Inspiration from Documentary Style Movies/Programmes

The majority of the inspiration for my media coursework rationale originated within this stand off documentary I decided to view one night on the BBC Three television channel. The harsh content delves deep into the world of eating disorders and focuses upon the lives of several young girls living and receiving treatment in a respected specialist centre to aid them in their fight against anorexia nervosa. The way this documentary is composed, focusing upon the girls daily lives in their treatment programme and the personal interviews that they are subjected to throughout their stay inspires me to compose a traditional style documentary - gritty and firmly to the point whilst also being realistic- lacking in heavy camera editing and incorporating a 'realistic' environment (by following the average day of the patients) A lot of the camera work here is done in a 'handheld' style which can be quite shaky at times. I think this personifies the realism of the event and conveys the idea the viewer is actually in the room with them, experiencing what the patients do on a daily basis so they are more likely to convey a sense of sympathy and understanding towards them. The colours displayed within this documentary are very neutral, bland and depressing - this reflects the nature of my idea extremely well as it conveys with the colour scheme I have chosen for the literature side of my project (the newspaper and magazine articles) as well as relating to the style I desire my own clip to be shot in, which in parts will be black and white to highlight the serious nature of the topic being focused upon and the underlying depression and destruction that comes with it. The bleakness highlights the hospital nature of the programme, hence the medical side which also refers back to the colour palette I desire.I appreciate the lack of quick cuts in the composition of this film, mostly as it allows us as a viewer to engage more closely with the girls and their stories rather then flicking back and forwards between separate points of interest as this would disengage the audiences empathy for them. The use of handheld for the more 'action scenes' (when the camera man tails the patients and nurses on foot) contrasts well with the steadicam methodology used for the interviews with professionals and the girls as this conveys how much their opinions, thoughts and feelings do matter and help the audience to diverge deeper into the world of eating disorders through a personal experience. Most importantly it aids the documentary in appearing of a professional standard, highlighting its authenticity. The use of real life environments are focused heavily within the programme through the use of medical wards, to shopping centres and an ordinary family home in a regular estate which personifies that this illness is all around us where we would least expect it to be sulking. For me I believe it would be useful to incorporate these type of surroundings in my documentary as I want to strongly emphasise how 'real' the disorder can be in peoples lives - they need to understand how it destroys family communities apart and if they can relate to the settings the documentary is based in I think the message will be projected clearer.



I stumbled across this documentary whilst browsing Youtube for ideas to improve and expand the thoughts I had distributed in my rationale for my documentary project. Not only was I initially intrigued by the content of this 10 minute segment of the programme (it revolves around weight/fad diets which is a major influence into the development of eating disorders) but when I began to become engrossed within it I found it was a great inspiration for many other technical aspects included. Almost immeditelly into the clip there are useful techniques I am able to distinguish, such as the opening few seconds 0.05-0.30 where the 'plot' of the content for the programme is printed onscreen in bold white font for the viewer to read and interpret. This allows them a mini 'preview' of what is to entail before it is presented to them - it gives a vague understanding as of what to expect in regards to the documentary allowing the audience to decide whether it fits their interests/is worth watching/seems interesting etc. The documentary is vaguely identical to many others I have presented on this page as it has the use of handheld styled camera components - this personifies the realism of the programme and how it is directly relating to situaions we ourselves would encounter in our environments. The equipment is directly used by the presenter Dawn Porter herself for personal documented 'diaries' when she speaks to the camera (and therefore the public) in a sensitive manner as if she was actually addressing them. Furthermore there is additional footage of her being tailed by the camera operator through the streets during a vigorous exercise routine viewed at 0.55-1.16. The environment Dawn Porter is emersed in is a typical setting an ordinary person would be accoustmed to (e.g. an average neighbourhood street), documenting that she is trying to make her size zero film as appealing to the target audience as she can potentially make it by referencing to everyday experiences we encounter (in this specific instance she is doing a ftiness workout which is an activity a majority of the great british public would engage with) Hand-held footage is extremely popular within the content of the samples I have selected to present, further convivning me this line of filming is deffinitely appropriate and beneficial within my own project as it will help personalise the perception of the daily endevaours of someone suffering with an eating disorder and how their real world experiences happen alongst side ours



This seems like an unusual sample to scan for useful ideas relating to my project genre as it is a topic that is a far contrast from the medical health sector I'm focusing upon. However it is not the content but the composition and editing styles of the clip I am most thoroughly interested in. This is a segment from Air crash investigation which incoporates a mixture of reconstructed footage of an aiviation event and professional interviews with those actually involved to explain a story of a near fatal airplane accident. The style in which the interviews themselves are composed is achieved through the use of steadicam technology - at no point does the camera man move or tilt the screen to cause disorientation to the audience, it is 'steady' throughout, the only exception being when an incremintal zoom is done to focus on the interviewees facial expressions to convey their emotions that more directly in a personal level to the viewing public. This is to elict the intended, desired reaction from them (whether it is shock, happiness, fear etc.) Having full attention on an individuals expressions can make a statement clearer with profound emphasis, this is ideal for my rationale as I intend to grasp my target audiences full spectrum of emotions, it is important they themselves feel connected with the individuals interviewed in the footage as ultimately the effect I desire is for them to experience the struggle of another with an eating disorder as empathy is essentially the only method of provoking that. The steadicam asset to this video magnifies the feelings of the interviewees, the lack of jolting movement of the equipment or screen aids in personifing a professional attitude to the production - ultimately I desire mine to replicate this as if my documentary was amateurish it would not broadcast very authentically to my target audience so there is a possibility of them becoming disinterested. Especially during the inteviews when its focused on the individuals suffering from the eating disorders I require the camera to remain as still as possible as this helps to maintain the seriousness of the situation amongst discussion. During the 52 minutes of footage composed to the audience the colours in the environment resemble a fairly bleak palette, with no sudden emphasis on anything in particular - I think this aids to indicate the bleakness of the content, after all an air crash investigation is not a pleasant experience and obviously those interviewed will not be thrilled in explaining how the incidence occured. Tones of colour can effectively portray the nature of the documentary and the story can be experienced more in depth, if the shades relate to the mood of the footage then this conveys the overall feel to the viewers emotions more strongly. I'm going to attempt to replicate this technique in my own project by incorporating neutral, dismal colours in illustration to the bleakness of the medical wards and the underlying danger that is attached to an eating disorder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjeU-iaq0iw&safe=active

The hyperlink inserted will direct you immeditelly to a 'movie' style documentary named 'Supersize Me' which details the experiment by an ordinary man as he undertakes the excrucitating challenge of gorging on Mcdonalds food every day for a month. I decided to view this short film as it related to the health/food industry which is the basis of my eating disorders documentary. During the inital opening of this movie facts about the topic being dicussed (fast food chains and human obesity amongst the general population) can be located at 1.06-1.21, 1.50-1.55 and 2.38-3.00, this is a technique used to entice and interest the audience - if essentially the film makers can gain their full attention in the first few minutes its highly likely they will be swayed to engage with the rest of the production. Despite me only granted a limited viewing time for the length of my documentary I think it would be beneficial to include facts or true statements within the footage - it will help impact more greatly on the audiences empathy if they knew the death totals caused by eating disorders or the multitude of people effected by them in the UK. If i can acheive warm audience reception from the introduction (by including such facts) I may have a greater impact on their feelings which is overall what I would personally like to be my goal at the end of this task bestowed. There is a multitude of different interviewing arrangments scattered throughout the film, professional interviews with patients and doctors conversations can be located at 5.18-6.00 and interviews with a lone individual (who normally has an important role to fill such as a director of a company firm) an example of which is found at 16.39-17.08, both of these compose of steady camera methology where there is little to no unecessary lense movement or disoreitnation of the equipment. This broadcasts the important, serious edge here - the director obviously intends in gaining audience interest here as this is a necessary segment for them to view, it will contain vital knowledge about the message they are trying to transfer (for instance here the narrator uses this professional style interviews to emphasise how destructive the fast food industry is to health and how it can cause life threatening problems as proven by doctors/medical screening tests) Moreover this is the editing style I intend to display in my documentary as I want the issue I'm dealing with to intensily impact on my target audience so they feel the dangerous, life threatening edge to the subject of eating disorders. Furthermore 'Supersize Me' conducts random 'jerky' interviews with members of the ordinary public about the topic of unhealthy food products in addition to the professional constructed ones I explained above, these can be seen at 14.21-15.00 in the footage. The choice allows the producer to incorporate a realistic setting into the scenario - the viewer can relate to the surroundings more as its taking place in an every day environment they are familiar with and can relate to so is familiar to them. It is interesting to see this used in 'Supersize Me' which was originally broadcasted as a movie which would be expected to be as clean and authentic as possible, however this choice of using hand held footage would be excellent amongst my documentary film as the closer to a real life environment I can establish the more likely the audience will be able to identify, understand and sympathise the issue (hence why I desire to shoot in a hospital, the city scape etc as this creates a safe surrounding that most individuals will relate to) The handheld camera methology differentiates away from the traditional 'steadicam' which allows the operator to move the equipment fluintly without causing disorientation or unnecessary sharp movement in the frame. When pursuing passers by the camera itself is tilted reaptedly, knocked about and the framing obscured sometimes making whats on the screen harder to distinguish - this gives an element of a 'normal life' where things are always on the go lacking in perfection. It also personifies realism as it shows that the footage was captured in an actual busy city at a particular time in the day - a situation we can all recognise as being involved in. It helps to broadcast the message of this movie that obesity is happening across the nation in the areas we inhabit - making the reference more real and disturbing that its happening in front of our eyes. If I could prompt a similair reaction for my own eating disorders documentary then I would feel successful as ultimately I want my audience to feel shocked this illness is occuring around them. Therfore the hand held filmography becomes handy as it allows me to manipulate my viewers by verifying this disorder is present in their familiar warm environments. I intend to acheive this by tailing some of the girls to be interviewed by foot or to use general screen time of ordinary people walking by the camera whist moving (as if to mimic its 'walking' in the crowd) to make this realism even that more possible. 'Supersize Me' assertively relies upon quick fade out editing cuts to skip to another scene or related scenario in the film, this style keeps with the pace and continuity of the documentary so each scene unfolds in a chronological order which can be witnessed at 13.13-13.17. I was genuinley interested in the idea of using editing cuts to re-illutirate crucial scenes in my own programme purely for emphasis so it would linger on the audiences mind that extended several seconds. However I would rely on slow wipeout cuts or fading shots as the longer I can keep a particular point of attention on the screen, the likelhood is the viewer would be more observant and take greater heed of the message I am trying to convey towards them