Jersey Shore- US documentary

The series follows the lives of eight housemates spending their summer at the Jersey Shore. The documentary involves all different camera shots allowing the audience to really understand what is going on. There is use of interview throughout the documentary, we get to hear the housemates opinions on everyday happenings. The documentary type is observational as the camera stays as unobstructive as possible allowing the audience to make up their own minds.

Ross Kemp on gangs- UK Documentary

I watched a few of Ross Kemp's documentaries and they facsinated me. On the show Kemp travels around the world talking to gang members, locals who have been affected by gang violence, and the authorities who are attempting to combat the problem. In each episode he attempts to establish contacts within the gangs who can arrange interviews with the gangs' leaders.Throughout the documentary many different camera shots and angles are used, this works well allowing the audience to see everything which is going on. The editing is a mixture of fast and slow, again building up and emphazing tension. The documentary type would fall under Expository and observational, as it is from his point of view and he very much gets involved in the filming. The music adds to the atmosphere and builds tension.

MTV cribs UK & US Documentary

MTV cribs is a documentary shown on MTV, we get to see inside the homes of our favourite celebrities. Many conventions are used throughout the show.

• Use of interview
• Editing
• Background music is played
• Sounds effects are played when necessary - this either emphasizes what the celebrity is showing us or creates a particular atmosphere.
• There are a variety of camera angles used- this works well as it shows us as an audience all the different views and angles of the house.
• Use of titles
• Cutting from scene to scene
• Zooming in and out of certain objects
• The lighting is different throughout which works well, creating different moods throughout
• Lenghts of shots are varied and certain clips are either sped up or slowed down
• No archive footage is used 
• The camera is hand held which has both advantages and disadvantages, some shots in which are taken are sometimes shaky but on the other hand the camera easily gets around allowing the audience to see every detail
• The type of this documentary is observational

Kids behind Bars

We chose a documentary which we had to watch and look at all the different conventions involved. I chose to watch BBC threes 'Kids behind bars', It's a new three-part series following children detained at Vinney Green secure children's home in Gloucestershire. It tells their stories and examines their progress.

It's brave of these units to allow cameras in, and important that they do - it's the only way the public can begin to understand how vulnerable children are cared for under lock and key. Unlike young offender institutions, secure children's homes are generally used to hold younger offenders, those aged 12 to 14, girls up to the age of 16, and 15 to 16-year-old boys who are assessed as particularly vulnerable.

My Documentary

  

Analysis of A2 Documentaries

In our lesson we got a chance to look at some of last years documentaries. We were able to see the final outcome of their work and how well certain things worked. It allowed us to get a real feel for what we have to produce this year. We watched four documentaries and looked at the conventions used, soundtrack, editing techniques, use of archive footage, what worked well, what needed improving and the documentary type.

The first documentary we watched was called 'Caught on camera'. The conventions used in this were, voiceover, use of interview, voice of authority and editing. Soundtrack used was background music, music was played when there was no speaking, loud music was also played at the beginning. Editing techniques used were: a variety of camera angles, use of titles, cutting from scene to scene, zooming in and out of writing, lighting was used and the different lighting techniques. The use of archive used was posters and news programmes. Many things worked well in this particular documentary, the merging of the news clips and the pace of the editing worked well, the music fitted in nicely. The use of interviews worked really well, also what worked well was when one person being interviwed wanted to be anyomous so they blacked out their figure so it just looked like a shadow on a light background. What needed improving was that there were many shaky camera shots and also some of the voices were very echoey and hard to make out. This documentary was Expository.

The second one we watched was called Skin Deep. The conventions used were voice over, use of interview and editing. The soundtracks used, to begin with there was fast, loud music and also when flicking between images there was fast loud music. Editing techniques used were a variety of camera angles, they used titles telling us names of places and the names of the people being interviewed. There were also blackouts used in between each scene, this was good as it kept the energy flowing. The use of archive footage used were sourced images of people with tattoos. Many things also worked well in this documentary, The editing was particulary good. The fact they went to Camden was a really nice touch, the atmosphere was perfect for their documentary. Also the fact that you can actually see people getting tatoos done in the documentary is a really nice touch and made the documentary more real. A few things needed improving, when interviewing you could hear laughing in the background also the cuts between some of the interviewing was too sharp and jumpy. The type of this documentary was Expository.

The next documentary we watched was called 'Secret serveillance'. The conventions used in this were, voice of Gog, voice of authority, voiceover, interview and editing. The soundtrack used was ambient sound and there was danger music played at the appropriate times. The editing techniques used were: slow motion, reconstruction, black and white, different camera angles, flashbacks from interview to event taking place. There was no archive footage used in this documentary. A few things worked well, the CCTV footage worked well, the voiceover of the phone call, the slow pace when Lydia was walking also worked well as it created a lot of tension. The use of titles also worked well and also the lighting on the victim was very effective. A few things also needed improving, The voice at the end when Matt read the phone number out was blurry and echoey. The volume throughout was very unbalanced. The documentary type was hybrid of expository and performative.

'Wikileaks' was the last documentary we watched, the conventions used throughout were, voiceover, voice of authority, voice of God, a variety of interviews and there was also an introduction to the topic. The soundtrack used was loud and fast pace and there was also background music used. The editing techiniques used were, use of titles, use of camera angles, cuts between interviews- this kept the audience interested. Blackouts were used as well as the clips on the computers between Zoe speaking. The use of archive footage used was the picture of the globe, news clips, the word 'wikileaks' was taken from many news documentaries and editing together. A lot of things worked well in this one, it was crisply told, the computer screens lit up when Zoe was talking worked really well. The establishing shot of Kenneth Clarke and the variety of interview worked well. A few things also needed improving such as at some points the music takes over the voices. The interviews also dragged a little so could have been cut in places. The documentary utype was expository and participatory.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching all four documentaries, it was interesting to see their ideas and what they produced as an outcome. My favourite was the Wikileaks documentary, it was by far the best one, the way in which they edited it all together and the research they put together to create such an interesting documentary.