Michael Fox 13.

Analysing in relation to other texts

My Feature

Content

My documentary is about the UK grime scene where I focused on its development, its portrayal to
others by different mediums and the arguments on whether it has affected London’s society. I
looked it at from the perspective of young people and young mcs in London since they aren’t
really given a voice or the chance to express themselves regarding what they feel passionate
about.

Old Text – Tu Pac – In his own words (Documentary)

Content

The old text focused on the story of Tu Pac’s life and his opinions on how Hip Hop was being
portrayed in the US. This is quite similar to my feature in the sense that Tu Pac was given the
chance to express himself (through interviews) and justify how he used his music to inspire his
society just in the same way each of my contributors were given the chance.

New Text – The BBC’s Grime documentary

Content

This documentary was very similar to my documentary as it focused on the grime music as whole
but in much more detail. The obvious reason for this was that they could actually interview more
important people and investigate the topic further due to the fact that they had a real budget. I on
he other hand could only investigate grime music vaguely.

My Feature

Mode of Address

The mode of address in my documentary featured primarily the use of colloquial and informal
language that would only be understood by a specific audience. My contributors in both the vox
pops and the interviews carried themselves in the same manner by the way in which they spoke
and how they were dressed. Using words and phrases like for example ‘all dem man’, ‘init’ and
‘safe’ contribute to the overall informality. I think this was solely because of the fact that I
targeted and featured more of the younger audience in an area where this type of language is
understood. However, since I didn’t have a visual presenter, I did try to provide a balance of both
informal and formal language through the voice over to ensure that my documentary was
understood by everyone.

Old Text – Tu Pac – In his own words (Documentary)

Mode of Address
Michael Fox 13.7
In comparison to my documentary, the mode of address was very formal with some aspects of
informality which was expressed in the language used and the way in which the contributor, Tu
Pac, was dressed and his mannerisms. Even though he spoke formally he still carried himself in
that ‘East coast stereotype’ which was mirrored by my contributors who carried themselves in that
‘Street corner stereotype’.
The backwards cap and the
ear stud shows informality to
a certain extent.

Old Text – Tu Pac – In his own words (Documentary)

Wearing the hood and the

location shows informality
also.

My feature – Grime and the Media

Furthermore, they were able to achieve a formal mode of address by the way in which the
presenter presented himself and this is what I tried to achieve through my voice over which I
explained earlier. But I think the balance between both the formal and the informal mode of
address was achievable because the presenter was actually seen which might have made the
balance that I was trying to achieve unnoticeable.

Formally dressed and

well spoken presenter.

News report style

achieved formality.
Michael Fox 13.7

New Text – The BBC’s Grime documentary

Mode of Address

The BBC’s mode of address was very similar to my documentary as the focus was on younger
generation. These types of documentaries will inevitably feature informality solely because of the
topic itself. Words like ‘bruv’, ‘strap’, ‘shank’ etc are examples of informal language expressed by
the contributor which was evident in my documentary also. Likewise, I think that because of the
audience that the BBC tend to appeal to, they tried to incorporate a voice over to provide that
balance between informality and formality which was shown in my documentary also.

My Feature

Conventions

In my documentary I used the general conventions typical of a documentary, they are as follows:

Archive footage, which was predominantly used.

Music
Graphics
Voice over, which eliminated the role of an actual presenter being seen on camera.
Exposition
Interviews
And Vox pops

Old Text – Tu Pac – In his own words (Documentary)

Conventions

The conventions used in this documentary were similar to the conventions I demonstrated but
only to a certain extent. I think it’s because of the fact that this documentary focused on Tu Pac
and therefore featured him primarily through interviews. It constantly features interview after
interview whereas my documentary had at least three interviews all from different perspectives.

The use of vox pops were inexistent in this documentary which contrasts with my documentary as
the vox pops, with careful editing, was the highlight of my production. I think that the fact that no
Michael Fox 13.7
vox pops were used suggests the seriousness of the topic, the formality and also indicates the
preferred target audience. The use of vox pops help contribute to the fast pace of the
documentary and is sometimes used as the voice of the audience which I tried to demonstrate.
This is what I tried to achieve in my documentary by primarily featuring fast paced vox pops.

Similarly, archive footage is evidently used however the vast amount used differs from my
production but I think this is because of the overall running time where I only had five minutes and
the ‘In his words’ documentary had 30 minutes. So the amount of archive footage was
compensated for by the amount of time available. Five out of the first seven minutes of the
documentary was archive footage from music videos, interviews, films, studio sessions etc used to
demonstrate exposition. Likewise, I used archive footage of music videos to help provide some
explanation of my documentary and what I was trying to investigate. The only footage actually
captured was the interviews with Tu Pac and the presenter, Kurt Loder, which is similar to my
documentary but instead of captured footage of the presenter, I used cutaways.

New Text – The BBC’s Grime documentary

Conventions

As with my feature and the old text, this documentary demonstrated the typical and general
conventions of a documentary.

The use of archive footage was kept to a minimum which I believe is because they had a budget to
keep to and didn’t want to over spend by paying for royalties. The archive footage was only used
at specific points whereas I used the archive footage to demonstrate exposition, as explained
before, and to be used as cutaways. Moreover, the fact that they used a lot of their own footage
enabled them to demonstrate a variety in camera technique which greatly differs from my
documentary, even though I did use the occasional high angle, long and medium shot, a lot of the
shots were very similar. This is because of the fact that I only filmed the interviews and the vox
pops primarily and there wasn’t much scope for creativity as I only had one camera. As you can
see, the shot of the vox pops/interviews in my documentary and the BBC’s documentary are
similar.

Medium shot –
Talking Space

New Text – The BBC’s Grime documentary My feature – Grime and the Media
Michael Fox 13.7
Music is used effectively to add to the overall style of the documentary and also to prevent the
award silence between shot. Appropriate music is used to reflect the mood and atmosphere of the
documentary which I demonstrated in my documentary. In the opening of my documentary, I
closely edited the footage and so that the tempo of the music would reflect the timing of the next
shot.

My Feature

Style and Form

For the style of my documentary I tired to imitate the style of a music video or action film to
appeal to my target audience. This was greatly reflected by the pace of the overall documentary
which was achieved by how carefully I edited the vox pops and the archive footage in relation to
the chosen music. I think I was able to capture the attention of my viewers by ensuring that
something different was seen constantly which the exception of the three interviews which acted
as a tension release which is greatly used in action films.

Even though I didn’t demonstrate a great deal of camera language, the shots that I did capture
were simple but demonstrated the rules of capturing footage. By looking at the shots you can see
that I kept in mind the rule of thirds and talking space which was demonstrated in every shot.

Referring back to the mode of address, I didn’t feature a visual presenter and I think that if I had
featured one then they could have contributed to the overall style and form by the way in which
they would have dressed and conducted themselves.

Old Text – Tu Pac – In his own words (Documentary)

Style and Form

What differs from my documentary and the Tu Pac documentary was that the overall pace was
considerably slower which I think was because of the fact that there were no vox pops, it
predominantly featured interview after interview with Tu Pac and it adopted the style of a news
report like the BBC news. (As shown below) I think this reflects the audience that they were trying
to target as the news isn’t for anyone specific, it’s for everyone, and I think that’s what they were
trying to achieve, diversity. In comparison, my documentary implies that it is only for a specific
audience and will therefore not be able to reach out to those on a national scale that the Tu Pac
documentary might be able to achieve.
Michael Fox 13.7
Similarly, there isn’t a wide range of complex shots used in this documentary as there isn’t a lot
going on. It can be suggested that there just isn’t any time or need to demonstrate a wide range of
shot types in a documentary as it’s the message that’s most important to them. Also, using a wide
range of shot types can sometimes confuse the audience especially if a high angle shot is used for
a vox pop instead of an eye level shot. Both mine and the Tu Pac documentary show very little
creativity.

New Text – The BBC’s Grime documentary

Style and Form

Likewise, the use of vox pops and close editing contributed to the fast pace of the documentary
which suggests the audience in which they are targeting. This is very similar to my documentary as
the intentions are the same.

A lot of archive footage was used to demonstrate exposition and illustrate arguments expressed in
the voice over which I took advantage of in my documentary also. However, what differs from the
two was the amount of archive footage used in relation to the footage captured. I think that
because both documentaries focused on music, getting your own footage would be difficult and
time consuming compared to if I produced a documentary on healthy eating as capturing footage
would be within my means.

What was completely different from my documentary was of the reconstructions to illustrate
points and to give the audience a visual understanding (As shown below). I don’t think I could have
incorporated reconstructions in my documentary because I wasn’t focusing on someone or
something that had happened in the past. It does however fit in well with the overall style of the

documentary. It also suggests that they could have been targeting a wider audience as those who
would be considered the target audience for this documentary would already understand and or
be aware of the incident.

My Feature

Technology

There was a very limited range of technology used to create my documentary but this is not to say
that technology wasn’t used in helping to create my documentary. A 3.2 megapixel camera and a
tripod were used predominantly at the production stage but I didn’t take advantage of the other
equipment to enhance my use of technology. I used Imovie to import music and edit my captured
footage.
Michael Fox 13.7

Old Text – Tu Pac – In his own words (Documentary)

Technology

This documentary had the obvious technological influences as I did but the quality differed which
was solely based on the time at which this documentary was filmed. This is clearly shown in the
quality of the footage as the resolution is poor and the sound quality as the sound is distorted.
Which compares to my documentary as the quality of the camera was able to capture the
surrounding sound and the voice of the contributors without the need for a microphone. We can
make the suggestion that a boom microphone may have been used to compensate for the poor
quality of the camera which may not have been able to capture the sound of the presenter or
others speaking.

New Text – The BBC’s Grime documentary

Technology

In comparison to my documentary, the technology used was much more enhanced in terms of the
camera itself as the quality was HD and most probably had been able to pick up the voices of the
contributors. We can make the implication that they used lighting equipment to portray specific
moods and to create an atmosphere. As we can see below, the use of lighting has created a tense
atmosphere. Graphics were used in my documentary but not creatively whereas in the BBC
documentary we can see that a creative use of graphics. This is also shown below in the left hand
corner of the shot where we can see the shadow of a gun.

My feature – Grime and the Media

New Text – The BBC’s Grime documentary

Simple graphics More creative graphics