Issue’s Relating
to Factual Programming
There are many different types of factual programs for example reality TV,
documentaries and TV news; Big Brother and BBC News at 10 are all examples of
factual programming. They are also broadcast and consumed in a number of
different ways; they can be shown on TV, in cinemas, a straight to DVD release
and the Internet. New releases are shown in the cinemas first unless the
producers decided to go straight to DVD. Most documentaries are first broadcast
on TV and may then go on to be released on DVD for example Louis Theroux’s ‘The
Most Hated Family in America’. Factual programs will be broadcast on the
Internet on websites like YouTube.
TV news programs and TV documentaries have to follow certain codes and
conventions for example TV news programs have to be factual and a lot of the
things seen on screen help the audience trust the facts and stories being
delivered to them. A main example of this is the news readers themselves; they
always have to look smart and know what they are talking about so the audience
feels like that the person giving them news from around the world wouldn’t lie,
they conduct their own research about the stories and get an in depth knowledge
on what they’re reading. Another example of this is actuality footage;
this helps the audience understand the story more in depth and follow along
with the story.
Whereas documentaries are slightly different; they use facts to persuade
the
Audience of the filmmaker’s point of view; they are split into different
types of documentary; a few of these are Expository, Observational and
Interactive; an Expository documentary includes a voice-over; usually from the
filmmaker themselves, real footage/images are often used from the past to give
the viewer more information. The purpose of an expository documentary is to
describe or analyse information by
presenting a theme or concept. An example of an expository documentary is war
or historical documentaries.
An Observational documentary is where the filmmaker observes a subject
and is usually on location shooting. Direct sound recording is used usually
with no voice-overs or interviews. The subject is usually unaware of the camera
filming them. An example of an observatory documentary is a nature documentary.
An interactive documentary is probably the most commonly seen. The filmmaker and crew interact with the subject and usually take part
with what's going on. Shooting on location is usually shit with a handheld
camera. There is also slight use of archived material. The filmmaker is always
seen and he/she usually provides the voice-over. An example of an interactive
documentary is a Louis Theroux documentary.
These types all present the facts to audiences differently, they do of
course, all aim to present a ‘realistic’ film/programme, but also like
fictional programmes/films create a narrative; with a beginning, middle and
end, to tell a story to the audience.
There are a number of things that need to be
considered when watching and making factual programs; these include Accuracy;
factual programmes should be accurate and truthful because they most not
mislead the viewer, they must also be fair in the facts they produce, the
audience need to know what they’re watching is pure fact and not just opinion
from the film maker for example ‘Supersize
Me’ by Morgan Spurlock; he claims eating only McDonalds for a month
‘completely ruined his sex life’ this
is his opinion of what the fast food made him feel like not complete fact.
Accuracy in documentaries and TV news documentaries are very different as
documentaries don’t always stick to being accurate; opinion is used a lot and
some filmmakers over exaggerate their point and are quite biased to try and get
the audience to think in that way; whereas TV news documentaries have to be
accurate to get important news to the audience because it may affect the
audience in someway.
Another issue is Objectivity, Impartiality and
Balance; the audience expects factual programmes to be objective, impartial and
balanced because in a factual programme an argument is meant to be kept
balanced; both sides of the argument must be presented however should not be
presented one side better than the other, a story should be told from both
sides and try not to be biased. In order to maintain balance you need to be
impartial.
An example of a TV news broadcast is the Fox
news broadcast The Five; the news presenters are talking about Russell Brand
and his recent interview with Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight; this news broadcast
is extremely biased as they are just giving their opinion on Brand and what
they think about him
rather than stating facts about the news story;
this broadcast is more like a gossip with friends than actual news. An example
of this in a documentary ‘The Most Hated
Family in America’ by Louis Theroux; this documentary however is not biased
as he doesn’t raise his opinion to the audience he just lets the family explain
why they do what they do. Theroux is impartial while making this film; he stays
neutral even when the family seems to make an offensive comment towards his
religion.
In a way TV news programmes and documentaries
are the same; they share the same codes and conventions of being balanced,
impartial and objective although sometimes some news programmes and documentaries
change these to the way they think is better.
Subjective, Bias and Opinion is also an issue;
all factual programmes are subjective as they are expressing the opinion of the
filmmaker. An example of this is the documentary ‘Supersize Me’ this is because of the way he presents the
information to the audience; he presents McDonalds in a bad way so it makes the
audience feel a certain way.
The difference in this in documentaries and TV
news broadcasts is that documentaries have the ability to give an opinion
although this couldn’t be accurate whereas news broadcasts cannot be biased and
news readers cannot give an their opinion.
The three news programmes represent news
differently; News at 10 is very formal and seems more trustworthy although the
news stories on News at 10
and 60 seconds present the same stories,
Newsround is completely different to both of these as the target audience is
different.
News at 10 is aimed at an older generation aged
35+ a few elements prove this such as the dramatic music and the smartly
dressed presenters, 60 Seconds is aimed at teenagers and young adults elements
that prove this are the bright colours of the show and they present more gossip
stories than breaking news stories.
Newsround has a completely different audience to
both of these; children aged 8 and above; the colours of the show are bright
and fast graphics are played at the beginning to keep the audience interested;
the stories on Newsround are different too; they are mainly sports stories as
keeping kids fit and healthy is very important to parents, it’s very involved
with schools and children; Newsrounds stories are also less in depth than the
other two news broadcasts.
The three broadcasts use typical codes and
conventions as they all cover the breaking news somewhere in the programme,
they all also have a presenter although the 60 Second and Newsround presenters
both are dressed informally and present the news in an informal way.
Each programme uses the codes and conventions of
a TV news broadcast by using a direct address to camera and addressing the
audience in a personal way.
All three documentaries followed the codes and
conventions of a documentary; they all included a voice over from the filmmaker
as well as a visual of the filmmakers themselves.
Supersize Me is an interactive documentary and
follows Morgan Spurlock as he eats McDonalds for a month he tracks his progress
through doctors; this creates accuracy as he's getting an expert opinion on his
health throughout the documentary; this documentary follows the codes and
conventions by not only having Spurlock being on camera but he also provides a
voice-over; although most documentaries are supposed to give the viewer fact
and information; he states his opinion a lot throughout the film; this could be
seen as him being biased, he also uses editing to his advantage and only shows
the bad side of eating all the fast food and only shows the bad things the
public say about fast food. As an interactive documentary Morgan uses all the
codes and conventions such as participating eating the fast food, showing
interviews with doctors and other experts, he also shoots on location with a
handheld camera.
Bowling for Columbine is an expository
documentary and follows Michael Moore as he suggests the causes of the
Columbine High School massacre and other acts of violence with guns. He focuses on the background and environment in which the
massacre took place and some common public opinions and assumptions about
related issues. The film also looks into the nature of violence in the United
States; he does this by talking to the public around the Columbine area and how
they felt. Moore creates a ‘voice of
authority’
commentary in this documentary; he also uses actuality footage which allows the
audience to experience the story as it unfolds. Moore also uses juxtaposition
by having actuality footage shown of disasters happing in other countries as
well as America while happy music is being played in the background; this makes
the audience have a reaction to the film.
‘The Most Hated Family in America’ by Louis Theroux follows Theroux as he meets the
family members from the Westboro Baptist Church; an unaffiliated Baptist church known for its extreme ideologies,
especially those against gay people. Louis’s main objectives during
filming this
documentary were to understand the family, their views
and values, maybe expose the truth of the family and maybe the little humanity
within the church. Theroux proves to be un-bias during the whole documentary as
he lets the family get their point across and let them speak although this was
seen as widely controversial.
TV news is generally
objective and documentaries are generally subjective. News needs to be accurate
and impartial rather than a documentary to make sure we, as audiences believe
it.
Theroux, Spurlock and
Moore all have very different filming styles
Theroux is an interactive
documentary filmmaker his documentaries come across as un-bias and he listens
to both sides of the argument and lets the subject get its point across
exposing the whole truth.
Spurlock is highly
opinionated and sometimes exaggerates his points but he also creates accuracy
and gives the viewer and in depth knowledge of the subject; making the
viewer believe the truth in documentaries.
Moore’s style is to hurl himself into major issues with wit
and humour, and hope his energy captures public opinion; he uses this humour to
hopefully get the viewer seeing his point of view.
Although
the codes and conventions of TV news programmes and documentaries are different
the expectations of the target audiences are similar, as they both need to be
told facts instead of opinion for the facts to be trustworthy; they expect this
when tuning in to a news broadcast or a documentary.
