Lost Land of the Tiger
This documentary was a nature documentary, which was mixed, due to narration and on location interviews. This was an unconventional documentary as it showed a team, some of which were talking to the audience directly.
Themes within the Lost Land of the Tiger include nature, extinction, endangered animals and the Himalayas. All of these themes attract people of a similar target audience; men and women over the age of 30. However, it hits a wide target audience; due to its subject matter, it is widely accessible to many ages and individuals.
Narrative structure within the documentary began with the question – ‘Can tigers live in the mountains, or are they extinct there?’ The audience get taken in by this question – and want to find out whether there are tigers living on the ironically named ‘Tiger Mountain’. The middle brings the conflict to the documentary and many more questions are raised – ‘Will the team be harmed?’ ‘Will they find any tigers?’ The audience is now hooked to the documentary, and are watching in awe as one of the team of experts finds evidence of a big cat living in the mountains. The end of the documentary brings a resolution, in which we find that tigers do exist in the mountains, as we see the evidence which was filmed by camera traps. This discovery is new to science and said to be central to tiger survival, which means there is hope for tigers.
Lost Land of the Tiger has a lot of varying camerawork – crane shots and extreme high angles are widely used within the documentary, which shows the landscape well, and the sheer volume of the landscape. It also makes the team of experts seem smaller, and almost vulnerable against the vast expanse of the Himalayas. Some high angle shots were also shot with a helicopter, enabling smooth swoops to film the whole landscape. Complimenting this, a lot of long shots are used to show a less detailed view of what the team can see – the landscape is part of the theme of the documentary – is it habitable for tigers? Panning shots are used when the team reach the top of the mountain, enabling the audience to see what the team see – it is as if the viewer is part of it, and we are there with the experts. Tilts down the mountain are also used, in order to show how huge the mountain is – It makes it seem bigger than it does on a long shot, because it shows it’s so big it cannot fit in the frame. There is a lot of handheld camerawork within the Lost Land of the Tiger – cameras follow the team around, creating unplanned high angles and low angles. For example, when one of the team is watching animals from a hide, the camera is placed at his feet, making him look powerful. Other camerawork includes many zooms on animals; the cameras cannot get too close as this would frighten the animal and the same shot would not be gained. Zooms on the reaction of the team’s face went along with this, and showed their astonishment at the beauty of nature.
The Lost Land of the Tiger offered some impressive on location mise-en-scene. Majestic landscapes are in the background of all interviews; there is no studio or green screen used, which makes the whole feel of the documentary more exciting and action filled. Cultural scenes from the area were also used, with interviews from locals of the Himalayas commenting on their experiences of tigers in the area. It was up to the team of experts and the viewers to judge whether these stories were handed down from folklore or real life. Nature and beauty were huge themes within the documentary and were centred on through shots of the landscape and area.
Sound within the documentary was mainly diegetic – commentary from the team was delivered, and there were naturalistic sounds of the animals that were filmed used. Non-diegetic sound included an action music bed, which included classical music with lots of crescendos, heightening the tension and mimicking the action which was playing out onscreen. Tribal music was also used as a music bed when local people were being interviewed, which made The Lost Land of the Tiger more authentic and cultural. The documentary was fully narrated with interviews, allowing the narrative to flow in a linear pattern – a simple story and exposition was answered. Other music included diegetic sound from the team singing.
Editing was largely fast paced and fast moving. There were many cameras used within the documentary, which offered many different perspectives, following the explorers around the mountains. The views alternated between the different people in the team, which was cut together from combining cutaways of the landscape and different animals back to the experts we were following the quest of. Match on action also enabled us to follow the explorers from many different points of view. Jump cuts were also used when focusing on people waiting for an animal; this is radical for a documentary, as it normally seems lazy and too simplistic to the narrative structure. Editing when focusing on landscape footage often used recordings from a static camera sped up to signify the time which has passed – this often served as a cutaway within the hour long documentary.
Archive material was barely used in the Lost Land of the Tiger. All of the footage was recent, which modernized the documentary, and made sure that the audience was as up to date as the experts on screen. Old figures of tiger extinction were used as a comparison, in order for viewers to able to empathize with the team’s passion for actually finding the tigers and eventually saving the endangered species.
The lost land of the tiger used advanced graphics continually, in order to keep the documentary up to date and exciting for the viewer. Fancy opening titles were used, and were implemented as an introduction to all of the experts featured in the documentary, using action which was used in the actual documentary; the opening title sequence was therefore seen as a teaser trailer to the whole documentary, offering the audience a sneak peek into what is to come. Indian style font was used in the sequence, which reinforced the theme of the location of the documentary; the Himalayas. Computerized maps were used within the documentary, in order to show the viewer precisely where the team of experts were located, and where the action was all taking place. Other captions were simple – they showed the names and altitudes of the area or the names of the team, and were set to the bottom left of the screen in small, white, uncomplicated font.
No comments:
Post a Comment