Analyasis Of Documentaries

1.The Devil Made Me Do It

Investigative and reflective were the classification for this documentary because the documentary investigates the nun's attack and reflects on the event.

The themes raised in the documentary were; religion (satanic), social influences on youth, death, rebellion and culture.

It formed a circular narrative as it started with the attack on the nun, then it raised and solved issues throughout about the attack on why and how it happened and then ended with the attack.

The material featured contained many point of view shots, as if getting the audience involved in the action and creating more emotions and opinions on the information uncovered. There was a clip of handheld material which was reporters’ footage, for example Marilyn Manson travelling to his car, CCTV tapes, reinforcing the fact that it was a documentary on a real subject. When details of the attack were being narrated filler clips of churches, trains and concerts were used to visually reinforce what the narrator was disscussing.

The dieagetic sound was the narrator, the interviewees and sounds of everyday life. However the non-dieagetic sound was linked to the narrative; Marilyn Manson’s music, religious and spiritual music – these formed two extremes too compare and put emphasis on the extreme differences in the lifestyles’ of the girls and the nun. The documentary used some sound effects when re-enacting the nuns attack there was no visual stimulus for the attack, therefore was conveyed through sounds eg, stabbing and nun screaming etc.

The editing nicely compliments the sound as at points there was fast editing creating fast pace and slow editing creating an opposite pace. These two extremes tied in with the audio stimuli for example religious music complimented and emphasised the slow pace.

The three main archive sources were; the CCTV footage, news broadcasts at the time and Marilyn Manson concerts and conferences as it is reflecting on real life happenings the film crew for the documentary would not have been able to film as it was happening so had to use archive material to give the audience evidence and to add realism to the documentary.

Graphics included name and relation tags when a person was being interviewed. Apart from that not many graphics were used.



2.Loose Change

Investigative, reflective and historical are the classification for this documentary. Investigative as it was investigating the 9/11 attacks, reflective as it reflected on the attack and historical as the happenings are a historical event when the documentary was released, The documentary was created to inform the public an alternate view on the 9/11 attacks. It could be argued that the documentary was also persuasive as the narrator became very bias to his opinions and asked rhetorical questions in a way pressuring the audience to agree with him.

The themes raised in the documentary were; government, conspiracies, economy and terrorism.

The narrative structure of loose change is linear as it starts at one point and resolves questions towards the end of the documentary.

All the material in this documentary was archive material examples are: newspapers, news videos, government reports, documents, tape recordings/ phone recordings, CCTV and footage from other documentaries. Most of the shots were handheld making the documentary more intense. The emphasis on the eyes relates to souls this was possibly used to “uncover lies”.

Dieagetic sound in this documentary would have been the “explosions”, speech of people in interviews, aircraft engines all of which sets the scene. Non dieagetic sound being the narrator and continuous background music, the continuity of the music creates tension and keeps attention.

The documentary featured many cross fades in and out, this created more continuity to do simple cuts from one scene to another wouldn't have worked therefore cross fades were essential. On the documents, post produced highlights and cross hairs have been used to draw attention to the important parts of the information.

Graphics used were dates and some reconstructions of the attacks, to scientifically convey evidence in a safer more productive way.



3.The Meth Epidemic

This documentary comes across as investigative as it looks into the rise and falls of meth amphetamine and investigates the many causes behind them. It also informs the audience of how meth amphetamine works and the effects on the body, shocking the watcher to NEVER do the drug.

The themes are drugs in society, crime levels due to drugs, medicines and the business side of drugs.

The documentary obtains a circular narrative structure as it starts with an anonymous woman upset over something, we learn by the end of the documentary why she was upset.

This documentary features lots of interviews with experts, police, users and other people involved. The fillers used for example taking Sudafed of the shelves and police lights are used regularly when the narrator talking to add a visual stimulus. There was some hand held footage of raids and arrests as it gets the audience more engaged and feel more a part of the action.

Mis en scene was set up mostly in a professional environment or in a slummy environment showing the extremes of people involved (Investigators/Police - Users/Dealers). The Mexican brothers- whom produced a lot of the meth amphetamine- were presented on a mech fence possibly symbolising that most of their work was done on the streets and are now confined.

Apart from the talking and narration dieagetic sounds such as police sirens all add audio stimuli and convey the seriousness of the documentary. The background music is usually soft and emotive when telling negative accounts of the meth addicts.

Archive materials such as “the faces of meth” are taken from police records on how meth has changed their looks over a short period of time. Using this type of archive material shocks the audience and comes across as a very strong message.



4. The Real Sleeping Beauty

The type of documentary is informative as it informs audience on a rare sleeping disorder. Because the disorder is so rare the documentary has to be self reflective of Louisa Balls lifestyle. She and her family often talk directly to the camera crew. The documentary does come across as a docusoap because it follows one person from start to finish.

The themes the documentary raises are sleeping disorders (kliene levin syndrome) and Louisa balls life.

Mis en scene of most of the interviews is homely setting showing the supportiveness of a family surrounding. She is interviewed in her bed room this could possibly convey that there is a lot of the time spent in that room. When they go to the hospital the interview with doctor features mis en scene such as technical equipment (mri scanners, xrays, and a medical setting)

The narrative structure of the real sleeping beauty is non linear as it features flashbacks such as holidays, dance competitions. It is also open as questions raised in the documentary are never answered because they can't be answered yet.

There was many cutaways used in interviews usually of Louisa in an 'episode' or of clouds and cutaways related to the topic of what narrator says. For example exam desks and papers being handed out when talking about Louisa having to sit her gcse's. The documentary features a cutaway of one of her friends writing on her school shirt the title of the documentary.

Non-diagetic sound reflects what happens on screen, for example when Louisa is having an "episode" the music appears to be sleepy and calming. Whereas when she is awake and living like a normal teenager more upbeat music is played to emphasise the two extremes of Louisa's life. The documentary is heavily influenced by the narrator who only appears in audio as non-diagetic sound. Diagetic, such as phones ringing, music at her dance lessons and school bells, this type of sound adds realism to the whole documentary.

When a new day appears the same shot of the house and clouds are sped up to create an illusion of passing time. The edits appear slower when Louisa is in sleep mode and seems as if there is a dark edit put onto the clips to make it seem more dull and depressing.

Minimal achieve material is used, at the beginning a clip from the news is used when the news featured something about Louisa's rare condition. This introduces the whole documentary and instantly grabs the attention of people because the news is a credited source and it is viewed in a very seriously dramatic way.

Graphics are mostly just name and relationship titles. Also when a flash back features the date will appear on the bottom of the documentary.
Comparing "Girls on the pull, 4OD" and "Cherry goes drinking, BBC3Iplayer"

Both these documentaries are set out to inform and raise awareness, however one tackles an everyday issue (drinking) and the other not so common (mental disorder, TTM). Both subjects are engaging but "cherry goes drinking" seems to appeal more as almost every girl can relate to the theme of the documentary whereas not many people are known to suffer from TTM. Also "Cherry's documentary conveys a warning to girls, especially young, on the effects of alcohol and constantly emphasises the fact may be fun but also DANGEROUS.

"Girls on the pull" follows a three part structure, three different patients and their lifestyles. Two were linear narratives, as it starts at the disorder and progresses through tackling it and ends with hope of curing. However the third part shows a circular narrative as her life events goes as such Disorder> Progression> then there is a phone call at the end showing that the mental disorders will most probably always be there as she fell back into old habits. In Cherry's documentary it’s linear, and similarly too "girls on the pull" there are mini structure featuring different age groups though.

The mis en scene of both is set up similarly; most interviews with the public/patients are set in houses and with families which both emphases the normality of the subject featured. Both have an interview with at least one expert, "...pull" documentary features an expert for personal reason and chose to become an expert. "Cherry..." interviews ambulance guys who see firsthand the dangers of alcohol. All the fillers such as hair fillers, dolls, alcohol add visual stimuli to the documentary and also help to make sure audience understands what the theme of the documentary is. Close ups of the girls pulling their hair out subconsciously is similar to the close ups of the girl drinking multiple glasses/bottles of alcohol.

In "cherry..." Background music is mostly clubbing music and then emotion portraying the two extremes of alcohol. However some comical mick take moments occur when "True British" music plays over a terrible newspaper article shocking that people are taking this issue as not serious and enforcing the fact it is only OUR country that has such problems. On the other hand "Girls..." is mostly narrated over and soft emotive music. At one point there is a whole scene of just thought processes when we see the hypnotherapy which adds to the effect of the problem most likely being caused by faulty or irrational thought processes.

Both documentaries do not feature any archive material apart from a few newspapers and photographs, this will be because the broadcaster of the documentaries would have funded a large budget to get primary material instead.