Analysis of Research

A documentary similar to ours is 'Addiction Advocacy', produced by Voices Of Hope Productions on 22nd January '06. The target audience for this documentary is anyone who is addicted to alchohol, drugs etc.Although it is very broad, i think it aims at mainly teenagers as this group is seen to be most vulnerable to addiction. It also targets parents and family members of those who have lost a loved one because of addiction.I know this as those parents are interviewed in this documentary who have lost children or friends because of addiction to alcohol or drugs. This documentary is probably shown on BBC1 as its main purpose is to inform , advice and educate.Additionally, this isa very serious documentary as opposed to being one that will also entertain, hence it is probably not shown on Channel 4. It should be shown after the watershed as that is the time that parents and youngsters usually watch documentaries therefore it will capture its audience fully. This documentary does not explore different types of cameramovements and shots as it is all filmed on an Advocacy Day event. Therefore, the camera movement is slightly shaky in order to show its authenticity and realism and to also make the documentary reliable hence allowing the auidience to trust its information. Moreover, there is no sound throughout the whole documentary in order to keep the focus on the issue and what the people are saying. Although this documentary is made with simplicity, it is interesting the way that statistics are shown as text on the screen while an expert is talking. The typical documentary conventions it uses(not many) are interviews with experts and professionals and shaky camerawork.We will be borrowing the following things from this documentary:
~ writing facts and statistics on the screen while the person is talking-but in order for it to relate to our documentary's theme, the facts will be shown in a 'typing' effect and this will make our documentary more interesting and easy to understand.
~ interviewing experts- this documentary has interviews will experts used very frequently but we will have only one or two.
~ interviewing people who have experienced the issue of the documentary-this will give our audience a greater insight as they will hear true life stories as well as expert advice.
~shaky camerawork- in order to add to authenticity.
Another documentary similar to ours is 'Parents and MySpace' found on www.docuworld.org. This interactive documentary is about the social networking site MySpace and things parents should know about it. The target audience is parents as it directly aims to advice them about what to do if they have problems with their children using this site via advise from an expert and a teacher. This issue is very relavent as many parents are worried about the dangers of using Myspace and interacting with teenagers. It is very similar to our documentary as its main focus is on the implications of social networking sites. This documentary could possibly be shown on BBC1 as it informs and advices a mature and sophisticated audience. The typical documentary conventions include: a voiceover talking directly to the audience, interviews with professionals, facts and statistics and the interactive/reflexive mode.We will be borrowing the following features from it:
~ close up shots of the computer screen- we will use this in our opening montage in order to immediately build interest and show the issue we will be discussing.
~ interview with a professional-in order to build trust and reliability.
~ voiceover- to guide the narrative and explain certain issues.
~ advice to parents- as they are our secondary audience.
~ My Space refusing to comment-as it will add to the representation of social networking sites

Sonia