The History of Christmas

As I was researching on the internet about the History of Christmas I came across this article which is perfectly displays the Christmas tradition over the years.

Medieval :               http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_01.shtml
Elizabethan:             http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_02.shtml
Restoration:             http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_03.shtml
Georgian/Regency:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_04.shtml
Early Victorian:       http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_05.shtml
Mid Victorian:         http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_06.shtml
Late Victorian:        http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_07.shtml
Early 20th century:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_08.shtml
World War 2:         http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_09.shtml
Post-War:              http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_10.shtml


I thought this article was very interesting and relevant to the research and documentary we are producing. I'm happy I came across it because it is very helpful in order to understand the changes over time.

Christmas Documentary Planning

our initial structure of our documentary:

> first show shots of different people talking about feelings and their attitudes towards Christmas without us knowing what they are talking about
> beginning credits and titles: ' Do they know it's Christmas time at all'
> location shots of different places decorated with Christmas stuff with a voice-over talking briefly about the history and origin of Christmas
> interviews with different people : christian science lady
                                                    shop-keeper
                                                    teenager
                                                    parent
> archive footage of Christmas years past
> talking about the coca-cola myth and the invention of Santa Clause

Was seven days a flop?

After 8 weeks the reality documentary seven days comes to an abrupt end after the viewing figures have severely decreased. The question to be asked is whether this was to be expected? After the first episode was showed on the 22nd of September 'The Guardian' claims that ' Seven days makes disappointing start with only 1.115 million viewers which is nearly less than half of the Viewers channel 4 usually has at this time slot.

Another factor indicating seven days may be unsuccessful are the Guardians reviews claiming the location chosen (Notting Hill)  is not the most convenient as this area of London is already renown for Films and Carnivals.

'But why Notting Hill? Comments on the Guardian's review the day after transmission revealed almost universal fury that the London neighbourhood already famous for its carnival and the sort of poshness associated with a Richard Curtis film starring Hugh Grant should have been picked.'

Stephen Lambert claims that the show was fine and that it was simply not marketed well enough and it was misjudged as the audience expected a programme similar to big brother. He argues that the project was great and very interesting for him and he also suggests that 'it has delivered in all respects apart from the audience.' After the end of the Show however even he admits that Notting Hill wasn't the best location as

'I hadn't appreciated the intensity of people's dislike for people living in Notting Hill'. However reading viewer comments you can see a strong disagreement. Many people just think its really boring and was a terrible programme.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/23/seven-days-tv-ratings

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/27/seven-days-channel-4-stephen-lambert

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/05/seven-days-channel-4

Planning the Documentary

In class we have discussed the issues we need to analyse in order to have a successful Documentary.

Form and Conventions

• Observational\ Expository documentary mode
• Voice-over
• Not A series- One off
• Interviews
• Archive footage

These are our initial ideas which will be developed into our documentary. We have decided to produce our documentary partially in an observational mode because we want the Viewer to make his mind up himself rather than being influenced by our opinions. We want it to be a One off because 1. I don't think people would be to keen on watching a series of documentaries about Christmas and 2. to put impact on the importance of our subject. The interviews we are going to show

Institutions

• film four
• Sponsorship

These are the initial idea about how our documentary will be financed and produced. However I think after further research our Idea will change.

Audience

• TV audience - possibly 20-35 years of age ?
• Middle-class
• Family-orientated

The audience we are trying to target is middle-aged and relatively mature. We want our audience to have basic knowledge of sociological aspects in order to understand the point we are bringing across. I think our documentary could be of interest to younger generations too, however we want our documentary to be at an intellectual standard that one would need simple understanding of the economy, religious values and society in order to be interested.

Representations

• Messages and Values -> children -> Socialisation of children in traditional/ non- traditional Christmas
• Religious diversity
• Commercialisation
• Capitalism

What we are trying to show is the Perception of Christmas in society. Another issue important to us is to try and portray whether Christmas is an invention of capitalism and how much today's Christmas still has to do with its origin, the birth of Christ.

First Documentary Idea

The process of producing a documentary has started a while ago in class. Over the past weeks we have watched various different documentaries and researched the different modes documentaries can be found in.
After long discussions about the different subject we could base our documentary around we finally came up with and Idea.

As Christmas is approaching my Partner, Danielle, and I have decided to research and portray the Commercialisation of Christmas. We want to show whether Christmas has lost his true meaning and how much it actually still has to do with its religious origin. Also it would be interesting to show the perception of Christmas in today's society especially through a generation gap.

The Five Modes of Documentary

1. One mode of documentary is Expository documentary. To get a clearer view on the feature of this mode we have watched the World WAR II propganda documentary 'London Can Take It' created by Humphrey Jennings in order to get the Americans to support and Help the War effort. Creating a Expository Docum



2. Another mode of Documentary is Observational Documentary. The disctinctive features are the fact that there is no Voice- over and the subject is mainly portrayed through strong images. These images vary from different loaction shots as well as showing the people who are affected by the situation. The documentary we have watched in this Mode has been 'Listen To Britain' another World War II propaganda documentary also created by Humphrey Jennings.





3. Another common mode of doucmentary is the Reflexive Mode.

Man on Wire

Man on wire is documentary film portraying the Journey of a young wire walker through out the years up until his biggest success, walking on a wire between the Twin Towers in 1974. It is directed by James Marsch. The documentary uses various different conventions of documentary, such as the actuality and archive footage being very dominant. Man on Wire has a very high actuality feeling becasue you can hear people talking about the images we see who were really there and had the real experience.

Reactions of Audiences towards Seven Days

The Ratings and Interest of Viewer appear to have declined. So far there have been 4 episodes of Seven days and the interest of the public has apparently been decreasing. This may be for various reason such as the fact that people may have lost interest in the characters or have lost the plot. Here are two articles to back up this suggestion:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1318865/Big-Brother-style-Channel-4-reality-Seven-Days-sees-ratings-halve-just-650-000.html


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/the-painful-reality-no-one-is-watching-seven-days-2100992.html

The five modes of Documnetary

http://www.slideshare.net/crosswaysfederation/the-five-modes-of-documentary-typical-conventions

http://condor.depaul.edu/~dtudor/DOCUMENTARY%20MODES.htm

Carmoflage - Reflexive Documentary

Listen To Britain- Observational Documentary

London Can Take It- Expository Documentary

Man On Wire- Reflexive Documentary

Seven Days- Participatory/Interactive Documentary 

So far looking at documentary we have established different features and modes which can conform to the convention of documentary. We have watched  documentaries in nearly every mode and have tried to analyse the factors which show us which documentary applies to which mode. However these modes are not fixed, meaning that one can make a documentary using different modes. It has been interesting to see so far which factors contribute to the mode a documentary is in.

London Can Take It vs Listen to Britain

Comparison between ‘London Can Take It’ and ‘Listen to Britain’

London can take it and Listen to Britain are both Second World War propaganda documentaries. Both of these films were created by Humphrey Jennings in order to get and later on support the allied war effort. Both the films contain similar features of documentary but are still very different.  

Listen to Britain, has a non-linear structure as well as displaying images of events in a non-chronological order. Another distinctive aspect of this documentary is the fact that there is no voice-over. These put emphasis on the images as well as focus on the different locations shown.

London can take it has an American narrator which tries to make the whole thing unbiased.  Also the narrator Quentin Reynolds draws attention to the fact that the bombings we can hear are not Hollywood sound effects which once again puts a very realistic aspect on the documentaries. 

Both the documentaries give us a proper insight into the lives of the British people which makes helps raise awareness of the situation. Common features of documentary seen in both films are the fact that all the events are shown over a period of time which gives us clearer insight on the fact that this is a continuous event rather than a one time occasion.

Seven Days

In order to understand documentary better we started following Seven Days, a interactive reality documentary following the lives of ordinary people in west London. It may be in an old-fashioned style however it still has a soap like quality which secures the viewer with continuity.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/sep/23/seven-days-tv-review this is a review by Tim Dowling where he puts emphasis on the fact that there is a blurred distinction between Reality TV and Reality. However this is quiet a positive review with a mixture of feedback.

http://tvpixie.com/tv-news/2010/09/23/seven-days-tv-review This is a review which talks about the distance the people in London have between each other.It claims that seven days gives us a deeper look in to the lives of people from outher social backgrounds than our own and it helps us see the similarities and differences of people. However it points out the fact that the majority of the characters are irritating as well as playing extra glamorous in front of the camera. Overall the review is a mixture of positive and negative aspects.

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Hi, I'm Sonja Madani, 17 years old and I live in Austria. This is my A2 Media Blog.