Research- Lost In A Reflection (Pardeep)

The text is a documentary produced by students in Greenford High and it is targeted at young females who are concerned about their image. This can be seen as it’s title ‘Lost In A Reflection’ is written in pink- a colour connoting femininity. Moreover, the main characters are female and the issue itself can be seen as a female issue. The documentary only shows females being obsessed with their image and the professionals shown often talk about how girls are concerned with their image. Moreover, the fact that the voiceover is a female also hints at the fact that the documentary has been produced to attract a female audience-particularly teenage girls-as the main characters are teenage girls- so the audience can identify with them. The documentary can be shown on channel 4 at about 9:00 as at this time teenagers usually watch TV and channel 4 usually deals with serious issues. The sound is very parallel and the editing done helps to sum up a point- for instance when the question is posed: ‘How do you define image obsession?’ cuts are used to help sum up what people in general think. This very effective as one answer links on to another- helping the documentary flow. Also, the types of shots used vary and are quite appropriate e.g. when Ruby is crying in the toilets, a close up shot is used to show emotion. Some of the typical conventions it uses are: shaky hand held camera- which helps to create a sense of realism voiceover- which anchors the meaning of the mise en scene use of a professional- makes it support their point vox pops The things which we will borrow for our documentary are: vox pops- and this can be done in shopping centres where we can ask people how much money they spend and what they buy etc. voiceover- this is essential for our documentary as it will help the audience understand what is happening and what our documentary is about. the use of a professional is very effective and we will include one in ours as although our documentary will entertain, we also want it to have a serious point to it so therefore, we will also include a help line at the end.