Institutional Research

Whilst researching Channel 4 i came across their ethos and their aims. "Channel 4 is a unique institution that does remarkable things, a fact recognised by the wider industry both nationally and on the international stage. To champion alternative voices and fresh perspectives " This supports my idea of "My Big Fat Greek Family" idea. It seems that channel 4 encourage their audiences to get involved and to show viewers diverse cultures, making them think and compare the differences to how they live their lives.

Channel 4 say that they want "to challenge people to see the world differently," my documentary could live up to this, in terms of showing people a culture that is different to theirs.

Channel 4 takes pride in the fact that it is well known for it's "diverse programming." My documentary would suit this institution as it will offer information about a topic that is thought-provoking and interesting, as well as extending people's knowledge on what they already know about Greek culture.

The Communication Act of 2003 states that channel 4 "includes programmes of an educational nature and other programmes of educative value," My Big Fat Greek family supports this in the way that it is informative, educating people about a different culture, but at the same time will attempt to "demonstrates innovation, experiment and creativity," which appeals to the younger channel 4 viewer.

Product research

I recently watched two documentaries to give me an idea of the conventions that are used. I created a table to take notes on, the headings were: Soundtrack/music/voiceover, Narrative style/tone,choice of shots, titles/credits, editing, Use of set-ups (situation), Location/ backdrops of interviews.

The Tower
BBC 1 documentary about the displacement of people and their homes to make way for a new regeneration project that involves new, modern, swanky apartments.
The documentary followed the lives of 3 very different people and how this regeneration project would effect their lives. I liked the intimate approach of following these people, as they are all in the samw position, but changes this project will have on their lives is very different.

• The orchestral, low-high pitch music; builds up getting louder during the transition to the next shot- I think this would be useful in my documentary, because the technique infroms the audience the change from one topic to the next. In my documentary i would like to use typical greek music.

Diagetic sound of people talking or being interviewed were edited as voiceovers used during location shots and long duration shots.

• The narrative style had a formal introduction to the documentary, with a very serious tone. very informative
• The beginning of the documentary consisted of a serious of shot duration shots of "The Tower" and high abgle shots of the location of the tower.
• The titles and credits were very brief. only one scene was used for the titles and was very short,2-3secs. Quite dull colours, black background with white font.
• 1-4 second shots, whilst documentary is beginning(quite short). The shots match what the voiceover is saying. The shots go on longer than when the person finished talking, to see their emotions.
• People were being interviewed whilst carrying on with what they were normally doing, so they were talking to the interviewee at the same time- I like this idea as it adds to the realness of the documentary.

Domestic Violence-(In America)

• This was more of a real life documentary, following the cops around America's homes chasing up domestic violence.
• The doc begins with long duration shots of the sub-urban neighbourhood, which is used to set the scene- this could be useful in my documentary, maybe to show shots of greek stereotypes e.g dancing etc

Each of these documentaries were very different. I liked the way The Tower follows the lives of different people, however this would be difficult to re-create due to time and valibility of equipment. The Tower's documentary had a very long informative introduction, this would be something i would consider doing as it is easier to gather the information i would need.

I have more documentaries that i am waiting to get hold of and watch, these documentaries will hopefully give be a clearer idea of other conventions i could re-create.

Product reasearch: How to get my message across

I have been thinking about what i want to achieve whilst making this documentary, therefore i need to be successful in getting my message across. i have been looking at various websites and noting what they do to make their documentaries successful.
Here are tips the Film-Street website offer when wanting to putting your message across:

• Interview people In some documentaries the filmmaker is part of the film. He or she may be seen interviewing people and we hear what they think about what is happening.
• Use a voice over or narrator A voice over or narrator can set the scene and give more background information.
• Stay behind the scenes In lots of documentaries we don't see or hear from the filmmaker, but it is important to remember that we are still hearing their version of what happens.

Channel 4 have good advice on narration skills and because i am thinking of including a voiceover, they have useful tips on how to make it good.
1. Never describe what's going on in the pictures
2. Use words that are simple and easy to understand.
3. Keep sentences short.
4. Facts in commentary - leave the emotion for sync.
5. Do not express personal opinions (unless you are a subject of the film).
6. Less is more.

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Audience research results

Q.1 The most popular T.V channel watched was channel 4. Therefore the documentary will be aimed at a Channel 4 audience and will be in the style of a channel 4 documentary. I was intending on creating this documentary for channel 4, so i have started doing some institution research.

Q.2 Documentaries and comedy were the most popular genres if T.V. I intend on making this documentary slightly humerous with a mocking tone,as this is what a channel 4 audience likes to watch.

Q.3 Last documentaries watched were: Blue Planet, Wife Swap,Sex education with Anna Richardson, Breast Feeding, "Threads"-about ethical trade in fashion, Earth wars: Climate change, Who do you think you are?, LAX Files-The Game and Star wars reunited.

Q.4 Genrally the topic was what was liked most about the documentaries. From this i need to ensure that my topic is interesting, humerous, factual and entertaining

Q.5 What wasn't liked about the documentary: No real conclusion, exploited family too much, presenter is annoying, wasn't that factual. From this it is clear that my documentary needs too be factual as well as entertaining and that instead of a presenter a voice over may appeal to the target audience instead.

Q,6 Big Families and Tasty Greek food were the most popular things associated with Greek people. This is good because this is exactly what the documentary will be showing, so i know the documentary will be giving the target audience what they want to watch.

Q.7 From the questionnaire it is clear that the Mum does most of the cooking in the household. This is something i want to explore in my documentary and to find out whether it has always been that way? and will it change?

Q.9 The target audience want to see Greek history-more about the Greek culture, Big humour, Plate smashing, An inside look at Greek living, what makes Greek families different to english families, traditions. All of which i will do my best to include in this documentary. These answers have given me an idea as to what people know about Greek people, hopefully after watching the opening of this documentary they will find out something different.

Questionnaire questions

Q.1 Are you male or female?
Q.2 What ethnicity are you?
Q.3 What T.V channels do you watch?
Q.4 What Genre of T.v do you watch the most?
Documentaries Comedy Chat Shows Reality T.V Current Affairs Music Shows Other
Q.5 Have you seen any documentaries lately? If so what was the last documentary you watched?
Q.6 What did you like about the documentary?
The style of the doc Topic Soundtrack Other
Q.7 What didn't you like about the documentary?
Q.8 What do you associate with Greek people? (circle as many as needed)
Not a lot Plate smashing Traditional dances Big families Tasty Greek food other
Q.9 Who does most of the cooking in your family at home?
Yourself Mum Dad You and your mum Sister Brother other
Q.10 Why do you think this is?
Q.11 What would you like to see in a documentary about Greek families?

Audience research

This week i have been thinking a lot about what i want to get out of my audience research and i have been writing questionnaire and organising a focus group. During the focus group, which will take place tomorrow (16/8/08) i will give a presentaion. The presentation will show to documentaries from diverse productions that were filmed for channel four:"Young Black Farmers" and "Indian Finishing School." After these have been shown i will ask the audience questions,which i have prepared about what they liked and didnt like etc. Then i have created a slide about my documentary "My Big Fat Greek Family" and i have given a brief description about what the documentary is about, then i will ask questions to the focus group about what they think. This will then lead me to asking questions about food and Greek families.

Product/Audience Research

There is a new fly on the wall documentary for channel four called The Family. I decided to research the making of this documentary because i wanted to find out more about how channel 4 went about making their documentaries. I found out that channel 4 is taking a new approach to filming; Jonathan Smith the director of The Family quotes "I'd become convinced that the detail and intimacy of our approach could capture something new about family life." I like the idea of the "intimacy approach" for my documentary, as it provides the audience with entertainment as well as real and genuine opinions about greek food. Jonathan Smith goes onto say "There would be no director asking people how they felt and the place of long interviews would be taken by conversations between members of the family." This would work well for my audience research as well. As well as getting feedback from questionnaires, i could get general feedback from what my friends think about greek food etc, by them talking amongst themselves. This approach will give me a genuine, overall outlook.
I would like to,if i could,it may be difficult due to regulations with camera equipment; but to leave the camera in the room whilst my friends are cooking the greek meal. In a way it would be like spying on them, this would give that "intimacy approach" I was hoping for. Like Jonathan Smith did with The Family: "So instead of wandering around the house with a camera crew, we would sit in the cottage next door where we created our gallery and watch life unfold."

development of idea

Whilst visiting my grandparents over the weekend I thought i'd use the opportunity to think and talk to my grandparents about greek food. I had the idea of getting my grandma to write down the ingredients of a typical greek dish and instructions of how to cook it e.g yemesta. i could get her to cook it,bring some in as a sample for my friends to taste and to see what it should look like,before they attempt to cook it. I also videod her with my camera,in the kitchen,explaining how you cook and prepare yemesta, i thought i could use this as a voiceover whilst my friends try to cook it. she is speaking in english, but with a stong accent,which can be hard to understand; sometimes she trasfers to greek-i thought i could add subtitles,which is sometimes a convention of a documentry and at the same time her talking adds to the typial greek traditons i want to portray.