MY INTENTIONS
My intentions in creating this documentary was to expose what social media is actually doing to us and our culture, how it is effecting the way people think act and feel as well as exposing the bad sides of social media and the hate-filled side of the internet. I have done this by clearly stating the negative effects of prolonged social media usage and siting my sources whenever and wherever necessary. I believe I have communicated effectively to the audience through my use of the backing sound throughout the documentary. I purposefully used music which matched the tone of what I am saying in the voice over, I believe this will make the documentary more engaging as sound is a key element of watching something and if both the visuals and the sound match in tone, it will make it more enjoyable to watch. Overall, for my first time making a documentary, I believe I have done a good job conveying my point and presenting my ideas. I also believe I have done well with the visuals I have filmed and the interviews I conducted. I have a few things I think I could improve, firstly the delivery of the narration, I think i did well getting my point across however I think my delivery of the script was quite bland and lifeless for the most part so next time I will have to make sure to sound a bit chipper. Secondly I think some of the filming could have been done better, in the interviews mainly I think there is room for improvement as most of the footage is quite bright and overexposed so next time to rectify this I should try and turn the lights slightly lower and adjust the settings on my camera to match the light levels of the room. Finally, next time I would like to use less stock footage as I believe towards the end of the documentary I was relying quite heavily on the use of stock footage so instead I would like to film more of my own stuff next time.
CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Firstly, the technique I have used in the introduction of my documentary is a collage of Tiktoks that gradually fill up the screen, coming in quicker and quicker. I did this in an attempt to overwhelm the viewer and show them how constant scrolling can be stressful. I also used another technique, which was blurring the previous video when the next video appeared. I did this in reference to how Tiktok is a very fast paced content platform where most people forget the video they just watched, so blurring the previous video clip references the forgetful nature of Tiktok and many other short form media platforms. The reason I have chose to cut the videos straight to black rather than fading them out gradually was because I wanted to make sure that the cut was harsh and impactful so it seemed like the videos that the app would be playing on was turning off and to make it easier to transition into my voice-over.
The conventional shot type I have used here is a typical documentary-style interview layout, where the subject is on one side of the camera (typically on the left) and the interviewer is facing opposite them, here I have exploited this rule and made it look as though the subject is talking to me (the interviewer) instead of the camera to give a more natural look to the interview. Another thing that I did regarding the interviews was to make sure that the interview questions made sense in the structure of the video, so i wouldn't have a question that didn't relate at all to the video and i also made sure that the questions lined up with the specific topic I was talking about at the point in the documentary.
What I have done here and what I have done throughout most of my documentary is use filler/background footage whilst the narration is going on. The background footage I used is either filmed by me or was found on a stock footage website. The types of footage i have decided to use is mainly plain simple shots that relate to the narration that was happening at the moment it is being used, I have purposely used plain footage so the viewer is visually stimulated to a point where they can enjoy the documentary and still concentrate on what I am saying.
The final non repeated conventional technique I used was a tone switch when I transitioned to the second part of my documentary. How I successfully changed the tone of the video was by changing my voice to be slower and more serious, as well as changing the background music in the video to a more solemn backing track to properly fit the tone, as the previous music I used wouldn't sound right given the depth of the new subject.
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