ANALYSIS OF KENNY ROGERS: CARDS ON THE

TABLE

Type of documentary:it is a mixed documentary.It was aired on BBC 4.it is biographical and tells the story of his life

Themes present in the documentary:The main theme present is star status and the nature of fame. It shows us how fame can change people from what they came from.Other themes present are the life of Kenny rogers- the rise and fall. How he came from more or less poverty to living in a mansion with a wife and making multi millions.The changing face of music is a key theme that is explored in this documentary, it is most prominent when it shows footage of Kenny rogers with lioncel Richie creating a song.https://youtu.be/Z9ioDcJaGuk

This is a link a clip of Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers

Narrative structure:Single strand, closed non-linear

Camerawork:all of the interviews in the documentary were shot in mid-shot medium close-up and close-up. These are conventional shot types used in interviews for documentaries of all kinds.Also the interviewees were framed left or right of centre which is also conventional.The rule of thirds was applied during this documentary. The eye line of the interviewees is a third of the way down of the screen. There is a shallow depth of field on the interviews and the lighting is focussed on the interviewee’s face. Both of these things are used so we are drawn to look at them and not at their surroundings. Other techniques that were used include zooming, panning and tilting on the archive material to make it more interesting to look at for the viewer.

There are points were pull focus is used where it changes from the background to the person speaking or vice versa.

The use of actuality footage is quite frequent and at one point in the documentary, at the end, the camera is positioned in the audience at a concert so that we, as the audience, feel more involved and included.

Mise en sceneI noticed that in the documentary they had a reoccurring theme of the archive material being in black and white, sepia or lacking quality other than the interviews and this just emphasises to the audience the time period that Kenny Rogers was around.

Another thing I noticed was in the interviews the backgrounds had things that related to the subject matter, one example is the piano and music awards seen here on the left of the frame.

Something is consistent within the interviews is the interviewee is sat in a static chair, therefore cannot move and the framing stays the same when the questions are edited out.

Some of the footage used carries connotations of the place it was shot. An example of this is that the neon lights and things in the footage at one point in the documentary are subtly telling us that it is Nashville.

the footage from where Kenny Rogers was born infers that it was a poor environment and he did not have a very steady upbringing.

SoundThe soundtrack used is country music which is used because it links to tell us what the subject matter is if we had no other information. Also I noticed the song that the narration is talking about is the song that is in the background so that the audience are familiarised with the song, this is done on multiple occasions through the course of the documentary.The voiceover in the documentary is a female who has no accent and speaks standard English and it constructs the narrative over the archive footage and clips. The female narrator has no accent so that everyone can understand her and she is clearly spoken. The picture on

the left is an album from when Kenny rogers started out and this is an example because when this was shown on the screen a song from the Bobby Doyle three was playing in the background

EditingThere is quite a lot of editing used in this documentary and the techniques used are: Cuts Zoom Montage Clips and stills Effects used to convey being under the influence of hallucinogenic All questions are taken out of interviews Putting different interviews together on the same topic Putting the cuts and other edits to the beat of the music

Some of these editing techniques are conventional in the documentary genre like the cuts, they are the most common edit in documentaries, it just keeps the focus on the main thread.Montage was used to condense a lot of information and archive material into a shorter space of time, the montage was about Kenny Rogers’ personal life, things like him getting married and other developments in his life. The zooms were used on the archive material so that it made it more visually interesting and didn’t make it just a boring still image in the middle of the screen because that would lose people’s interest and therefore would lose them viewers.

Archive MaterialThe documentary was predominantly archive material because it was based on things that had happened decades ago and so they couldn’t shoot the footage and take the stills themselves to put into the documentary. Some examples of Archive material are:■ Pictures of Kenny Rogers receiving awards■ Clips of him performing■ Music videos of Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie■ Album covers■ Concert footage like Glastonbury■ Newspaper pieces■ Footage of Ray Charles■ Clip of a film he acted in, The Gambler■ Personal photographs he took■ Vietnam war and protest clips■ TV shows with Tom Jones■ Advertorial- shopping channel■ Pictures and clips of him getting off planes

The clip of Kenny Rogers meeting Lionel Richie is in the video linked below:https://youtu.be/Z9ioDcJaGuk

Other things like the concert footage are used because it gives a more authentic feel to the programme because it makes the audience feel like they were there and give them some sort of experience to Kenny Rogers’ concerts. However it uses a lot of close up and medium close up framing on the clips of his concerts so it is less like we are there, in the concert they have created themselves it was filmed from in the crowd which fully involves the audience but that is near the end of the documentary.

This is an example of the close up shots they use from the footage they used from Kenny Rogers’ concerts

Graphics:There are very minimal graphics used in the documentary. The names of the interviewees are in bold and only appears once, the subtext of the names are the same font but smaller and not bold. The subtext tells us how they are related to the topic.The font used for the graphics is a simple, serif font and is ranged left or right so that the interviewees are not covered and it matches the interviewee who is sat left or right of the frame.I have highlighted an example below.