Evaluation

My documentary Binge Britain:Brighton is about the effects that binge drinking has on more than just the consumer. Examples include:

• Emergency services
• Societies

This was the purpose because once we had chosen are final idea we watched several documentaries that are about alcohol and are shown on BBC THREE. We did this so that we would be aware of:

• Opening credits
• Types of shots
• Framing
• Camera technique
• Editing techniques
• Voice over narration
• Use of archive footage
• Reconstructions

The documentaries that we watched included:

• Sun... sex and suspicious parents          BBC THREE
• Cherry goes drinking          BBC THREE

The conventions that the above documentaries use are:

• In both above documentaries the opening credits are made specific to the documentary and at some point have the title appear. 
• The types of shots that are used in the above documentaries include:
• Tracking
• Panning
• Mid shots
• Close ups
• Establishing shots
• Some of the ways the documentaries above used editing:
• To overlap voice overs and footage
• Cut between shots from different angles
• Change the meaning of the footage
• Only the Cherry goes drinking documentary used archive footage in it. This is because it helped to emphasise the message

Ways that my documentary, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real documentaries

Above are the conventions of the topic of documentary that matches ours. The conventions that ours uses are:

• Opening credits
• Types of shots
• Framing
• Camera technique
• Editing techniques
• Voice over narration
• Use of archive footage
• Reconstructions

Our documentary has opening credits. This is because our documentary is one that will be broadcasted regularly as a series but every episode will be in a different city in Britain.

The types of shots that our documentary used include:

• Mid shots
• Tracking
• Panning 

We had a very innovative technique to doing the tracking shots as well as the tracking and then panning shots because we did not have the necessary equipment for doing tracking shots normally. The innovative technique involved using a tripod and a trolley. We used a trolley so that we could move the camera with the shot still being steady.

 Also when we thought about the framing of the shots we had to ensure that there wasn't any objects or anything else that would make the shots and in turn the documentary look amateur.

When we had all of our footage we edited the lengths of the footage so that it wouldn't be to long and boring and so that no unwanted narrative or content was included. we also in several parts detached the audio and had the interviews cut to footage that was being described. The below example shows before the cut and after the cut to the reconstruction.

A way that we developed the conventions was by including a reconstruction. The bottom image above this is a still from the reconstruction.

The effectiveness of the combination of my documentary and the ancillary tasks

In general one of the things people associate with alcohol is night, because of this I ensured that both ancillary tasks where took and that the images used where not bright and obvious to what they are. As I have ensured that the ancillary tasks fit the topic of the documentary and the purpose I believe that the combination is very effective. Below at the top is the Poster and at the bottom is the Double Page Spread.

Things that I have learned from our audience feedback

Since finishing the documentary we have put it on YouTube and on Facebook. The feedback that we got included:

• Gives a good view on the effects on the society and services
• Not bad for amateurs
• Nice video. Very well mad :D
• Awesome video

From the feedback from our audience I have learn't that our documentary would be successful as I didn't get any criticism on anything that other people would change if they where to create one similar the ours.

Ways that we used new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages

For the research before the documentary I used several new media technologies. Examples include:

• New websites
• Blogs

I used news websites as they show all of the stories that each news corporation has covered. The news stories that I used where about:

• Bad statistics and binge drinking          BBC NEWS
• Binge drinking costing billions          BBC NEWS
• Binge drinking raises cancer risk          BBC NEWS
• Polish photographer documents four years of drunken revelry in Cardiff          THE TELEGRAPH

Also all stories that new corporations are reliable due to not being able to print anything that they have proven to be true.

I also used blogs when researching so that I could get ordinary and experts opinions on why binge drinking is such a problem.

When planning our documentary we didn't use any new media technologies as we where required to sketch out the storyboard and ancillary tasks by hand. However, we did use Microsoft Word to create our:

• Shot lists
• Scripts

During the construction of our documentary we used iMovie on Apple Mac computers. This allowed us to move the different scenes around whilst adding sound and music. It also allowed us to record narration while watching the scenes and then add transitions between the scenes so that they would not jump too much.

For the evaluation of the documentary and ancillary tasks I used blogspot to show all of the work that I have created. I used blogspot as blogs as it is being used by the media now as a less formal way of getting opinions on what they are doing. 

Ancillary Task II

Ancillary Task I

Filming

This image shows how we filmed the tracking shots.

This image shows how we filmed the panning shots directly after the tracking shots

 This image shows how we filmed our mid shots.


Side on

 This image shows how we filmed our mid shots.


Straight on

This image shows how we did the shots on the bench.

Script

Shotlist

Storyboard

Mission Statement

Binge Britain: Brighton will be aired on a Tuesday on BBC THREE at 9pm. The reason why we are airing are documentary mid week is because are target audience, 16+, are known to be out at the weekends, and this would reduce are potential audience.

Binge Britain: Brighton will be broadcasted on BBC THREE because from our research similar documentaries have been aired on this channel and at similar times to ours. Another reason why we have chosen to broadcast our documentary is because BBC offer a catch up feature online called BBC IPLAYER. This will allow us to broadcast to a larger audience as they can watch it at a later date if missed on TV.

The reason why we are showing our documentary after the watershed is because it allows us to show more explicit/adult content. This will allow our documentary to be more shocking, giving it a greater impact on the audience.

Binge Britain: Brighton’s purpose is to demonstrate how alcohol affects more than just the consumer. This will involve observing interviews with young people that have abused alcohol, a PCSO and a nurse to see how alcohol has a damaging effect on society.

We will be using cameras, a tripod and editing software to create our documentary.

Research Into Binge Drinking

The NHS definition of binge drinking is drinking heavily in a short space of time to get drunk or feel the effects of alcohol.  

The amount of alcohol someone needs to drink in a session for it to be classed as ‘bingeing’ is less clearly defined but the marker used by the NHS and National Office of Statistics is drinking more than double the daily recommended units of alcohol in one session.  

The Government guidelines state that men should not regularly drink more than three to four units a day, and women should not regularly exceed more than two to three units daily.

Getting very drunk can affect your physical and mental health:

• Accidents and falls are common because being drunk affects your balance and co-ordination. You’re also more likely to suffer head, hand and facial injuries. Binge drinking has also been linked to self-harm.
• Overdosing on alcohol can stop you breathing or stop your heart, or you could choke on your vomit.
• Nearly a third (29%) of alcohol related deaths are a result of alcohol related accidents. These deaths are more common among 16–34 year olds.
• Binge drinking can affect your mood and your memory and in the longer term can lead to serious mental health problems.

Alcohol is a factor in:

• One in three (30%) sexual offences.
• One in three (33%) burglaries.
• One in two (50%) street crimes.

Binge drinking is most common among 16–24-year-olds , and is more common among men than women. The General Lifestyle Survey 2008 showed that 21% of men and 14% of women drank more than double their recommended units on at least one day in the previous week. However, in the last decade binge drinking among young British women has increased rapidly.

Binge drinking when you’re young can become a habit. Studies have shown that those who drink a lot in their teens and early 20s are up to twice as likely as light drinkers to be binge drinking 25 years later.

www.cks.nhs.uk/patient_information_leaflet/Alcohol_misuse

www.drinking.nhs.uk/questions/common-questions/

www.cks.nhs.uk/patient_information_leaflet/Alcohol_misuse

www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_offices/post/pubs2005.cfm

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/330/7495/809-a

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaires

Initial Ideas

Haunted House

The True Story

The Facts:

The haunted attraction industry generates roughly 300 million pounds in revenue and the amusement park industry another 150 to 200 million pounds.

The industry of haunted houses supports hundreds of other businesses.

Some haunted houses charge as much as £50 while most average around £25 per event.

Possible investigation:

• Archive footage
• Interview with paranormal experts
• Investigate derelict hospice’s and hospitals

Binge Drinking

Does binge drinking have a negative effect on society?

The Facts:

Drinking amongst teenagers is on the up, and binge drinking is linked to anti-social behaviour and the use of other drugs. A recent survey revealed that 27% of 15-16 year olds have had more than three binges in the last month. The survey also revealed that 9% of boys and girls aged between 11-12 years described themselves as regular drinkers.

Possible investigation:

• Archive footage
• Interview with police to see how alcohol effects the society
• Does drug use increase when binge drinking occurs
• Information on alcohol units
• Interview with alcohol councillor
• Does the cheapness of alcohol influence teenagers to drink?

Meow:  The Deadly High

Should meow be made illegal in the UK?

The Facts:

Meow is sold as plant food or pond cleaner on the internet and is described as not being for human consumption.

It was made illegal in several countries due to growing evidence of health risks, including a reported cause of death.

Meow produces euphoria, alertness, talkativeness and feelings of empathy, but can also cause anxiety and paranoid states and risks over stimulating the heart and circulation.

Possible Investigation:

• Interview with experts to find out the long term effects of the drug
• Talk to users of the drug to find out why they take it
• Find out how easy it is to purchase on the internet
• Interview with the police to find out their views on the drug

Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux was born in Singapore and moved to the UK where he was brought up in London from the age of 4. He started to get interested in films and how they are made when he went to Magdalen College in Oxford where he gained a first class degree in modern history and was noted for his film reviews for the Grapevine magazine.

In 1992 he was hired as a writer for Spy magazine. He was also working as a correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation series, for which he provided segments on off-beat cultural subjects, including Avon ladies in the Amazon, the Jerusalem syndrome, and the attempts by the Ku Klux Klan to rebrand itself as a civil rights group for white people.

When TV Nation ended he found himself being signed to a development deal by the BBC, out of which came Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. So that’s where he started but that’s not where it all ended for him.

Since starting his career Louis Theroux has managed to take his documentaries mainstream and opened the gate for following documentaries. As well as managing to make documentaries mainstream he has also won many awards as well as being nominated.

Emmy Awards
1996
	Nominated	Emmy (Outstanding Informational Series)
Bafta Awards
2001
	Won	BAFTA TV Award (Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News))
2002
	Won	BAFTA TV Award (Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News))
	Nominated	Flaherty Documentary Award (TV)
Royal Television Society, UK
2002
	Nominated	RTS Television Award (Best Presenter)
2010
	Won	RTS Television Award (Best Presenter)

The reason why Louis has done well in his career is because he is never one to shy away from really trying to get to grips with his subject matter and Louis is renowned for getting immersed in the stories he covers. Examples include when he got a role in a gay porn film for one documentary and in another he slept in Jimmy Savile's mother's bed.

The documentary The Most Hated Family In America includes footage of members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketing at funerals of United States soldiers. At the funerals the organisation members hold signs blaming deaths of U.S. soldiers on the country's tolerance towards homosexuality. Westboro Baptist Church members believe that these deaths are caused by God as retribution for the immorality of the U.S. They stated in many circumstances that the soldiers were "struck down by God for fighting for a depraved nation".

They attend the funeral of a soldier Kevin Zeigler who died at the age of 31 while attempting to disable a bomb in Iraq. Referring to improvised explosive devices the Westboro Baptist Church members held signs reading "Thank God for IEDs". Other protest signs carried by the organisation including six year old children read "Thank God For Dead Soldiers", "Don't Worship The Dead" and "Fag Marines", "Royal In Hell Whore"(referring to Princess Dianna), "God hates fags", "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", "God is America's Terrorist" and "Fag Troops". The Westboro Baptist Church members revealed in the September 11 attacks and stated they were punishment for the country's "fornication and lust". The group also protests outside the local synagogue and holds signs which state that, "Jews worship the rectum".

Louis interviews members of the Phelps family including Fred Phelps (called "Gramps" by members of the organisation) and Shirley Phelps-Roper. Louis asks Fred Phelps, "Isn't it an act of presumption, when you don't have all the information about all the other churches, to assume you have privileged access to Grace?” Phelps responded "Oh, I know all there is to know about 'em." When Louis asks him how he knows this Phelps answered "I'm not going to keep on talking to you. I know what you are. You're an evil. I don't even wanna go there. Good luck to ya!”

Throughout this documentary Louis Theroux didn’t really need to use any skills or techniques to air his opinion about what the Phelps family views as they turned every viewer against them themselves through what they said.

However what Louis did do he did excellently, this is him setting them up for a fall. He did this by asking specific questions that he had obviously researched in detail so that he understands and can question them further depending on their answer. Example include when Louis was interviewing “Gramps” and he asked how many children he had. Louis knows that he had disowned two children as they left the church.

Other aspects that Louis could have done is edited the recorded footage by only showing the footage that paints the family in a negative light, even if this is true there is no argument or any possible way of defending them because of what they believed and how they aired their views.

For the Under The Knife documentary Louis travelled to California to explore the obsessive world of plastic surgery. He met those who are desperate for surgery and the surgeons. Whilst in California Louis decided to take the plunge and undergo a procedure himself.

This documentary was just like any other for Louis as he found himself immersed in the story that he was covering. Louis says "I started this film with an open mind about experiencing the world of plastic surgery at first hand. To begin with, I'd thought I might get something minor like botox injections in my forehead but some of the surgeons I met suggested I needed a nose job, and others said I'd benefit from a brow lift. I wasn't keen as I've got rather used to the way my face looks! A leading surgeon then told me I'd be a good candidate for lipo on my stomach and love handles."

By this point, Louis had already met some interesting and intriguing characters but still felt he was experiencing the subject from the sidelines.

Thinking through the offer, Louis explains: "I decided that, with lipo, the worst that can happen apart from the usual risks involved in surgery is you get some lumps under your skin. I felt it a risk worth taking as I really wanted to understand how this kind of surgery can make you feel afterwards, if I'd feel like a new and improved man!"

"In general, I try to get involved in these sorts of stories as a way of understanding the motivations of the people I meet so I can experience what they experience and see if it does the same for me. Hopefully it's also a way of showing that I'm not overly judgemental of their choices, if I can belly up and do it too."

He eventually went through with the procedure and came out the other end feeling very sore and a bit slimming. The surgeon made sure to make Louis feel like he is slimmer now than before. In my opinion this is one reason why the regular patients like the receptionist at the surgery keep going back for more as they get big compliments about how their physique has improved and nudged towards what they should get done next. Right or wrong the surgeon is making big money and regularly down to the naive patients that visit his surgery.

Michael Moore

Michael Moore was born April 23 1954 and is an American filmmaker, author and liberal political commentator. He is the director and producer of Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story. Which are four of the top nine highest-grossing documentaries of all time.

In September 2008, he released his first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising, documenting his personal crusade to encourage more Americans to vote in presidential elections. He has also written and starred in the TV shows TV Nation and The Awful Truth.

Moore criticizes globalization, large corporations, assault weapon ownership, the Iraq War, U.S. President George W. Bush and the American health care system in his written and cinematic works.

From Michael Moore’s career so far he has been awarded many awards and been nominated for many other awards:

Academy
2002	Win	Best Documentary Feature
2007	Nominated	Best Documentary Feature
Cannes Film Festival
2002	Win	55th Anniversary Prize
Directors Guild of America
2004	Nominated	Best Documentary
Writers Guild of America
2002	Nominated	Best Original Screenplay
2007	Nominated	Best Documentary Screenplay

The documentary Bowling for Columbine explores what Michael Moore suggests are the causes for the Columbine High School massacre and other acts of violence with guns. Moore focuses on the background and environment in which the massacre took place and some common public opinions and assumptions about related issues. The film looks into the nature of violence in the United States.

In Moore's discussions with various people including South Park co-creator Matt Stone, the National Rifle Association's president Charlton Heston, and musician Marilyn Manson he seeks to explain why the Columbine massacre occurred and why the United States has a high violent crime rate (especially crimes involving guns).

An early scene shows how Moore discovered a bank in Michigan that would give customers a free hunting rifle when they made a deposit of a certain size into a time deposit account. The film follows Moore as he goes to the bank, makes his deposit, fills out the forms, and awaits the result of a background check before walking out of the bank carrying a brand new Weatherby hunting rifle.

Just before leaving the bank, Moore jokingly asks, "Do you think it's a little dangerous handing out guns at a bank?”

Another scene about 20 minutes into the film the Beatles song ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’ plays during a montage in which the following footage is shown:

• People buying guns
• Residents of Virgin in Utah, a town that passed a law requiring all residents to own guns
• People firing rifles at carnivals and shooting ranges
• Footage of Denise Ames operating an assault rifle
• Footage of Carey McWilliams a visually impaired gun enthusiast
• Footage of Gary Plauche killing Jeff Doucet a man who had kidnapped his son and molested him
• The suicide of Budd Dwyer
•  A 1993 murder where Emilio Nuñez shot his ex-wife Maritza Martin to death during an interview on the Telemundo program Ocurrió Asi
• The suicide of Daniel V. Jones
•  A man who takes his shirt off and is shot during a riot

Another scene early in the documentary, Moore links the violent behaviour of the Columbine shooters to the presence in Littleton of a large defence establishment where they manufacture rocket technology. It is implied that the presence of this facility within the community and the acceptance of institutionalised violence as a solution to conflict contributed to the mindset that led to the massacre.

Moore conducts an interview with Evan McCollum the Director of Communications at a Lockheed Martin plant near Columbine and asks him "So you don't think our kids say to themselves, Dad goes off to the factory every day, he builds missiles of mass destruction. What's the difference between that mass destruction and the mass destruction over at Columbine High School?" McCollum responded "I guess I don't see that specific connection because the missiles that you're talking about were built and designed to defend us from somebody else who would be aggressors against us." So Evan justifies the manufacturing of the missiles as they are killing people that are trying to kill us.

The documentary then cuts to a montage of American foreign policy decisions, with the intent to contradict McCollum's statement by citing examples of how the United States has frequently been the aggressor nation. This montage is set to the song ‘What a Wonderful World’ performed by Louis Armstrong.

The following is the onscreen text in the Wonderful World segment:

1953: U.S. overthrows Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddeq of Iran. U.S. installs Shah as dictator

1954: U.S. overthrows democratically-elected President Arbenz of Guatemala. 200,000 civilians killed

1963: U.S. backs assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem

1963-1975: American military kills 4 million people in Southeast Asia

September 11, 1973: U.S. stages coup in Chile. Democratically-elected President Salvador Allende assassinated. Dictator Augusto Pinochet installed. 5,000 Chileans murdered

1977: U.S. backs military rulers of El Salvador. 70,000 Salvadorans and four American nuns killed

1980s: U.S. trains Osama bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill Soviets. CIA gives them $3 billion

1981: Reagan administration trains and funds the Contras. 30,000 Nicaraguans die

1982: U.S. provides billions of dollars in aid to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians

1983: The White House secretly gives Iran weapons to kill Iraqis

1989: CIA agent Manuel Noriega (also serving as President of Panama) disobeys orders from Washington. U.S. invades Panama and removes Noriega. 3,000 Panamanian civilian casualties

1990: Iraq invades Kuwait with weapons from U.S.

1991: U.S. enters Iraq. Bush reinstates dictator of Kuwait

1998: Clinton bombs possible weapons factory in Sudan. Factory turns out to be making aspirin

1991 to present: American planes bomb Iraq on a weekly basis. U.N. estimates 500,000 Iraqi children die from bombing and sanctions

2000-2001: U.S. gives Taliban-ruled Afghanistan $245 million in aid

Sept. 11, 2001: Osama bin Laden uses his expert CIA training to murder 3,000 people

The montage then ends with handheld camera footage of the second 9/11 plane crash, the audio is consistently the hysterical reactions of the witnesses, recorded by the camera's microphone.

Michael Moore attempts to contrast this with the attitude in Canada, where gun ownership is at similar levels to the U.S. He illustrates his theory by visiting neighbourhoods in Canada near the Canada U.S. border where he finds front doors unlocked and much less concern over crime and security.

In this section a montage of possible causes for gun violence are stated. Many claim links with violence in television, cinema, and computer games; towards the end of the montage, however, a series of statements all claim Marilyn Manson's responsibility. Following this is an interview between Moore and Marilyn Manson. Manson shares his ideas about the United States' climate with Moore, stating that he believes U.S. society is based on fear and consumption, citing Colgate commercials that promise "if you have bad breath, people are not going to talk to you" and other commercials containing fear based messages, and that the media would rather point at him as the one responsible for the killings instead of the President who ordered more bombings on Kosovo that specific day than any other. When Moore asks Manson what he would say to the kids and community at Columbine, Manson replies "I wouldn't say a single word to them; I would listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did."

Moore then follows up his climate of fear theory by exploring the popular explanations as to why gun violence is so high in the United States. He examines Marilyn Manson as a cause but states that Germany listens to more Marilyn Manson and has a greater Gothic population than the United States with less gun violence (Germany have 381 incidents per year). He examines violent movies but realises that they have the same violent movies in other countries, showing The Matrix with French sub titles (France have 255 incidents per year). He also examines video games but states that violent video games come from Japan (Japan have 39 incidents per year). Concluding his comparisons with the idea that the United States violent history is the cause but opposing that with the violent histories of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom (UK have 68 incidents per year) Moore ends this section with gun related death per year statistics of a few major countries.

• United States - 11,127 (3.601 per 100,000)
• Germany – 381 (0.466 per 100,000)
• France – 255 (0.389 per 100,000)
•  Canada – 165 (0.484 per 100,000)
• United Kingdom – 68 (0.109 per 100,000)
• Australia – 65 (0.292 per 100,000)
• Japan – 39 (0.030 per 100,000)

In the final scene Moore takes two Columbine victims (Mark Taylor and Richard Castaldo) to the American superstore K-Mart supposedly to claim a refund on the bullets still lodged in their bodies. After a number of attempts to avoid the issue, a K-Mart spokesperson says that the firm will change its policy and phase out the sale of handgun ammunition; this comes after Moore and the victims go to the nearest K-Mart store purchase all of their ammunition and return the next day with several members of the media. "We've won," says Moore, "That was more than we asked for.”