Ancillary task: Double page spread

Here is the final print of my double page spread.

After looking at many double and single page spreads to give me ideas, I decided to begin mine. I got the background image of pencils of google because i thought it would be slightly different to many, seeing as most double page spreads contain a plain background. Using snapshots from our documentary, i added in the ones which were relevent to my article. Here are the snapshots:

I noticed many articles in TV magazine contain snapshots from the relevant scene, such as if there were a fight scene in a soap drama, there would be a snapshot of the fight, or if something tragic were to happen, there would be a snapshot of it to lure the viewers into watching it. For example,

 I also noticed much articles about individual celebrities such as singers or actors contain a more posed/staged photo which is why i opted for just the snapshots. Here is an example of this:

Left page                                                                                          Right page

I emphasised particular quotes from characters, for a better chance of attracting viewers. For example, emphasising the quote "Im just fed up really - all the teachers picking on me" in a different color font, bigger and bolder may help to attract viewers by making them ask the questions 'what happened? 'are the teachers actually picking on him?'. The contrasting quote of Mr Kernan "Hes one of the small group of students were going to have to clamp down it" also makes the viewer want to watch the documentary and find out if he is as misbehaved as Mr Kernan says.

Ancillary Task: Poster

Here is a final print of my documentary poster.

The thing i found most difficult about creating my poster was matching the font as close as possible to Channel 4's. Although this one is not very similar, it is the closest i think i can get. 

Planning: TV listings double page spread

Here is a plan for my double page spread. I will probably change a few things when i actually create it however it will not be far off this.

Ancillary Task - Documentary Poster

Here is my draft of what i am aiming for my documentary poster to look like.

I have taken note of previous documentary posters that i have looked at and used very similar conventions in order to make my own look realistic. I have positioned my 4 logo on the right hand side, with the title and breif information on block colour on the right hand side. My image is central, focusing around the main character of our documentary (Brad). Although the lighting is quite bright or natural on my draft, on the real photo i am planning to take it into photoshop and edit it in order to have more of a lighting focus around brad and the centre of the photo, hopefully this will draw attention and inform the audience Brad will be the main character or one of the main characters featuring in the documentary. The date will be changed on my final poster to Wednesday the 5th September.

Questionnaire Evaluation

In total we handed out 20 questionnaires, 10 to females and 10 to males. From the questionnaire, we concluded that our target audience are most interested in Fly on the wall and Reality type documentaries, usually shown on Channel 4. We used this information and decided that it would be appropriate to show the documentary we have produced on Channel 4. The type of documentary we decided to produce is fly on the wall but because we found our target audience also like reality documentaries we also tried to incorporate this into what we produced. Many participants said they enjoyed watching 'Educating Essex' so we thought it would be a good idea to produce a similar documentary to this because it seems that it is something that interests our target audience. We got a mixed response from an equal group of females and males, from all differant age ranges. We discovered that people of all ages and genders would be interested in a School based documentary, however more so females then males. We found this discovery very useful because we thought Teaching Teens would therefor satisfy everyone. 

Planning: Questionnaire

Me and my group constructed a questionnaire in order to discover what kinds of documentaries most people are interested in watching, and what their favorite elements of a documentary are in order to ensure our own documentary contains these things. 

1. Gender
Male
Female


2. How old are you?
younger than 10
10-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
50+

3. What is your favorite type of documentary?

Mockumentary

Observational

Reality

Educational 

Fly on the wall

Other

4. Do you watch documentaries often?

Yes- Lots

Yes- Sometimes

Yes- Rarely

No- Never

5.What channel would you normally associate with documentaries that you like?

BBC

ITV

Channel 4

Sky

Other

6.What is you favorite ever TV documentary?

.........................

7. What is your favorite TV documentary currently being shown? (N/A if none)

........................

8. What do you look for in a documentary that you would watch?

.........................

9. Would you be interested in a fly on the wall documentary based in a secondary school?

Yes

No

10. What channel would you expect to see this documentary on?

BBC

ITV

Channel 4

Sky

Other

Planning: Voiceover

Planning: Script

Planning: Script

Here are drafts of the scripts we want our characters in our documentary to say. Many will be improvised in the final clips to give it a more natural/realistic feel. 

Planning: Script

Planning: Storyboard

Here is my groups storyboard. Unfortunately, since this was made, we have made slight adjustments to the order so some are in the wrong place, most of these have been noted that they have been moved. There have also been one or two added filler clips such as a pan of the field etc which were not drawn up.

Planning - Shooting Schedule

Above is mine and my groups shooting schedule for when we are planning to shoot our clips for our documentary. Hopefully, all dates go to plan if not we will work around eachothers timetables and reschedule.

Teaching Teens poster

I have been playing around on Photoshop with an image of Brad (our main character) that i took a few weeks ago. After doing lots of research on many other Channel 4 style documentary posters, i took a photo of Brad sitting central on the school stage looking out over the hall filled with set up desks in preparation for exams. I took the photo from behind, giving the impression that Brad was looking out into the big wide world and to emphasize that this particular episode is going to be about him and his day to day struggle with school life. I also composed the image in a way which immediately shows the audience that this particular character who is very distinctive in terms of his behaviour, and to emphasize his feelings of being singled out from the rest of his class and being alone. I feel this image will work really well and meet the conventions of the other posters because i discovered many of the real documentary posters i came across contain a very simple image, with little text on too. Many posters only contain the 4 symbol, the title and either a brief description of the programme or just the date and time it is going to be broad casted.


Whilst searching around on the Channel 4 website, i came across this extremely detailed and information filled guide which helped me to ensure my poster would fit in with their desired conventions. http://www.channel4.com/about_c4/styleguide/downloads/C4StyleGuide1.1.pdf


Opening up my original image in photoshop, i started adding my elements of a Channel 4 poster. I photoshopped on my channel 4 symbol which was taken off Google images, and added the coloured blocks which my text will be layered on top of.

Here is the original photo.

and here is a preview of my documentary poster so far.

However, after reading further through the Channel 4 Identity Style Guide, i discovered that it is very often a channel places their logo at the bottom right of a poster. Due to this, Channel 4 always place their 4 logo in a distinctive centre right position, which is unique to the channel and instantly recognisable. Therefore, i had to move my 4 logo to a centre right position in order to make it fit the conventions of Channel 4 posters. Going back to my image in photoshop, moving the position of the 4 logo made it appear somewhat cluttered, where the busyness of the central area of the image reduced the boldness of the sign, making it almost difficult to see at all. Knowing i needed my 4 logo to stand out, however still be positioned central and on the right, meant i needed to re think my poster. I decided to try and create a spotlight effect on the image, making the surroundings of brad darker to create space where my logo will be recognised and i also decided this may further emphasize what i wanted to audience to feel about Brad when they see the poster. In photoshop, i went to the Filter tab at the top, went down the list to Render and clicked on Lighting Effects. This opened up a box where i was able to fiddle around with a spotlight style effect. Here is a screen shot of what creating this effect looked like on my screen. 

After a few alterations of my logo and colour blocks, due to the black spotlight effect outline and both the logo and the colour blocks now blended in, here is my second idea for my documentary poster. 

Although i like this idea for a poster, i am unsure of whether it is the best it could be. I decided to experiment along the same lines of this poster but with the use of a black and white image, with a central focus on brad in the same way but in black and white instead. I duplicated the image layer and changed one into black and white. Using the eraser tool, i used a soft brush with a low opacity to erase the centre of the image, revealing the colour underneath. I then changed the logo and colour blocks back to black. Here is what it looked like.

I then decided my first draft of the poster was my favourite, where the spotlight effect is focusing on brad and the whole image is in colour.

Annotated Documentary Poster

Example Channel 4 documentary posters

Both of these posters are Channel 4 Documentaries. These are only two out of the many Channel 4 Documentary posters which have very similar conventions. Most of which have the central Channel 4 logo on the right side of the poster, and white blocks with black print inside stating the title and brief information about the documentary. I think the way these posters are conducted is very interesting because the image is the most powerful. The layout overall is very simple looking, nicely spaced out with not much on their which further emphasizes the focus of the image. The images themself are directly related to the documentary, for example poster one has an image of a man photographing or videoing a storm, and the title of the documentary itself is 'A Very British Storm Junkie' these two elements combined automatically tell the audience what the documentary is about without having to look it up or read a description. Both posters also have very similar colours, using white text and a white 4 logo ontop of a dark image. This makes the text stand out and the contrasting colours in the dark images also catch the viewers eye much more effectively then similar colour image and text would, because it would all blend in and appear 'washed out'.

Educating Essex

Educating Essex is a Channel 4 documentary following a group of GCSE students, taking a closer look into their lives and what life at school is really like for them. The documentary shows what school life is really like for students who are about to take there GCSE's and how issues with their personal lifes can have a large effect on their education. I watched Episode 5, Series 1 of Educating Essex which followed two best friends Carrie and Ashleigh, who are part of the biggest girl clique in their year (Year 11). The documentary follows the cliques behaviour, particularly Carrie and Ashleigh and also documents a fall out between the two girls, and the destruction it had on the rest of the clique and the whole school.

AshleighCarrie

The documentary began with non diegetic sound of a school bell ringing. I think this worked really well as an opening sound because it was relevent, for example, start of the programme - start of a school day. During this non diegetic sound, the camera was at a birds eye view, showing the busy corridors as students walked to their lessons. An upbeat but simple non deigetic peice of music was also playing in the background, which added to the emphasis of the rush to lessons. The documentary then showed a fast cut montage of differant 'typical' school scenes such as busy corridors, students misbehaving, the empty feild, classrooms, teachers. During this fast cut montage, a voice-over was gradually introducing the school, and what the documentary is going to be about. When the voice-over got more serious, i noticed the cuts got slightly faster and jumpier, and also had very close relevance to what the voiceover was talking about. For example, when the voiceover begun to talk about the seriousness of the students school life as they are fast approaching their GCSE's, the music changed to a far more punchier beat, whilst showing students misbehaving, answering back and being aggressive. The voiceover then went on to talking about the emotions that the students go through on a day to day basis, with clips to follow. For example, 'Theyre teenagers.. ( An aggressive, answering back clip).. Emotional.. (Clip of a teacher to student discussion).. Excitable.. (Clip of girls laughing).. And constant challenge.. (Clip of a teacher having a serious discussion)' I feel this worked really well because not just emphasising the voice over, it also gave the viewer a little preview of what is yet to come building up more excitement and interest.


Through-out the documentary, I noticed there were many close up camera angles to show students or teachers reactions and behaviour. For example, if a teacher were to say something to a student, there would be a close up shot of the student straight after to show their reaction to what the teacher is saying to them. Close up shots are also used very often in a scene where mobile phones are the main encouragment to students turning against Ashleigh when her and Carrie fall out. The scene explains that it does not take long in a school for rumours or gossip to spread via mobile phones, as they are all texting, on facebook or other ways of talking class to class, student to student. Whilst this is being explained, many close up shots or mid shots of differant students in differant areas of the school getting their phones out emphasises the fact that it is easy for word to get around during schools, which encourages further disruption in every class. There were also many high angle shots, of corridors for example to show the surroundings and general business of day to day school life. I also personally think the high angle camera shots which were usually shot from a corner of a room or corridor could be in relation to CCTV camera's which are usually placed around schools.


Many fast forward/sped up scenes also occur in this documentary, often when there are lots of students around in corridors walking to lessons or in break and lunch. In my opinion, it seems to me this was done to emphasize the business of every day life, and to show the viewers just how many pupils are in one school, all of which teachers are trying their very hardest to enable them to get the good grades they are capable of and be successful in their GCSE's. Many 'fill' cuts are also used, often during when the voiceover is explaining a particular issue or introducing a pupil. Fill cuts such as close ups of hands writing in books, fiddling with pens, books, close ups of students etc. These are really good because it keeps the viewer interested while the voiceover is talking, giving them something to look at and enabling the documentary to run smoother so each clip does not look too seperated. The interviews with pupils and teachers are all filmed in the same setting, (infront of school lockers) which ensures the documentary dosent come accross too messy, and to enable the viewer to instantly recognize when an interview is taking place. The persons name and who they are for example 'maths teacher' is also clearly stated at the bottom right of the scene, so the viewer can easily follow the journey of the documentary and get to know the teachers and students. I think the interviews are a really really important part of documentarys because differant clips can often give off an impresson of someone, which may not always be true or may not explain a certain situation, meaning people do not understand what is going on or feel they get to know the individuals very well. The interviews show the audience the student or teachers personal opinion, giving the audience a better insight into their world and enabling them to begin to understand their points of view.


I also noticed at the end of each part of the documentary, '#EducatingEssex' was written at the bottom. Twitter has now become such a worldwide sensation, that programmes are beginning to advertise their programes using the hashtag symbol, which allows anyone in the world who tweets with #EducatingEssex' to also see what other people are saying about the programme. This not only further publicises the show, it allows people to tweet about their opinions of the show and say what they think. This is something i think me and my group should encorporate into our documentary because it will show our knowledge of recent media sensations and make our documentary look real and recent.


There are also many other elements of this documentary which i think we should encorporate into our documentary, such as close ups, non diegetic sounds, voiceover, fast cuts, interviews - also set in the same setting, on screen text such as names and fill cuts.

Here, you can watch this whole episode:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-essex/4od#3276003

Initial Documentary Idea

Our Initial idea of what our documentary was going to be about was Cocaine. Me and my group were planning to make a 5 minute clip from an expositary documentary series about drugs, and this particular clip was going to be from an episode about Cocaine. We planned to make it a factual documentary, aimed at teenagers who may be influenced to take drugs. The documentary would inform the viewers of the effects of taking the drug, the dangers of it and more in depth information about the background of it such as where it comes from, how it is made into the substance it is when it is sold and etc. We were going to arrange interviews with social workers and people who work in organizations such as the YMCA etc in order to get real, professional interviews in order to make our documentary seem more realistic. However, after a long period of time of planning our documentary, we decided against this idea of Cocaine, due to reasons such as it may of been difficult to arrange these interviews and if we were not able too, using someone else and having them impersonate a professional role may mean the documentary does not look as real.

After discussing with our teacher what kind of documentary we were planning, we also came to the conclusion that Drugs is quite a common subject to be chosen for documentaries and there has been many of them, so we opted for a more unique idea 'Teaching Teens' inspired by the Channel 4 series 'Educating Essex' in which we would be able to spend a lot more time gathering our clips and it was much easier for us to access the props and backgrounds needed for our interviews and scenes.

The Observer - Documentary Article

The Observer is a British Newspaper published on Sundays, sister paper of The Guardian. This is an article from 5th Febuary 2012 which is talking about accusations of a documentary 'exploiting a vulnerable family' and the effects of modern Reality TV on documentaries. I have highlighted the bits which i found most interesting, and a few quotes which tell us more about what some individuals really think.

One of the areas which i found most intersting was third paragraph down, Nick Broomfeilds opinion that "reality television is like fast food - its junk and rots peoples brains." In my personal opinion, i agree to some extent. Although i can see Nicks point of view, i also feel that not everybodys opinions or their ways of thinking are affected by reality TV programmes. I feel that reality TV shows such as Celebrity Big Brother, Big Brother, and Im a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here are programmes which do not have much effect on peoples brains. However, programmes such as The Only Way Is Essex and Made In Chelsea which appear extremely staged although still branded as 'Reality TV' do have an effect on people. In my opinion, this is because they are programmes which do not involve watching individuals do a particular task or competition, but instead watching their day to day life which is actually so un-realistic and exaggerated people feel that maybe they should begin to act that way, or become so engrossed in the characters lifes they begin to incorporate their values into their own lifestyles. These types of programmes in general, including Big Brother and Im A Celebrity over-all have no contribution to the understanding of the world we live in or particular events or stories. Many documentaries aim to inform and educate people, giving them a whole new insight or in depth information about a subject which is often misunderstood or is in the public interest. For example, many documentaries are based on big issues in societies such as crime, alcohol or drug abuse or illnesses which are not so common to raise awareness on a widespread basis. In my opinion, it is slightly worrying how frequently new Reality TV shows are being brought out, attracting more viewers and interest then actual interesting documentaries, and it is a shame that documentaries which contain masses of information and are very time consuming such as 'Chasing Ice' a documentary featuring evidence from 30 cameras filming melting ice accross three continents. Croall, a member of the Sundance jury however quoted at the end of this article "in the end the audience will win and get the documentaries they deserve. We just need a breakthrough on the technology side."

How the Other Half Live

 

How the other half live is British documentary series broadcast on Channel 4 . The documentary aims to inform, educate and advise.There has been two series, the first in 2009 and the second in 2009. The series has also been closely compared to 'The Secret Millionaire' another British documentary series which was made by the same team.

 The documentary follows two very different families, one poor and one rich. The documentary aims to show the audience different aspects of reality and how life is for others. The audience is positioned to receive this broadcast in a way in which they feel sorry for the poor, and are maybe persuaded into helping others. The documentary focuses mainly on the poor family, to emphasize the fact that the rich have life so much easier compared to them, and give them more of an idea of how the other half really do live. The documentary also makes the audience understand and realise what some people have to go through on a day to day basis, and even if you are not rich yourself it makes you feel sorry for them that they have to live this way. 

The documentary represents the poor people as very vulnerable sad and weak on a day to day basis.  However, at the same time they are also shown as kind, well-mannered and respectful people which enables the audience to warm to them abit easier, possibly making them feel even more sorry for them and persuading them to help more people who are living a poor lifestyle. It also shows a lot of footage of the children belonging to the poor family which is more likely to pull on the audiences heart strings, making them feel sorry for the young children who grow up without the best childhood. In comparison with the poor family, the documentary also shows the lives of the rich children, and really emphasizes how lucky and greatful the children should feel for their lifestyles. 

The documentary uses many contrasting camera angles through out the documentary. For example, there is one scene where the child from the poor family is looking out the window, onto an estate type scenery and a man who has been injured. All she can see is police and paramedics tending to the injured man. She also says that this happens often, and it is scary to look out of the window because you never know what you might see, this also makes the audience feel for the young girl because this is not the desired lifestyle for any young child. The documentary then shows a scene of the young girl from the wealthier family looking out of her window, where she is overlooking a beautiful piece of land with many trees and completely peacefull. Showing these two views in comparison really emphasized the difference in their lifestyles to the audience and to help them understand the struggle of day to day life for poor people. There are also contrasting colours between the two families, perhaps to further emphasize the differences between the two. The scenes containing the rich family contain many bright colours, big white spacious rooms and brightly coloured clothes, where as the poor are filmed in there small dingy and dull coloured rooms, often wearing duller coloured clothes too. This could also be emphasizing the feelings and emotions of the two families, happy and uplifting colours for the rich but dull and dark colours to represent the sad emotions of the poor family.

The documentary contains many close ups of the people from the poorer family, to emphasize there facial expressions and emotions as they are speaking, but many long shots of the richer family to show the audience the difference between the two places the contrasting families are living and the wide amount of land and space they have. The children are represented in a way which shows that they do not have a grudge against the rich children, just because of their contrasting lifestyles, and are instead very kind and just normal children who are very well mannered and polite just like the rich.  

There is a voice-over at the beginning of each part of the documentary, recapping what has previously happened. In my opinion, I think this is done not only to inform viewers who possibly weren’t watching before what is happening, but to continuously remind the viewers of what they have been watching to enable it to stick in their heads more. Leaving a lasting impression on audiences will mean that the documentary has been successful in raising awareness for poor people and encourage individuals to help the poor as much as they can.

Towards the end of the documentary, there is a lot of footage which shows the poorer families lifestyles and attitudes towards life picking up. The children from the poorer family are offered places in private schools to enable them to get the best education they can, and the richer family generously give a cheque to the poor to help them out. The scene shows the poor families reactions as they receive it which shows lots of smiles, happiness and gratefulness. This also touches the audiences heart and possibly makes them want to bring happiness to someone else’s life by helping them too. 

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is a British documentary series produced by Firecracker Films for Channel 4. The series follows gypsy's and Irish travelers, looking at what their lives are like in Britain today. The first broadcast was in February 2010, as a one-off called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, and part of the Cutting Edge series, a series of 5 episodes was commissioned and began in January 2011. A second series began airing in February 2012. 

The series further explores travelers lives, and how girls stop going to school around the age of 11 because as one mother says, it’s shameful to continue, they then spend the next few years learning to clean and care for children, and then get married around 16 or 17.

I watched the episode 'School of Hard Knocks', first shown on the 28th February 2012. This episode featured a 15 year old girl Santana, who is planning her lavish sweet 16th birthday party. It follows Santana's day to day routines, mostly cleaning her family chalet as she no longer attends school. Instead, Santana has 1 hour a week of home tuition. During a shot of Santana doing her daily chores of cleaning, She explains how she was bullied at school for saying no to doing drugs with the rest. In my personal opinion, i think this scene really shows how she spends her days, cleaning up after everyone and how hard she does work, despite not going to school. It also emphasizes that it is not just herself she has to clean up after, but any kind of mess that is made is her responsibility to clean. Santana is filmed putting bleach in the washing up bowl, claiming that the plates and cutlery need to be properly cleaned because they are passed around so many people. 

The episode also follows 16 year old Cassa, who attends school only 3 times a month just to attend the school prom, where she said she wanted to have an excuse to wear a big dress as she wont be getting married at 16/17. However, Cassa admits she has to be forced into attending school by her teachers. When arriving at her prom in her Barbie inspired dress and a horse and carriage, she says " it was worth it because now I've got this big dress and a horse and carriage. This is definitely worth going to school for". It was evident in the scenes filming Cassa that her education and gaining qualifications were not her main priority. When they asked Cassa what she hopes for her future, she replied 'I want a white AUDI and a boob job.' However despite her lack of interest in school, she ended up with six GCSE'S. I found one scene really shocking, when 8 year old Mary is being interviewed in her caravan. Mary is asked whether she wants to do well in her GCSE'S and answers with 'what?', the interviewer asks her if she knows what they are and she further responds with 'No!' before laughing. Not only does Mary not have any idea what GCSE's are, she is also very unlikely to take them herself. 

This documentary appeared to have many interviews, which were all in the aim of finding out more of individual gypsy/travelers lifestyle and their own personal opinions on their lives. I think these really helped the audience to understand them and find out more about what they actually do on a day to day basis rather then keeping their opinion of the typical gypsy/traveler stereotype which is only based around a few basic assumptions. The interviews are often done in their natural environments, doing their day to day activities suggesting a more laid back style interview where it is less likely to be staged, scripted or exaggerated. 

A voice-over is used, informing the audience of general values and beliefs of the gypsy's/travelers and also enabling the audience to follow the journey through the individuals lives and where they spend their time. Sub titles are also placed at the beginning of each scene which is filmed in a key place. For example, during a scene in the episode of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings that i watched, a sub title was placed at the bottom left corner reading 'Liverpool'. This also enables the viewer to follow the journey of the documentary. The style of the subtitle was also written in a very fancy, young looking font to emphasize the fantasy style lifestyles of the young gypsy's/travelers. Non diagetic sound is also played throughout, which can be compared to something sounding very 'fantasy' like and upbeat, further adding to the emphasis of a fantasy lifestyle.

Best In Show - David Guest

Best In Show is a Mockumentary film written by David Guest, released in 2000. It is a film which follows 5 entrants into a prestigious dog show, showing the interactions between the owners in the run up to the show and when they compete. Guest uses many techniques in the Mockumentary which give the impression that it is real, such as handheld camera. This gives the audience the idea that they are within the scene, watching it unfold as if they are there with them as well. The use of eye-line match is also effective, this gives us the feeling that we are seeing it through our own eyes. One particular scene which i felt was very effective in creating a realistic look was the 'Busy bee scene', where character Meg Swan and Hamilton Swan lose their dogs favorite toy 'Busy bee'. Although the scene is extremely over-dramatic, it perfectly emphasizes the characters love for their dog and  humors the audience, matching the Mockumentary style Guest was aiming for. The scene contains many techniques which achieve this such as interuptive speech, which emphasizes real life conversations and arguments. This realistic interuptive speech is also due to much of it being improvised, as Guest preferred not to give set scrips.

The most hated family in America - Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux is a British broadcaster best known for his BBC documentaries and tv series. This particular documentary 'The most hated family in America' was aired on BBC2 in March 2007. It is an expositary documentary which takes a closer look into the life of a family who are at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. The documentary showed the everyday events of the families lifes and what they believe in. Westboro Baptist Church members believe the United States government is immoral, due to its tolerance of homosexuality and they carry out protests at U.S Military funerals holding up signs which read 'God Hates Fags' 'Thank God For Dead Soldiers' and 'Pray For More Dead Kids'.
  
The documentary received a four star ratings from publications such as The Mail On Sunday. A Review in the Leicester Mercury said that "His subtle interviewing style was perfect for showing off the crazy views of the members."


Personally, i found the documentary very shocking but interesting. It was interesting because it is hard to understand how the members of the Westboro Baptist Church can have these views, especially dead soldiers in my eyes because i believe they should be greatly respected. I was also shocked about how members of the church begun at such a young age, and were picketing at funerals holding up signs which im unsure whether they knew the real meaning of. I also agree with the review in the Leicester Mercury which said Theroux's subtle interviewing style was perfect for showing the obscene views of the members. He asks many questions whilst interviewing and tries to get as much information as possible from the members, which shows how persistent he was to show the viewers the beliefs and views of these people. There is one particular scene where Theroux is asking Fred Phelps, the organisation leader questions about how he knows 'all there is to know' about other churches, and further goes on to say 'but you don't know anything about me pastor Phelps" where Phelps answers arguing "Yeah i do, im not going to keep on talking to you. I know all that there is to know about you - your an evil. - I don't even wanna go there, good luck to you!". Theroux stays calm through out the whole interview, and continues to be polite when he thanks Phelps for his time. Theroux however does seem shocked at what Phelps was saying, when the camera does a close up of his face to show his response and unsure expression. The two shot shows the viewer the awkward discussion, and the back and forth from person to person almost emphasizes the contradiction of opinions, and a discussion between two people with very different beliefs. Below is a clip of the interview. (Interview begins at 1.50)

Juxtaposition is also used within the documentary, for example in a church service, Phelps says 'your gonna eat your babies!' then it jumps to a shot of a women with a baby in the audience.

'The boys who killed Stephen Lawrence'

A BBC1 documentary about the investigation into the racist murder of teenage Stephen Lawrence in Eltham, south east London in 1993, which was aired in July 2006.This documentary unfolds the investigation step by step, in order to inform the viewer of the key conceps of the case. The documentary uses many techniques to emphasize the awful tragedy and shocking stories of the police failing to investigate properly into the case. Within 3 days of the murder, prime suspects had been identified, however no arrests were made until 2 weeks after. All 5 suspects, Gary Dobson, Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight and David Norris were arrested but the charges were dropped on 29th July 1993 by the Crown Prosecution Service, citing there was insufficient evidence. In order to try and explain step by step the unfolding investigation, there are many interviews and reconstruction footage to help give the audience a better picture of what really happened. Reconstructions of the run up to the murder, the actual murder and after the murder help the the audience to understand the unprovoked, racially motivated attack, and also interviews with blurred out faces and voice changes are shown. Evidence such as crime scene photos and mortuary photos were also used, in able to show the audience that they are seeing the truth as it is very easy to be told something and be unsure whether it is true. However, evidence ensures the audience that what they are being told definitely happened and pictures show the audience the seriousness of the attack. Many pieces of evidence which proved that the 5 prime suspects were in fact the murderers were also shown within the documentary. For example, a photo of Jamie Acourt leaving home carrying a heavy black bin liner was shown, however they then state that the police failed to follow him. A covert camera put in the suspect Gary Dobson's flat in 1994 produced shocking evidence of the racist views and capability to harm the men had, showing suspect Neil Acourt toying around with a large knife and making violent gestures and extremely racist remarks with another suspect Luke Knight.  The documentary is very informative, using satellite maps and birds eye views to show the involved areas.

                         

Here is a video of some clips from the covert footage of the suspects in Gary Dobson's flat making racist remarks and playing around with knifes. 

This Is Spinal Tap - Christopher Guest

  

'This Is Spinal Tap' is a American Mockumentary style documentary which was released in 1984. The documentary follows an American rock band on a come-back tour, giving an inside look on the personalities of the characters and the bands lifestyle from day to day. Christopher Guest uses a range of techniques in order to successfully achieve his Mockumentary such as handheld camera, faux interviews, archival footage, montages, narration and many others. In a similar way to Christopher Guests 'Best In Show' Mockumentary, Guest captures the band in a way which makes the characters seem so real, some people thought they were in fact a real band. Rather then writing scripts, Guest instead had the show be filmed unscripted and made his characters improvise, giving the mockumentary a much more relaxed, realistic feel.

Types of documentaries

Here is a list of different types of documentaries;

• Observational- Records people in a natural environment
• Fly on the wall- Subjects observed over a period of time
• Interactive- Film maker is both character and author
• Expository- Informs and educates
• Drama Documentary- Dramatic reconstructions
• Mockumentary- Has the forms and conventions of a documentary 
• Personal- Film maker addresses camera directly