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Amy- Amy Winehouse

At the beginning of the documentary we heard different people speaking, all of which were a significant part to Amy's life whether it be a friend, mother, father or professional in the music industry. They talk about how successful she was with her music, how amazing she was as a person behind the scenes and how difficult her life was and how she struggled with it; there is a great sense of nostalgia in this part of the documentary as Amy recently passed away. This part of the documentary provided nostalgia for the audience as they are aware that throughout this documentary, they are going to reflect on the good and bad times of her life. Almost all of the speech in the documentary is through voice overs and you very rarely get to see the person who is talking; this suggests that the documentary is purely on Amy and her life. It starts off with a clip from when she was a lot younger and she starts to sing with her friends and family; this shows her before fame took over, which is a significant because this past footage makes the audience aware that what they are about to watch is going to be honest and truthful and exclusive. The documentary has past footage of gigs too and provides a structure when using them: for example at the beginning of the documentary the gigs shown are from when she was a lot younger and before her career began; he shows her passion for music and how it has stuck with her for many years. This exclusive piece of past footage also emphasizes the progression from then till her career reached its peak. There were also exclusive interviews with managers and professionals in the field whom she has worked with as well as fans. The use of soundtracks works well because its her own music and most of the time links well to a particular event talked about at the time. For example when she is talking about her break with her Blake and how she dealt with it, the song 'Tears Dry On Their Own' plays.  

 

Made Of Stone- The Stone Roses

Made Of Stone was the first documentary that we watched and we really liked it because it showed the atmopshere at one of their gigs right at the start of the film 

before actually getting to know the band. It was like the audience was seeing what they have achieved before even witnessing their journey with them. We liked how at the beginning of the clip, their crowd was being heard before we even saw the band on the screen; it created this atmosphere and made you want to carry on watching. We also liked how their music began to play as the lead singer, Ian Brown,

                                                                     was shown on the screen facing the crowd. It

a nice touch witnessing them in concert before actually learning about their story; the flash back worked effectively. We also liked the slow motion and close ups of the crowd, copies of original video and sound clips from the time when the band was young. From the way the clips are pieced together it shows the basic storyline of how they were on a high, then a low and now ready to come back. Some effects used as well work very successfully. It terms of the conventions of the product, they include mutliple band practises, interviews, archived footage, interviews with other experts in the industry, voiceovers and their original soundtrack in the form of non-diegetic sound. In terms of the interviews, we noticed a unique feature. They contained informal and formal interviews, by informal they have mini q&a's just before they are about to practise a particular song, this contrasts with the formal interviews because which these they have the band sat down and focussed on just the interview; it seems more set up and professional. 

9/11 and the belligerent empire

This documentary was released on the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks; it is about the attacks that occurred and the US invasion on Afghanistan. We liked the beginning of the piece because it included flash images of newspapers and articles relating to the subject of 9/11; these pieces of work seemed to be legit therefore showed the impact of these attacks on the general public on a mass scale, which conformed to the versmilitude ideology. We too could incorporate this idea in to our music documentary as we could use made up newspaper articles and advertisements as props to put in our introduction. We also liked the grainy effect created when edited together in post production as it gives the whole piece this authentic feel to it; often the colours seem to distort highlighting that this is something significant as it is major part of history that is still talked about to this day. We would incorporate this idea into the introduction to our piece as it would work well with a fast paced musical intro. They too use a music intro that steadily increases in its pace which I think is effective as it creates an element of suspense and drama.

Existing Media Products- Documentary TV Programme

Part Of Me- Katy Perry 

Together we liked the Part Of Me documentary because the cplour scheme was bright and  the mood was humourous at times. There are a lot of archived clips of her in concerts and showing her busy life. This documentary also included videos of the crowd and the editing was very fast paced which highlighted the fact that her life is fast paced. We also liked the collage of pictures overlapping one another for the introduction; it gave an initial insight into her past life before fame took over. Also home footage worked efficiently as it created a connection between the audience and according to the Blumler and Katz theory, Katy is more relatable to her audience as they see her life before the fame.  We also liked the flash back dissolving into a flash forward of her now, with her career at its peak. Another aspect of the documentary, which we liked was the backstage videos of her working on her music as it provided the audience with a chance to see what her life was like behind the scenes and the ammount of work she put in. Furthermore the use of voice overs made her story more personal as it is her voice; this created a dramatic atmosphere as the audience wanted to get to know her more as a person and not just an artist. 

Sigur Ros- Heima 

We really liked the introduction to this piece of work as it began with someone, who we guessed was Sigur Ros, in the middle of writing his name with paint; as the camera moved to the left, they used an almost invisible wipe to cut to the next clip which was of a staircase. The location is very moody therefore creates this tense atmosphere from the audiences point of view, which makes them want to carry on watching. We also liked how the voice from the previous clip, which was an interview, is transformed into just sound and overlaps with another clip of a window. There is two locations and atmopsheres being captured: an isolated landscape and crowd of people however the comparison between the two is that often they are both filmed in the countryside. There are clips of the fans waiting for a gig, which we think works well as it creates more of a connection between the audience and possibly the audience because the audience could relate to the way the fans are possibly feeling or acting. You also witness this progression from an isolated house to a concert with a large ammount of people; the audience sees this artist, Sigur Ros, grow and become a successful musician. However when reaching this point, it still falshes back to Ros singing in  a really small venue and to a small ammount of people. 

Stick Up Kid

We liked the use of tense music in the form of non-diegetic back ground sound at the beginning of the documentary as it immediately provides the audience with a flavor to what the documentary is going to be like. Our documentary is not going to be tense, its going to be uplifting as it highlighting a different aspect of society; it is highlighting the ways in which music has played a part in todays youth so we would be using more uplifting music. Also we liked the idea of voiceovers alongside the music, we liked the way he says a statement that is quite dramatic and the video fades to black and the music fades out also; diegetic and non-diegetic sound seem to coincide with one another.  We are going to attempt to use this too; we want to use it in our introduction as we believe the first minute has to be gripping in order for us to successfully grasp our target audience and make them continue to watch.

Spike Island- Ten Mile Smile (by Shadowcaster)

This clip is taken from the film Spike Island, it shows a group of 5 teenage boys having a band practise. We realised that this scene was carefully captured therefore will contain very little continuity errors. As we are making a documentary we know that we dont have to necessarily take note of the accurate editing but more the cinematography. We liked the inclusion of shallow focuses making the overall scene more creative and interesting. We also like the way it is mainly captured on hand held cameras. In this particular scene in our documentary, we want it to be quite relaxed and spontaneous therefore the use of hand held cinematography would work well. We want to include similar props for example cigarettes, guitars, drum sticks, amps and make them the main focal points in particular shots. We also want to use medium close ups and closeups of the individual faces however at the same time we want a long wide shot showing the whole room and showing the relationship between the band members.  

These pictures are taken from actual concerts and gigs, not documentaries however we really like the shots taken. The images included silhouetted images of the crowd with their hands up and moving about which highlights that this concert is atmospheric. We would like to have shots from all different aspects of the gig: to see the concert from an audiences point of view as well as the bands point of view. We liked how a side profile was used in Katy Perry’s documentary; we like to incorporate something similar into our documentary. 

Shut Up And Play The Hits-LCD Soundsystem

Firstly we liked the fade to black as it creates a dramatic and tense atmosphere; they ammount of time each clip is played, before fading to black, is exactly the same which works successfully. Another aspect we liked in the documentary is the flashforward to him waking up, we liked the humour it created as the persona the main leader carries out during the concert is significantly different to the persona he carries out when he wakes up. It creates this 'behind the scenes' atmosphere and instantely makes the audience relate and connect to the band and the film. I also liked the fast paced tempo of the wildtrack in the background, it compliments the pace of the band. Lastly the way they intoroduce the music made from the band before the audience actually meets the band is quite significant- to us- because it creates an atmosphere almost instantly. We aim to achieve a similar thing.

Further Research

Other Genres of Documentary

Music In Documentary

Made Of Stone

We picked these particular shots from Made Of Stone because they are artistic and individual. The first shot works well because it is taking from a peculiar perspective; it captures the crowd in their element, with the band facing them. It captures the audience’s reaction and the volume of the crowd as well. We also liked the use of the monochrome effect as it complements the bands persona in a rewarding way; the band is quite rocky and mysterious. 

 

We love this shot because as it captures both the audience and the singer in a balanced manner. Most of the shot consists of the crowd however the way Ian Brown’s body is facing the audience however his head is turning around as if to look back on the band. This is a very effective shot and we would like to create something similar.

Another picture from the documentary also highlights a connection and relationship between the band and the audience through taking pictures. 

Introduction For Documentary 

We really liked the introduction for this film because of the newspaper articles, chart posters, newspaper adevrts and band posters etc. This made the band look more realistic and authentic because it provides evidence that the band are a success. Also the use of the grainy filter emphasizes the idea that the footage is old; this would be beneficial if we got old footage of the band and members of the band because it exaggerates the progression. This links well to the title of the documentary which is 'a journey through music'. Furthermore we liked the idea of a news report further providing evidence of their success. 

What Has Influenced Our Group? 

Stone Roses- Waterfall

In our documentary we want the commoners to perfom in it therefore we had to research how to incorporate this in a documentary in an effective way. We wanted to almost make a music video inside a documentary however it wont be sharp as normal music videos becuase then that goes against the significance of a documentary; it is supposed to be challenging and realistic and not look performed or staged. We looked into the way The Stone Roses introduce Waterfall in to their documentary; they do it by talking and having a conversation before hand as if it was just band practise. It is then John Squire who says 'what are we playing first? Waterfall?' This triggers the music to start and the idea of a music video almost begins. The shots used in this part of the film are only from band practise, which creates this effortless mood and atmopshere. We also like the way it is in black and white as the audience is automatically aware that something different is going to happen which almost disturbs the flow of the documentary. We collected a large ammount of shots from this documentary that we thought worked very effectively. The main one for us was the use of boxes as it made the whole scene quite fast paced and spontaneous. We also liked the way each member was captured; they used both medium close ups and close ups. Lastly in one particular shot of Squire, the image is out of focus this is just as the music starts for Waterfall; this is a great transition from interview to music and we are aiming to incorporate this into ours also. 

Behind The Music: Arctic Monkeys

Whilst watching this documentary we really liked the use of past photographs and videos and how it links well to what the narrator is talking about. It makes the documentary have a higher quality as it is clear to the audience that what the narrator is telling them is true and the photos prove it. It also helps the audience witness the progression within the band. As a group, we are aware that the band we are filming is not as successful as the Arctic Monkeys however the beginning of their journey is very similar to the state the Commoners are in now. We wanted to capture them trying their best to get a break in the music industry. 

The photographs and videos show this persona of the band that suggests that they are 'the lads next door'; they are very normal teenage boys who are into very into the rock and roll lifestyle and youth culture. We wanted to capture this in our documentary also. 

Lastly we liked the deigetic sound used in the product as it the narrator talks about their normal lifestyle and how they started out. It creates this sense of nostalgia; we dont particularly want to reflect nostalgia as the band isnt at the same point of succession as they Arctic Monkeys are. Nevertheless we wanted to use similar information such as how the Commoners began and what their goals are. 

Don't Believe The Hype- Arctic Monkeys (Fan Documentary)

We liked how the band narrated almost the whole of the documentary and successfully; it is very difficult to do this however it was managed in a professional way. 

Next we liked the progression portrayed through the use of past footage; it emphasizes their success and makes it more humbling.

Also the use of mise en scene is quite important as the rock and roll youth culture is very exaggerated. This is through the handling of alcohol at prestigious music events as well as the indie clothing, that depicts them as quite messy and too busy partying and making music to care about appearance.

 

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