Nicole Lewis Ingrid

Pamela YounesMonae Minors-Gibbs

Helen

Assignment 2: Group TV documentary

analysis

Lifers Documentary

Information Explanation

What is it One off

Length of show 47 min 34 sec

When is it aired on channel 4 Monday 25th June 2012

What time is it aired at? 9 pm

What is it rated? G = For strong language and distributing description of some brutal crimes

Topic and Purpose

What is the topic of show?

Explores the day to day life of convicted

killers as the undergo behavioural courses and psychological

interventions as part of their rehabilitation.

What is the purpose of the

show?

To show how convicted criminals

lives their lives following their

consequences in prison.

What is the message of

this documentary?

Don’t Kill because they would show

how your life would end up as.

AudienceInformation

Explanation

Niche Audience

It’s a niche because, a wide variety would not want to watch a show that highlights convicted criminals thus making the audience feel sorry for them.

Who is our targets?

Primary Audience:

- Gender: Male- Age: 18-30- Ethnicity: White- Interest/Hobbies:

who are interested in crime

- Social Class:

Secondary Audience:

- Gender: Female- Age: 30-50- Ethnicity: Black- Interest/Hobbies:

who wants to learn- Social Class:

Analysis of IntroductionForms / Conventions

Screen shots Explanation

Non diegetic music

To set the mood

Voiceovers to make the audience visualise/interested

Hand held camera

It makes it more realistic, as a tripod is not used

Interviewing This is mode of address, when the person would have the opportunity to say what’s on his/her mind and addresses it to the audience

Forms

Nicole

Editing

Archival footage

Ingrid

Music

Pamela Sense of realism Montage editing

Helen Camera shots

Monae

Lighting

Sound

Archival PhotosA photo of one of the criminals that has been in jail that could be there for up to 12 years..

This image would make the audience feel sympathetic towards him and make them wonder how a sweet child like him could become a murderer.

Editing – Eye Line Matching

Shows the audience what a specific person is looking at.

Editing – Shot Reverse Shot/180 degree rule

Shot reverse shot is used to show the facial expression between the criminal and leader have a meeting.

180 degree rule is used to establish exactly where each character is placed.

Forms – music/sound• In this scene, there is a sound bridging

while the reporter is talking about the person that is shown on that scene.

• Also in this scene the music portrays a serious tone, so the audience can identify that this documentary is something serious.

This scene has music on the background.

Whereas this scene there is no music on the background at all.

Changes to another scene with a background music

Conventions

• The convention of a handheld camera in a documentary is reinforced in ‘Lifers’.

• The handheld camera movement is to show the audience realism.

Forms – Sound

• The introduction includes score music to set an uneasy mood

• This also includes sound bridging that controls volume as to what the audience can hear, in this case it was the van driving.

• There was volume control was raised, so the audience can hear the flag blowing, while realising the documentary has something to do with a prison.

Score music and sound bridging was used as it does give a sense of realism and so the audience can hear real sounds

that happens.

Forms – Sound

• This begins with dramatic score music

• Also included the sound which the people was

making• In addition the presenter

was talking over this which they had to use sound

bridging for.

• The dramatic score music carried through again with a cutaway to the presenter

which introduced him• Meaning they had to use

volume control for.

This is a similar example I found from the ‘The World’s Weirdest Weather’.

Sense of Realism

Zooming, also is a sense of realism, as it doesn’t use separate cuts, also close ups

Natural lighting causes realism, as there isn't artificial lighting available

Hand held camera is also a sense of realism, where it can be shaky in some time as a tripod is not used

The above would use these forms, as the majority of the documentaries would have these elements. They would use these elements throughout the documentary

Montage Editing

Montage editing is when they would introduce the documentary

As they would introduce the different criminals who are involved in the documentary, they would create an enigma

By creating an enigma, it would engage the audience to carry on watching the documentary

This documentary uses montage editing, as all documentaries would create an enigma with all the different topics based on lifers to keep amusing the audience and not get bored

Establishing shot

Establishing shot of the prison. Creating an

image of the prison for the viewers .

Camera Shots

Zoom in from distance and out of the picture

Mid shot

They used a camera shot of the Talking hands

Conventions

Nicole

Interviews

Case Studies

Ingrid Hand held camera

Pamela

Credits

Statistics

Helen

Voiceovers

Mode of address

MonaeArchival

footage

Cutaways

Interviews – Expert interviewsExpert interviews in a closed area. Showing it’s somewhat professional.

Analysing the criminals behaviour. Close up on her shocked expression.When explaining why they kill other people.

Case Studies

First shot the audience see’s of him is a natural lying down position.

Before he starts talking, his name and sentence appears on the screen. Giving the audience a bit of an insight to Shaun.

Conventions – Montage editing Montage editing – developed to give the audience an insight of the different case

studies that will be further explained.

Conventions – Montage editing This is a similar example I found from the ‘Bob Marley’s

documentary’. The montage editing was used to show a mixture of things that will be continued and explained by the ending.

Conventions- CutawaysCutaways- used to keep the audience interested to what

they are watching.

• This is cutaway of an inmate in his cell

• The presenter asking him questions about the cells and it cuts away for the audience to get a closer look

• The audience can see a crowd of prisoners walking in

• It cuts away to one of the prisoners being interviewed

• Score music has a already started on this cut away

• The cut away shows the activity they do

Convention- Rule of thirdsRule of thirds- used mainly

during interviews and with close up to show facial expressions.

• There is also unsettling music

while they describe whom go into this

prison.

Convention- Rule of thirdsThis is a similar example I found from the ‘Lost children’. The rule of thirds was used in the interview so the audience is not

distracted while looking at the documentary.

Credits

It’s a close-up when they have an interview, while the credit is on the screen

The name is bigger and bolder, whereas their role and job is smaller. This shows the importance of the name and the role of their jobs

The black background, makes the title looks bigger and bolder as it stands out, as this is the title, which should be different than the rest.

This documentary also uses the way the credit is presented. As it shows the importance between the name and the role. By using different sized text and the boldness of the texts

Statistics

This documentary challenges, as it doesn’t use statistics. However they used the release dates of the prisoners, whereas they didn’t relate to the whole population in the U.K

There isn’t any statistics used, however they mentioned the release dates of the prisoners. Which is still facts, but did not relate to the whole population in the U.K

Cutaways & Voiceover

Starts with cutaway and voice over (3rd person)

Inspiration for A2 c/w

What is inspirational form/convention

• Convention- text with black background (mainly challenged)

Why/how useful? • Can be useful for very informative documentary

• can explain things clearer.

Inspiration for A2 c/wWhat is inspirational form/convention

• Form (camera work) which was a pan

Why/how useful? • A pan side ways is a interesting movement which is challenged in documentaries.

• Its useful because it can show a lot of things in one cut.

Inspirational for A2 C/W

What is inspirational form/convention

Forms: sense of realism Convention: interviewing

Why/how useful? It makes it more realistic this is more useful as its not fake and a documentary would be telling something true

Inspirational for A2 C/W

What is inspirational form/convention

Forms: different camera shots Convention: credits

Why/how useful? By using different camera shots it would make it more interesting, therefore the audience wouldn’t get bored they would stay interested.