AS Evaluation

When editing our documentary, we found that it was good in many respects; for example, the audio was synced well and the cutaways worked to our advantage. However, the codes and conventions of our documentary often did not conform to other documentaries that we had analysed. For example, the titles on screen showing the questions posed to the interviewee were not useful; next time, it is important to ask the interviewee to answer in full sentences. Also, although our use of cutaways was successful, it would have been worthwhile to film some better cutaways; e.g teenagers on their mobile phones, to illustrate the exposition of our documentary.

Also, the title sequence was very amateur; it was not filmed well (on a handheld camera) and didn't flow with the rest of the documentary. Contributing to this, it was clear that the documentary was filmed within college, as the mise-en-scene was unproffessional and unrelated to the content. However, the title sequence was relevant to the exposition, as it showed a teenager using a mobile phone. Editing was successful, except a lot of dissolves were used, and the flow seemed rushed, and unappealing to the viewer. This made it seem even more amateur. The audio however, was good, as it related to the exposition and theme of the documentary, and was current at the time of release.

AS Editing

When editing our documentary, I found that we were able to use the cutaway shots we had filmed to our full advantage; we could overlay the audio onto the cutaways to create a more exciting picture for our viewers, and therefore keep them entertained. It added variety to the documentary, and enabled us to expand the use of camera angles etc, all the while keeping the audience's attention. It was very useful when making mistakes while editing, as if audio became out of sync, cutaways could be used to remedy this.

Another factor which was important while editing was our use of captions. As we did not want to use an interviewer - interviewee style when editing, we found that we had made a mistake when asking our interviewee questions, as she had not answered in full sentences. This made it difficult for the audience to recognise what the interviewee's answers meant, so we decided to add captions onto the clips of our student talking. We added the captions using text speak, as we thought this would be an ironic parody of our documentary's content. I feel that we did this successfully, and the documentary still looked professional.

When choosing a soundtrack for our documentary, we found that we needed something that was related to pop culture - as our documentary would be watched by a teenage audience and we were actually studying teenagers during the filming process, we found that we needed a piece of music that was not too centred to one particular genre. Recognising this, we also felt that it would be appropriate to relate the music to the documentary; the topic of mobile phones. Therefore, it seemed clear to us to use the pop hit Telephone by Lady Gaga. As it was recently in the charts, and ironically parodies the content of our documentary, we felt that the choice was appropriate and well made.

AS Filming

When filming our documentary, we found that a simple format of filming our participant with a medium close up would be the most effective. We also found that by filming some shots from behind the participant would mean that the audience's attention would be captured.

One problem we came across when filming was the answers the participant gave; as she did not answer in full sentences, it became a problem when editing. Therefore, when filming the main documentary, I will assure that when we ask participants questions, they answer in full sentences, as if they are just chatting about their day. This will mean that we can use different clips in different places, and not have to include one of the filmmakers asking the questions, as this can seem quite amateur when showing the documentary.

When filming, we chose a participant that we felt would fit the stereotype of 'mobile phone addicted'. Therefore we chose a teenage girl, at our college, who answered our questions honestly.

We then filmed some cutaways which included pictures of mobile phones and shots of other people using their mobiles. We felt this was effective, as the target audience for our documentary was mobile phone users around our age group. We felt that this would make the viewer feel less alienated; mobile phone usage is common in teenagers, and is growing more every year.