Examples of A2 Documentaries

In class we watched four examples of past A2 documentaries. I found this task very useful as we got to see a wide range of ideas and the ways in which different students presented their work. We were given a sheet where there were four levels 1-4 and we had to mark each point based on how well they did it. The marks were awarded for:

• Holding a shot steady, where appropriate
• Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate
• Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate
• Shooting material appropriate to task set
• Selecting mise en scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
• Using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set
• Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set

The four documentaries were called, C Level, Top Gear, Short Guy Ritchie and The truth about teenagers.
The best one we watched was C Level, it had mostly level 4 for all the catogaries, The truth about teenagers was also good and included lots of level 3 as did Top Gear. Short guy ritchie was a very different type of documentary and didn't involve any of the levels so we therefore decided it would be graded a very low grade.

Watching these documentaries was very useful and helped when developing ideas for our own. It showed us what worked well and what didn't so when it comes to filming our documentary we will be prepared for what to include.