Genre Analysis

The Meth Epidemic

A lot of cross cutting is used between A and B rolls which is works with the documentary as its an expose and is filmed quite edgy and raw. There is a lot of emphasis on cut aways to enhancing shots.  

Extreme close ups and close up shots are seen of the meth with cutaways and B roll footage. A lot of the extreme close ups are seen which most are filmed loosely keeping the meth addicts face in the frame as they speak. Abstract establishing shots are seen to represent the USA along with the use of hand held cameras to get a real view like the audience is there and involved. The conventional, rule of thirds, is also used throughout. 

Drug abuse is the main theme in the documentary as that is what the film is based on. Child abuse is another theme seen as the documentary looks at what effects the drug has on not only those using it, but those who simply around those who do use it and are therefore part of the drug world. To show this, people who specialize in areas such as, child abuse, are interviewed. Criminality is of course another theme shown as the use of the drug is illegal and so during the documentary footage of the police and people being arrested is shown and discussed frequently as to how people illegally try to get around the system in order to make the drug. Law and legislation is also seen as a result of the criminality witnessed with the drug abuse. 

Throughout the documentary there is a narrator which is seen as the "voice of God" this person keeps the audience aware of what is happening in the documentary. There is an atmospheric drone which acts as a sound bed. Linking to the theme of the documentary, sirens are heard as a denotation of criminal activity.

This shot shows an example of the mise en scene on the documentary. The lady talking is more towards the right of the screen which follows the rule of thirds. This is a talking head shot which is filmed externally with trees/woodland as a background. This could be to create a calm and neutral back drop in comparison to the topic being discussed along with how the person being interviewed is a 'child abuse examiner' the backdrop suggests a more calmer atmosphere in contrast with the footage being shown before and after this scene.

Loose Change

Throughout the documentary there are various birds eye view shots. These are done to sow something in perspective and overall. The screenshot below is an example of one as it shows a birds eye view of some land. 

Primary footage is shown using A- roll then cutaways to B- roll footage. This allows for an image or footage of some sort to be shown whilst a person in A-roll footage may be speaking about it. Due to the topic of the documentary, a lot of archive information is seen. Newspapers (as shown in the print screen below-), mobile phone footage and transcripts of interviews are all shown.

 

Eerie music in the background adds to the topic if the documentary. There is the constant voice of the narrator. A person who narrates the documentary, is able to keep a monotone voice throughout. This keeps a neutral element even the documentary is blatantly bias. 

The Mise en Scene of this interview is good as it shows him being interviewed in a professional setting. 

Clear themes are seen within the documentary, these are: 9/11, the government and the acts of conspiracy. In particular the document focuses on the idea of there being a more conspired reason behind the events which happened on September 11th 2001, refracting the widely spread reason  that it was due to foreign problems. The beginning of the documentary focuses a vast amount on the archaic documents used as evidence to support the view shown. 

Through the Wormhole: Is There a Sixth Sense?

This is a documentary exploring the possibilities of there being a sixth sense.

The documentary begins with a montage of close up shots to do with the five senses. Establishing shots are used to show Earth and

large areas of land in birds eye view. The narrator talks to the camera and is filmed in close ups to show just

the top half of their body as they speak.

Rolling footage is used as are flashbacks and the use of a hand held camera. Close up shots are used from blurred going into focus. Low angle shots are used to make the speaker look bigger, so the audience is looking up to the speaker. There are lots of interviews with experts on subjects in relation to the documentary's theme. Sped up footage is used then into a close up of a head with camera in the background. 

In editing, cutaways are frequently seen along with A and B roll and a lot of cutting between interviews.

Themes seen are to do with the outside and living things like trees and buildings and places of work like offices. 

Hawaii - Message In The Waves

This is a documentary about the local people  of Hawaii and how they see the area is being affected by the new tourist view of Hawaii.

There are lots of close ups of the sea as this is a main theme and also the waves and ripples in the water establishing shots are shown of Hawaii and then cuts straight to the beach. Low angle shots are used as well as underwater camera and shots that zoom in/out. 

In a lot of the interviews the background noise is natural to the setting - the sound of waves in the background/ocean noises and the sound of people talking as they walk past where the interview is taking place (on the beach). Mise en scene is good as it shows the area surrounding - the beach and some forestry surrounds. The general theme is the sea and sea life  also community and school life and the views of local people. 

Baby Beauty Queens

The camera is hand held as it follows a girl as she walks through a shop, the camera keeps at her height a- this lets the audience experience things from her point of view and her perspective so this is also using low angled shots. Long shots are used too as are establishing shots of who's being interviewed's house. Talking head shots are seen too in extreme close ups. 

Interviews with the children involved and some adults are shown through cutaways and cutaways to the long shots of them on stage. 

Mise en scene can be shown differently and is shown with the mum talking and the background (the living room) is blurred/out of focus. When the mum and daughter are in the shop looking through the clothes section and beauty section whilst they talk about those subjects and test the products. When the Dad is interviewed it is in the home environment as he cooks the tea as his daughter helps. 

There is a voice over which is a female narrator and most of the time their is constant background noise. In the opening sequence when the title appeared, a noise to match was put in the action which happened that looked like fairy dust being thrown.

Themes seen are beauty, family, pageants. 

The Lost World Of Lake Vostok

This documentary is about a lake which was discovered underneath ice in the Antarctica. Believed to be over millions of years old, experts talk about its discovery and possible existence of life down there.

Camera:
- animated earth rotating in space
                            and what work scientists did
- archaic - data
               - newspapers
               - film (black and white)
- extreme close -ups of face- eyes
                                             - machinery

Editing:

- Faded images to footage
- lots of fading

Mise En Scene:

- Interview in library
- rule of thirds
- office interviews
- space - planets in background of shot - job
- guy interviewed in science lab as background

Sound:

- Narrator - voice of God
- wind sounds
- godly like music

Themes:

- Science
- Geology
- Geography
- Space- planets
- Life- microbes