher authorities need to work to control it, as well as a secondary urging for inexperienced drivers to either avoid doing stunts or wear protective gear and practice before resorting to such a dangerous lifestyle activity out of boredom. The fact that two very different individuals manage to share similar views suggests to the audience member that this is the morally correct decision and also shared by the majority of people regardless of background, making it more likely for the viewer to conform to our views. However, due to the highly controversial nature of our product, audiences may simply use a negotiated reading or even an oppositional reading in response to the strong stance we take.
Characters -
- Ian Maund: Stereotypical male representation; ‘biker’/racer image, sports enthusiast, strong build and frame, etc. However, challenges social stereotypes in his penultimate response where he attempts to choke back tears (display of emotions unconventional for males, especially in documentaries where content is meant to be sincere and personal to provoke reactions). Subverts age expectations to an extent: while he does proactively encourage control and regulation in driving amongst youth/the newly licensed, he fully embraces the ‘stunt driving’ lifestyle. Cultural representation: foreign to country of focus, part of a ‘gentrification’ process?
- Torque: Stereotypical cultural male representation: reckless/stunt driver - this is stereotypical of an Arab male his age, which happens to be our primary target audience. The fact that a member of the demographic we are targeting happens to act as a narrative foil that helps us spread our message means that members of our target audience are more likely to have a negotiated or even dominant preferred reading to our product and conform to our line of thinking i.e. reckless driving is dangerous and needs to be controlled. However, due to the highly provocative nature of our product, we also expect oppositional reading and in fact address it with a plethora of facts, statistical evidence and logical reasoning/common sense.
- In terms of cultural representation, our products generally represent Qatari culture quite realistically since Qatar has one of the highest number of traffic fatalities in the world This is the main subject of the documentary, wherein we attempt to challenge cultural perceptions and modify cultural norms, which is where oppositional reading would occur. It can be argued that the postcard is quite stereotypical with the expensive high-end vehicle shown. This is a fairly accurate depiction of most vehicles owned by Qatari locals, representative of the overindulgence that is the core of Qatari culture.
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