Documentary Analysis: Inside 9/11

Type of Documentary
Mixed documentary - Features interviews, archive and actality footage

Themes
Terrorism

Narrative Structure
Single strand, linear, closed

Camerawork
Standard framing during interview: Close ups and medium close ups used, positioned to the left or right of the screen, eyeline a 3rd of the way down the screen
POV shot going into airport
Crabshot going through airport terminal
Tracking, panning, zooming and other various camera movements used to film people in airport

Mise-en-scene
Black backgrounds during interviews - doesnt distract viewers
Filming on plane and airport - relevant settings to the topic

Sound
Fast paced eerie music
Voiceover - Standard english, Male, Calm and clear delivery, American accent
As voiceover tells the story of the hijacking the music builds up and quickens in pace

Editing
Flash edits
Fastmotion - tracking through plane
Dissolves
Slowmotion - planes taking off and moving along runway
Cuts
Wipes

Archive Material
Terrorist videos
Footage from attacks
Terrorist training videos
CCTV footage
Phone call from air steward to air traffic control
Satellite images
Radio shows on the morning of the attack

Graphics
White font - subtitles and dates
Red font title with newspaper background over an image of the new york skyline
During interview with name and relevance to topic
Times of day - white font that flashes onto screen
Showing routes of planes

Documentary analysis: Small Teen Big World

Type of Documentary
Mixed - majority fly on the wall but interviews, archive and actuality footage is used

Themes
Coping with being different - fitting in
Appearance

Narrative Structure
Single strand
Linear
Closed

Camerawork
Standard framing during interviews: Framed to the left or right of the screen, Medium close ups and close ups used and eyeline a third of the way down the screen
Tracking shots
Establishing shots used e.g. landmarks in New York city
Close ups/Extreme close ups of them doing everyday things
Extreme close up of shoes on beach with girls out of focus in the background
POV shot of person in car observing conversation between grandparents

Mise-en-scene
Backgrounds during interview often have nothing going on or are out of focus - doesnt distract viewers from the interview.
Interviews filmed in front of windows (unconventional)

Sound
Voiceover - Girl who the show is about (Jasmine), standard english, calm clear delivery
Contrasts constantly between happy and sad music to suit the topic they are talking about and to fit in with the happy and sad contrasts in the narrative
Lady Gaga - played when discussing that Jasmine is just like every other teenager
Cuts in time with the music
Lots of chart music used

Editing
Cuts used mainly
Stopmotion used
Fastmotion used on tracking shots and used to speed up passers by and cars in new york whilst Jasmine stands still in the foreground
Dissolves used between actuality and archive
Slowmotion used when talking about mothers breakdown

Archive Material
Home movies
Birth of Jamine video
Family photos

Graphics
No graphics used during interview - name and relevance to topic is established using the voiceover
Title - White font on black background
White font at the end to show what happened after the narrative ends.

Documentary analysis: That Thing - Lara Croft

Type of Documentary
Mixed documentary - interviews, archive and actuality footage all used

Themes
Phenomenon of Lara Croft
Representation of women
Power of the media

Narrative Structure
Closed
Non-liner
Single strand

Camerawork
Close ups and medium close ups used during interviews, framed to the left or right of the screen, eyeline a 3rd of the way down the screen.
Camera tilted on interview with the game creator

Mise-en-scene
Chromakey - Background during interview is footage from game and movie - out of focus so it doesnt distract from interview
Interviewees dimly lit during interview
Interview with creator of the game is filmed on a screen

Sound
Voiceover - Male, Standard english , Calm and clear delivery, relevant age to the topic
Maddonna song plays when interviewee is talking about her
Gunfire and music from the game

Editing
Mainly cuts used
Fastmotion used when a tracking shot is used in a cyber cafe filming people playing on the game

Archive Material
Video game footage
Footage from Tomb Raider movie
Websites
Nike advert
Newspapers + magazines
Angelina Jolie interview

Graphics
White font - name and relevance to topic - "That Thing"

This is an example of the archive footage from the film that is used

Documentary analysis: The Music Biz - The Marketing of Meatloaf

Type of Documentary
Mixed documentary - interviews, actuality and archive footage used.

Themes
Marketing of music
Creation of an image for a band or singer
Power of the media to influence audience behaviour

Narrative Structure
Non-linear
Closed
Single strand

Camerawork
Interviews: Framed left or right of screen, medium close up or close up, eyeline 3rd of the way down the screen (conventional)
Variety of camerawork: Extreme close ups of cd covers/magazines
Camera movement of still images - pans, zooms , rotation
High + Low angle used
POV shot of someone walking into a betting office
Handheld Camera

Mise-en-scene
Chromakey - (Blue or green screen)
Background - archive/actuality footage related to what the interview is talking about.

Sound
Voiceover: Sarcastic, Male, Standard english, Calm and clear delivery, completed sometimes by sound from actuality footage
Meatloafs music

Editing
Interviewees dissolve in and out on screen
Intercutting/crosscutting between interviews to construct the narrative
Video of meatloaf freezes and interviewee dissolves onto the screen - doesnt distract
Cut between filmong of music video and finished music video
Slow motion

Archive Material
Footage of awards ceremonies
Newspaper headlines
Footage of TV chat shows

Music videos - Meatloaf, Mr. Blobby, The Village People Magazine covers
CD covers
Still images/videos of performances

Graphics
Title sequence - intergrated moving images into magazine covers
Series logo, interviewee name and relevance to topic. white serif font

Documentary analysis: Public Enemy Number One - The Devil Made Me do It

Type of Documentary
Mixed - mixture of interview, archive and actuality footage

Themes
Devil worship v religion
Crime - Murder investigation
Youth of today
Power of the media - Can the media influence individuals behaviour?

Narrative structure
Open Narrative structure
Non-linear
Single strand

Camerawork
Interviews : Low angle used particularly on Marilyn Manson, Close up/Medium close up, Rule of thirds, Positioned to the left or right of the screen, Guy selling posters interview is handheld camerawork which shows its not pre-arranged, Two shot interview.
Establishing shots used
POV - Fan in crowd at gigs + inspector in car
Stock footage - churches - religious iconography
Low/High angles used
Tracking - following police around station
Panning - Pans of churches
Zoom - still images + inanimate objects
Crane - showing cemetery from above
Handheld camerawork
Mansons press conference - observation

Mise-en-scene
Cap of police officer on desk shows power and status
Isolated nun - in room by herself
Filming man in graveyard fits the themes of the show
Lighting - Very dark throughout - During mansons intervioew half his face is lit and half is dark

Sound
Voiceover - Narrator, Male, Standard english, Calm in delivery, glue that holds the narrative together.
Translators voice is roughly the same age as the person on screen
Mansons music
Choral music - religious
Sound effects - audio dramatisation of nuns murder

Editing
Mainly cuts used throughout the documentary

Archive Material
News footage of various events
Italian TV talk show
Music videos
American news coverage of columbine massacre
Still images

Graphics
White sans serif fonts - Name of person and relevance to topic
Gothic font used for title
White text on black screen - lyrics, dates and locations

Codes and Conventions Of Documentaries

• Archive still images use various camera movements to make it interesting for viewers.
  
• Voiceover - Holds the narrative together, Gender of voiceover suits theme - sometimes relevant depending on topic and is always a relevant age. Always speaks standard english with a calm, clear delivery.
• Always use relevant music to the topic.
• Always use stock footage.
• Single strand narrative.
• Cut is most common edit - Doesn't distract from whats happening on screen.
• Editing techniques may be used on actuality footage and archive material.
• Creative and varied camerawork.
• Conventional framing on interviews - Cameras usually static on tripod.
• Archive material - still images.
• Variety of relevant archive material.
• If CHROMAKEY is used it shouldnt distract from the interview.
• Graphics are used to anchor interviewees relevance to the topic and their identity.
• Simple graphics.
• Well placed editing - short interviews.

TV Scheduling

The Scheduling for each day can be broken down into clear segments. How would you categorise these segments?
Breakfast
Daytime
Childrens
Peaktime (family 7pm-9pm)
Adults (9pm+)

Who are the target audiences for these segments?
Breakfast = a spread of audience, depending on channel
Daytime = homemakers, unemployed and students
Childrens = children
Peaktime = family
Adults = adults

What would you say are the most popular genres on television?
News, soap operas, sitcoms, gameshows, films, reality shows and dramas

Who is the target audience of each terrestrial channel?
BBC1 = everyone (mass broadcast)
BB2 = educated audience (minority)
ITV1 = everyone (mass broadcast)
CHANNEL 4 = young adults/ teens and educated adults
FIVE = everyone (mass broadcasting

Roughly, what percentage of each channel's schedule is taken up with repeats? Why do you think this is?
Mainly channel 4 and 5
They import shows because it is cheaper to import them than to produce brand new shows

What do you understand by the term watershed and where does this occur in the schedules?
"shed" -as in shedding the audience, getting rid of children in order to show adult content
Watershed -> after 9pm but has shifted slightly to 10pm

There are 3 types of Scheduling: Inheritance, Pre-echo and Hammocking.

Inheritance: Scheduling a programme after a popular programme in the hope to inherit some of the audience.

Pre-echo: This is the reverse. Scheduling a programme before a popular programme in the hope that the audience tuning in to watch the popular programme will catch the end of the programme you broadcast, leading to them tuning in next time to watch it.

Hammocking: This has features of both. Scheduling a programme between two popular programmes so that it will benefit from both Inheritance and Pre-echo. Which therefore suggests it will be popular itself and gain more audience.

Documentary Notes

Documentary



The purpose of the documentary is to document, that is to report, with evidence, something that has actually happened. It can show this by using actuality footage or reconstruction. It can use a narrators voiceover to anchor the meaning or rely on the paticipants themselves with perhaps the occasional interjection by the narrator.



"Actuality footage" - Real footage of actual events.



John Grierson - He ran a team called the "General Post Office Film Unit" in the 1930s. He defined documentaries as the "creative treatment of actuality" (or reality).



Features of Documentaries



John Corner - From the university of Liverpool. He said there are 5 elements of the documentary: Observation, Interview, Dramatisation, Mise-en-scene and Exposition.



Observation - The programme makers pretend that the camera is unseen or ignored by the people taking part in the events. The audience is positioned as an eye witness observing the documentary unfold.



Interview - The most important aspect, people give opinions, information in the interview. They are relied on by the documentary.



Dramatisation - All documentaries use a sense of drama through observations. Editing conveys this drama. Reconstruction is used dramatically .



Mise-en-scene (Put in the picture) - Everything you see and hear. Documentary makers carefully construct shots.



Exposition - This is the line of argument in a documentary. (The exposition of the narrative is the way the narrative unfolds). In terms of documentaries it is what the documentary is "saying".





Different types of documentary



Fully Narrated - A voiceover is used to convey the exposition (e.g. natural history docs). The voiceover is used to make sense of the visuals and therefore dominates their meaning.



Fly on the Wall - It draws on the french film movement of cinema verite. The camera is unseen or ignored. Simply records real events as they unfold.



Mixed - Combination pf interview, observations, actuality, archive footage/material and narration used to advance the argument/narrative.



Self-reflective - When the subject of the documentary acknowledges the presence of the camera and often speaks directly to the programme maker.



Docudrama - (Dramadocumentary) It's a re-enactment of events.



Docusoap - (Documentary soap operas) revolves around a group of central protangonists (e.g. Airport, The Cruise, Driving School)

Structure of Documentaries

Open Narrative Structure - (e.g. fox hunting documentary) Questions are left unanswered, which leaves loose ends at the end of a programme/documentary.

Closed Narrative Structure - (e.g trial documentaries) There is a definate and final conclusion to tie all the strings and therefore conclude the narrative.

Linear - Follows chronilogical order.

Non-Linear - Things are not in time order (Flashbacks and Flashforwards)

Circular - Starts and finishes the same

Visuals

Television is a visual medium. A program needs to be visually stimulating as it has to maintain the interest of the audience. It also has to entertain.

Archive Material - Street scenes, open countryside, close up of faces are all examples of stock footage.

Interviews - An interview can be held anywhere but the setting (mise-en-scene) does affect its meaning.

VOXPOP - (Vox populis) Means the voice of the people. Set up a camera in the street, ask the same questions to different and random people. This will give a representation of the target audience.

Construction of Reality

Gatekeeping - The selection and rejection of informatioon/content for inclusion in a media text

Editing Process - Be creative, chop up an interview - construct a reality of someone - This is where gatekeeping comes in.

Voiceover - Can alter and effect meanings or anchor the visuals

Propaganda - Advertisement, deliberatly want to influence peoples decisions.