Reference Material - Being a Contributor
Knowing my duties as a presenter/contributor was going to be very important in the overall scheme of setting the tone. I had various inspiration and reference material, but the two I will be focusing on are Stacey Dooley Investigates: Shot by my neighbour, BBC and Drift Queen by Red Bull Media House. These two documentaries allowed me to understand what the best techniques are to being a contributor in a documentary. Both are the main contributor in a documentary about them going on a journey. This is very important as this matches the style I am creating in my documentary.
Stacey Dooley Investigates: Shot By My Neighbour
This documentary is aimed at a younger audience which helped me understand a lot as this was also our target demographic. It is broadcast on BBC3 which has a target demographic of 16-35. This is useful as BBC and this demographic is whom I am aiming my documentary towards.
While Stacey does start the documentary with a voiceover, we quickly see her on screen doing a PTC. This helps the viewer gain knowledge of the topic matter before they get to know the presenter. As Stacey has a long-running series, less time is needed to introduce her as a contributor. This will be a little different for myself as I have not made many presenter-led pieces before so I may need to introduce myself a little more than Stacey, to ensure the audience is aware of who I am and what I am about.
It is immediately apparent that Stacey also addresses the person behind the camera, most likely the producer, instead of directing it towards the camera. This feels much more authentic and less staged and when the camera is directly addressed. Filming these sequences like this allows the scenes to be more natural, increasing the honesty between the viewer and presenter. I already decided that I would address the producer rather than the camera because it enables the viewer to see more of the story and enables myself as the presenter to feel more relaxed, giving a better performance. On our various test shots, we have seen that addressing the camera changed the tone, creating a much more serious style. As I am starting to know how I behave in front of the camera, it is enabling me to script the scenes accordingly. This will enable a performance on-screen which the viewers can connect to and allow my story to be told better because of it.
Facial expressions are used to help make interview scenes particularly powerful in presenter-led documentaries. When you see an emotion in the presenter, you are brought into the story by them and you start to feel the emotions with them. This is a way presenters can express their feelings towards the viewer without saying anything. It has been shown that in many circumstances, silence is more powerful than noise so simply an emotion can evoke an emotional response in the viewer. This is something that I will have to learn quickly as the main contributor to our project. If I do not learn when to be expressive, it may be hard to read my emotions in certain scenes and I need to be able to show my raw emotions to the viewer, otherwise, the emotion in the story is somewhat lost. One way I will be able to overcome this issue is by doing extra test shoots and reviewing the footage to see what happens when I speak naturally. This will allow me to learn from my mistakes and improve as a contributor, and hopefully evolve into the person I really am, as that could be lost through the nerves of presenting a documentary without any practice. I must also be careful, however, as too much practice and thought could then lead to an unnatural performance, one that feels too scripted.
Stacey always handles the interviews she does really well. She always tries to find a common ground with the interviewee, even if they are on the opposing side. She is trying to find a common ground to allow the interviewee to feel less anxious and give better answers. This enables her to speak her mind and ask the questions that she really wants to ask. By trying to have an emotional connection between herself and the interviewee, it allows them to open up and broadcast their side of the story. This is a slightly different style to Louis Theroux for example, as he goes in with a very blunt question and almost tries to trigger a response from the interviewee. Both are effective, but I can learn more from Stacey as in my documentary as I won't be speaking to anyone on the other side of the story from me, so my questions will not be trying to evoke anger in anyone. I know I need to have a connection with the interviewee to enable me to get the best out of them and also allow me to relax into a role I am fairly new in.
The majority of interviews are clearly set up before the documentary starts filming, it allows Stacey as the presenter to have prior knowledge of the subject matter and personal issues before she asks questions. This enables her to immediately connect and understand the tone of which each question is set. For example, she speaks slightly differently towards the good people to the bad, whereas Louis Theroux speaks to everyone the same. However, having prior knowledge of your interviewee will be vital for myself as a contributor as it will allow me to be more confident when asking questions. As I am relatively new to being in front of the camera, that will be a massive boost for me. I need to make my job as a contributor as easy as possible so I can relax into the role and be able to show my emotions throughout the documentary. If I am worrying too much about other things to do with the project while filming (Shot types, locations, equipment) it may make me less tuned into the story we are trying to tell, meaning the documentary will lack depth.
Something I admire about Stacey is her willingness to the story and put herself in potentially risky situations to get the best and most honest version of the story possible. The whole documentary was leading up to this interview and it had been cancelled multiple times throughout the documentary. As viewers, we did start to wonder if it was ever going to happen. But she is put into the back of a van and taken to a discreet location to do the interview. This shows the large personal toll she is willing to take to share the story. It emphasises how important the story is to her personally. I admire that dedication to telling the story, it shows me that as a presenter you need to be emotionally connected to the issue so that it shows the importance of the story to the viewer. I know this will show in my documentary as I have a massive passion for motorsport and if I conduct myself as I do in the rest of my life, that passion will shine through. I am fully aware that presenting is the part of this documentary that will be the hardest for me. My inexperience in the role could lead to issues, but as long as we work together as a team, these issues should not be harmful to the project. The main point is that I have the passion for the subject matter meaning that the personal connection will allow each scene to have depth and meaning.
The ending is somewhat weaker than I would have expected, the Voiceover is strong in telling a message by the final piece to camera feels slightly out of place. It is left on a cliffhanger which does enable the documentary to have the water cooler effect to get people speaking about it. From the presenter's point of view, I would want to have a more meaningful ending than a slightly dull PTC which lacked emotion and empathy towards the situation. The story arc of this documentary worked, until the ending which was slightly confusing and not very hard-hitting. This shows me that as a presenter, the ending is one of the most important parts. I have thought of an emotional and thought-provoking ending, where I am asked some questions about if I regret not asking my parents to go racing, I hope that will trigger an emotional response from myself after the race is complete. My only issue with this documentary is it’s ending. It should be powerful and leave you with a question or finish with concrete evidence. This proves to me that I am making the right decision of ending our documentary on a very personal note. It will allow my documentary to go full-circle and show the development of myself as a contributor. I will leave the documentary with a powerful message which will allow all viewers to question themselves.
Episode 1 of "Drift Queen" Created by Red Bull Media House.
This documentary is relevant to our subject matter of motorsport which allowed me to strike some greater similarities. The general idea of the documentary is to follow the presenter (Becky) on her journey into racing drift cars. We get shown her history of racing as a child, along with chats with her father which help cement the story.
The documentary starts off with a Voiceover of Becky introducing the story and her history and experiences with the sport. She also highlights what the aims of the documentary are at the very start. This enables the viewers to engage with the story and allows them to understand the reason for this documentary, in the opening minutes. This opening scene allows us to know the presenter right away and we start to form an opinion of her as she opens up about her experiences. I definitely learned that in my script I need to go further into detail what exactly is going to happen in my documentary, as some areas were still only surface level before I started my further research. In my original draft of the script, I did not allow enough time to enlighten the viewer about what my subject matter is and what hurdles I need to overcome to be successful. Through understanding this, I had adjusted the script to include more information in the introduction, as a presenter this will be vital in enabling the viewer to connect with me and actually caring about the story I am trying to tell. My final version of the script enables the viewer to connect to me as a person and see why I am posing this question.
My problem with the opening voiceover, however, is it is delivered in a very unnatural way and is forced which leaves the viewer bewildered. It gave me the wrong impression of her as a presenter from her opening lines which is unfortunate. The voiceover was not rushed, but it was like she was shouting at us, forcing a story and a challenge towards us. The Voiceover does, however, give us context to help move the story along, but the delivery of this opening was off-putting. This is an important lesson for me as a presenter, the tone of the documentary needs to fit the voiceover and the overuse of a voiceover shows gaps in the story that are trying to be filled. At first, I did not feel a connection with Becky as the opening voiceover was so bad, but as the story evolves, it allows us into her life and we start to have a connection with her. This is an important lesson as viewers opinions could be made in the opening minutes and could lead to people getting the wrong impression. Through a number of test shoots and video review,s I have enabled myself to understand the best way to address the camera to make a connection. Fitting with my personality, a more humble and honest approach would help me achieve the realistic tone we are going to achieve. I am naturally a quiet person so extracting the best out of me will be thanks to the careful management of my producer. I know I have it in myself to be the contributor that moves this story along, but my personality will make this a challenge in the beginning.
The first piece to the camera we see is much better and allows us to start to see her real personality. She does not directly address the camera in this sequence, but from her previous work, as a YouTube content creator, she normally does speak at the camera. The documentary definitely could have taken two approaches from its creation. It could have not acknowledged the camera (like we are doing - speaking to an off-screen producer throughout) or it could directly address the camera enabling the viewer to feel more intense and personal. The reason that I feel this works well for DRIFT QUEEN is that the series glosses a lot of the emotional side of the story and we are not as emotionally invested in Becky, we rather want to know more about the steps needed to become a drift racer. This documentary is a “How To” video rather than an emotional journey. As we do not delve as far into Becky's life, we are invited into the discussion, not through questions posed, but rather through being directly told information and then deciding if we agree or not.
The reason I personally want to differ my route and filmic style and presentation is that our story is more about my journey and dreams, rather than the event itself. DRIFT QUEEN focuses more on the event itself and less on the personal story, it uses its direct PTC to try and bring us closer to the action. I want to create less of a forced connection between the viewer and the presenter, rather one that develops as I go through the various hurdles needed to prove myself as a racing driver.
I was not a fan of the consistent blatantly staged sequences. I agree that it enables the film to be more stylistic and include some more unique angles, but forcing the viewer into situations rather than letting a story play out naturally dented the reality and authenticity of this story. They keep trying to build up this emotional connection between the viewer and the presenter and then detract from it by introducing sequences which were completely pre-planned, which had no emotions. I did not see the need in deciding exactly what was going to happen in this documentary, the planned and overtly staged interviews meant that we did not see the real Becky.
The moment with her father is probably the most natural part of this documentary. While still staged, it does a good job at trying to pull on the heartstrings of the viewer and show a purpose of the story, but it failed to leave me with any sort of feeling towards her. As a motorsport fan, it seemed rather fake and this opportunity was decided for her, rather than her wanting to achieve this through her own desire. This is a great lesson for myself as the presenter as I need to be able to open up to the camera in a natural way. I understand that I need to be hinted as to what to say in certain situations, so the story still has a strong narrative. But theses sequences will enable the viewer to connect with me and the story should have much more meaning if the struggles are real and the effort put in is not over-emphasised.
Some of the strongest moments of Becky's presenting comes when she is directing herself towards the camera, by herself. This is when we open up to her and understand her a little more and why she wants to undertake this challenge. While the voiceover and staged interviews show a rather PR/Robotic side, when it is just her and the camera, we see her personality. Her personality seems to comes alive when she is a singular on screen, which could be due to her lack of experience in creating a series like this. This scene is also relevant to our documentary, as her pieces to camera are similar to our "Diary Room" sequences where I open up about my past and engage the viewer into our story. They will be presented to the viewer in a stylistically different ways, but they have a similar effect, in informing the viewer about the past and the meaning of this challenge. This shows me as a presenter that I need to know myself and know how is best to capture my personality and emotions on screen. Speaking directly to a camera would be something I may struggle with as I am inexperienced. However, if it is shot like a chat with friends, it will enable me to be in my conforms zone a little more. This will allow the stories to be more authentic and naturally delivered on camera, which will mean the story has meaning and clarity.
A large issue with this documentary is the approach to interviews. The interviews being so staged ensures they lack any sort of emotional meaning, allowing no connection between what is being said and the viewer. When having an interview on a personal journey, you need the viewer to feel something different after seeing the person of importance on screen. However, each person was held up to an equally high pedestal in this series which confuses the viewer as to who we should listen too. All the guests importance was exaggerated which meant it was hard to attach to any of them to the story of a beginner in the world of drifting. None of them really engaged the viewer, the answers seemed pre-planned which led to the answers having no weight to them. It is clear that interviews were setup which left both the presenter and contributor almost reading from a script. I understand they were trying to move the story along and these interviews were a way of highlighting points, but being so staged leaves the viewer cringing as they are so awkward to watch.
When we include interviews, they need to be prompted with an idea, but what is being said cannot be decided before it is shot. If you are looking for a specific answer, you should obtain that through the use of good questions, not pre-deciding what is being said. For our interviews, we will go in with an idea of what could be said, but under no illusion that the stories that may be told may not be what we expect, which is fine because it is being honest to itself and the viewers.
My problems with this episode is that it gives a fictional and unrealistic view of how you can become a drifter on a budget. An example of the problem is her tagline for her documentary is "doing drifting on a budget", but then proceeds to spend £11,000 on a car, then catches flights to Japan, then America. As a viewer, I would be fine if it was not marketed as the aforementioned budget challenge. This sense of being able to do anything destroys the narrative of doing this on a budget and loses any credibility of being a “How To” documentary.
When Becky is alone speaking to the camera she has a great on-screen presence, which is thanks to her likeable personality. The whole problem with this series is it is over-scripted which disables freedom within the story and makes the journey of the presenter worthless. Becky as a presenter turns into someone we do connect to, but not as much I would have liked. This is due to the awkward scripts which has her flying all over the place to try and create some excitement. I would have liked the team to let Becky show her character through more emotional subjects, such as why she stopped it in the first place?, what was her dads feeling towards her new passion?, why is she doing this now? Even touching on these subjects would have allowed for a better performance from Becky and a more emotionally connected story.
If I enable myself to open up to the camera and share my stories, it will allow the story to have meaning, giving our documentary further layers of depth that are not possible without the connection between the contributor and the audience. This is the whole reason for including the "Diary Room" sequences in our documentary. After watching this series, I have decided we should do even more scenes recounting memories, as they are the ones that make this story unique. I have been able to learn that what makes this story special and important is me. As stated previously, as I am quiet, it is hard to realise that as it puts pressure on me to deliver an interesting story. Without these moments of reflection, honesty and understanding, the story is meaningless. These stories are the reason why the end goal has importance, so we want to include more than was first thought, to enable a better connection between myself and the viewer.
The reason why I am using this documentary as inspiration is that although it has it’s flaws, they are with the story and it’s production. As a presenter, Becky does a good job of moving the narrative along through her presenting. Stylistically, it is different to mine, but I learned a lot about how I should be presenting myself to the camera. Disagreeing with how this documentary was shot has enabled me to understand how I will shoot mine and how best I am shown on screen as a contributor.
