A mockumentary is a type of tv series or film that portrays fictional events in the style of a documentary. They usually take things such as current events, society, trends and lifestyles and over-dramatise them/ make them absurd while still relatively realistic to have a comedic effect.
This week, I worked along with four other people to create a mockumentary introduction. We started our plan by researching the codes and conventions and looking at short clips of popular mockumentaries (such as The Office and Borat) to give ourselves an idea of what to do. Mockumentaries use the same codes and conventions as documentaries such as handheld cameras, talking heads (interviews), voiceover narration and visible crew members, however, they obviously don't use real footage/people as everything is scripted and fictional.
Before writing our script we tried to think about how we could use filming in school as an advantage and not have it be a setback. We consequently thought about basing our mockumentary in a school where the camera follows various students around while documenting their lives. We included handheld camera shots, interviews and showed the crew members in multiple shots. One of my favourite things about our mockumentary was the interviews - I think that they were filmed well and that with each of the three girls speaking, the audience can get a good understanding of how each character's personality is like. I also think that the music fit in really well, the speed and intensity of the piece added a comedic tone to the introduction successfully. We could have improved how we actually filmed the shots e.g. taking more into consideration the speed of the handheld camera when it was moved between the girls to help us achieve a smoother effect. Furthermore, the sound isn't very clear and at some moments it is difficult to hear the actors speak. To improve this we would have to shoot the scenes again with a microphone or in a quieter space, however, overall I think that this practical task was completed quite successfully and I'm really happy with our outcome.
Here is the full introduction of our Mockumentary, Stephanie and Britney:
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