No Lies and Documentary Audience Issues

Starter:
Quickly recap previous week's ideas: Balance, Impartiality, Objectivity, Subjectivity, Opinion, Bias



Main Task:
Watch the short 1973 'documentary' No Lies by Mitchell Block

http://www.directcinema.com/category/223/233



Accuracy
             - Why might we consider it to be inaccurate? Give specific examples
             - Why might we consider it to be accurate? Give specific examples



Representation
             - How is the female interviewee represented? What about her actions, dress, speech, or attitude creates this impression?
             - How is the male interviewer represented? What about his actions, attitudes and behavior creates this impression?



Access vs. Privacy
              - What would you say the filmmaker has access to here?
              - Does the filmmaker begin to abuse his access and invade the woman's privacy?




Then:
Contract with Viewer
              - What is meant by a 'contract' in this context?
              - How does the contract differ between the viewer of a fiction film and the viewer of a factual film?




When most people find out that No Lies is, in fact, a scripted fiction presented as a documentary, the most common reaction is outrage at having been lied to. The film overtly breaks/disregards the contract between viewer and filmmaker by setting up the expectation of an accurate record of true events, only to reveal at the very end that this is not the case. Why do you think that this scenario evokes such strong responses? Is the contract with the viewer MORE important in a factual film?




Finally:
Fill in the sheet with a definition for each of the terms that we've covered in the lesson

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gwk5g

Unit 27 Fact Prog Task 1 P1,M1,D1, P2, M2, D2 Individually

Understand issues relating to factual programming for television

Understand codes and conventions of factual programming for television

Submit a video commentary about codes and conventions of factual programmes and the issues relating to factual programmes.  Remember to back up your descriptions with examples.  Use moving images to help you to illustrate your points. 

Your work should cover:

Issues: accuracy; balance; impartiality; objectivity; subjectivity; opinion; bias; representation; access;

privacy; contract with viewer

News: studio news readers; field reporters; links to studio; mode of address to viewer; interviewing;

experts and witnesses; report structure; actuality footage

Documentary: documentary formats (expository, observational, interactive, reflexive, performative);

realism; dramatisation; narrativisation

The video commentary should be submitted to the Media Technicians by Friday 22^nd April 2016.

Grading Criteria – Unit 27  P1,M1,D1, P2, M2, D2  


Making your Documentary 

Task 2b P3, M3, D3 Individually

Be able to plan and research a factual programme for television

Following on from task 3a you should present your findings from 3a and “pitch” your idea to Deborah and Chris on 23.3.17. Your pitch may be up to 4 minutes long and should include;

·         Target audience

·         A description of your idea

·         How you intend to make it happen. 

Please bring the pitch proposal form and any production planning you may have completed to date to aid and support the pitch. This will be used to help decide which ideas to choose (and to form groups).

NB: You are not being assessed on your presentation technique for this unit, only on the content of the pitch.  The pitch will be recorded as evidence.

Your Pitch should be printed and included in your work folder with the pitch proposal form.

Paperwork should be submitted in a work folder by Friday 29^th April 2016 to the LRC.

Grading Criteria – Unit 27 P3, M3, D3  

TV News Unit 27.2

Week 2 Understand codes and conventions of factual programming for television

Look at and discuss the different modes of address throughout the history of TV news on the BBC

History of TV news http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28142791

  Live news http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk

News: Studio news readers ; links to studio; mode of address to viewer; interviewing;

experts and witnesses; 

Field reporters, Report structure; Actuality footage

Next Week  Chris and Debs to focus on ideas for documentary  

Pitches 23^rd AM 

Radio 4 Example Chris lesson

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08gwfmk#play

From 1:50:40sec Facebook debate 07/03/17

Frost Vs Nixon

After his resignation in 1974, Nixon spent more than two years away from public life. In 1977, he granted Frost an exclusive series of interviews. Nixon was already publishing his memoirs at the time; however, his publicist Irving "Swifty" Lazar believed that by using television Nixon could reach a mass audience. In addition, Nixon was going broke[citation needed]. Frost's New York-based talk show had been recently cancelled, leaving him consigned to a career based around the stories covered by the proto-reality show Great Escapes

 

Purposes of Interviews and Identifying Key Elements

Task 1 requires you to discuss ALL five different purposes of interviews, so you not only have to draw your examples from a range of contexts (print, radio, TV, etc.) but also be able to successfully identify the purpose of the interview through the questions it contains and how it is presented.



FIRST!



Get into pairs and create a short (1-2 minutes) interview that is correctly structured (intro, developmental questions, rapport building, etc.) and has a variety of question types (open, closed, suggestive, etc.). You must choose one of the five purposes to work with.



You will then read out these interviews and the rest of the class will have to identify what the purpose of the interview is: Research, Emotional, Informational, Interpretive and Enhancing Audience Understanding.


SECOND!


Now look at the homework that Chris set you - exploring the structuring of two different interviews - and tell the person you were working with before what the purpose of each interview was. Between the two of you, you should have FOUR different interviews. Put together a very quick presentation explaining how the structure and the types of questions reveal what the purpose is behind these four questions.


As the groups present, the rest of the class will feedback on whether or not they agree with what the purposes are


THIRD!


Write up a brief definition for each of the five purposes, using an example taken from the earlier class work