Genre Analysis

Documentary genre/styles

Lighting; the source of lightening in a documentary usually originates naturally from the environment being filmed. Unlike a feature film-maker who may use additional light to manipulate the image that the audience is presented with, the documentary film-maker will usually only use what light is actually available or necessary.

Camera-work; the most commonly used camera is the hand-held camera- removing the need for a tripod or dolly. The operator does not necessarily want a smooth camera movement, shaky shots make the film appear more 'authentic' and 'real'. The hand-held camera shot creates a subjective point of view that aims at an intimacy between the audience and the film

Editing; This is a vital component of any film but doumentary films rely upon it. There are several types of edit available;
-Fade-out; when an image gradually darkens into blackness
-Fade-in; the opposite of the aboveand so the image lightens from blackness
-Dissolve; when the end of the shot is briefly superimposed with the beginning of the next
-Wipe; when a shot is replaced by another using a line which moves acroos the screen It is during the editing process that material is selected, ordered and placed into sequential form, in other words 'mediated'

Sound; in most films there are diagetic sound and non-diagetic sound. Documentaries rely heavily on non-diagetic sound to prompt the audience to respond in a certain way.


Documentary Analysis

Title of programme: Public Enemy Number One/ The devil made me do it.

Type of documentary;
-Expository, there is a ‘voice of god’ telling the audience what is happening, it also uses images to illustrate and reinforce what he is saying. Post watershed due to bad language and descriptions used, niche audience, Channel 4 appears to numerous audience groups.

Themes;
-Death,
-Religion,
-Justice

Narrative Structure;
-Enigma code, makes us question why Marlyn Manson featured on the opening sequence, it doesn’t relate to the story being told, it then makes us think what has he got to do with it.
-As the scene goes on, about 13 minutes in the enigma code starts to make sense, the voice over relates to the opening sequence
-Segments, sections on murder, Marlyn Manson
-It achieves to shock the audience
-Closed narrative, we find out what happens to the girls through graphic writing on the screen in the same font and style as the name/status labels.

Camera Work;
-Close up of Marco Politi, Vatican reporter
-Filmed a phone box to relate to what’s being said, also filmed at night communicates to the audience that it is quite spooky also shows that you can feel vulnerable, in the dark, like the nun could have felt before her death.
-Establishing shot, to signify it’s the start of a new scene, it establishes that it’s a cemetery
-Hand-held camera as they approach the woods to maybe male us see it from the suspects point of view.
-Hand-held camera, easy to move and follow, example; coming out of court, decision hasn’t been made makes it more frantic
-Low angle of Manson during being interviewed makes him look bigger, could represent the influence he has on his young fans

Mise-En-Scene;
-Imagery in the back of the room to show that he is religious and there is books to show intelligence could also be religious books.
-Marco is sitting to the left of the shot following the codes and conventions
-The mis-en-scene of the officer shows that he is important, he isn’t placed behind the desk because of possible window, this would make him look more authoritative
-Very dark mis-en-scene to make it more real, this can also relate to the girls having a dark side
-Mis-en-scene of the friends of the suspects portrays a negative representation of the teens, slouching, smoking, giving a general ‘I’m not bothered’ attitude

Sound;
-Voice-over to translate the soeaker, also music, quite gentle, sounds sad to relate to and reflect what the man is saying, its very much in the background
-Non-diagetic sound of the dramatic heart-beat, dramatizes the scene and captivates the audiences attention
-Non-diagetic sound of the nun being stabbed
-Formal mode of address, male voice over to make it more authoritative, its more serious and fits in with the genre of the documentary

Editing;
-Cutaways are used to illustrate what Marco is saying

Archive footage;
-Used footage of Marlyn Manson, of concerts and interviews

Graphics;
-Black background, stereotypical representation of the devil cross in the title for the letter ‘T’ almost medieval style
-Font of the labels on the screen, are the same size, font and colour, they are the same all the way through, its constant, creates an identity.









Title of programme: BBC2; The Music Biz/Marketing Meatloaf

Type of documentary;
-Expository, male voice of god, authoritative, male to represent, male audience? Telling us what to think about the music industry and music.

Themes;

Narrative Structure;
-Section 1; music industry, section 2; Meatloaf ended with success, after showing a story of his rise to success

Camera Work;
-Hand-held camera, at the red carpet, to make the audience feel like they are there, caught up in the drama and excitement
-Audience are put into the recorders position, involving the audience
-Use different techniques so its not boring keeps the audience hooked

Mise-En-Scene;
-Picture of Meatloaf in the background whilst interviews are in progress
-Mis-En-Scene of interview is an album of Meatloaf crossed layered pictures
-Interviewees are on the opposite sides to make the audience more alert, all the interviewees are men

Sound;
-Male voice-over
-Clips of song building up to the chorus keeping the audience hooked
-Non-diagetic music of Meatloafs song as people are talking

Editing;
-Sometimes make interviewee appear on screen fading in and out
-Cross-fades of various things relating to the genre and what’s being said

Archive footage;
-Meatloaf performing and music videos
-Uses a lot of archive footage, e.g. still photos and clips from music videos

Graphics;
-Big bold white writing/ opening sequence, clips of peoples voices, potential people in the documentary?
-Next to name labels it has the title of the documentary
-Quotes roll across the screen

Summary;
-Content of documentary has to reach out and appear to the target audience, it’s essential to the target audience to watch it









Title of programme: That thing Lara Croft

Type of documentary;
-Expository- male voice, target audience males, matches the audience, talks about a game and also a sex symbol

Themes;
-games
-films

Narrative Structure;
-Introduction to who and what Lara Croft is and talks about sociological and psychological

Camera Work;

Mise-En-Scene;
-Green screen used to have the game of Lara Croft being played in the background whilst the interview is taken place
-An interview is shown through a computer screen relating to the genre, approprate
-Interviewees appear on different sides of the screen

Sound;
-Relevant music, quick paced and has a beat to connect to the action of the game being played

Editing;
-Quick cuts, to make it fast paced and action packed just like the game
-Cutaways are used; mainly of the game being played, also relates to what is being said

Archive footage;
-clips are taken from the film Lara Croft relates to what’s being said

Graphics;
-all name labels are in white same font and size all the way through




Title of programme: What Katie did next

Type of documentary;
-the documentary is on ITV2 at 9:00pm probably due to the language that is used in the content of the documentary. The target audience of this documentary would be fans of Katie Price, or young adult, teens, female.

Themes;
-Family
-Work

Narrative Structure;
-Through out the documentary it shows Katie tackling jobs to do, one by one,
-By the end of the documentary, each problem, job is solved.

Camera Work;
-tracking shot following Katie making the audience feel like they’re there
-Cuts to close-ups of make-up, jeans, sunglasses, all relate to what Katie is saying
-When Katie talks to the camera she doesn’t look at the camera shes positioned to one side and looking in the opposite direction
-two shot to show them looking like a family, relating to the theme of family
-Tracking shot following the horse van move.

Mise-En-Scene;
-all the clothes in the background connote that she loves fashion, relating to the idea that she is very girly
-The children playing with the toys also represents that Katie is a family person
-The mis-en-scene of the Zoo entrance sign shows the audience a family outing
-Stables, this is relevant as it is something that Katie likes also it represents that the person speaking to the camera crew/ audience is a animal person, he likes horses

Sound;
-the main character of the show interacts all the way through the show
-Diagetic sound of kids screaming in the background
-Diagetic sound of her son playing the toy keyboard
-Male voice over, informing the audience of things that relate to the programme

Editing;
-quick cuts are used throughout the whole show/documentary
-Cutaways to the animals to break up the speech
-Fades out and then in to establish the new scene.
-Cut to the camera breaks it up and represents that she is in a rush

Archive footage;
-no archive footage camera crew follow Katie everywhere, so they get all of the footage they need first hand

Graphics;
-Pink and glittery graphics, signify that Katie is very girly, and glamorous.





Title of programme: Monkey Business

Type of documentary;
-Expository, male voiceover, telling us what is happening, could be male to represent a male target audience

Themes;
-Animals

Narrative Structure;
-At the beginning we are introduced to an animal/animals
-We are told about the animals, and whats happening to them
-by the end of the show all the stories about the animals draw a conclusion

Camera Work;
-tracking long shot of all the workers transporting the monkey to a knew location, makes the audience feel like thee watching from a distance
-Close ups of the animals movements, for example a close up of a hand picking up food and raising it to its mouth
-close up Is used to show the facial expression of the vet, its shows patience as they wait for anaesthetic to work

Mise-En-Scene;
-clothing of all the workers, are comfortable but practical where, could suggest that although it may a job, it could also be something that they really like doing
-two interviewees in the same shot in the centre but looking off to the right of the screen
-appropriate mis-en-scene, they are placed outside a window that opens to the monkeys.
-interviewee placed to the left of the screen and speaking to the right

Sound;
-Male voiceover telling a narrative
-Diagetic sound of the animals
-Diagetic conversation between the vets, as they operate on the animal (voiceover then explains what is going on)

Editing;
-cutaways of the animals that are being talked about in the voiceover
-Cutaway showing us the behaviour of a monkey that has just been moved, relates to what the voice over is saying

Archive footage;
- all the footage was made for the documentary

Graphics;
-Graphics a white, and block like, apart from the letter ‘O’ all the letters are positioned on diagonals, giving the impression of naughty animals


Summary of codes and conventions of documentaries

-Talking heads (to the left or right of the shot)
-Cutaways
-Narrator/ Presenter/ ‘Voice of god’
-Archive footage -Graphics/ visuals (names/ charts/ information)
-Non-diagetic music, relevant to genre and target audience
-Closed narrative
-Straight cuts to the next shot, more realistic
-Images related to the voice over
-Documentary type suit’s the TV channel and audience
-’Vox pop’ interviews -Narrative structure
-Appropriate mis-en-scene, it signifies….
-Hand-held camera work for drama involvement
-Factual and informative


TV Scheduling

The schedule for each day can be broken into clear segments categorised daytime, evening and primetime. The target audience for these segments are for daytime, senior citizens and stay at home mums, due to the news and programmes like, ‘Bargain Hunt’ and ‘Loose Women’, for evening the target audience would be for families they have programmes on that family watch together such as ‘Emmerdale’, ‘Coronation Street’ and ‘Eastenders’. Prime time I would then go on to say is aimed at a mass audience as each terrestrial channel has programmes aimed at different social, interest, age, gender groups, for example ‘Mistresses’ is aimed at women, ‘Skins’ is aimed at teenagers, young adults. The target audience of each terrestrial channel would be;
-BBC1> Mass audience, Older citizens, Bargain Hunt and family Eastenders
-BBC2> Educational, University Challenge would be an example of this
-ITV1> Mass audience, X Factor attracts a large wide ranged audience, Emmerdale is more of a family programme
-Channel 4> Mass audience, Hollyoaks aims at teens and young adults, and The Trouble with the Pope aims at religious people
-Five> Mass audience, CSI, this aims at people interested in Crime and investigation, Home and Away aims at a family audience.
The most popular genres on television I would say are;
-Soaps because they are continuous they hook the audience into wanting to watch the next episode because the narrative doesn’t start and finish in the same episode they go over to a few. Most of the channels schedules are roughly 5% taken by repeats of programmes that have been on before, but Five takes from 25-50% of the schedule. I think this is because it is easy to fill space on the schedule and also because people who have missed it can watch it again, it is also cheaper. Channel Five has the most imported programmes in its schedules for example, Home and Away is an Australian programme, and CSI crime scene is an American programme I think this is because they can appear to a large target audience by having programmes to fit different interests.
The term, ‘the watershed’ means programmes that are unsuitable for children to watch due to inappropriate content, this starts at 9pm.

Scheduling Theory
> TV companies want to reach the right audience for a particular programme
> Inheritance-Scheduling a programme after a popular programme hoping to 'inherit'some of its audience
> Pre-Echo-Scheduling a programme before a popular programme hoping that the audience will tune in before the programme starts, to hopefully inherit there audience
> Hammoking-A programme is scheduled inbetween two popular programmes
> A remote control has a huge impact on this theory of scheduling as people dont want to wait to watch a programme so they watch a few different programmes before they watch the one they want to watch. Having digital TV ables the audience to be more active, they get to pick their own TV schedule, also live pause helps them to chose when they want to watch it as they can pause if they need to do something else.
> Watershed- (9:00pm onwards) These programmes contain stronger reference to sex, drugs, alcohol, strong language, and often more graphical for example; skins, the inbetweeners
> Narrowcasting-Targeting a specific audeince
-Disney channel
-Nickolodeon
-Discovery Channel
-Sky News
-NME
-Film4