Unit 9 - Social Issues

What makes a documentary a documentary?

  • What is a documentary?
Documentary is a film that provides factual report on a particular subject. 

  • How do you expect a documentary to be constructed? What events often happen in a documentary?

Documentaries often consists of interviews with experts around the subject of the documentary, pictures and footages that acts as evidence to support the point of the subject.

    Documentary Genres

    • Docudrama/Historical
    A fictional movie or TV show that's closely based on a true story.
    • Biographic/autobiographic
    A film that tells the story of the life of a real person.
    • Nature/Science
    A documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures.
    • Ethnographic
    A documentary about Non-Western people.
    • Travel
    A documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general.
    • Advocacy/Crime
    A film that dives deep into the stories of real people committing acts that are sometimes so twisted and heinous, they seem stranger than fiction.
    • Rockumentary
    A documentary about musicians.

    Documentary Modes

    • The Poetic mode
    Poetic documentary is a sub-genre of documentary filmmaking that uses avant-garde techniques to evoke a certain mood or feeling rather than prove a point through a traditional linear narrative structure.
    • Performative
    Performative documentary films focus on the filmmakers' involvement with his or her subject, using their personal experience or relationship with the subject as a jumping-off point for exploring larger, subjective truths about politics, history, or groups of people.
    • Reflexive
    The reflexive documentary mode focuses on the relationship between the filmmaker and the audience, pushing viewers to reflect on their perceptions and re-analyse their notions of truth.
    • Expository documentaries
    • Observational mode
    • Participatory (Cinema Verite)

    Case Study 1: HAPPY - A Mental Health Documentary

    • What is the documentary genre for this short documentary?
    Nature/Science/Autobiographic
    • What conventions does it use and why?
    Narration, interviews with people who have experienced depression and the director's own opinion on the topic(him talking to the camera).
    • what documentary modes are used and why? Use screen shots
    Reflexive and Observational modes are used.
    • Give one specific area that this student documentary could be improved?





    Identity



    Elements of an Identity
    Elements in a logo that represent what the organisation/company is about and what they stand for.

    Purpose of an identity
    Identity plays an important role in empowering individuals to exercise their rights and responsibilities fairly and equitably in a modern society.

    Examples of different styles of type


    Serif (Georgia)
    Sans serif (Ariel)
    Slab serif (Times)
    Engraving script (Great vibes)
    Handwritten script (Dancing script)

    Experimental Jetset - Practical Experimenting Research


    In the lesson, I have learnt how to create a campaign poster inspired by 'Experimental Jetset'. I have created my poster on Illustrator and use the type feature and used different fonts to create the design I wanted for my campaign. I have used the gradient tool to make the rainbow background.


    Batman Begins - Vladimir Propp's Theory

    Hero: Bruce Wayne/ Batman
    Villain: The Scarecrow
    Princess: Rachel Dawes
    False Hero: Henri Ducard
    Helper: Alfred Pennyworth
    Donor: Lucious Fox

    Applying Todorov's Story to Multiverse of Madness
    Hero: Dr. Strange
    Vilain: Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff
    False Hero: Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Karl Mordo
    Helper: Wong, Christine Palmer, America Chavez
    Donor: America Chavez
    Princess: America Chavez


    Camera Practice













    Today we learnt about photography and what the shutter speed, aperture, ISO and the White Balance function does to create a creative photograph that could convey different meanings. For example, I learnt that the shutter speed is the speed of the shutter of the camera closes.

    Constructivism movement
     
    Constructivist art was aimed to show the modern industrial society and urban space.This movement was founded in the early 20th century by Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko. 

     
    Trekhgornoe Beer Will Drive Out Homebrew!, advertising poster for Mosselprom, Alexander Rodchenko, 1925.

    I quite like this piece because I really admire the symbolism used with the alcohol bottles and the colours used are very eye-catching.

    Surrealism
    What is surrealism?
    Imagery or effects in art, film or literature that contains unnatural juxtapositions that has meaning behind them.

    Why is surrealism used in campaigns?
    Surrealism can attract people's attention as it has a unique or different realities to the one the society is used to.

    Lex Drewinski


    As I was looking at the art works of Lex Drewinski, I came across this art work which intrigues me the most. The art piece is very minimalistic and has no text that could potentially explain what the art piece is about. To me, the poster might be about whale hunting that have been going on in Japan. The red circle on a white background can represent the Japanese flag, however, since there's a whale diving in it, it could also represent the blood of the whale that is being killed. 

    Describe how it would appeal to an audience?
    I feel like this is a design that would take a lot of knowledge to understand the meaning behind it. For example, to a younger audience (like 5 to 13 year olds might) see a whale in water, but to an older audience (like 16+) might be more aware the whale hunting that is going on in Japan and may intemperate this image as a whale swimming in a pool of blood or it could simply be dead and it's just floating in it's own pool of blood.

    Surrealist Photography
    Surrealism is used in photography to covey a message or feeling. This usually done by have a person with different poses while interacting with an object. The photography then choses the picture that they like the most and edit the photo using photoshop to make it look like the person is interacting with the object in a chronicle/supernatural way that seems very realistic.

    Ronen Goldman

    Ronen Goldman is a surrealist photographer who recreate his dreams in his surrealistic photographs. 


    Here, Ronen Goldman explains how he created one of his projects, 'The Magician':

    “'The Magician' was born of a dream I had involving order within chaos. It's hard to explain, but I knew the image I wanted to created. We went out into the woods, did the shot of the magician(using a Canon 5d mk2 , 50 1.2 Lens, lighting thru soft box on top of magician hat and below for face) and then used the ambient light for all the individual cards. we plotted the spiral carefully and the whole thing took about an hour of shooting. When we got back I realised the cards were underexposed, so I convinced the Magician(Dvir) to go out with me and do the whole thing again. Happily, he agreed and it all worked out great."

    My Own Surrealist Photograph


    To create this surrealist photograph, I was paired with a partner and we used the studio to create out surrealist photograph. We didn't really have an idea of a surrealist photograph in out minds and we happened to find a paper aeroplane so we decided to experiment with the object by throwing it and took photos of it in different positions. I also took a picture of a potential background I could use to edit the paper aeroplane on to.


    Surrealist Poster



    I have created this surrealistic poster by using 'Photoshop'. I have based my poster on the theme of anti racism. This idea could be shown by a hand trying to reach out to the other person's hand and instead of receiving a hand back, the hand is being cut by a pair of scissors. To me, this graphic representation of racism shows that people of colour have been trying to reach out to the white people because they know that white people have more advantages than them and has been for many decades. However as you can see, the white people have only respond by violence as they what to keep the rights and privileges to themselves. After I have made this poster, many people have asked me what the poster means and I have receive many interpretations of this one poster alone. That is what I want with my poster. I want my poster to be a start of a conversation and would want the people to find their own meaning of what racism is to them.

    In order to make this poster on 'Photoshop', I first came up with the idea on how racism is like a game of 'rock, paper, scissors'. A game of pure luck, one of them would always end up getting destroyed and this repeats until there is a winner. I then search up hand references online and us them to help me draw the pose of the hands that I need using then pen/paint tool. I also searched up a picture of a pair of scissors and I outlined the shape and fixed it on to the hand that will be holding the scissors. I then made sure that the scissors is overlapping the fingers of the hand on the opposite side a little so it looks like it is cutting the fingers. I then and the details again by drawing red lines down the hand that is being cut using the paint brush tool to make it look like blood is dripping down the hand to make it look more graphic and the colour make the poster pop against the black and white background and therefore will grab the people's attention is a really impactful way. I then experimented with the different fonts to work out which would work better and would stand out more against the black and white background and the concept of the poster.

    Designers and Social Issues
    Tibor Kalman

    Tibor George Kalman (July 6, 1949 – May 2, 1999) was an American graphic designer of Hungarian origin, well known for his work as editor-in-chief of "Colors" magazine.


    I believe this piece of work is suppose to be related to the Stop AIDs campaign.

    Campaign Pitch

    Social campaign pitch to include:
    • Main goal/purpose/objective
    • Key message
    • Background/current situation
    • Target audience
    • Concept/ the essence of your approach/feel of the campaign
    • Plan: the elements you intend to create for your campaign and
    justification
    • Other institutions or organisations connected or similar
    • Proposed primary research
    • Proposed secondary research
    • Short summary of why it would be successful 

    Campaign
    Asian Hate Crime

    I have chosen the topic "Asian Hate Crime" for my campaign because this issue has been more recognised during the global pandemic and many asians have spoken up about their experiences with asian hate crimes. Also, as an asian myself, I find this issue to be very personal to me and would like to showcase my ideas and opinions on the topic as well as educate others to be more aware of the issue.

    My target audience would be 16 - 50 years olds because I feel like that it's the age where the audience would be aware of their actions and behaviour and would be taking the subject more seriously.

    Other organisations

    • Stop Hate UK
    link: https://www.stophateuk.org/ 
    About: An organisation based in the UK that tackles hate crimes in general.

    • Stop AAPI Hate
    Link: https://stopaapihate.org/ 
    About:  


    Documentary Planning 

    Title of Documentary: Hallyu!

    For my documentary, I will be exploring on the topic of how Korean Culture have been having an affect in the western world. As part of my research for the documentary, I did a Vox Pop. This is where I went out and interviewed the public on the subject and hear their opinions about about it. The questions includes: "Have you noticed the rise of Korean culture lately?" and "How do you feel/What do you think about it and why?".

    For the making of my documentary, I would like to add a Vox Pop like interview in there because I think it would be interesting to have a lot of different opinions about the subject and include a variety of people (people from all ages and ethnicity).

    For the Vox Pop in my documentary, I am planning to go into London and interview people there because I feel like that's where I can get the most and a variety of answers to my questions. Additionally, I am also planning to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum to research about "Hallyu" (korean for the term 'The Korean Wave') and maybe even film some footages there and do a voice over explaining what is in the exhibition and how it influence to the western society. I will also be doing an interview at college where I will asking their opinions about Korea and it's culture.

    For primary research, I will be looking at documentaries about Korean culture on 'YouTube' and I will analysis them and take notes on what elements for my type of documentary should have and what more I could add to make my documentary stand out and be even better than the one I will be analysing. I will then also do some research about my target audience. I will need to find out who my target audience is, what my target audience would most like be more interested to see in the documentary and edit my documentary in a way that would keep my audience entertained and engaged while being informed by my documentary.

    For secondary research, I will be searching up facts and statistics from a reliable source online to support my points in the documentary. I will be using websites like 'Koreaboo' for the latest and previous major headlines that have been going on in the K-Pop industry and Korea as a whole; News outlets like 'BBC NEWS', 'CNN' and 'CBS' to see if any major Korea related events have made the headline internationally.

    In terms of getting footages for my documentary, I am also planning to visit the 'Korea Tourism Organisation' centre in Central London to attend some events and capture some footages that could be used in documentary and maybe ask some people there to gained some information and opinions about Korea and it's culture.

    Similar Documentary Analysis

    BBC Documentary: 'KPOP IDOLS: Inside the Hit Factory'


    Documentary blurb:
    "The K-Pop phenomenon is shaking up the pop world. For the first time ever, there is a serious challenge to the west’s domination of the global music industry. Leading the way is the biggest boy band in the world, BTS. But how has this happened?

    Music journalist James Ballardie travels to South Korea to uncover the secrets behind this worldwide success story and to find out how, in just 20 short years, the music industry in the country came from obscurity to become a major player on the world stage.

    In the summer of 2019, BTS played two sold-out performance at the UK’s most icon venue, Wembley Stadium. Their catchy pop songs, bombastic beats, good looks and natty dance moves have captivated young pop fans worldwide, and sent them to the top of the charts in the US and beyond.

    To try and understand this latest pop explosion, James heads to Seoul and goes inside the K-pop industry. He meets Soo-Man Lee, the Svengali-like figure who has helped shape Korean pop music for over 30 years and still drives giant K-Pop company SM entertainment’s vision today. He also catches up with some of the songwriters, producers, music video makers and the idols themselves, from the biggest names in the business to the newcomers. Among them are members of EXO, NCT 127, SHINee and WayV, all bands with millions of fans around the world. They are all part of a new star-studded supergroup, SuperM. Their success in Asia will be guaranteed, but can they replicate BTS’s global achievements? James meets SuperM as they prepare to be launched on the world."

    - BBC Four

    Analysis
    This documentary was aired on BBC Four in 2019, right at the time when the K-Pop boy band sensation, BTS, was holding a legendary concert at Wembley Stadium that was sold out in just 90 minutes - meaning that 90,000 capacity, 1,000 were sold out every minute!

    In this documentary, Ballardie have spoken to people and artists that are normally too busy (or simply to 'big') to be spoken to. For example Ballardie has spoken to Soo-Man Lee who is the founder and CEO of one of the 3 biggest entertainment agencies, SM Entertainment. 

    The documentary have been structured in a way that takes the audience on a journey. The documentary started with a big question that the documentary is going to solve. For example, the 'big question' for this documentary is "How did South Korea come to be the dominating country in terms of the Music industry in just short 20 years?". To find out and solve this question, Ballardie first went to the BTS 'Love Yourself' concert and experienced first hand fan-ship during the concert and goes on to do some basic research on K-Pop to get a better understanding of it's concept and find out about the other leading K-Pop acts like 'EXO', 'NCT 127' and 'BLACKPINK'. Ballardie then continued his study on the K-wave in South Korea and started theis research there by going to the one of the biggest Showbiz in South Korea, MBC. There is where he got to meet the girl group, STAYC, who won the competition that day and Ballardie interviewed them. He asked questions like "How do you feel about winning the show" and "Why did you take part in the competition? Has it benefitted you in anyway?" and the girls replied by saying that it helps them to promote themselves. By asking questions like this, Ballardie took an understanding of the importance of music shows for K-Pop idols and their company.    


    For me to fully understand why Korean culture have spiked during these past few years, I feel like I should analyse a K-Pop music video, a Korean film, Korean fashion and of course Korean cuisine. 

    SuperM - Jopping


    Jopping is a 



    Campaign Ident Design



    These are some of my initial ideas that i have drawn on a piece of paper and had received some feedback as to what works and what doesn't work. I have learnt that a campaign logo should be minimalistic but also impactful and also represent that the campaign itself stands for.
    I have decided that my campaign name would be 'Lotus Trust' because the lotus flower is suppose to be a symbol of purity and strength, which are the qualities that my campaign stands for. The Lotus flower is a common type of plant that is found in east Asia countries. I have searched up hand references on 'Pinterest' and have found one that was heart shaped. i have chosen a heart shaped one because I feel like the heart hand would symbolise the peace, love and support message that the campaign represent. I then had an idea of placing the Lotus flower in the middle as the main focus point and added some colour so it can stand out from the bland background and the rest of the ident design.         

    Final Product:Campaign Poster  
                                                                         

     I have designed my poster like this because I wanted my poster to be a surrealist poster as I feel like it has the most impact to the audience. The poster shows an asian woman (who I have drawn myself by using a reference photo from Pinterest and draw the photo on Illustrator), crying with blood gushing out of her eyes instead of tears because of the extreme abuse that she has experienced. I have chosen an asian woman as a subject in the poster because asian females are much more vulnerable to racial abuse that a male asian would. This drawing also has the woman slightly hugging herself, this is to connote the fact that the subject have been experiencing abuse or is not at all confident about herself, which can show the affects of racial abuse that the Asian community have been experiencing by Asian Hate Crimes. According to the research I have done, many Asians have stated that they are too scared to go outside because of the horrible crimes being targeted towards the Asian community.

    Evaluation For Campaign 
    For my campaign project, I have decided to make a campaign that is again Asian Hate crime in the UK. I have chosen this topic because Asian Hate crime has risen ever since the COVID-19 Pandemic. Some cases of Asian Hate crime that have been committed during the pandemic includes Asians being called racial slurs by non-Asians, being blamed for the global pandemic and also getting physically abused by non-Asians in public. I have chosen this topic as my campaign because I feel like, as an Asian, I should have a say and express my opinion about this issue across to the people who might not be aware of this issue still currently happening in the UK and also in other countries worldwide but I don't want to spread this awareness worldwide as I feel like there would be too much research and production involved. That is the reason why I am focusing in spreading the awareness mainly in the UK because I have witness some cases of people still mistreating Asians and calling them racial slurs in public.


                                                                                                                                                      




























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