In general my documentary was well received but there were criticisms. Some respondents argued that in my extract, the people interviewed spoke for too long and there should have been more inter cutting with real life footage clips, including the use of diagetic sound. To an extent I took their criticism on board but the set of circumstances I was faced with, for example time constraints and access to locations and participants, meant that I had to compromise on some aspects of my production. I also wanted to include as much information as possible - one of my original aims when starting out on the project - so I was aware that the end product was a little heavy on the talking heads and perhaps would have benifitted from being mor visually stimulating.
On the other hand the mise en scene was appreciated, and my extract was said to have a very realistic quality to it.
When I first gave out my questionnaires to gain an understanding of what my audience want from my product, my respondents felt that the reason why they don't take an interest in documentaries is because of the length of the programmes. Usually they are quite time consuming and the audience don't have much time to spare. Respondents summed up their preferences in the following manner in relation to the following headings.
-Duration of Documentary: The extract was approximately 4 minutes long and is part of a larger documentary, which would run for half an hour giving the main points of photography in terms of its history and its function in society. I wanted to achieve this outcome in a a form that is sensitive to the nature of peoples viewing habits in an age when there are many draws on an individuals time. The fact that the initial braodcast would be on BBC free to air t.v. and subsequently on iPlayer meant that audiences could watch the documentary as part of their schedualed viewing or create their own viewing schedual via iPlayer.
- Subversion of Stereotypes: The audience want a more accurate view of the subjects of particular documentaries. For example, they don't want photography to be aimed at white middle class Britain: they wanted to see other cultures and ethnicities involvement in and experience of the arts. The fact that my piece would air on the BBC meant that I had to consider all aspects of the licences paying public. I used both white British and British Asian people for the talking heads, appealing to the ethnic minority aspect of my audience while at the same time not alienating the predominantly white elements of my audience. If my piece was produced for a more independent channel, say, E4, I would have been able to be more niche audience minded.
-Regarding a type of Culture: All in all, my respondents would have prefered a less generalised product. My audience feed back told me, both males and females would watch a documentary about specific types of culture, for example, my questionnaires revealed a perception that photography is a valid art form and is a significant part of a communities culture. I chose photography for the topic because I felt that it is conceived of as largely a white, middle class preoccupation and therefor I felt I could subvert this and construct a new perception of the field, moving forward.
From portraits of rich people to fashion and beauty, photography has an image that has steadly developed through its relatively short history - in its current form. Therefor, productions like mine would possibly help those who may be interested in the subject but have, in the past, felt it was not for 'them'. I wanted to communicate through my work that they could make photography what they wanted it to be.
When I was doing my Product research, I found out about the typical conventions of an 'art documentary' that was based around photography. According to what my audience want, these professional documentaries are lengthy and hold a lot of information without going into detail about each issue. Instead they cram in all the information about the artists and this means there is too much for the audience to concentrate on. I have subverted this and concentrated on one main issue that will run for a period of 30 minutes, as this is a good amount of time for the younger generations to watch without getting bored. I feel that by doing this I will not put them off the subject but will intrigue them, making them want to pursue their interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment