http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JANpe6XpSQ4

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Camera work Th is documentary uses a lo t o f c lose ups o f s igns and ob jects . We fi rs t see th is

w i th a c lose up o f ‘Weigh Room’, th is then cuts to a p icture o f a young g i r l w i th an unhappy fac ia l express ion . These two shot combined emphas ise the exper ience o f be ing weighed for the inhab i tants . I t g ives the v iewer an ins ight in to the associat ions the young g i r l makes wi th be ing weighed or her weight in genera l therefore emphas is ing the mood surrounding th is sub ject w i th in a ch i ld suff er ing wi th the prob lem.

As wel l as th is we see examples o f hand he ld camera work, th is i s done in order to add ‘ rea l i sm’ to the documentary. I t causes the v iewer to fee l l i ke they are look ing in on a s i tuat ion f rom a fl y on the wal l po int o f v iew, therefore caus ing us to assume i t i s unp lanned and unedi ted by the d i rector to create a spec ifi c eff ect on us .

The documentary a lso has var ious in terv iews, these fo l low the same ru les used in the prev ious documentary where 1/3 o f the screen i s fi l led by the speaker , however the d i rector uses a d iff erent s ty le o f mise-en-scene. The young g i r l i s in f ront o f a l i lac wa l l w i th s tuff ed an imals , th is emphas ises her youth caus ing the v iewer to be more aware o f how ser ious anorex ia i s w i th in ch i ldren .

Cutaway images were used throughout , a part icu lar example o f th is i s the images o f a c lock, th is Is don’t a fter v iew of the outs ide to show the typ ica l rout ine dur ing a morn ing, th is emphas is ’ the ser iousness o f anorex ia as i t i s then fo l lowed wi th images o f g i r l s t rugg l ing wi th the i l lness therefore showing therefore contrast ing a normal rout ine wi th that o f a ch i ld wi th th is cond i t ion .

A CHILD ANOREXIC

Mise-en-scene is also used throughout this documentary, a key example of this is the use of natural lighting. Much of the lighting we see is in fact natural with some lighting added in where necessary however never becomes obvious, this is done in order to create the ‘realism’. It works to convince the viewer that they are looking in on a normal situation for the person therefore making the scene seem more realistic as opposed to staged by a director.

Clothing is also used. Many of the young children are in their pyjamas during the beginning of the documentary, this again emphasises how young they are and causes the viewer to become more aware of how prominent the issue is within children therefore causing the documentary to have the correct impact.

MISE – EN – SCENE

‘A Chi ld Anorex ic ’ fo l lows Toderov’s throery in that i s has a c lear beginn ing, middle and end.

We star t the documentary wi th and int roduct ion wi th cut away images f rom the outs ide envi ronment wi th a vo ice over , th i s int roduces the house and i ts purpose therefore a l lowing the audience an in i t ia l in t roduct ion to the set t ing of the documentary. We then go on to fi nd out about some spec ifi c cases of the inhabi tants , these are c lear ly defi ned by cuts to graphics which profi le the 3 key cases , th i s works as an int roduct ion to the ‘s tory ’ that we wi l l see throughout

We then have a middle sect ion. Th is g ives us fur ther deta i l s o f the s i tuat ions f rom interv iews wi th both fami ly , other inhabi tants and key profess ionals invo lved in the s i tuat ion. These a l low you to create an emot ional at tachment as an audience as we l l as keeping you wel l in formed therefore a l lowing you to fu l ly understand what each person i s go ing through. Th is use of interv iews a lso adds to the category of a ‘mixed documentary’ , these work in form and g ive a ba lanced v iew of the s i tuat ion as opposed to forc ing a par t i cu lar opin ion on the audience there fore a l lowing them to ga in the i r own perspect ive . The interv iews wi th profess ionals however cause the v iews to be gu ided in a cer ta in d i rect ion there fore g iv ing the documentary a purpose.

The last s tage of Toderov’s theory i s to g ive the documentary and ending, Th is las t s tage i s used to fo l low the fi fth s tage of Toderov’s theory ‘ regain ing equi l ibr ium’ , th i s means that the events must be so lv ing any problems that we met in the middle s tages of the documentary. In th i s documentary the ending i s the recovery or improvement of some of the key cases we have been int roduced to wi th in the house ( the key set t ing) . By ending the documentary in such as way we as an audience are ab le to see the journey the people have been through therefore we are more l i ke ly to watch unt i l the end and ga in a conc lus ion the par t i cu lar top ic be ing presented

THEORY

This documentary uses many typical sound techniques throughout, we see voice over, this again allows the director to add in extra information without altering the scenes which are being presented, this therefore adds to making the who documentary seem like ‘realistic’ as opposed to staged. The voice overs intention is to expand on key areas within the documentary to minimise confusion for the audience. In this documentary it is used to present us with the facts of the situation giving us a educated insight to combine with our own and build up an informed conclusion overall.

We are again presented with incidental music throughout diff erent stages of this documentary, its purpose is to enhance the tone of the information being given and allow us to recognise that the ‘story’ is advancing. In this documentary we are fi rst introduced to it at the very beginning as the voice over of a young girl is informing us of the mind set of a child dealing with anorexia. The incidental music works to create a mood for the audience therefore tell ing us how we should be viewing the information being presented.

SOUND