Jason Paul Grant

Media Production treatment

The following essay intends to briefly describe the production processes of treating an idea. The media practices chosen to illustrate this process are radio and photography. This essay will discuss how the same idea can be formulated using two completely different media practices with an emphasis more on the production process rather than the final outcome. By concisely relating the different processes of correlating an idea, the problems that could be faced and how to overcome them, using the basic techniques that have been learnt should explain theoretical processes of a media production.

“Why is there so much gun crime within the London club scene?”

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This idea has an immense troubled background, as ever since Operation Trident came into force during the late 90’s to directly deal with black on black crime, the amount of gun crime in the capital has risen sharply. There are so many different social, political and economical reasons that could be debated around the subject, however this essay will only deal partly in how a media production process can be put together using this idea. The treatment of the idea in radio would best be dealt with in a feature documentary, of which the process will be described later. Furthermore, by using this format it should enable listeners to gain more of an understanding around the topic as the voice of the people would tell the story. In regards to the treatment of the idea in photgraphy, vivid imagery would be used to tell the disturbing story of the impact of gun crime in  the capital. The two treatments will be in direct contrast as radio deals in sound without pictures and photography is about pictures without sounds. This should ensure that the idea can be covered from both angles with an attempt of hearing pictures within the radio feature and viewing sounds within photography.

Laurence Gilliam suggests the following statement in R. McLeish’s The technique of radio production:

A radio documentary can take the enquiring mind, the alert ear, and the broadcasting microphone into every corner of the contemporary world, or into the deepest recess of experience. Its task, and destiny is to mirror the true inwardness of the subject, to explore the boundaries of radio, and to perfect techniques for the use of the creative artist in broadcasting.

The idea came from listening to the news, reading various newspapers and having direct experience of the outrageous amount of shootings and killings that happen to fellow party attendees as an unequivocal result of gun crime. The following radio documentary production has many positive aspects that can help to bring this ghastly real life event into focus. The programme sets out not only to highlight the problem, but to speak directly to some of the people who feel the need to carry weapons into clubs. Hopefully an active debate can arise from the programme with policy makers and community leaders, along with members of the public trying to work out ways in which innocent people can carry on enjoying a normal night out. The documentary will speak mainly to young people of inner city areas, with an emphasis on engaging and shocking at the same time. The research that would need to be carried out would be looking at the last ten years worth of nightclub gun crime that has happened in London, in order to gage a figure on the amount of incidents there have been. Searching through public records of the amount of nightclubs and bars that have had to shut down as a result of gun crime. Surfing on the internet to find more related stories and official reports to see what is being done about this problem. Lastly looking through any police and court records to find out if any convictions have occurred.

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M. Kaye and A. Popperwell state that:

The feature programme has at its disposal all the resources of the medium. Sound effects, music, sound archives, written records, original writing and real people. And documentaries must not contain imaginary elements.

There are a number of advantageous points of treating the idea within a radio feature documentary. The use of music would help to recreate a nightclub scene just before a violent outbreak in order to paint the picture of what it is like. Also music could assist in the pace of the programme, providing short links. Authoritative readers in the programme would help in regards to official information which would allow the listener to pay particular attention to the facts being stated. The use of real people is another important factor as a story is enhanced when told by people who know exactly what is going on. Again interviews with members of the police, victims friends, nightclub owners and promoters can help provide a thorough picture of the extent of the problem and how it affects different members of society. Loads of actuality sounds from a inside of a nightclub would allow the listener to experience a real situation however a actual gun crime scene may be quite difficult to capture on a recording. The use of vox-pops would be useful to gain an understanding of what the public feel around this subject, and maybe a brief discussion with some kids about how they think that things can change as they are the future. Finally some strong narrator links to ensure that the piece maintains some strucure throughout would all create an amazing dramatic programme.

One of the main problems with a documentary of this type would be what K. Dancyger describes as:

Dramatic values--conflict, polarities, protagonists and antagonists are no less necessary in the documentary. Attention to dramatic values in your documentary will help generate the tension needed to hold on to the listener.

Some other problems that would have to be considered would be the pace of the programme and the dynamics involved. If the pace is to slow then the listener may become disinterested with the programme, likewise if the programme runs to fast the listeners may not understand what is going on. Also the dynamics can make a programme seem more like a juxtaposed piece rather than a smooth flowing sequence of events and information. Another major problem is being able to hold the listeners attention for the length of the documentary. With standard documentaries being 30 minutes long, the content of the programme has to be stimulating all the way through. Being able to take an objective view on the programme should ensure that the programme does not suffer in parts. Lastly there may be a problem of getting the right people to talk, being able to find a number of possible contacts should help in the event of someone pulling out at the last moment.

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P.H. Delamotte illustrates how:

The art of photography enables us to obtain upon paper, and other media, permanent impressions of the images of objects which are received in the focus of the camera.

The production process of photography can display vivid images with shocking descriptions of actuality. The way in which a radio documentary can only really rely on the listeners imagination, photography can show the pictures that radio can not. By taking different pictures from a number of angles, various light settings, a selection of positions and maybe without the subject even knowing that they are being shot can bring about some startlingly results. The pictures can be shown in a public exhibition or published in a book or magazine. This production would want to show in graphic detail the tragic circumstances surrounding the gun crime culture in nightclubs. The display would be speaking again to young people of the age from 16-25 with the hope that they may bring their parents along as well. The research needed for this project would be mainly background information from newspapers, internet and public documents, with a need to find out the types of people who are affected by these types of crimes.

M. Langford discusses:

Developing your ability to make successful photographs must include some basic technical theory, otherwise you will not get the most out of your tools, fully explore materials, or turn out reliable results.

The camera that would be used for documenting this idea would be a single-lens reflex camera which views and captures an image through one lens only. The film would be a light sensitive emulsion type using 24 exposures on a 35mm roll. The degree of sensitivity of the film would be a normal 100 ASA. The Shutter speed and Aperture would reflect the amount of light that is needed during a shoot. As most of the pictures would be taken from dark settings, the Shutter speed and Aperture would change to ensure that enough light is available on the film. A standard lens would be mainly used to produce the shots, with a wide-angle lens being used to produce more close-up shots.

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M. Langford continues with this next statement:

There is a terrible danger with photgraphy that you set up your equipment, busy youself with focus, exposure and composition, but think hardly at all about the meaning of your picture and why you should show the subject in that particular way.

The project would like to show the devastation caused by gun crime in nightclubs, using actual footage if possible and shooting the after affects. An example would be taking shots of a nightclub that does not search for metal upon entry, the type of people who enter and maybe the searches that the bouncers give to the party attendees. For obvious reason, gettings shot of an actual crime being committed would be very dangerous, however the after affects could be captured. From people running for their lives, the chaos of a club with glass all over the place, the facual expessions of people and if possible the bullets on the floor or in the walls. Maybe even some pictures of a dead body and the emergency services arriving on the scene. What would be really interesting would be shots of the promoters, club owners and maybe the loved ones of the deceased. A major problem in trying to capture all of these moments would be being in the wrong place at the right time and having an opportunity to take pictures from people who would not be at their best. Without these images, the project could not come out of the initial planning stages.

In conclusion, this essay has tried to use an original idea and began to unravel the different aspects and components which formulate the concept. By treating the proposal in two completely different media production practices ensured that the idea could be expressed in its entirity. On reflection both of the media practices could work, produce a final project, however the photography project may be a little more difficult to produce as discussed in the essay. The radio project would take more time to produce with the gathering of interviews and editing processes being more time consuming. Another point is that the idea seemed to become more apparent and clear as the arguments of this essay progressed and maybe one of these projects can really come to life.