What is needed

Marking criteria

It was important to take on board what was expected from us to achieve the best possible results.

Hayley - The world's oldest teenager

Hayley Okines, who has a condition known as progeria, which makes her age eight times faster than a normal person, stars in Channel 5′s documentary, Extraordinary People, I watched this documentary last week and was so moved by it.
The World’s Oldest Teenager, follows Hayley to the USA where in the New Year she is to try a new drug. Forever Young could transform all of our lives as it could enable everyone to live 20 to 30 years longer – and Hayley, who will be 14 in December, is to be the guinea-pig to bravely trial it out. It takes nerves of steel for her mum Kerry, because there could be side-effects no-one knows of. At the same time, it could transform Hayley’s life. When doctors diagnosed Hayley as a toddler, it was estimated she might not live until her 13th birthday. Now, although nothing can reverse the rare genetic condition she suffers from – which causes arthritis and hip problems as it prematurely ages her – it could give her the chance of a future.
At the same time this incredible film, which is narrates by Hayley herself, follows her as she meets fellow progeria sufferer Harry Crowther. Since meeting a year ago the pair have struck up a strong friendship and regularly keep in contact on Facebook. They are helping one another through their life-threatening illness.
Hayley is also shown with her brother and sister – who don’t suffer from the condition – and as a normal teenager. And in that way, she is just like any other girl of her age – she adores clothes, make-up, Facebook and Twitter – and is possibly singer Justin Beiber’s greatest fan.

And like any other teenager she and mum Kerry fall out sometimes. “Hayley is tiny so I find it hard to let go,” says mum Kerry, “I don’t even like her going on the bus by herself into town – but of course she wants to just like her friends.”
Meanwhile, Hayley, who is recognised wherever she goes and even has her own Wikipedia page, is shortly to have her autobiography published. Old Before my Time, written by Hayley, her mum Kerry and writer Alison Stokes, will be published on 24th November .

Story board for final piece

Within our group we created a story board to help us with our final idea. It included a shot-by-shot explanation of our documentary opening.

1. Shot one was a long shot of our chosen private school.
2. A long shot of our chosen state school.
3. Wide angle shot of uniform.
4. Long shot of facilities- comparisons.
5. Two shot- interview- students- state school.
6. Two shot- interview- students- private school.
7. Two shot- interview- teachers- state school.
8. Two shot interview- teachers- private school.
9. Statistics of both schools.

Ideas

Analysis of Documentaries

In class we watched about a ten minute clip from 6 different documentaries and made notes on the conventions presented in each.

We looked into:

1. The conventions used
2. Soundtrack
3. Editing techniques
4. Use of archive footage
5. Documentary type

The first clip I watched was from 'The Blue Planet'...

1.  The conventions used were, voiceover, voice of God, narration- facts and figures
2. Natural sound was used, build up of sound to create tension was also used, the sounds of animals were used which was effective because it was realistic.
3. A variety of camera angles was used, different lighting, jumps from scene to scene which kept it exciting, fast and slow shots also kept the audience interested.
4. No archive footage was used.
5. It was a nature documentary, it also included some poetic forms as it was very calm and relaxing with the music and pictures shown.

The second clip was from 'When we were Kings'...

1. Voice over was used as was voice of god, interview was also used.
2. Loud music was played, meaningful music was also played which made the documentary moving.
3. Variety of camera angles were used, different lighting was used, black outs, fast and slow editing, pausing on images, black and white images.
4. Archive footage was used, clips of him training were shown, posters, clips of him boxing and also shown with other celebrities.
5. It was a poetic/observational documentary.

'Summer Heights high' was the third documentary...

1. Use of interview, use of titles, introduction to documentary was effective, it enabled the audience to understand exactly what was going on. Voice over, mise en scene.. school, correct environment.
2. Natural music, school play music, music between scenes.
3. Variety of camera angles, fast and slow editing, lots of reaction shots, introduction to characters, lighting.
4. Musicals the drama teacher has featured in. DVD of school.
5. Its a parody/mockumentary.

The fourth was 'The World at War'...

1. Use of interview, mise en scene, voice of god.
2. Patriotic music at the beginning.
3. Jump cut, slow motion, colour/black and white, variety of camera angles, use of titles, use of translation.
4. Clips of Germany, Images of soldiers, letters/reports.
5. Expository documentary

The next was the 'Take That official documentary'...

1. Voiceover, Hearing the boys point of view, use of interview
2. Crowds screaming, tense music, Take that backing music.
3. Jumping from scene to scene, blackouts, slow motion, sped up, Use of titles, cuts between interviews.
4. Clips of them as children, clips of concert, Philip Schofield and 15 year old Gary Barlow, pictures of their old jobs and clips of them performing when they were younger.
5. Poetic/observational documentary.

The last documentary was 'David Tennant- who do you think you are?'...

1. Voiceover, use of titles, voice of god,  voice of authority, handheld camera
2. Peaceful calm music in the background
3. Variety of camera angles, close ups, jump cuts, establishing shots
4. Use of computer graphics, time line, pictures
5. Participatory/observational

This activity allowed us to develop skills and get a better undestanding of the different conventions in different types of documentaries. It was good practice as we had to really watch the clip of the documentary in order to comment on the conventions used.

Examples of A2 Documentaries

In class we watched four examples of past A2 documentaries. I found this task very useful as we got to see a wide range of ideas and the ways in which different students presented their work. We were given a sheet where there were four levels 1-4 and we had to mark each point based on how well they did it. The marks were awarded for:

• Holding a shot steady, where appropriate
• Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate
• Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate
• Shooting material appropriate to task set
• Selecting mise en scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
• Using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set
• Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set

The four documentaries were called, C Level, Top Gear, Short Guy Ritchie and The truth about teenagers.
The best one we watched was C Level, it had mostly level 4 for all the catogaries, The truth about teenagers was also good and included lots of level 3 as did Top Gear. Short guy ritchie was a very different type of documentary and didn't involve any of the levels so we therefore decided it would be graded a very low grade.

Watching these documentaries was very useful and helped when developing ideas for our own. It showed us what worked well and what didn't so when it comes to filming our documentary we will be prepared for what to include.