Louis Theroux Notes

The Most Hated Family In America, Under The Knife, Behind Bars

•  Louis Theroux uses interesting characters in his documentaries such as the Phelps' and the prisoners in Behind Bars
• He pushes his opinion in a lesser way than Michael Moore
• He gets involved in what the Phelps' do even though he doesn't believe in it
• Deliberately makes himself socially awkward and asks questions that he knows the answers to such as asking 'Gramps' how many children he had because some didn't believe in the same things anymore
• He also has plastic surgery in 'Under The Knife' to get a first hand perspective on things

Michael Moore Essay

Evaluation "Bowling For Columbine"

Michael Moore, the director of “Bowling For Columbine”, acts throughout the film in a very proactive mode as he gets involved in front of the camera as well as behind, doing things like opening a bank and receiving a gun and campaigning with Columbine victims to ban the sell of ammunition at Wall-Mart stores; he does this as it firmly puts his views across to the viewer, and in certain aspects it may also shock them (anybody can get a gun easily in America)

Moore is deliberate in his use of visual conventions as he shows a childish cartoon about Americans being scared and a comedy sketch of Chris Rock joking about guns this adds an uncomfortable feel to the documentary and makes the topic less serious as he is using comedy to emphasis a very serious event. Moore also uses editing by using two points that juxtapose each other i.e. cutting from someone saying “America only makes weapons to defend” and then showing how America has used weapons to kill many innocent people. He also uses jump cuts in “Fahrenheit 9/11” to show and put emphasis on how many times George Bush says something like “Osama Bin Laden”, “Saddam Hussein” and “weapons of mass destruction” this not only make Bush look stupid but shows how many times he has tried to distract from the oil reasons for invading.

I think that sometimes the narrative of the documentary can simplify complex issues i.e. if Bush did this, it could have avoided that and if the school had this program then the shootings wouldn’t have happened, this shows that Moore is trying to say that these situations could have easily been avoided when in fact the situation is much more complicated than that. On the other hand he looks deeply through the situations usually not focusing too much on the situation itself but focusing on how this could have happened and how it can be prevented in the future.

Moore positions the viewer behind himself so they are watching him conduct the investigation and highly stresses his viewpoints on the situation; this could be seen as a vanity project of sorts as many of Moore’s films have a portion focusing on his home town of Flint, Michigan.

The argument in Columbine is obvious as it is clear what Moore is backing and what he is trying to achieve whereas in Fahrenheit the argument is more unclear and it seems as though Moore is just searching for the truth. “Bowling For Columbine” creates a false sense of closure in the conclusion of the documentary, it does this by showing the Columbine survivors winning their petition against Wall-Mart and the selling of ammunition for handguns, but it hasn’t resolved the fact that it is still very easy to get a handgun in America.

Michael Moore Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_moore

Michael Moore Notes

Fahrenheit 9/11

• Solemn music to set a melancholy mood
• Use of archive footage
• Narrator who is also the presenter Michael Moore
• Soundtrack of 9/11 events from recordings
• Unseen footage
• Juxtaposing George Bush and terror threats
• Jump cuts of similar scenes to add emphasis

Bowling For Columbine

• Sets up event like a story, with his viewpoint immediately put forward to the audience
• Sarcastic humour
• Childish music in the background (mocking)
• Even seeing him is putting his view forward
• Archive footage is used
• Family footage of Michael Moore is also used
• Chris Rock comedy sketch about guns
• Juxtapositions
• 'Indiscriminate killings' - nuclear weapons being made in the same town 'only making weapons to defend' then showing how America has used weapons to kill loads of people
• Use of CCTV footage
• "from my cold dead hands" - Charlten Heston
  

Documentary Conventions

Voiceover - The voiceover will usually be authoritive in some way, encouraging the audience to think that they either have some kind of specialist knowledge or, as is the case with Michael Moore the 'right' opinions that people should pay attention to.
Archive footage - To aid authenticity and to add further information which the film maker may be unable to obtain themselves
Interviews - These are used to authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. Sometimes they will disagree with the message of the documentary but will be disproved by the filmaker
Sound - Use of non-diageic sound usually to set a mood or to contradict what is on screen

Documentary Modes

Expository - The expository documentary aims to inform and educate the audience about a certain subject. Screened material can include original and archive footage, and the camera and crew are usually invisible to the audience. The material is tightly scripted and is usually accompanied by some sort of voice-over narration. Example: Natural History programmes.

Observational - The observational documentary aims for a greater degree of naturalness as it is used to observe someone or something in its natural habitat with minimum disruption. Camera and crew are invisible to the audience here also.

Fly-On-The-Wall - Fly-On-The-Wall documentaries are an extension of the observational mode, it aims to blend into the background as the subjects go about their daily business. Filming is usually done during a lengthy time period and aims to give the audience and unmediated access to the world. Example: Big Brother, I'm A Celebrity Get Me Outta Here.

Interactive/Reflexive - In this mode the filmakers presence is fully acknowledged and maybe even emphasized. The film maker is both the author and character in his or her own movie, often appearing in front of the camera and interacting with others. The film might offer surprises, play with conventions and usually aims to provoke reactions from subjects and audiences. Example: Michael Moore Documentaries.

Poetic - This documentary mode emphasizes on creativity as the film maker may explore the beauty in everyday life.

Drama Documentary - In the absence of archive footage or access to witnesses, the film maker might stage a dramatic reconstruction of events.

Mockumentary - These are fictional films which parody the forms and conventions of documentaries, often for a humorous effect. Example: The Office, Confetti.

Personal - These are often shot on video and genrally feature the maker addressing the camera directly, expounding or sharing his views with the audience.

Mission Statement

For my the A2 advanced media portfolio I have to make a section of a documentary, this will last approximately 5 minutes long. In my group we decided to do an investigative docucumentary on the effects of becoming a vegan called 'Becoming Vegan' which is similar to Morgan Spurlock's documentary 'Supersize Me'.
Our documentary will have me presenting and Dan Hatcher will be the test subject, experiencing what its like to be a vegan and actually eating only veagn, and Matt Fox will be conducting interviews.
This documentary will combine the personal mode in 'video diaries', talking heads of health experts, and expository modes as we seek to inform and educate our audience on whether or not it is healthy and better for you to eat vegan.
We believe that the USP is the documentary itself as nobody has really approached the idea of switching from a meat diet to a purely vegan diet in the space of a month, our target audience is 14 - 25 year olds as we aim to help inform the younger generation on how cost effective and more healthy it is to eat vegan. We hope to fit this demographic by filling the 9pm prime time slot on BBC THREE.