Evaluation
As in other 'real' new media products, TakeOut featured archive footage which is found in today's popular culture. This makes the issues featured in a documentary more relevant to the audience, and therefore makes them empathize with the people featured in the documentary. Watching a documentary involves a great deal of escapism for the viewer; a chance to live life in someone else's shoes.
Framing in TakeOut and in The Devil Made Me Do It is very similar; the subject is focused to the side of the screen and is looking in the opposite direction. The rule of thirds is also used. However, within The Devil Made Me Do It, the camera is focused closer to the subject, as the topic is much more serious, and so an extreme close up is used to allow the viewer to comment on the emotion of the interviewee, and therefore become more involved in the subject of the documentary.
Titles are also similar within the two documentaries; white and simple. This validates our documentary, as the understated titles look professional, but are still easily accessible to the audience, without detracting attention from the action on screen.
Reconstruction was also a documentary convention which was used in TakeOut; reconstructions are, again, important for the audience, as they not only reveal more on a subject, but make them seem more 'close to home'. This again reflects on the escapism that a viewer feels when watching a documentary, and therefore makes TakeOut more of a valid, professional documentary.
The print advert conforms to typical conventions of a channel 4 documentary advertisement; a specific colourscheme, with the writing conforming to this in a typical channel 4 house style. The channel's logo is also located in the same place; centred to the right of screen; the logo is obvious and eyecatching, in order to appropriately inform the audience of scheduling. The title on both adverts is also bigger than the scheduling, implying that if someone is interested by the title, the viewer is more likely to then seek out more information about it, in this case, through scheduling.
In terms of the radio advert, the same conventions are supported. For example, soundbytes from the actual documentary are used to advertise the documentary, and offer a 'teaser' into the ambience of the piece. The music bed on the radio advert is common; it helps the audio to flow more smoothly and sounds more professional and inviting to listeners. Contributing to this, as is typical in radio ads, the same voiceover is used as is used in the documentary. This helpes link the texts and validates the audio, ensuring that the target audience is interested and empathizes with the theme of the documentary.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Research and Planning
The definition of a documentary is problematic. With this, we must respect that the purpose of a documentary is literally to document an event, which has to be done with evidence, using an element of actual footage. Most documentaries resemble the truth, but all use an element of construction – a documentary cannot all be simple footage, it needs to be layered together with narration and in most cases, cutaways.
Documentary was defined in the 1930’s by John Grierson and his team at the GPO ( General Post Office). He first coined the term documentary in 1926, but defined it as ‘The creative treatment of actuality’. Documentaries in those days were made for a cinema audience, as television had not yet been invented, and were used to boost morale in war times. Often, documentaries were made with government interest; used as public service announcements for example. They aimed to give people a glimpse into the lives of others; something we now take for granted, being brought up around cultural programmes and a media conscious society.
This video shows one of John Grierson's famous documentaries - Night Mail (1936)
John Connor stated in 1995 that ‘What distinguishes a documentary is the portrayal of the recorded sounds and images of actuality.’ This means that a documentary is a factual account of an event. With this, we must respect that parts could be staged and reconstructed using actors and sets, which helps to evoke feelings for the audience, and sensationalises documentaries, making them more accessible.
Therefore, we must take into account that even though documentaries are highly respected for their factual content, even the most pure of documentaries contain a high level of construction; even in interview formats, the interviewee is set up in a certain place, with a certain mise en scene and made to look a certain way; for example, in a documentary about a troubling topic; i.e eating disorders, the interviewee is made to look vulnerable. This in turn, makes the documentary even more constructed; we are seeing the subject at a biased view as an audience.
Scheduling of a documentary is very important; what is shown before and scheduled after the documentary is vital. A particular target audience will be hooked by one programme and seek interest in a documentary through this. For example, when showing a documentary surrounding the arrival of the Pope in England, Channel 4 chose to include a short minute long opinionated piece before showing the more biased documentary. This added an element of balance to the piece, but also hooked the audience’s attention.
Some documentaries are emotional and sensational in order to gain a biased opinion. These documentaries are getting rarer however, as we live in a media conscious world, and viewers today are aware of when they are being persuaded to a certain opinion. Opposing this, they do not have to have analysis – they can be descriptive and leave the viewer to decide their own opinion. British documentaries are famed for their investigative journalism – they oppose the government and sometimes society in order to try to stir up debate between people. As long as documentaries are exposing hidden truths and constructing others, there will never be total consensus in society.
THE CREATIVE TREATMENT OF ACTUALITY.
Ken Loach, Filmmaker.
How creative should a documentary be? Documentaries always need to be authentic, although some elements can be faked/reconstructed; raw footage is often impossible, as of the topics that documentaries cover. For example, documentaries on murders or domestic violence, raw footage is few and far between, or too distressing to broadcast. Raw events which have not happened and can be filmed are taken control of by the documentary; camera angles need to be taken care of, crews will watch and ensure shots are appropriate.
Diane Tammes, an esteemed filmmaker once said ‘Truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing the film. I mean, it is your truth that you’re seeing. Everybody who makes a film is putting their own truth on the screen’. This is certainly true; filmmakers have an aim of what they want their film to portray and connote, and will always show the filmmaker’s opinion.
However, It is universally considered that within documentaries there must be elements of recorded images and sound of actual reality. If there is not either of these elements, the film is not a documentary; there is no evidence, and could therefore simply be a work of fiction.
Over the years, many people have began to argue over the ‘true documentary’ as of increased creative involvement. Because of this, there are now subgenres within documentaries, which will be discussed further on.
Current affairs programmes are described by many as halfway between the news and a documentary. These programmes offer a deep analysis and can be ranged from a couple of minutes to 30 minutes long. Many consider programmes longer than this to be classed as a documentary. Weighty issues and social problems are discussed, yet they are sensationalised in order to appeal to a mass audience. Programmes such as panorama are classed as current affairs; Panorama is a primetime programme which sensationalises current affairs to reach a wider audience.
John Corner states that there are 5 stages in a documentary
- Observation
- Mise-En-Scene
- Interview
- Exposition
- Dramatisation
Most documentaries use some element of observation – the camera becomes the eyewitness. We observe some raw footage as the audience also, which makes the documentary more authentic.
Documentaries rely heavily on interviews from many different people; they can be directly involved with the subject or simply an audience member just like the viewers. Full flowing interviews are often used when concerning huge events and consulting a close subject; e.g the Jackson family after Michael Jackson’s 2009 death. Break interviews can also be used, when an interview becomes fractured between cutaways and other action pieces to support or contrast what the subject is saying.
All documentaries have an element of dramatisation – drama needs to happen naturally and show real events happening. If dramatisation is not apparent, documentaries are not considered real as they may not be factual or interesting to the viewer. Reconstruction is also important as it adds an element of dramatisation to the piece and holds the audience’s attention.
Mise en scene is important to set the scene of the documentary – within interviews, the mise en scene needs to allow drama to unfold and allow the documentary to advance with the argument of the exposition. Without an appropriate mise en scene, documentaries become stale and boring to the audience.
The exposition of the documentary is the line of argument; it could be made of description and combined with commentary. The line of argument has to be clear within a documentary, so as not to confuse the audience.
Current affairs programmes are on a much shorter deadline than normal documentaries. This is because the news within them is much more topical, and will not be relevant if broadcast too late. Documentaries, on the other hand, can take months to complete; they can be on important events, but are usually after an event has finished; e.g. to mark the anniversary of Princess Diana’s deaths, many documentaries were made. Current affairs programmes also provide info-tainment for the viewer; these programmes are like the news, but add more interviews, facts and sensationalise most of the content, in order to make it more accessible for more viewers.
It therefore seems that current affairs programmes are more relevant in today’s society; they are culturally relevant and provide topics which are enjoyable for a much wider audience than a documentary. The main reason for making documentaries however, is the public’s right to know – documentaries can reference events that happened years in the past, which the public may still want to know about, and feel that they have a right to know. Documentaries also gain authority from the connections they have with democratic processes; lack of bias etc. They also have the power to change things in society for the better.
One important filmmaker who revolutionized documentaries was Ken Loach, maker of Cathy Come Home (1966). This documentary resulted in improved conditions for the homeless and laws and legislation were changed to accept and accommodate homeless people. From this, we gain that documentaries are extremely powerful, and have the power to sway mass audiences and even governments into believing in one opinion or improving society for the better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8fVnXXMw60
^Link to Cathy Come Home, KenLoachFilms
However, documentary makers rarely question the deeper organisation and fairness of society. For example, within documentaries of the James Bulger killings, films and popular culture are blamed – i.e. the film child’s play – rather than the neglect the child killers suffered from from their parents.
Dennis O’Rourke says that ‘It is critical that filmmakers be rid of the fantasy that the documentary can be unproblematic representations of reality, and truth can be conveniently dispensed and received like Valium’. This states that documentaries need to show both sides of the argument, in order to appropriately show the conflict in an issue; this also lets the audience pick their view, so they are not biased.
Within documentaries, ideas of truth and reality can be conflicting at times. Sometimes they can attract counter claims of lies. For example, when the news broke of Tiger Woods’ infidelity, lots of women came forward with claims that they had had a relationship with him; many of these claims were proven untrue, and were just made for fame or money. Corner believes that evidence rather than truth would help this; he states that recording technologies only record traces of the physical world and can be used as evidence of actuality or reality. Furthermore, this evidence can then support the exposition and strengthen the whole documentary.
The documentary represents the transformed world. They are not especially important in a TV schedule, yet cover all 3 of the BBC’s main aims; to inform, educate and entertain. However, documentaries are the first programmes to be cut if commercial channels find money tight, as, depending on the content, they can often be unpopular within ratings. Documentaries that are ratings winners include issues of sex, law and order and violence, but they are often unpopular with networks as they may offend advertisers; e.g Cadburys are unlikely to advertise on a documentary about a brutal murderer.
There is a 3 way process within the making of documentaries; relevant elements include who the documentary is aimed at, who is featured within the documentary and the reaction of the audience. Documentaries are often about society’s victims; this is popular as people want to empathize or put themselves in another’s shoes in order to escape from their daily life. Because of this, documentaries often use humans as evidence within their expositions. Documentaries also play on the audience’s right to know – if a viewer see’s something wrong they want to right it, which again, reinforces the power of the documentary in today’s society.
Types of Documentary
Fully Narrated
A fully narrated documentary has a direct mode of address, and an off screen voice over, nicknamed voice of God. For instance, within nature documentaries, there is always a voiceover explaining the action onscreen.
Fly On The Wall
Fly on the wall documentaries are similar to the cinema verite genre – they are almost all observational, hut will sometimes convey chilling events. The process of editing within fly on the wall creates meaning to the behaviour of the subjects; e.g Rogue Traders.
Mixed
Mixed documentaries have a mixed approach to interviews, observation and narrative.
In contrast to voice of god, narration is often news style. For example, a journalist will speak to the camera while visuals are used to anchor meaning.
Self Reflective
In self reflective documentaries, the subject acknowledges the presence of the camera. People talk to the documentary maker/journalist while they are sat behind the camera.
Docudrama
Within docudramas, there is a re-enactment of events as they are supposed to have happened. Docudramas are stories which are based on facts; at best they are misleading, and at worst, dangerous. They tackle big events, e.g 9/11.
Docusoaps
Docusoaps follow the daily lives of people in a range of different jobs/positions in society – for example, airports and cruise liners. Docusoaps are brilliant for light entertainment, and are very cheap to make, but are a phenomenon of recent years and enormously popular. Steven Barnett has blamed the docusoap for dumbing down the documentary drama through disneyfication. As things become more popular, they become less informative.
Genre Analysis
The Devil Made Me Do It.
This documentary was mixed, as there was a combination of elements. Reconstructions were used to dramatize it, narratives were used to push the exposition and interviews were used to add drama and sensationalise.
In terms of themes within this documentary, there are many deep social themes including murder, religion, music, and youth. Another theme is the effect of the media on society; Marylin Manson’s depiction and representation is part of the exposition within the documentary, as murders are blamed on him. This plays on society’s values, as even in a small rural Italian town, media affects the youth there.
The narrative structure within the documentary is linear; the beginning of the documentary sets up the exposition and conflict. We, as the audience, also ask the question ‘Why has the nun died?’, as this is the problem which surrounds the documentary. In the middle, we question the influence of Marilyn Manson – is he the puppetmaster of the murder, or is he simply being used as the scapegoat? The end brings resolution through equilibrium. The town is now normal, the inverted crosses are gone and the girls are in jail.
Cinematography in The Devil Made Me Do It mainly showed the town of Chiavenna as vulnerable; crane shots over the town were used under the narrative and during sounds of the reconstruction to make the town seem innocent yet deserted. High angles were also used a lot; over the graveyard and over the audience in the Manson concert, making the problem seem more important than them, while expanding the severity of the problem.
Cantered shots were also used which make the audience uncomfortable and confused, which contrasted with the more average establishing shots of Chiavenna and the murder scene. Other important shots within the documentary include the interviews of the teenagers; they are all in two shots in groups. This means that they are protected by each other and are not vulnerable. The last interview in the documentary includes a close up of the expert blaming Manson for the death; this finalises the audience’s perspective on the murder and cements the blame on the music star.
In terms of mise-en scene, within the interviews everyone is interviewed in their own environment. This makes the interviewees more comfortable and they seem to talk more fluidly.
When the psychologist expert is seen getting on a train, although this is staged, it also shows her as a career woman. She is also powerdressing in terms of her costume; she is wearing a bright red suit which commands the attention of the viewer.
In other terms of costume and makeup, when we are introduced to Marilyn Manson concertgoers, we see lots of people with their faces painted like Manson, wearing black clothing and stereotypically acting like the social group ‘goth’. This references rebellion; there were others that attended the concert who were dressed normally, but we are introduced to them as they seem to be the ones who will reinforce the exposition of the documentary.
Sound within the documentary was largely diegetic within the large amount of interviews, but non diegetic sound was also used (e.g within the reconstruction) to dramatize the action and shock the audience. Sound effects were used to compliment this and create the feeling that the audience were eavesdropping on the action. For example, religious music, gothic music and effects of heartbeats were used to break up the action and create excitement. Natural ambient sound used within the documentary also helped to ‘spice up’ the action, including police sirens and church bells.
Editing within the documentary included lots of long takes for which the voiceover narrative is very important, in order to make sure the audience’s attention is maintained. Cutaways were used in every interview for the same reason; several linear interviews wouldn’t make sense and would confuse the viewer. There is also shot reverse shot between the audience and Manson in the concert footage and eyeline match on the cantered camera footage.
Archive material used within the documentary to make it more interesting and show the history of similar events included concert footage, music videos, interviews, nun’s funeral and the news.
There was a small clip of the columbine shooting, for which Manson’s lyrics had been blamed before, which shows that he has a history with violence, although he was never found guilty, it supports the exposition.
All of the archive material used within the documentary evokes a sense of wrongdoing on Manson’s part, and again, reinforces the exposition.
Graphics used in the documentary were largely quite simple. Subtitling was used during the concert footage, which even included swear words, which is largely frowned upon and now prohibited.
The opening title was white on black and featured ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’ in religious style font; this connoted opposites and the contrast of good and evil. Also, when using captions underneath the interviewees to reference their names and occupations, the graphics were white and in a small, basic font, which didn’t detract the attention from the action.
Genre Analysis - Marketing Movies
Marketing Movies
Marketing Movies is a mixed documentary, as it has a combination of voiceover, interviews and archive footage. The voiceover leads the narrative, while the archive footage serves as important during cutaways. The interviews structure the whole documentary, while also using graphics to separate chapters.
Themes within this documentary included marketing, merchandising and target audiences. The documentary focused on the overall marketing of a film, as this was the exposition – ‘Why Is Marketing Important?’ Merchandising footage was used a lot throughout the documentary, through cutaways and archive footage. This is because merchandise was said to be a central theme through marketing, and ironically, advertised products to the viewers while we watched the documentary. Target audiences were also stipulated as very important within the documentary; filming is worthless if the audience is not targeted correctly, as with documentaries.
The narrative structure of this documentary was simplistic and linear. The beginning posed the exposition question – ‘Why is Marketing important?’ The audience then watches on to see how films are made successfully. The middle then includes information which represents conflict; how to overcome bad reviews in the film industry. We are also introduced to a case study of Mouse Hunt, which follows as a theme in the documentary right until the end. The end then uses an open ended narrative – was or wasn’t Mouse Hunt successful as of appropriate marketing? This is clever, as during the time the documentary was made and released, this answer was yet to be found, as Mouse Hunt was still in the process of being marketed and sold; however, now we can see that it was a very successful children’s film.
Within Marketing Movies, camera work was relatively simple. During interviews, there was a static camera and medium close ups, filming only the interviewee. These interviews were fractured, and on some, sound was continued over a new set of visuals when using cutaways. Cutaways always used content which related to what the interviewee was saying; close ups of money, panning shots of merchandise and high angle shots looking over London. During some interviews, the camera sometimes altered between deep and shallow focus, between the interviewee and the poster. This literally means that the audience focuses on what the documentary makers want them to.
In terms of mise-en-scene within the documentary, within interviews, subject matter was left to lead, and the background images related to the speech within interviews; film posters were used in the background, which not only remarkets the film to the viewer, but also makes sure content is kept relevant. In other areas of the documentary, there are shots of London – this is where most of the documentary’s action is set and is appropriate, as London is said to be the capital of UK filmmaking. Contributing to this, in cutaways, we see many people gathering around premieres, around film sets and even outside the cinema box office. This not only shows exhibition and distribution, two key factors of filmmaking, but also reinforces the whole theme of the documentary and backs up what experts are saying in their interviews.
Sound wasn’t really used to anchor meaning within Marketing Movies, like in The Devil Made Me Do It, but music was instead used to compliment the theme; a music bed of an upbeat tune was used in the background throughout, and sound was continued over new sets of visuals. All other sound was relatively naturalistic – the sound that was used in interviews was not dubbed, and was instead used accordingly.
Editing within the documentary was also relatively simplistic; cuts were used between action, and fades were used as a quick fix when editing did not make sense. There were also fades to the graphics that were used to mark the chapters, which was again, unusual for a documentary as graphics are usually minimally to allow the action within the documentary to speak for itself. In terms of cutaways, many different shots of related scenes were used to anchor meaning to the words of the interviewers; they complimented things well, e.g. when talking about cinema sales, shots of people purchasing tickets at a box office.
Archive material was used continuously throughout the documentary, as the theme allowed footage to be used from past award ceremonies and film premieres, and footage was even used from trailers from films which the interviewees were talking about. Trailers were used as evidence to support successful/unsuccessful marketing, as were clips from films and footage from premieres. The main case study in Marketing Movies was the popular film, Mouse Hunt. This was a new, modern film at the time of the documentary’s release, and therefore was very popular to fans of the film and those wanting a ‘behind the scenes look’ at the films success or failure.
Graphics were used continuously throughout the documentary; there was a cartoon man which announced the titles of new scenes/chapters within the documentary, which alerted the audience what the theme of the next scene would be. This made the documentary very simplistic, and the content was self explanatory through colourful graphics. This is unusual for documentaries, as they usually manage to keep the audience wanting more, and therefore hook the audience’s attention by offering a simple exposition at the beginning of the documentary, and the audience then expect an answer to this by the end of the film.
Genre Analysis - The Music Biz
The Music Biz
This documentary was a mixed documentary – it combined voiceovers, archive footage and interviews, as evidence to support the exposition of the documentary, which led to the success of Meat Loaf’s comeback to the charts.
Themes within ‘The Music Biz’ included money, expectations from record companies, marketing campaigns, selling an artists, the importance of Christmas number one singles and the resurrection of a career. The documentary revolved around the popular rock artist, Meat Loaf, who was making a comeback after suffering from alcoholism and bankruptcy. These themes all relate through the ‘music biz’, which is why the title is appropriate. These problems are often true with many artists, but the themes have been dramatized for the purpose of the documentary, and therefore the themes are prolonged.
The narrative structure within ‘The Music Biz’ is average; the beginning starts with the exposition and promise of a Meat Loaf comeback, and therefore entices the audience; older generations know of his work from years ago, and the younger audience know him from recent success. In the beginning of the documentary, we are introduced to the press surrounding Meat Loaf’s career resurrection, which leads the audience to think that the whole documentary will be related to media attention etc. During the middle of the documentary, the conflict is what Meat Loaf says and his actual history; he says ‘he hasn’t been anywhere’, but the public and press know of his past troubles, as it was well documented at the time. Contributing to this, other conflict within the documentary was money problems when remarketing the brand of ‘Meat Loaf’. The mass marketing campaign and huge video shoot meant that money was constantly being pumped into the career revamp, which was a problem for the record producers and the record company, Virgin. The end of the documentary brought a renewed equilibrium to the story. The aim was to prove that the huge marketing of Meat Loaf was successful which was proven true from huge record sales, leading to a huge 8 weeks at number one.
Cinematography within The Music Biz was similar to other documentaries which I have studied; during interviews a static camera was used, and there were focused medium close ups within interviews. Within action actually concerning the star, Meat Loaf, there was many zooms and close ups signifying his importance and giving the audience a closer look at the star. Another important part of camerawork was during the video shoot on location in Los Angeles; there were many panning shot between Meat Loaf and Michael Bay, the director of the documentary. This, combined with two shots showed the symbiotic relationship between the two and also the power struggle over the video. Panning shots were widely used within the documentary; they were used within the boardroom at Virgin HQ and in the press conference with Meat Loaf; this allows the audience to see everyone’s faces, and therefore enables them to feel more like they are part of the action. Unconventional techniques were also used within this documentary; at one point when focusing on Meat Loaf, the camera nods an answer to the star, which makes the camera seem like part of the audience; leading an ironic opinion. This can also be construed as self reflective on Meat Loaf also – he is the main point of the documentary and leads it.
Mise-en-scene within The Music Biz was rich in variety and was always kept relevant to the theme. In the background of experts in interviews, green screens were used, which were over layed with pictures of Meat Loaf and articles related to him. Within other areas of the documentary, we were introduced to Meat Loaf’s world by seeing him on location at a video shoot in LA. We also saw many red carpet premieres and award ceremonies, which reinforced the importance of marketing and brought the question; which is more important – fame or music? Reinforcing this further, we saw Meat Loaf at marketing interviews, for example at Radio 1 with Pat Sharp, on the popular teenage TV show O-Zone and even on popular breakfast TV show Good Morning Britain. This showed the audience how important Meat Loaf is; he is seen everywhere that is anywhere, and he is the star of the moment. Adding a more professional feel to the documentary, we saw record executives at Virgin records headquarters, which showed us that although Meat Loaf is the star, there are many people of importance surrounding his fame, people who can ‘make him, or break him.
In the Music Biz, sound was mainly naturalistic and was led from the interviews, which explained the whole story for the viewer. Any parts that were missed out were filled in through voiceover from ‘the voice of God’. There was no music bed and hardly any sound effects, which made the documentary increasingly simplistic. Notably, one sound effect that was used was a heartbeat when interviewees were talking about money; a very important theme within the whole documentary. Soundtracks featuring Meat Loaf were used during cutaways, and during the video shoot in L.A.
In terms of editing, cutaways were constantly used as a way to enhance the hype surrounding Meat Loaf; there were parts of the music video featured, newspaper cuttings, Meat Loaf on location, records within music stores such as HMV and even in betting shops when talking about the importance of the Christmas number one single. These cutaways made the documentary seem more current, and showed the audience the hype surrounding Meat Loaf, echoing the world that they were currently living in. Transitions were used between pictures and interviews, and dissolves were the main port of call; dissolves relate each scene directly to each other and make the documentary flow more smoothly. Other notable editing includes shot reverse shot when Meat Loaf and Michael Bay were in discussion during the video shoot; similar to panning shots, this shows the audience the symbiotic relationship between the two, and also the conflict and power struggle they face when making the video.
Archive material was widely used within the documentary; there was past footage of award ceremonies, popular culture shows such as Top of the Pops and even archive footage of music videos competing for the Christmas number one, including a variety of styles, including Meat Loaf, Mr Blobby and Take That. All of the archive material enhanced the excitement around Meat Loaf’s comeback and increased his fame persona through showing the audience his past, and making them seem ‘out of the loop’ if they are unaware of him. This is clever, as it makes those who do not know about Meat Loaf want to carry on watching so they can learn more about popular culture which is passing them by, and also attracts avid fans of Meat Loaf as they can watch behind the scenes footage and learn more about their favourite celebrity.
Graphics were used to breaking point within the documentary, and were used to make the documentary more ‘current’ and ‘cool’. The beginning of The Music Biz is evidence of this, when interviewees are super imposed on a fake magazine cover, which not only makes them seem faux-famous, but also makes the documentary more exciting and shows themes related to the media orientation of the documentary. Other graphics include the captions which showed interviewees’ names – these graphics looked more official than those in past documentaries which I have studied and were more fancy – they showed the company the expert interviewee worked for and their job titles, in order to show their relationship to the fame of the star of the documentary, Meat Loaf.
Genre Analysis - 'That Thing: Lara Croft'
‘That Thing’ - Lara Croft
This documentary was also mixed as there was a combination of elements within it; there was a voiceover, but this only made up a small part of the narration, as the interviewees made up most of the structure. There was also archive footage and evidence to support what the interviewees were saying, including ‘in game’ footage from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
That Thing was based on the popular video game, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which was huge in popular culture around the time which this documentary was made and released. Themes also included media effects, global marketing and technology; without any one of these, the game would not have become successful enough to be transferred into movie format. There were also themes of fantasy, which attracted a younger, more teenage audience to the short documentary. Themes of post-feminism were also discussed; one interviewee spoke of how Lara can be seen as a feminist character, as she is a tough but glamorous woman. However, nowadays radical feminists would see her as more of a threat to gender equality rather than a hero to women, as she is treated as a sexualised object of male fantasy.
Narrative structure within That Thing began with the introduction of Lara Croft the character, and Lara Croft the game. There is no exposition within this documentary, we are simply watching to gain some sort of info-tainment from the sequence. The middle of the documentary shows interviewees who surround the world of Lara Croft talking about their experience of the character – is she fantasized over as of aggressive sexualisation? And is it ethical to allow people to fantasize over a computer generated character? Another question which was raised and left to be unanswered at the time of the documentary is the worry that Angelina Jolie (the actress in the Tomb Raider film) would alter the character of Lara Croft, which brought a conflict of opinions in from the different interviewees. The ending of the documentary concluded that Tomb Raider was a very successful game, but offered no concrete conclusion for the viewer, reinforcing the genre of info-tainment. This type of structure also leads the viewer to participate in a ‘watercooler moment’ with their peers or colleagues; a popular theme of conversation or small talk which is sure to strike up a discussion.
Within ‘That Thing’, camerawork was largely erratic and varied – the interviewees were focused on with extreme close ups, often cutting out parts of their face or head. Cantered camera angles were also used when interviewing the creator of the game and Jolie, the actress in the film; these people are very important within the documentary, and so are focused on differently than the average interviewees. During cutaways we follow people playing the game using over the shoulder shots and extreme close ups of their hands playing the game. This increases the excitement of the game playing, and encourages the viewer to want to take part. The erratic camerawork was considered ‘artsy’ and extreme, yet was edited well, which meant that it was able to hit the right audience without seeming too ‘overdone’.
Largely within That Thing, the mise-en-scene was very dark and hard to make out; most of the interviewees looked like they were part of the game and blended in with the overall theme. This was also achieved with the green screen used in the background. The only people who differed from this in terms of mise-en-scene were the game creator and Jolie, who were both much brighter, and easier to focus on. It was almost as if they were the puppet masters of the other interviewees, and were more ‘real’ as they had helped to manufacture the fantasy world of the game and the movie.
Sound within the documentary was current and exhilarating to the viewer, as it related to popular culture; there was a music bed throughout of techno music and Madonna songs. These interested younger viewers, which helped attract the correct target audience to the TV. Sound from the game was used at alternating points as a sound effect. This sound led the audience into almost becoming part of the game, but also alerted the audience of one of the main themes of That Thing – the sexualisation of the video game character. Other natural sound used included the natural sound from the interviews, which helped maintain structure within the documentary.
Editing was very fast paced and very modern; this is similar to the editing of an action sequence, and therefore attracts the same audience that would be attracted to the actual video game.
Archive Material which was used within That Thing featured clips from in game footage and short clips from the upcoming film, Tomb Raider. Each clip was very short, but was relevant and made the documentary seem more ‘official’.
Graphics within That Thing were basic – small, white font alerting the audience of the interviewee’s name and relationship to the Tomb Raider franchise, located to the bottom left side of the screen, so as not to detract the audience’s attention from the actual action. There was also a running theme graphic throughout the documentary; the That Thing logo was used frequently, and occupations and captions were all related to the words ‘That Thing’ in some way, shape or form.
Genre Analysis - Escape From Auschwitz
Escape from Auschwitz
This documentary type was mixed, with strong elements of self reflective documentaries. It would be classed as a mixed type of documentary, as it included voiceover, interview and archive footage. Mixed documentaries tend to use interviews and voiceover to structure the documentary, in order to allow the narrative structure to become clearer.
Themes of Escape from Auschwitz included death, war, guns, Poland and concentration camps. The subject matter was very dark, and dealt with World War II, and the terror many people faced under Hitler’s reign of terror. These themes were conveyed through archived interviews and real archive footage from wartime, which shocked and interested viewers; they are getting an exclusive look at the Second World War. This leads to empathy from the viewers; they are seeing the devastation as if they were there, and are told accounts from real people who suffered under the tyrannical regime.
Narrative structure within the documentary began with the exposition – Did anyone escape from Auschwitz? Who escaped? What happened to them? Questions like this were asked throughout the documentary; the middle had conflict to the exposition. It was at first suggested that people had escaped from the concentration camp, but in the middle, news of deportation and the question ‘Will people ever become free of Auschwitz?’ was asked. The end concluded that out of 800 potential escapees, only 400 people successfully escaped the concentration camp. This brought an odd equilibrium to the ending; the world was back to normal, but millions of people around the world had died as a result of the war.
Camerawork within this documentary included a lot of tracking, following people around the remains of Auschwitz and panning showing the whole scene, along with long shots to reinforce the scenes of devastation. Within archive footage of Auschwitz, there were a lot of simplistic panning shots, possibly because there were not a lot of cameras around at the time, and this enabled a whole setting to be shown in one swoop. In other archive footage, interviews were also shot with a static camera, and interviewees were always in close up format. This let the audience empathize with them more, as you could see their true emotion when they were talking, which made it easy for the audience to focus on them, and sympathize.
Mise-en-scene within Escape from Auschwitz was mainly on location at Auschwitz; it was filmed in the wintertime, so there was snow around the whole area, which connoted death, winter and worry. Within the archived interviews, there was a black background which meant that the interviewee commanded the attention of the viewer and their facial emotions were more ‘raw’ and clear. Other interviews were conducted at the interviewee’s home, which made the interviewee more comfortable and relaxed, which meant that they answered questions and told their story more precisely, with less exaggeration. This documentary was very dark, both in subject matter and mise-en-scene. Most footage was black and white as it was archived from the 1940’s and 50’s, which is a time when colour recording was not yet invented.
In terms of sound, throughout the documentary, there was an intriguing mystery style non-diegetic music bed. This connoted wonder and created tension in the documentary – what will happen next? A voiceover narrated pictures, with related visuals to the speech from archive footage. There was also speech from the archived interviews which was layered over other archived footage; videos from inside gas chambers etc. During some interviews, the people who were interviewed were Polish (which would be expected, due to the subject matter) and so, there was an English translation dubbed over their speech. This helped the audience, as normally, they would not be able to understand many of the survivors, but the documentary helped to break down the language barrier.
Editing within Escape from Auschwitz used a lot of fades, dissolves and cuts between archive materials, in order to vary footage, which often looks very similar. On the static archive footage, zooms and pans were used as transitions in order to make the documentary more exciting and less repetitive. The editing within the documentary also matched with the beat of the music bed, which was effective at making the documentary flow more smoothly.
A lot of archive material was used within the documentary – it was based on archive footage, and links between archive materials were the most recent footage shot. There were many pictures from WWII and video footage from the concentration camp. There were archived videos from inside Auschwitz, and tracking crane shots showing the whole of the complex.
Graphics within Escape from Auschwitz were largely simplistic apart from the links between archived footage and interviews; the titles included spotlights showing various parts of archive footage, and the actual title font was in the style as if it had been scrawled on a prison wall which hinted at the macabre nature of the documentary. At various points in the documentary, there was a computerized map showing the audience were Auschwitz was in relation to other important WWII landmarks. This added a sense of modernity to the documentary, and contrasted the overall theme; we have moved on from times of black and white footage and discriminatory wars. Other graphics were extremely simple; small, thin white font at the bottom left of the screen, simply telling the viewer the name of an interviewee, or the location of the footage.