Review 24th June

For my documentary, I would like to address the question - what does it take to become a professional show jumper?
The 5 elements of documentary - 
1. Expert witness
2. The subject
3. Footage of the issue
4. Cutaway shots
5. Opinion and facts
From the 5 elements it has come to my attention that I will need to find an expert witness, and I can achieve this by using a trainer of the talent and have their opinion on how hard working they are, as well as if they have a bright future ahead.
By identifying the need for cutaway shots, I have chosen to include different shots -
-Of the the horses hooves walking on concrete from a low shot
-Placing the camera under a fence to get an underneath shot of a horse jumping
- Tacking up
- Polishing tack
- Getting ready to compete
- Talking to his grooms/trainer
These will be suitable to fill in for when the talent is talking, and suit the visual to the audio.
Having the talent walking into the shots is also another way to identify the talent in the opening of the documentary, and this may suit a voiceover of the narrator introducing the sport itself.
Also, the narrator can introduce the topics coming up in the documentary, these do not necessarily need to occur but can create an enigma to the audience of what is to come.
When the talent mentions his parents, shots will be introduced of them together and at the stables, as well as including interviews with them.
Finance can also be focused on, such as affording the horse box, building their own arena and the horses themselves, and what sacrifices by both Harry and his family have had to occur.

Statement of intent

How do you intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate meaning and meet the requirements of your chosen brief? (approx. 400 words)

Product 1

I intend to use the four areas of media theoretical framework to meet the requirements of the brief and communicate meanings through a documentary based on showjumping athlete named Harry Bateman, a sport that is not typically shown on these media platforms. Stuart Hall's reception theory is useful to use as the preferred reading will be that this sport is something the 16-25 aged audience is interested in learning about. In terms of language, I learned from my generic research documentaries that a wide range of shot types is vital across my 3 minute opening, as well as being across various locations. I intend to eulate what I found from my research, and will use different locations such as the stable yard, arena and surrounding countryside in order to engage the audience, as well as giving the audience a true insight into a horse rider's daily life. From my research, I found that the audience is more likely to involve themselves online or dicuss with others if the documentary is engaging, and so the use of shot types and locations is vital for this. In terms of documentary format, using Ben Nichols' 6 modes, I intend to use a mix of expository and observational documentary types, allowing the audience to feel involved, as well as learn in a way that the camera constructs meaning for them to interpret in the preferred positive meaning. As a public service broadcaster, BBC3 has a remit to 'educate, entertain and inform' their audience and I intend to fulfil this remit through covering a less exposed sport to the audience and teaching them through the observational features of the documentary, as well as informing them of the sport and its successes. These features will be used in both the documentary and online in order to be engaging across all platforms.
The main aim of representation and the preferred viewing is that the audience will enjoy learning about show-jumping as a sport as well as the behind the scenes, hardworking ethic the talent, Harry Bateman possesses. The show will reveal real life issues, such as balancing social life and sport, as well as problems such as injuries that can be sustained along the way.
Product 2
From my research, I found that the BBC does not offer much information or media convergence for their own documentaries, and so this is something I wish to improve on myself. I would like to create a sense of brand identity, through a continual colour palette that I shall use across the two forms and create a house style. The website also offers plenty of opportunites to use intertextuality, to films such as Black Beauty, as well as mentioning autobiographies on Olympic athletes such as Tim Stockdale and 2016 Gold winner Nick Skelton, which this relies on the audiences cultural competency to be aware of. Social media such as Instagram and twitter will be used on the website perhaps as a side bar to allow connection between media formats, this could be such as the talent’s accounts so that they can engage personally with them. The use of this may also encourage publicity if the documentary is tagged or shared between the active audiences, as Stuart Hall identifies that audiences are no longer passive and are now more likely to share within the media their own thoughts and readings. The 16-25 age group are engaged online, and so by engaging the preferred reading this will create positive media presence. The website will also offer a Q&A, as suggested by audience research that this is popular, for the talent to answer, and so allow greater unnderstanding and engagement from the audience for this unique sport and lifestyle.

How do you intend to link your media products to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the digitally convergent nature of your media production? (approx. 100 words)

I intend to link my media products by using links and hashtags throughout both the documentary opening and online website, which allows the audience to actively engage by choice should they feel interested to do so. Clay Shirky's end of audience theory identifies how the active audience wants to interact more, and 'speak back' to the media. By the documentary and online referencing thir online platforms (Instagram, Twitter) and the website's additional content such as behind the scenes footage and daily routines of the talent it allows the audience to be further entertained, and so allowing the remit of the BBC as a public service brodcaster to be fulfilled.

Walkthrough of storyboard plans

https://vimeo.com/428302065

Plan for audio visual on website

For the website, I have some topics that could be covered that will engage the audience and be separate from the documentary itself.
- Mental health, managing stress and anxiety when it comes to competing.
Competitions can be a stressful time for any sportsman, so this may resonate with the audiences who may also take part in sport. The talent can share his own experiences with this issue and how we resolves it, and so giving guidance to the audience. This will help to fulfil the 'educating' aspect of BBC's public service broadcasting remit.
- Keeping fit & exercise - hints and tips.
As well as riding many horses a day, the talent also likes to attend the gym daily. However, with lock-down closing all gym's, Harry has created his own home workouts. He can explain how he has managed during this time and advice for other people too with being at home.
- Daily routine/behind the scenes of a horse yard.
This type of video would be observational (Ben Nichols' 6 modes of documentary) to allow the audience to find the true hard work that goes on everyday for the horses and their routine to keep in shape. It can feature each hour from the beginning until end and what the day entails.
- Inspiration 
This allows the talent to speak on a personal level with the audience of who has inspired him, such as gold medal winner of 2016 Olympic Games Nick Skelton, or the late Tim Stockdale who was also a very inspirational sportsman.

Audience patterns

From this audience survey made in 2014 (http://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.hotdocs.ca/doc/Hot_Docs_Learning_from_Documentary_Audiences.PDF ) it offers plenty of results that are useful to think about when making a documentary. What was reassuring was how 95% of the audience watch documentaries at home, therefore this is great for BBC3 as a television service.

"Frequent documentary viewers are also greater consumers of digital publications. Sixty-four per cent of respondents who indicated they watch documentaries at least twice per month also said they read a book or magazine online or on a tablet, as compared to only 35 per cent of those who said they rarely watch documentaries (once per year)." 
This result mentions how 64% of the audience that watched documentaries also read online, which then relates to how the brief is for the audience to feel engaged and wish to learn more online after the documentary or wish to visit the website.
There is not abundant information for audience interaction with documentaries, however this research project has given a small amount of insight to that I will need to have the audience engaged from the beginning to guarantee their interaction (like the 64%) on online websites as well as my own.

A guide to filming a documentary

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/a-complete-guide-to-documentary-filmmaking/
I have found this website that has given me a few tips for when it comes to making my own documentary.
I wanted to find some more information about microphones and sound editing and this has helped.

BBC3 and how they commission

It was quite interesting to find out how BBC3 commission and support inexperienced and young film makers who are making documentaries.
"Documentaries are at the heart of longform content on BBC Three and we've learned that the films which really resonate with younger people are on subjects that tackle the issues important to them head on. We therefore want ideas that stimulate strong emotions and provoke reactions"
This excerpt is from the website itself, and what I found good was how they want to identify and discuss issues that the 16-25 year old target audience may find in life to come. 
Relating to my own documentary, I will be featuring interviews with Harry and his boyfriend with how they manage their relationship with such a demanding sport, and their social life outside of the sport. I also hope to feature some information on mental health (as featured in generic research 1 which was featured in a very accurate way), which can provide information for the audience themselves also. 
The website also identifies that they wish to feature documentaries that resonate with audiences, so something they may have experienced or know of, and featuring mental health within my documentary and online forms may be accurate in fulfilling the wishes of BBC3.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/articles/documentaries-bbc-three

Storyboard turned into shot list

When introducing the title of the documentary, I would like a medium wide shot to feature, of the talent Harry Bateman, standing next to one of his horses. This can be either in a stable or in the arena, however I am predicting lighting opportunities will be better in the arena. In this shot I would wish for a direct mode of address with the audience too.
During the opening of the documentary, I would like to include some establishing shots of the local area (Hockley), as well as the arena and stables in a wide shot to introduce the audience to the topic.
This also allows an opportunity for a voice-over by the presenter to the sport itself.
Shot types can vary when it comes to the talent when in the arena. I would like some close up shots to feature of both the talent and his horses standing to offer the audience a deeper and involved experience.
Another source for close up shots is in the tack room, so this can be of the behind the scenes (this could also feature as an audio visual for the website), of jobs such as feeding the horses and cleaning their tack.
I would also like to utilise some slow motion within the documentary, as this allows the audience to clearly see the effort and talent involved when show-jumping. This is ideal to use within the arena when jumping, but also within the flatwork/dressage part of riding horses. The slow motion must not be over used though as it may become quite boring.
This is subject to the return of show-jumping competitions, but I would like to feature some competition footage also. This could offer medium wide and wide shots of preparing the horses and the show environment when competing.

Website link

https://14-jgem.wixsite.com/centre16607-6052

Beginning of editing

I have started to make some adjustments to my website to accompany the documentary.
As I am still considering the name of my documentary, for now I have just used the talent's name.
Although the use of orange, black and white works on this website, I intend to change this, perhaps to anchor the BBC3 production, as their house style includes black and pink.
I have started to enter in some images, and taken notes on what these images could be replaced by when it comes to taking my own footage. One thing I like is that for the background of the image above on the home page, it also allows a video to play in the background, instead of an image, so allows plenty to be thought about.