First Bilateral Hand Transplant in a Child: Zion's Story

A-Level Media Documentary Analysis By Connor Clark

Context

- Zion’s Story is a medical documentary that investigates the world’s first known bilateral hand transplant in a child, an extremely difficult and groundbreaking operation

- The documentary focusses on both the emotional side felt by Zion and his mother and also the doctors and how they conduct their operation

- Zion’s Story puts a lot of emphasis on how revolutionary the operation could be as well as the complications that could occur

- Similarly to ‘Crushing Weight’ Zion’s Story is a medical documentary therefore a lot of the elements, codes and conventions of the documentary will correlate with the way in which my documentary could be filmed

- One of the first things I picked up on with Zion’s Story is the emphasis on Zion’s carefree attitude towards his disability, and the way this is encoded

- This would include the use of mise-en-scene within the documentary; props such as table football tables, and smartphones are used by Zion in the documentary, this shows that he continues with his life, unaffected by his disability

- An understanding of the balance between footage of the subject as well as footage of medical experts (or field experts) can also be taken away from this documentary

- The framing of the footage could influence how I frame scenes within my documentary - The non-chronological order of the footage is interesting and could by useful when

editing my documentary

How Can Zion’s Story Influence Me?

Introduction- The first 58 seconds of the documentary act as the title sequence/

introduction - It begins with three notes played on a piano and with each note a

line of text fades into the screen reading ‘4:32am’ ‘Minutes after surgery.’ and ‘The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’

- This is then followed by a cross cut between a tracking shot of surgeons walking through a hospital, shots of Zion (the main subject) playing on a smartphone and Zion walking with his mother

- The tracking shot is colour corrected to have a grey tone to the shot. This connotes grief and sadness to the audience working in sharp contrast with the bright colours seen in the shots of Zion connoting happiness

- This makes the audience question whether the surgery went as planned, or whether something happened

- The use of Barthes enigma code causes the audience to watch on till the end of the documentary to see the results

- The introduction finishes with a medium shot of Zion to signify he is the main subject

Narration and Interviews- Zion’s Story does not make use of narration, instead the documentary uses interviews and

subtitles to narrate it - The documentary interviews a wide range of people, including Zion, Zion’s mother and three

executive doctors involved with Zion’s hand transplant - Zion and his mother are interviews to give an understanding of the emotional effects Zion’s

disability and operation have on the family - The three doctors give an understanding of the scientific facts as well as the process and

implications the operation could have - It is useful having interviews with more than one field expert as each one sheds a different

light on the topic - The subtitles either identify the interviewee, or give small chunks of information to the

audience - The chunks are small enough that the audience can digest all the information and not get

tired of reading it

Cinematography- When the field experts (doctors) are interviewed, the framing of the

shot changes, the coordinator is shot using a medium shot, the co-director a medium close up, and the director a close up, this signifies their importance or knowledge and their role within the procedure

- The eye level angle of all these interviews creates a serious tone for the interview and indicates to the audience that the subjects are well informed and know what they are talking about

- Interviews with Zion’s mother are shot using a medium shot - The angle of the shot here is important as it is filmed using a high

angle - This indicates to the audience that Zion’s mother is suffering because

of her son’s disability and that the condition affects the whole family - The framing of Zion’s interviews change between a medium shot and

a close up, as do the angles, between a low angle and an eye level shot

- The changing of this relates to his youthful, constantly changing mind

- Low and eye level angles are used to create a connection between Zion and the audience and make the audience feel sympathetic towards him

Mise-en-scene- When filming the serious interviews with the doctors, the interviews

are shot in a doctor’s office, this is firstly to set the tone for the interview, and also is symbolic of the subjects profession

- During the surgery scenes close ups of equipment are used to convey to the audience the complications of the operation such as special glasses with magnifying lenses attached, and microscopes that are used to see the extremely small body parts that they have to sew together

- The interviews with Zion’s mother are shot in their house as this connotes a sense of normality in their difficult life and implies that she tries to provide Zion with as normal a life as possible

- Shots of Zion and his mother eating are used to give the audience an understanding of the way Zion adapts to having no hands

- A shot of Zion playing on a smartphone is used to convey to the audience that although on the surface, Zion is a brave, intelligent boy who has withstood more than most adults, beneath, he is still a young boy who wants to live a normal life

Editing- The opening tracking shot of the doctors

walking through the hospital is colour corrected to have a grey hue to the footage

- This connotes feelings of sadness and grief causing the audience to question what has happened to Zion

- This opening shot is edited in a non-linear way as it is cross cut between shots of Zion pre-surgery and also features at the start of the documentary whereas chronologically it would have been used toward the end of the documentary

- The shot is also a slow-motion shot as this creates tension and suspense - The pace of the editing is quite slow as the tone of the documentary is very serious - Line cuts are often used to create a more visually interesting documentary - Whilst the interviews are shown, line cuts are used to show footage of Zion or the operation to

make it more interesting for the viewers

Sound

- Zion’s Story begins with soft, gentle piano music playing over the top of footage with no audio

- This sets a sad tone for the documentary as the chords played are minor, this makes the music sound heavy and depressing

- The music reinforces the enigma created by the juxtaposing footage on screen - The audio from the interviews with doctors and Zion’s mother often overlaps footage of Zion

in a line cut - This conveys to the audience the idea that Zion is just an innocent young boy who gets on

with his life but there are all these complications and difficult processes he has to go through just to live yet on the surface he seems completely unaware of this

- During the operation washy, reverberated synths play create an uncertain tone - This music is used to reinforce the idea that even the doctors are unsure of how the

operation may go - After the operation uplifting piano music is played to reflect the happy atmosphere created

when the audience realise that the operation was a success and Zion is now making a recovery with two new hands

What theories can be applied to Zion’s Story?

Levi Strauss - Binary Oppositions - In the introduction two juxtaposing scenes are crosscut together - The grey tinted tracking shot of the doctors and the brightly coloured shots of Zion and his

mother create a sharp contrast - The two binary opposites create an idea that Zion may have passed away during his

operation or something went wrong - This is untrue however it makes the audience continue to watch in order to find out what

happened

Roland Barthes - The 5 Codes - The Hermeneutic code is used by the documentary being edited in a non-linear way - The introduction is chronologically at the end of the documentary but the enigma created

by having it at the start makes the audience continue to watch until the end

What is the purpose of ‘Zion’s Story’?

- Zion’s Story is a blur between the observational mode and the performative mode

- The documentary favours emotion and rejects objectivity (a performative convention) however there is no interaction with the director or filmmaker

- There is no narration either (a convention of observational) but there are interviews

- The blurring between the modes is important as it allows the documentary to become more interesting and unique

- If the documentary were to stay true the conventions of one mode it would lose the whole aesthetic

- The aim of Zion’s Story is to educate audiences on the scientific breakthrough of Zion’s operation and also how his condition effects