Title of programme:
That thing / Lara Croft
Type of documentary:
Mixed - Interviews, Actuality footage, Archive material.
Themes:
Icons, feminism, Power of the media, the representation of women.
Narrative Structure:
Single strand, Closed narrative, Non-Linear – It plays about with time; it is not in chronological order.
Camera Work:
Interviews were filmed either to the left or right hand side of the screen and shot in close up or medium close up, the interviewee’s eye line is approximately 1/3 of the way up the screen. Zoom/Pans across people on computers. Tilted framing is also used along with a big close up. Medium close ups are used regularly throughout the documentary.
Mise-en-scene:
CHROMAKEY – Blue or green screen used as the backdrop for the interviews. A lot of the chromakey, the background was out of focus to draw the audiences attention to what was in focus – The person being interviewed. All the interviews are done with good lighting – the room is well lit on all interviews. Font projection – the projector is over the woman’s face who is being interviewed. The creator of Lara Croft is treated like a computerised character.
Sound:
Voice over – Male – Standard English – Young. A young person is used because the topic is a game, which appeals to a younger audience. A relaxed approach is used by the man doing the voice over. Music and sound effects from the game were used throughout the documentary. The music used in the documentary signifies that the target audience of the documentary is younger people.
Editing:
Simple cutting is used to avoid distracting the attention of the audience from what is happening on screen. Fast motion is used in the documentary.
Archive Material:
Websites
Extracts from the game
Emails
Nike Advert
Interview with Angelina (who plays Lara Croft in the film)
Graphics:
Text is always on the opposite side of the screen than the person. The top line of text is always bigger than the bottom line of text; this draws emphasis on the persons name rather than their occupation. Capital letters are not used.
Thursday 1 October 2009
Documentary Analysis 2 - Music Biz - The Marketing Of Meatloaf
Title of programme:
Music Biz – The marketing of Meatloaf
Type of documentary:
Mixed - Interviews, Actuality footage, Archive material.
Themes:
Marketing the music industry. Image creation – The way Meatloaf’s image is created. Manipulation of audiences / power of the media – The media can manipulate the audience into buying CD’s, gig tickets etc.
Narrative Structure:
Non-Linear, single strand, Closed narrative, Circular – starts with a press conference and ends with a press conference.
Camera Work:
Low angle. Interviews were filmed either to the left or right hand side of the screen and shot in close up or medium close up. In one interview the man who is being interviewed is being filmed on his side, just to the side of his head – this creates a barrier because there is no eye contact and feels strange because there is no eye contact and it breaks codes and conventions. Handheld when filming actuality footage / music video and press conference. Camera positions us (the audience) as observers. TV crews in press conference, point of view shot in the betting shop. Panning/Zoom used for still images, makes it more interesting. Still images of Chart listing, CD, images, magazines, NME magazine. At least 4 different interviews with Meatloaf with different locations.
Mise-en-scene:
CHROMAKEY – Blue or green screen used as the backdrop for the interviews. This is used as background – e.g. weather forecasting. The background can be relevant to what is being spoken about. The backgrounds of interviews are always relevant to the person speaking or what is being spoken about.
Sound:
Voice over – Male – Standard English – holds the narrative together, he was very sarcastic and opinionated (not a conventional voice over to be used in a documentary) Meatloaf music is used at various times throughout the programme. A sound effect of a heart beat is used to heighten tension. Classic and string music is used to build up suspense. The background sound is completely silent during interviews in the documentary. All questions are edited out, we cannot hear the questions being asked, we just hear the interviewee giving an answer.
Editing:
Cut and cross cutting were the main editing used in this documentary, they used simple cuts so the audience could keep focus on the story and not get distracted by fancy editing. Dissolve is used when there is an image then another one appears from behind the dissolving image. Spin effect. Montage, two different, during an American TV show and when Meatloaf was asked what exactly ‘he wouldn’t do for love’ by several people in the documentary. Fast motion is used to show people walking past HMV at night; the people are seen going past very fast. Slow motion is also used when Meatloaf is walking into a building.
Archive Material:
Top of the pops
Chat shows
Music Videos
Grammy Awards
News Programme
Newspaper
Website
Graphics:
Logo for the title of the series ‘The Biz’ and then the name etc. Graphics anchored who the people were and their relevance to the topic. Graphics were superimposed over the images. Title scrolled across the screen at the end of the images. Title scrolled across the screen at the end of the programme. Not conventional title, it normally shoots up the screen.
Music Biz – The marketing of Meatloaf
Type of documentary:
Mixed - Interviews, Actuality footage, Archive material.
Themes:
Marketing the music industry. Image creation – The way Meatloaf’s image is created. Manipulation of audiences / power of the media – The media can manipulate the audience into buying CD’s, gig tickets etc.
Narrative Structure:
Non-Linear, single strand, Closed narrative, Circular – starts with a press conference and ends with a press conference.
Camera Work:
Low angle. Interviews were filmed either to the left or right hand side of the screen and shot in close up or medium close up. In one interview the man who is being interviewed is being filmed on his side, just to the side of his head – this creates a barrier because there is no eye contact and feels strange because there is no eye contact and it breaks codes and conventions. Handheld when filming actuality footage / music video and press conference. Camera positions us (the audience) as observers. TV crews in press conference, point of view shot in the betting shop. Panning/Zoom used for still images, makes it more interesting. Still images of Chart listing, CD, images, magazines, NME magazine. At least 4 different interviews with Meatloaf with different locations.
Mise-en-scene:
CHROMAKEY – Blue or green screen used as the backdrop for the interviews. This is used as background – e.g. weather forecasting. The background can be relevant to what is being spoken about. The backgrounds of interviews are always relevant to the person speaking or what is being spoken about.
Sound:
Voice over – Male – Standard English – holds the narrative together, he was very sarcastic and opinionated (not a conventional voice over to be used in a documentary) Meatloaf music is used at various times throughout the programme. A sound effect of a heart beat is used to heighten tension. Classic and string music is used to build up suspense. The background sound is completely silent during interviews in the documentary. All questions are edited out, we cannot hear the questions being asked, we just hear the interviewee giving an answer.
Editing:
Cut and cross cutting were the main editing used in this documentary, they used simple cuts so the audience could keep focus on the story and not get distracted by fancy editing. Dissolve is used when there is an image then another one appears from behind the dissolving image. Spin effect. Montage, two different, during an American TV show and when Meatloaf was asked what exactly ‘he wouldn’t do for love’ by several people in the documentary. Fast motion is used to show people walking past HMV at night; the people are seen going past very fast. Slow motion is also used when Meatloaf is walking into a building.
Archive Material:
Top of the pops
Chat shows
Music Videos
Grammy Awards
News Programme
Newspaper
Website
Graphics:
Logo for the title of the series ‘The Biz’ and then the name etc. Graphics anchored who the people were and their relevance to the topic. Graphics were superimposed over the images. Title scrolled across the screen at the end of the images. Title scrolled across the screen at the end of the programme. Not conventional title, it normally shoots up the screen.
Documentary Analysis 1 - The Devil Made Me Do It
Title of programme:
The devil made me do it
Type of documentary:
Mixed - Interviews, Actuality footage, Archive material.
Themes:
Religion, Youth culture, the power of the media – Did Mansen’s music and videos influence the behaviour of teenagers? Good vs. Evil, (BINARY OPPOSITION, Levi Strauss).
Narrative Structure:
Open – The question about Mansen is not answered.
Single Strand – Murder, the documentary is about that one topic.
Non Linear – It plays about with time, it is not in chronological order.
Camera Work:
The camera observes over media, the audience is an observer. Interviews – Close ups or medium close ups and filmed to either the left or right side hand of the screen. Mansen’s interview is filmed in low angle; it is the only interview that is filmed in low angle, to show his power, compared to everyone else. The lighting is done so that half his face is lit and half is in darkness, this is symbolic to his character, Good vs. Evil, although the question is still not answered. Is he good or is he evil? Shots of Jesus on the cross or pictures of him were all filmed in low angle to show him as a powerful figure. Long shots of deserted streets, high angles and slow pans. Various shots of religious iconography – angels, Jesus etc. Hand held camera work is used on the actuality footage throughout the documentary so the camera can respond to the action that will be happening. Keeps the same framing. At the Mansen gig the camera is in the audience. Camera tracks forwards and backwards, pan, track, high angle, low angle, zoom, creative camera work is used to create the documentary.
Mise-en-scene:
The Mise-en-scene at the interview shows the persons personality. Teenagers in the bar and in the bedroom. The chief of police is cat at his desk with his cap in front of him; this stands out to show his badge, this anchors his occupation and his relevance to the story. Religious iconography is used a lot. The contrast between the teenagers in the streets and the cars speeding down the road and the quiet streets, it’s the same town yet the contrast is very distinctive. Mansen goes into McDonalds, this shows he is a hypocrite as he is anticaptavist and McDonalds is a captavist place. He is a character, he does not believe in what he says in his music, he does it to get the fans. Days and Weeks of footage were filmed and this clip was used to show him being a hypocrite.
Sound:
Music – Religious, choral music is used; choir singing is used to show the religious connotations. Sound effects e.g. Heartbeat, whispering and church bells are used throughout the documentary. Voice over – the narrator of the programme is male. Young and speaks standard English, he has no clear accent although a slight Scottish accent is apparent, he is used as the glue to hold the whole narrative together, he is used to tell the story and anchor the meaning. Other voice over’s translating the Italian into English, each voice used for translation reflects the gender and age of the Italian person. They had Italian accents, not in standard English; they conveyed that the people were Italian.
Editing:
Cut and cross cutting were the main editing used in this documentary, they used simple cuts so the audience could keep focus on the story and not get distracted by fancy editing. Fade to black and fade from black were used to show the pass of time or the end of one section of the documentary. Montage was used at the beginning of the documentary to tease the audience.
Archive Material:
Mansen
Italian TV talk show
American Colanbyne
Newspaper cutting
The devil made me do it
Type of documentary:
Mixed - Interviews, Actuality footage, Archive material.
Themes:
Religion, Youth culture, the power of the media – Did Mansen’s music and videos influence the behaviour of teenagers? Good vs. Evil, (BINARY OPPOSITION, Levi Strauss).
Narrative Structure:
Open – The question about Mansen is not answered.
Single Strand – Murder, the documentary is about that one topic.
Non Linear – It plays about with time, it is not in chronological order.
Camera Work:
The camera observes over media, the audience is an observer. Interviews – Close ups or medium close ups and filmed to either the left or right side hand of the screen. Mansen’s interview is filmed in low angle; it is the only interview that is filmed in low angle, to show his power, compared to everyone else. The lighting is done so that half his face is lit and half is in darkness, this is symbolic to his character, Good vs. Evil, although the question is still not answered. Is he good or is he evil? Shots of Jesus on the cross or pictures of him were all filmed in low angle to show him as a powerful figure. Long shots of deserted streets, high angles and slow pans. Various shots of religious iconography – angels, Jesus etc. Hand held camera work is used on the actuality footage throughout the documentary so the camera can respond to the action that will be happening. Keeps the same framing. At the Mansen gig the camera is in the audience. Camera tracks forwards and backwards, pan, track, high angle, low angle, zoom, creative camera work is used to create the documentary.
Mise-en-scene:
The Mise-en-scene at the interview shows the persons personality. Teenagers in the bar and in the bedroom. The chief of police is cat at his desk with his cap in front of him; this stands out to show his badge, this anchors his occupation and his relevance to the story. Religious iconography is used a lot. The contrast between the teenagers in the streets and the cars speeding down the road and the quiet streets, it’s the same town yet the contrast is very distinctive. Mansen goes into McDonalds, this shows he is a hypocrite as he is anticaptavist and McDonalds is a captavist place. He is a character, he does not believe in what he says in his music, he does it to get the fans. Days and Weeks of footage were filmed and this clip was used to show him being a hypocrite.
Sound:
Music – Religious, choral music is used; choir singing is used to show the religious connotations. Sound effects e.g. Heartbeat, whispering and church bells are used throughout the documentary. Voice over – the narrator of the programme is male. Young and speaks standard English, he has no clear accent although a slight Scottish accent is apparent, he is used as the glue to hold the whole narrative together, he is used to tell the story and anchor the meaning. Other voice over’s translating the Italian into English, each voice used for translation reflects the gender and age of the Italian person. They had Italian accents, not in standard English; they conveyed that the people were Italian.
Editing:
Cut and cross cutting were the main editing used in this documentary, they used simple cuts so the audience could keep focus on the story and not get distracted by fancy editing. Fade to black and fade from black were used to show the pass of time or the end of one section of the documentary. Montage was used at the beginning of the documentary to tease the audience.
Archive Material:
Mansen
Italian TV talk show
American Colanbyne
Newspaper cutting
Codes and Conventions of the documentary genre
Narrative Structure
• Open, Closed and Circular Narrative are used to provoke interest or debate on the topic.
• Linear or non linear.
• Single Strand is used to inform and entertain, if a multistrand is used it could confuse the audience as documentaries are usually on one topic or issue.
Camera Work
• Framing to the left or right side of the screen when filming an interview.
• Eye line is one third (1/3) of the way up the screen on interviewees.
• Medium close up or close up is used during interviews.
• Handheld for actuality footage so the person with the camera can react to action and what is going on around them.
• Variety of shot types and camera movement is used, to sustain the audience’s interest.
• Pan/zoom are used on still images, not very often you get a shot of a still photograph.
Mise-en-scene
• The background behind interviews This can either be:
- Chromakey
- Location
- Backdrop
• Anchors the audience to the subject matter or shows the purpose of the person being interviewed.
• Lighting can be used creatively on interviews.
Sound
• Voice over (the narrator) is in Standard English.
• The narration is the glue that holds the narrative together; it sets the scene or introduces the topic and the beginning, links items or concludes the narrative.
• The age and gender of the narrator is usually relative to the target audience or the subject matter.
• Juxtaposition can be used when the narrator doesn’t relate to the subject matter or the target audience e.g. ‘ A males show has a female narrator’
• Celebrities can sometimes be the narrator.
• Music as a bed (a music bed) can be used, this is background music is used, images and speech is used on top of it, the music must be relevant to the topic.
• The music or bed is used to heighten the emotion.
• All questions are edited out (the audience doesn’t hear them).
• Background noise/sound on interviews is kept to a minimum.
• Sound effects are used in reconstructions, not used on interviews as this could offer a false picture.
Editing
• Cut is the most common edit.
• Editing is unnoticeable so the audience’s attention is kept on the subject matter and what is happening on screen rather than the editing.
• Dissolve is also used as this is reasonably unnoticeable.
• Editing effects are kept to a minimum e.g. slow motion.
• All questions are edited out.
• Fade to and from black are used.
• Montage can be used at the beginning of the documentary to give the audience a flavour of what the documentary is about.
• Montage on a topic, different clips from interviews or archive material to emphasise a point.
Archive Material
• Film extracts
• Videos
• TV
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Audio
• Websites
• Still images
• All relevant to what is being talked about and relevant to the subject matter behind the documentary
Graphics
• Title is unique in someway to make it stand out.
• Logo is unique.
• The name and the relevance to the topic anchors who the interviews are.
• The name is in a larger size than the occupation of the person being interviewed.
• Simple colour and typo graphics are used.
• Credits scroll up at the end and include a tribute to all archive material.
• Superimposed over archive material.
• To anchor a period of time.
• Subtitles are used where necessary.
• Open, Closed and Circular Narrative are used to provoke interest or debate on the topic.
• Linear or non linear.
• Single Strand is used to inform and entertain, if a multistrand is used it could confuse the audience as documentaries are usually on one topic or issue.
Camera Work
• Framing to the left or right side of the screen when filming an interview.
• Eye line is one third (1/3) of the way up the screen on interviewees.
• Medium close up or close up is used during interviews.
• Handheld for actuality footage so the person with the camera can react to action and what is going on around them.
• Variety of shot types and camera movement is used, to sustain the audience’s interest.
• Pan/zoom are used on still images, not very often you get a shot of a still photograph.
Mise-en-scene
• The background behind interviews This can either be:
- Chromakey
- Location
- Backdrop
• Anchors the audience to the subject matter or shows the purpose of the person being interviewed.
• Lighting can be used creatively on interviews.
Sound
• Voice over (the narrator) is in Standard English.
• The narration is the glue that holds the narrative together; it sets the scene or introduces the topic and the beginning, links items or concludes the narrative.
• The age and gender of the narrator is usually relative to the target audience or the subject matter.
• Juxtaposition can be used when the narrator doesn’t relate to the subject matter or the target audience e.g. ‘ A males show has a female narrator’
• Celebrities can sometimes be the narrator.
• Music as a bed (a music bed) can be used, this is background music is used, images and speech is used on top of it, the music must be relevant to the topic.
• The music or bed is used to heighten the emotion.
• All questions are edited out (the audience doesn’t hear them).
• Background noise/sound on interviews is kept to a minimum.
• Sound effects are used in reconstructions, not used on interviews as this could offer a false picture.
Editing
• Cut is the most common edit.
• Editing is unnoticeable so the audience’s attention is kept on the subject matter and what is happening on screen rather than the editing.
• Dissolve is also used as this is reasonably unnoticeable.
• Editing effects are kept to a minimum e.g. slow motion.
• All questions are edited out.
• Fade to and from black are used.
• Montage can be used at the beginning of the documentary to give the audience a flavour of what the documentary is about.
• Montage on a topic, different clips from interviews or archive material to emphasise a point.
Archive Material
• Film extracts
• Videos
• TV
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Audio
• Websites
• Still images
• All relevant to what is being talked about and relevant to the subject matter behind the documentary
Graphics
• Title is unique in someway to make it stand out.
• Logo is unique.
• The name and the relevance to the topic anchors who the interviews are.
• The name is in a larger size than the occupation of the person being interviewed.
• Simple colour and typo graphics are used.
• Credits scroll up at the end and include a tribute to all archive material.
• Superimposed over archive material.
• To anchor a period of time.
• Subtitles are used where necessary.
Construction of Reality
• A construction of reality means that it is constructed for the audience.
• Gate keeping is a term that refers to the selection and rejection of information. Make decisions of what goes in the documentary > Select what you want to use. Play around with time and reorder the clips.
Different types of narrative structure:
There are six main types of narrative structure used when making a documentary:
Open
There are loose ends and questions are left unanswered. The audience is left to make up their own mind.
Closed
All loose ends are tied up. No questions are remaining in the mind of the audience.
Single Strand
One narrative running throughout the documentary.
Multi Strand
More than one narrative running throughout, they sometimes cross over or converge.
Linear
Follows chronological order. Events follow the order of time i.e. things happen in order.
Non Linear
Doesn’t follow time e.g. flashbacks can be used and flash forwards.
Circular Narrative
Is usually a documentary that begins with a question and throughout the programme you get evidence which could answer the question. There are normally two sides to the answer. At the end of the documentary it goes back to the question (in a circle) Start and end point is the same.
• Gate keeping is a term that refers to the selection and rejection of information. Make decisions of what goes in the documentary > Select what you want to use. Play around with time and reorder the clips.
Different types of narrative structure:
There are six main types of narrative structure used when making a documentary:
Open
There are loose ends and questions are left unanswered. The audience is left to make up their own mind.
Closed
All loose ends are tied up. No questions are remaining in the mind of the audience.
Single Strand
One narrative running throughout the documentary.
Multi Strand
More than one narrative running throughout, they sometimes cross over or converge.
Linear
Follows chronological order. Events follow the order of time i.e. things happen in order.
Non Linear
Doesn’t follow time e.g. flashbacks can be used and flash forwards.
Circular Narrative
Is usually a documentary that begins with a question and throughout the programme you get evidence which could answer the question. There are normally two sides to the answer. At the end of the documentary it goes back to the question (in a circle) Start and end point is the same.
Documentaries
Purpose of documentaries
To document i.e. report with evidence something that has actually happened. It can show this by using actuality footage (actual footage from the thing that happened) or reconstructions. Mediated information – fact put across in a particular was. The main purpose of a documentary is to inform the audience.
Types of documentary
Six main types
Fully narrated
Natural history documentaries an off screen voice-over is used to narrate the programme. It makes sense of the visuals and anchors their meaning. The voiceover links everything together to create the narrative.
Fly on the wall
E.g. Katie and peter documentaries. An origin is in cinema verité. The camera is unobtrusive and filming (observing) real life. The most honest type of documentaries, people could amend the way they act – is it really honest?
Mixed
A combination of interview, observation and narration to advance the narrative.
Self reflexive
When the subjects of the documentary acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the film maker.
Docudrama / Drama Documentary
Re-enactment or reconstruction of events as they are supposed to have happened.
Docusoap / Documentary / Soap Opera
E.g. Road wars or easy jet. Recent phenomenon. Follows a group of people, follows their daily lives and are like characters that are in each episode. Become household names.
To document i.e. report with evidence something that has actually happened. It can show this by using actuality footage (actual footage from the thing that happened) or reconstructions. Mediated information – fact put across in a particular was. The main purpose of a documentary is to inform the audience.
Types of documentary
Six main types
Fully narrated
Natural history documentaries an off screen voice-over is used to narrate the programme. It makes sense of the visuals and anchors their meaning. The voiceover links everything together to create the narrative.
Fly on the wall
E.g. Katie and peter documentaries. An origin is in cinema verité. The camera is unobtrusive and filming (observing) real life. The most honest type of documentaries, people could amend the way they act – is it really honest?
Mixed
A combination of interview, observation and narration to advance the narrative.
Self reflexive
When the subjects of the documentary acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the film maker.
Docudrama / Drama Documentary
Re-enactment or reconstruction of events as they are supposed to have happened.
Docusoap / Documentary / Soap Opera
E.g. Road wars or easy jet. Recent phenomenon. Follows a group of people, follows their daily lives and are like characters that are in each episode. Become household names.
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