Six - Analysis of Existing Projects- By Jodie O'Neill

The subject matter of this documentary is interesting and unusual, which immediately catches the audiences attentions. The tone of this documentary is informal and humours the target audience, being young people. The introduction is very effective as it introduces the children who are now in charge of the school. The nature is expository as it is investigating into the child-run school and is partly participatory, as the documentarian can be heard asking the characters questions.

Editing

Within the first two minutes lots of fast shots are used to highlight different aspects of the school, such as the children writing and images of the school itself. The short durations of the introductory teacher shots helps the audience to met the characters but does not directly give away a lot of information, making the audience want to watch on. The interviews are diverted back in forth with different interviews in between to break up each part.  The blurred hand contrasts to the basic layout of the documentary and states that tensions are rising.

Mise en Scene

The choice of location is appropriate to the subject matter and the documentary flows naturally in the way a school day would run. The use of costume is suitable to a school environment. No unusual props are used but the use of school equipment adds a sense of realism.

Sound

Throughout the documentary asynchronous sound is used in the background to set a casual tone. The music becomes more quite when an interview is taking place. Naturalistic sound is used throughout, such as the birds tweeting and human voices.

Camera

Various two-shots are used to add a sense of realism, however, this is not the case with actual interviews. All interviews contain mid-shots and the camera stays still throughout the interview. The camera follows the head master as he enters his office, which is arguably, a participatory, direct cinema, stylistic.

Areas to Improve

The acting does seem a little bit over the top and you can tell that the documentary is comedy-style show. Some areas of the documentary are not realistic, going against the definition of  documentary. A few scenes are over-exaggerated and are not serious enough for the task.

Ten Years of Music - Analysis of Existing Projects- By Jodie O'Neill

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Analysis of Previous Media A2 Documentaries - The Naked Truth: Pornography- By Jodie O'Neill

Strange Days Documentary Research - - By Jodie O'Neill

History Channel Presents: Interview with JFK Jr - Research of Documentaries - - By Jodie O'Neill

 Opening credits are used with a black and white photograph of the 1960's to introduce the show. The layout is basic yet effective. Then the History Channel logo appears. A two shot appears on the screen of the documentarian and JFK JR which helps to establish the characters of the documentary.The beginning of the documentary witnesses the documentarian introducing the show and describes the upcoming events and the topic of discussion.
This is laid out in a professional, straight to the point, manner. Archive footage is then used of President John Kennedy to link the family connection of the interviewee and his father as one. The caption that shows the documentarians name is very basic.
The use of costume is appropriate to the formal style of the interview as they are wearing suits. The location is very formal reflecting upon the subject matter of the Kennedy Library. Mid-shots are used while JFK JR is speaking and it is interesting to point out that the History Channel logo is behind the interviewee while he is talking to help promote the channel. After several minutes of the JFK JR mid-shots, the camera returns to using mi-shots of the documentarian and the interviewee.
Asynchronous sound is used at the very beginning to introduce the show, however, the rest of the documentary uses natural and synchronous sound.

Tupac Shakur - Resurrection Documentary - By Jodie O'Neill

 

This documentary was hosted by MTV.

The Secret Life of a Superpower - BBC One Documentary - By Jodie O'Neill

Below I have created a slideshow of the most significant images from the documentary.

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This was the first episode of the three-part series of the Wiki-leaks scandal

Big Fat Gypsy Wedding - Documentary Research - 4oD - By Jodie O'Neill

 4oD is a suitable channel for this particular documentary, as 4oD usually hosts documentaries that are quite casual and less informal in comparison to BBC One. The target audience is blurred as it could interested different age groups but the style is quite relaxed.

Gypsy wedding from Jodie O'Neill