Research

Documentary's

Purpose of documentaries - To document e.g. to report with evidence to something that has actually happened. It can show this by using actuality footage or reconstructions.

Mediated Information

They do not show everything, it shows bits that will interest the audience and will often use music.

Types of documentary
- six main types

• Fully narrated (E.g. 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 voice over links everything together to create the narrative.

• Fly on the Wall (E.g. Katie & Peter - most honest documentary)

Origins is in Cinéma vérité (Truth)
The camera is unobtrusive and filming (observing)
Real life - is it really all honest?

• Mixed - were making

Combination of interviews, observation and narration to advance the narration.

• 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)

A re-enactment or reconstruction of events as they are supposed to have happened.

• Docusoap (soap opera documentary)

Recent phenomenon. This follows a group of people and their daily lives and they become characters in each episode.

Construction of reality - edited
Constructed for the audience

Gate keeping
selection and rejection of information

Narrative Structure

Different types of narrative structure:

1. Open v. Closed

Open - There are loose ends and questions are unanswered. The audience is left to make up their own mind.
Closed - All loose ends are tied up. No questions remaining.

2. Single Strand v. Multi-Strand

Single Strand - One narrative running throughout.
Multi-Strand - More than one narrative. They sometimes crossover or converge.

3. Linear v. Non-Linear

Linear - Chronological order. Events follow order of time. E.g. Things happen in order.
Non-Linear - Doesn't follow order of time. E.g. use of flashback and flashforward. Elliptical Editing.

4. Circular Narrative

Open. Begins with a question and throughout the programme you get evidence towards answering the question from the beginning. Often two sides.
At the end of the programme it then returns to the question which is still left unanswered.

The Devil Made Me Do It

We watched a documentary called 'The Devil Made Me Do it' we analysed this individually whilst watching the programme and then collated our ideas together when it had finished to make a thorougher analysis of the programme. We were going to spend longer on analysing this documentary than others because it was an important event and meant we thoroughly understood how to analysis a documentary. The documentary looks into a case about three girls who murdered a Nun in Italy, along with this came claims about whether Marilyn Manson's music had influenced the three girls to carry this forward. The documentary links between the conflict of good vs. evil, where it stereotypically puts forward that nuns are good and the type of music (Marilyn Manson's) music is evil, this documentary is provided with information that the audience is left to answer.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/decoding-da-vinci

The Secret Millionnaire

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-secret-millionaire/video/series-5/episode-6/not-so-secretThe Analysis of the Documentary

Type Of Documentary

Mixed - interviews, actuality footage, archive material.

Themes

Religion, Youth Culture, The power of the Media - did Manson's music influence the behaviour of teenagers? Good Vs. Evil (binary opposition - Levi-Staruss)

Narrative Structure

Open - question unanswered
Single strand - murder
Non-Linear

Camerawork

Interviews - close up or medium close up and framed to the left or right of the screen. (Tracking forwards and backwards) Manson interview filmed in low angle. Makes him appear powerful. Lighting - half face lit, half dark. Question unanswered - 'Is he good or is he bad?' Long shots of deserted streets, high angle, slow pans all of a deserted town. Christ filmed in low angle. Various shots of religious iconography. Hand held - actuality footage, used so the camera can respond to the action that happens around them. Camera person keeps changing to keep the correct framing. Camera observes other media - we're not positioned as members of that media.

Mise-en-scene

Carefully constructed. Interviews - provides information about that person/people. Religious iconography features a lot. Same town - contrasts Naturalistic lighting McDonalds

Sound

Music - religious choral music, church bells, Manson's music Sound effects - heart beat, whispering, police man footsteps down the corridor, door close, breathing, dog barking - deserted, stabbing, voice over x2, hitting, whoosh, sound of knife coming out of a body (Nun) Voice over - male, young, standard English, no clear accent - glue that holds the whole narrative together. Voice overs - translating Italian Each voice reflects gender and age of Italian person. Italian accents.

Editing

Cut, cross cutting. The editing must not distract the audience from viewing. Fade to black, fade from black - passage of time from one day to another. Montage - beginning, to tease the audience and to grab the audience's attention. Juxtaposition

Archive Material

Manson videos
Italian talk show
American television news
Newspaper cuttings

Graphics

Title of the programme, Gothic appearance with cross in the title, used at the end of programme to close narrative of what happened to the girls The name of the person we were looking at. Relevance of the subject, indicates time, place and date Subtitles of Manson's lyrics and sometimes translation White and sans serif - very plain and ranged left.

Questionnaires

1. Are you Male or Female?
"We asked more females than males and therefore our results will be baised towards females"

2. How old are you?
"The target audience of our documentary is between 14-25 however we asked more 14-17 year olds so therefore our documentary will appeal more to the younger half of our target audience"

3. What is your favourite colour?
"The favourite three colours of the results are Blue, Pink and Purple, so we will include these colours within the opening titles and thorughout the programme so as it contionously appeals to our target audience"

4. What is your favourite type of music?
"Pop music was the highest and therefore will be the background music of the documentary so our targat audience will enjoy listening to it"

5. When do you wear make-up?
"This shows that most people within our target audience wear make-up everyday and 26 out of 30 have worn make-up so our documentary will appeal to this age group"

6. Where do you buy your make–up?
"This shows that the most popular shop to buy make-up in is Superdrug, so we will include shots of Superdrug stores in our documentary so it will appeal to out audience"

7. What brand of make-up do you buy?
"The most popular choice was Rimmel so we will interview members of the public who buy Rimmel make-up"

8. How much do you spend on make-up each month?
"Most people spend £6-£10 or £11 -£15 pounds each month on make-up. So we will use these satistics when the voiceover talks"

9. Why do you wear make-up?
"Results show mainly that people wear make-up for self-confidence, to highlight features, to look pretty and to cover up spots. Again we will use these statistics in our voiceover"

10. What do you think of males wearing make-up?
"There were the same amount of people who thought that men who wear make-up are gay and acceptable which shows that if we address the topic of men wearing make-up being accpetable Eg. Drag queens and also interview people who think it’s gay we will appeal to our target audience"

11. Is image important to you?
"The majority of people say image is important to them so as our programme is about soemthing that can change your image, our documentary will appeal to them"

12. Would you wear make-up if celebrities didn’t?
"Most people would still wear make-up if celebrities didn’t which shows that our documentary doesn’t have to involve the influence of the media and celebrities influence on make-up as it won’t appeal to our target audience"

13. Would you ever go out not wearing make-up?
"Most of our target audience said they would go out without make-up which contradicts why over half our target audience wear make-up everyday. So we would mention this in the voiceovers script"