Documentaries

By Michelle Asafu-Adjaye

March of the penguins

This is a nature documentary following the life of the emperor penguins in the Antarctica. It shows us how penguins survive, how they breed and how they mate.

• What I learnt from this documentary is that a documentary can still be successful with a voiceover throughout.

• When making a nature documentary a lot of post-production is needed to make it interesting to the audience. E.G-the music and the transitions.

• I also learnt about the life of penguins and what they go through every year chronologically.

Likes

• I liked the way they made the penguins seem like real people.

• The voiceover added emotion to the film and created an emotional response from the audience( well most)

• The music was really good and fitted in well with whatever mood they were trying to create.

E.G- When the narrator jokes that male penguins are similar to men the music here is upbeat and comical.

Analysis of scenes

During scenes like this when the penguins where walking there would be a voice over which was good because it made it more interesting and less boring.

Whilst showing some of the emperor penguins searching for food in the water they also showed the penguins main predator, the leopard seal attacking as soon as they entered the water. The music and the jump cuts from the seal to the penguins trying to escape created tension and anticipation. Also the close up shot of the inside of the seals mouth highlighted the danger the penguins were in.

They use a lot of close of shots which shows the audience lots of detail. E.G.- the egg being carried, one of the eggs cracking and how penguins feed their young.

There was a good use of long shots and it was really effective when they where showing how penguins choose one person to mate with for life.

How it met the conventions of a documentary?Who the target audience was and how they reached their target audience?

How this documentary has inspired me?

This met the conventions of documentaries through the use of the ‘voice of god’ narration and use of natural sounds. The target audience for this

documentary is for kids and adults. The rating is a G so its very family friendly. I think they where able to reach their target audience by including loads of facts for the adults and showing how the penguins act like humans would have appealed to the kids.

It has inspired me because it shows me that animal documentaries don't have to be boring if u have a good voiceover and good use of camera movements/shots.

SICKO

This a documentary film by Michael Moore is about health care in America and the American health insurance industry.

Likes

• It gave us a lot of information• They used lots of examples and evidence

to support points made.

Dislikes

• Sometimes the narrator Michael Moore was very bias and it is obvious he has a thing against the American government.

• At times the tone of his voice was very sarcastic.

• He didn't explore the downside of having universal healthcare. E.G- long waiting lists.

Analysis of scenes

The narrator gets information from doctors in other countries and compares it to the health care in America.

They introduce the participants they are interviewing and clearly introduce them by showing their names on the screen and their profession.

He uses close-ups of important documents and highlights important information for the audience to focus on.

Good use of graphics

They use old clips from various points in history.

He uses CCTV images as evidence of how patients in America are treated and the music here is very emotional.

He gets true life stories from various people in order to build an emotional response from the audience and even shows the method he used to contact these people.

Most of the images that are used are in sync with the voiceover. E.g. This newspaper article of a woman.

How it met the conventions of a documentary?

Who the target audience was and how they reached their target audience?

How this documentary has inspired me?

It has inspired me by showing me that documentaries can be about anything and you can represent issues in anyway you like.

The target audience is adults and young adults because the documentary covers an issue that is of great concern in the United States

It met the conventions of a documentary through the use of the shaky camera, archival footage and interviews with experts.

Misbehaving mumsThis a TV documentary which researches pregnant women who are doing things that are putting their unborn babies at risk and this documentary shows how specialised nurses try to help them.

Likes

•Very factual•The music was very modern and fitted in well because they’re using young/teenage women in their documentaries

Analysis of clips

Good use of graphics. E.g. the baby scan with the baby smoking and drinking was very affective.

The participants in the documentary talk to the camera sometimes.

They introduce the characters they’ll be featuring in each episode and also give information about the nurses who will be monitoring the women.

They write down the details of the person as well.They also follow the girls around to see

how they get on after the advice they’ve been given.

How it met the conventions of a documentary?It met the conventions of documentaries through the use of montage, interviews and voice of god narration

Who the target audience was and how they reached their target audience?I think the target audience was women in particular mass market women. I think they reached their target audience by putting this on bbc three.

How this documentary has inspired me?It has inspired me through their filming techniques and I will consider using the method of giving some background information about people taking part in my documentary as this can make it more interesting and entertaining.