DOCUMENTARIES By Caitlin O’Mara

THE MAFIA WITH TREVOR MCDONALD

This documentary is about Trevor McDonald going around to different location asking dangerous people questions about there experiences. The format of this documentary is interviews. It is a simple question and answer sort of format to get the point across that he wants to find out as much as he can about the mafia and the people in it.In this particular documentary Trevor McDonald didn’t make himself look comfortable around as he stood up and never sat down. This makes us think that he was uncomfortable interviewing such dangerous people who come from criminal backgrounds. In this documentary I identified some camera shots. The camera shots which I identified were close-ups and an wide shot. The close-ups were used to view the person when they were speaking, for example we would have a shot of Trevor asking the question and then a close-up of the person answering. The wide shot gave us a view of the room that Trevor was interviewing in, in most rooms the person who he was interviewing wasn’t alone they had a group of people to accompany them. In this documentary I identified some editing techniques. An editing technique which I came across which was quite common, it was a cross cutting technique. This would happen when Trevor would ask a question and them it would cut straight to the person who was answering it. In this documentary I identified some mise-en-scene techniques. Trevor travelled to many different location, the people who he would interview would never travel to him he would always travel to them. This means that Trevor was egger to find out the information that the people who he was interviewing could supply him with. Also his appearance was very formal, meaning he meant business and wasn’t in need of messing around. The sound in this documentary was soundtrack. The soundtrack sets the atmosphere of the content of the documentary. Also the documentary uses a voiceover, this is Trevor himself explaining why he is doing what he is doing in the documentary.I didn’t find this documentary interesting as it is not a topic that interests me. I also thought that the format of just interviews were boring because not a lot was happening on screen. I would chose the format that was used in this documentary for my idea.

WHERE AM I SLEEPING TONIGHT?

This documentary is about homeless teenagers who are sleeping rough because of either family problems or there own decisions. It is made and hosted by a man who has had this experience and wants to show the public that it is still happening. The format of this documentary is interview based. This is an informal interview as the man is having a proper conversation with the people who he is interviewing rather than just asking the questions and just listening to the answers. In this documentary the man is comfortable and can relate to what these people are going through, this is different the previous documentary because Trevor had no experience what so ever so he was just gathering information. In this documentary I identified some camera shots and camera movements. The camera movement which I identified were a hand-held. The handheld gave a slower pace to the documentary. This made it effective because we could properly see what was happening on screen in more depth. Also in this documentary I identified some sound effects. for example I identified some background music. This sets the atmosphere of the documentary, and builds up emotions as we watch what is happening within the clips. I also identified some mise-en-scene effects. For example I identified the location of the conditions of where they were sleeping, also there clothing which represents them as homeless teens. I found this documentary more interesting than the previous documentary, this is because I could visually see what is happening with these people and also what they were experiencing. I find this more interesting than an interviewed based documentary because I prefer to visually see there experiences rather than listening to them speak about there experiences.