Ashleigh
Carrie
CarrieThe 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
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