Analysis of 3 more Docs

‘Jump Britain’

The documentary ‘Jump Britain’ is about the urban sport of Parkour (also known as free running). The documentary (aired on channel 4) looks at the growth of the sport in recent years where people perform on some very iconic buildings as well as normal streets and roof tops.

The documentary is most striking through its simplicity. The simplicity of the documentary is important in this documentary as it allows most attention to be focussed upon the sport of pakour which is the main theme of the documentary. Additionally, the simplicity used adds to the authenticity and realism of the documentary.

A variety of camera angles are used when people are practising parkour in order to help maintain interest for the audience. For instance, the use of low angle shots whilst a person is jumping from a great height from building to building slightly confuses the audience. This is because the sportsman appears to be the most powerful in a situation in which he is at his most vulnerable. This contrast of emotions forces the audience to think and interact at a greater level with the documentary making it an extremely intriguing watch.

Another thing which was striking about this documentary was that it had a female voiceover on a sport which it portrayed to be mainly about males. In my opinion, this contrast was important as it represents the rebellious side of the sport by not using a traditional male voiceover.

Teens on trial

( on BBC3). ‘Teens on trial’ is an on going docusoap /reality TV type documentary where 4/5 teenage couples take on the task of living alone, working and raising children (under controlled circumstances).

What’s interesting about this documentary is its docusoap/reality TV style. As the documentary is played over the course of a week the audience begins to create bonds and relationships between the teenagers shown in the documentary. Through the use of editing the teenagers in the documentary begin to confirm to specific character types. For example, one teenager was viewed as lazy and selfish due to the way in which she was portrayed in certain tasks.

The documentary is identifiable as a reality TV type doc as it follows the lives of real teenagers in a controlled environment (similar to the concept of Big Brother).

I chose to analyse this documentary as it directly involves teenagers (our primary target audience) and so felt that it would provide some insightful information for my own practical production. The forming of such in-depth characters would be difficult in our documentary as we are creating a one off doc and not making several episodes. Nevertheless, the bonds created between the teenagers on and off screen were important as they helped to enforce the various messages of the documentary to the audience in the most effective way possible.

The iPod Revolution

‘The ipod revolution’ is a documentary about the rise of the ipod music player by Apple. The documentary follows the initial production and planning of the ipod, examining the various decisions behind its success and its hype in the media world.

The documentary is largely based around archive footage making it look professional and very well researched. However, the lack of primary, first hand, original footage makes the documentary seem slightly boring visually.

The voiceover used is of an American male. The accent and tone used helps to glamorise the documentary fitting well with the type of product the ipod is. Although, the voiceover sounds a little like the people who try to sell products on shopping channels which is quite exaggerated and also appears quite tacky and over the top.

Nevertheless, the voiceover used is appropriate for this documentary. In terms of my own documentary I don no think that this type of voiceover would fit well as it would lose the sense of realism and authenticity which we aim to create.

Just like our documentary, ‘The iPod Revolution’ features some primary footage using computers and web pages. The documentary uses different angles when filming the web pages which look interesting to watch and would also appeal to our own target audience of teenagers through its energetic and creative appeal.

Rohini