1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

During my research of documentary films I came across information about the different types of documentary and the different approaches that individual ones took, whether it was to engage the audience or what modes documentaries followed.

From the beginning I knew I wanted to take a participatory approach to my documentary because as director, I also wanted involvement in the documentary. The participatory mode has been said to be the best way to be truthful about their involvement in the filmmaking process. As a filmmaker Bill wanted to ensure that it was his own personal approach and vision to the events and that his presence in the filmmaking was contributing to what was occurring.

My documentary has a topic on fandom, which is not extremely popular within documentaries however when researching I was able to find a documentary called “Crazy about One Direction” which had similarities to my own documentary in the way it portrays people and their characters. I was incredibly lucky with my interviewees to find people who were so passionate about their idols and their fandom, which built strong characters that made the documentary entertaining and enjoyable.

During the interviews there was no music playing which allowed full concentration to the interviewee and their opinions, although music was used during the opening and end of the documentary to engage the audience as well as to ensure the documentary is interesting. Although I did follow Nick Broomfield’s documentary style of using a voiceover during shots which I thought worked well in my documentary.