The first documentary I watched was ‘A Street Cat Named Bob’. This documentary followed James Bowen, a busker and ex big issue seller, and a cat that he picked up during working on the streets, who he then went on to write a book about. I would describe this documentary as observational as it follows James’ in various locations such as him busking and in the park during the interview and showcases James’ life. The filmmaker’s message to the audience about the topic would be to give light and raise awareness on the issues of people living and/or working on the street.
The documentary is is observational. However, diegetic sound is used throughout as James’ interview plays. There is a voiceover during the cutaways. It involves lots of cutaways during his interview to give visual aid to what James is saying.
There aren’t any vox pops used as the documentary is observational and vox pops could break the personal theme of the documentary. It would confuse the audience as it would distract from the topic of his life by giving public opinion. The interview is with James in the park. In the interview he talks about his life on the streets and how Bob, the cat, changed the way he went about life on the streets.
There is non-diegetic music in the background. This music is loud at the beginning and then fades to be quiet when James is talking. This allows James to be heard in the interview so the viewer can clearly understand what he is talking about. Not making the music prominent throughout allows the documentary to seem more real by not overpowering and distracting the viewer from the main information of the interview. The music is upbeat and happy sounding. This reflects when James is talking about how living and working on the streets is tough but the cat allowed him to make a positive change. This positivity is reflected in the upbeat music in the background.
There is cutaway footage of Covent Gardens, where he busks. There is footage of James and the cat going around London, getting on and off the bus and them leaving their house. The footage of the two going around London is used in a montage which gives a visual summary to the viewer of the two travelling from place to place without sharp abrupt cuts that would confuse the viewer.
The editing is not complex to give an illusion of realism. For example straight cuts are used from scene to scene and for cutaways. There are cutaways throughout the interview to give visual aid to the audience on what is being spoken about and keeps the viewer more entertained rather than just watching an interview throughout the entire documentary. There is also a montage at the beginning of the documentary along with some upbeat non-diegetic music. This gives the audience an initial idea of what the documentary will be about. The documentary includes a visual cat paw instead of words when it says 'Paw Pair'. This is also a play on words as the word 'paw' is used instead of 'poor' pair. This reflects how the pair are not only poor as a result of being homeless, but also reflects that there is a cat in the pair. This is the only type of graphics used. There are no Astons as the only person speaking throughout is James as his interview runs throughout the documentary. Therefore, it makes sense that he is talking and there is no need to introduce anyone else. There are no graphics such as pictures that pop on the screen to make the documentary more realistic as these types graphics tend not to appear as they make the documentary look tacky and unprofessional.
Life how we live - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01t6m2p
This documentary was about young people trying to get out of difficult areas to develop themselves and become better people. The target audience of this documentary is 16+ people as their is a pop up to confirm your age before you watch the documentary. This documentary is an observational documentary and follows people involved in gangs and gang culture. The message that the film maker wants to convey from this documentary is that people who are involved in gang culture can make something of themselves through study and the culture isn't the only part of their life. It shows that they can be motivated to work hard, and not just put all their time into selling drugs and other things involved in gang culture.
In this documentary there is a presenter who is introduced through a voiceover and also involved in some shots of the documentary which makes it presenter led. For example, at the beginning of the documentary there is a voiceover that is used over footage and then there is shots, including bloopers, where the presenter is incorporated in the shot. Blooper type shots are involved in the documentary to make the documentary feel more realistic that the viewer is in the life with them and not just in a formal setting of talking to the people in the documentary. Interviews are used with some of the people in the documentary, where the presenter asks these people about their past and for them to explain stories of their past. This is when they talk about experiences that have aided them to become better people. The mise en scene is set with relevant backgrounds, such as bedrooms and music spaces. This is to create a setting relevant to the story so the documentary flows with what the interviewee is talking about and also to add interest the documentary rather than a boring background. The sound in the video is not very clear in certain shots as there is also a lot of background noise as there is a lot of shots near roads as this links to the theme of gang culture. There is a lot of cutaways and archive footage of general daily life of the people involved such as them at parties and them filming themselves in a car for things such as music videos. This makes them seem more like real life people rather than the youthful stereotype that people would see them as. There are astons and a title sequence used for graphics in this documentary and the graphics are basic so the viewer can read the astons clearly and the documentary seems more realistic. The film maker follows the rule of thirds in their interviews and the other shots are not as professional. However, this makes the documentary seem more accessible to the viewer as they can feel like they are involved in the life of the people involved.
Saints and sinners - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02l7z7v
The target audience of this would be religious people and people aged 18+. This would be because of the content of the video and the ideas of developing a church into a club. This documentary was about an area wanting to change a church into a club and to raise awareness into different people’s perspectives on this change. The purpose of this documentary is that the filmmaker wanted to show that religion is changing, growing and developing along with the times and that religion is becoming more flexible as a result of this.
The documentary features a voiceover to present the documentary, which makes it easier for the viewer to keep interested in both the footage and the message being put across. There were vox pops that were shot outside of the church to give relevant scenery to what the interviewee was talking about. This meant that some people in the vox pops would notice the church and see the difference between what a church is and what it would become if it were to be a club. The main interview in the documentary was with the vicar. The documentary features both religious music and club music. For example, when the vicar is talking there is church music and then any club scene has club music as a non diegetic soundtrack. This links to the theme of both church and the club scene and keeps the documentary interesting as well as allowing it to flow nicely and make sense. There was a mixture of scenes that featured music coming from inside the club and then a voiceover talking on top. This helps to create a more realistic atmosphere to the viewer so they can feel like they are in the club and not just watching the documentary. The cutaways used included footage at the beginning of the area around the club to give the viewer an initial idea of where the documentary was based. This adds to the illusion of realism to the viewer as it doesn’t start off randomly in the club. For example, as the club was based around the coast, the documentary included cutaways of the seaside as the voiceover gave information to the viewer about the club and the area. There wasn’t much complex editing with the shot types and straight cut transitions, which allowed the documentary to come across as more realistic and professional. The only graphics used were a title sequence which gave credit to those involved. This simple use of graphics allowed the documentary to give an illusion of realism for the viewer which allows them to clearly follow the documentary and not be focused on overpowering graphics which make editing obvious.