This series of animal documentary episodes focuses on different animals in different locations around the world and how they hunt for their food, this series is narrated by David Attenborough. The Hardest Challenge focuses on a leopard, wild dogs, chameleons, a praying mantis, falcons and more. Introduction The episode opens with short clips of animals that are spoken about over the whole series, intense music is played over the top, removing any audio from the clips, after a few seconds the title of the series is shown - it is a simple font making it easy and allows people to read it quickly as it isn't shown for a very long time, it fades in once the clips have stopped with a black background and an effect around the text of the sun reflecting on water. Once the title fades a clip resumes, there is slower, calmer music with addition of slow motion hunt scene, the voice of god begins talking about the content of the upcoming episode and continues throughout, the clip doesn't change however, it gradually speeds back up to a normal pace, this adds intensity/drama along with the music keeping the audience interested. The clips change to different scenes +5 times, each change of location is an establishing shot, with music growing more intense/'empowering' until a sudden stop of both music and clips to one location with a panning shot and diegetic sound of birds, the episode's title appears at the bottom of the screen in the same or very similar font to the series title from earlier, it fades in and slowly gets bigger and then fades out, which is effective and matches the atmosphere of the clip's location well as the sound is calming. The first animal is introduced with a panning shot, when the voice of god talks about something specific, there is a close up shot, e.g. VOG speaks about their acute hearing, there is a close up shot of it's ears, the VOG speaks about their stealth, there is a close up shot of it's paws, this is a good technique to help the audience understand and evaluate the scene and it's occurrences. There is diegetic sound when the animal is calm, but when they start to prepare themselves for their prey, music begins to build, slowly yet intense, almost like mystery music, until it is quite fast and this excited the viewer as music has certain effects on people that will keep them interested more so than is it was silent, when the chase is over the music dies back down, this could be a representation of the rush the predator would get when hunting their prey. If the predator catches their prey, the music changes to a slow, sad tune representing the prey itself. This technique of the camera angles and music is used the same way throughout the episode. Camera Angles The episode uses a variety of different camera angles to give the audience the best way to understand, a POV shot is used the most from where the predator is looking at it's prey, this involves the audience in a different way than one distant shot which takes away the interest. High shots are also used to give the audience an idea of the places the animals live in, either deserts or jungles, showing from a distance every now and then throughout the documentary reminds the audience how the animals are surviving and where.
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1/24/2017 0 Comments CatfishThis documentary is about Nev Schulman and his online relationship with a young woman called Megan on Facebook, it is filmed by his brother Ariel Schulman and his friend Henry Joost. The documentary starts with Nev opening a 3rd parcel from an 8 year old girl called Abby who painted his photographs, their communication grows through Facebook and more of Abby's family friend Nev, he also gets a friend request from a woman called Megan who claims to be Abby's half-sister. Nev and Megan talk for nine months in total during which they start an online relationship with phone calls and letter writing, she sends Nev MP3s of music covers she has performed for him, however, Nev later realises that she has copied the covers from Youtube. Ariel convinces Nev to continue the relationship for the documentary even after finding out that Angela (Abby's mother) lied about buying an art gallery for Abby's paintings. They all travel to the address he has sent his letters to find the house empty and unlived in, so they go to Angela's house, Angela answers and is very different to the painting of her, while there, they learn that she has recently begun chemotherapy for uterine cancer, Nev calls and texts Megan multiple times but she doesn't answer. Angela takes them to see Abby and Nev discovers that Abby never sees her half-sister and rarely paints. The next day Nev recieves a text from Megan stating that she has alcohol problems and has checked herself into a rehabilitation centre. After discussing the situation with Angela, she confesses that she has a daughter called Megan that is in a rehab centre called Dawn Farms downstate but it is not the Megan Nev was talking to, however, Angela says that the girl in the photographs is a family friend, she also admits that she maintained the Facebook profile account of Megan and multiple others using fake accounts and an alternate mobile phone, she also admits that the paintings were done by her and talking to Nev helped her reconnect with her love of painting, she tricked her husband, Vince, into thinking Nev was paying her for them so he would let her continue. While Ariel and Henry spoke to Vince her told a story of how fishermen would put catfish in the crate with cod to keep them fresh and active during transpotation and ensure good quality of the fish, this can been seen as a metaphor, that there are always people in everyone's lives to keep them alert and active and is implied that Angela is this person. After the documentary there is on-screen text, informing people that Angela did not have a daughter at Dawn Farms, she did not know the woman she used as Megan and that shee does not have cancer. Angela deactivated her 15 additional Facebook profiles and changed hers to a picture of herself and began trying to promote herself as an artist. Filming techniques (camera angles and shots) They film this documentary non-professionally, they use hand held cameras most of the time and one high end camera. The quality of the footage is below par for a professional documentary, but for this documentary it is acceptable because of it's style and focus. The majority of camera shots they use are close up, extreme close up and medium shot, wide shots are also used but only a few times. Close ups are mainly used when filming Nev and Angela when they are talking and she admits to everything, they use it to show their emotions which helps the viewer connect with them. Extreme close ups are used to film computer screens and Facebook pages, e.g. Megan's profile and messages shared between Nev and Megan, by sharing their intimate messages gives the audience an insight into their relationship and how meaningful it was to Nev. Editing They want to make Facebook the focus of this documentary, they use the tags on photographs from Facebook to tell the audience who people are, Megan, Angela and Vince, by editing in this way it emphasises how their relationship is based around the internet and all he knows is only what she has told him. 1/24/2017 0 Comments Documentary narratives'The narrative begins with a state of equilibrium or social harmony. This harmony is disrupted by the villain early on in the narrative, which then charts the course of the disequilibrium. Matters are finally resolved when the disequilibrium is returned to equilibrium and the narrative draws to a close.' Todorov's 5 narrative stages to 'Catfish'.
1/24/2017 0 Comments Supersize Me
Moral panic
1/24/2017 0 Comments AMY analysisKapadia presents Amy as a character torn by her demons; her battle with drugs, poisonous relationships and a lack of support when she needed it most. More damning though is the finger of blame pointed at her parents, ex husband and manager. The message Kapadia broadcasts is clear, with better structure, advice and support in her life, Amy may still be alive.
As such, the documentary fails to remain neutral and must therefore be considered subjective. The documentary opens on archive footage from 1998 of Amy with her friends... Narrative structure within 'Amy'. 5 stages:
Key conventions of AMY Archive footage - stock footage, home videos Interviews - sound bridged for effect, offers multiple instances of audience stimulation Use of music - diegetic + non diegetic Text introductions Mise en scene is perfect Reasons it doesn't meet them Biased - subjective No voice of God 1/24/2017 0 Comments Codes and conventions
1/24/2017 0 Comments Subjectivity of documentaryIs any documentary truly objective in its views?
Objectivity - by fact, not opinion; to remain neutral. Subjectivity - lead by opinion; designed with an agenda. Pure documentaries, that objectively present subject matter, are considered educational and are therefore often exempt from classification by the BBFC. These documentaries are awarded 'E' - educational rating. However, some documentaries are afforded the standard BBFC rating, showing that there is a signification proportion of the film that might be considered subjective. Asif Kapadia directed Senna rated 'E', he also directed Amy which was rated '15'. They both had the same brief and access to archive footage. The outcome for each though was very different - Senna was exempt, while Amy was classified as '15' 1/24/2017 0 Comments Documentary and mockumentaryDocumentary and rockumentary films both manipulate footage (created and real) to express a certain point of view. While documentaries have the air of legitimacy and the pleading sense of reality to aid in their effectiveness, mockumentaries generally receive a wider audience due to their entertainment value. Film forms:
Documentaries are films that use real footage to express a certain idea. They come in many different forms and types. Often referred to as the 'creative treatment of actuality' (Kerrigan McIntyre, 112), documentary content is subject to the director of their film. The PBS Media Literacy Program defines 'documentary' film as a film that 'refers to film or video that explores a subject in a way the public expects to be factual and accurate. Documentaries may be balanced by including various viewpoints, or they may be subjective, offering the viewpoint and impressions of one producer'.
Types of documentaries:
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