Assignment two introduction to documentary task
- 1. Introduction to Assignment two: Documentary Task. Abigail Edwards
- 2. Interesting Topics A few interesting topics could be... Drugs and Ghosts, and teenagers attitudes supposed British youth and to them. sightings. the riots. The history of dictators. Attitudes to Muslims worldwide. How music influences Gender society. stereotypes and How easily we why we adopt adopt trends and them. our obsession with what is in fashion.
- 3. I watched... Playing God China’s Ghost Army World’s Scariest Drug (The Devil’s Breath) Twilight Of The Porn Stars Bowling For Columbine
- 4. Playing God This documentary really opened my eyes as to the biological advances there have been in the last few years. It’s an informative documentary, but it is still really interesting as it raises the question whether scientists are messing with biology too much now. For example, scientists have used spider genes and merged it with goat genes to form a goat that can produce spider silk in its milk.
- 5. Playing God Some of the conventions of this documentary were use of a presenter, which in this case was Adam Rutherford. Whilst he looked at both sides of the coin, he also had an opinion as he said “This is not tinkering with biological circuits, this is synthetic biology at full tilt”. Another convention was the use of interviews with experts. For example. Rutherford speaks with a student that was able to produce something which can detect pollutants in water and spoke with her about how easy it was to due to the easy to gain access to research already done.
- 7. China’s Ghost Army I liked the use of actors to demonstrate what may have gone on in the past and how the sculptors made all of the terracotta army. As this was a historical documentary, they didn’t have archival footage to support what was being said, and so had to create their own footage. Also, they showed the figures digitally which it thought was quite cool.
- 8. China’s Ghost Army Conventions used include the careful selection of music to emphasise what is being shown. For example, creepy score music was used when showing tombs of those killed for honour in coordination with flashes of skulls. Another convention used was holding interviews with specialists, especially archaeologists who could tell a lot about china’s “ghost army”.
- 9. World’s Scariest Drug (The Devil’s Breath) I enjoyed this documentary as it showed a drug which is rarely reported about, yet is more dangerous than cocaine. What I also liked was the choice of presenter as he was young, informal and made the
- 10. Twilight Of The Porn Stars In this documentary, Louis Theroux looks at the porn industry and how its in decline since his last documentary about it in the 1990s. What I liked about this documentary is that it isn’t a widely looked at issue. There are never broadcasted reports about why people enter this industry and what the effects of it are on them and their family.
- 11. Twilight Of The Porn Stars There was a lot of handheld camera movement in this documentary, however it all looked quite smooth and professional. The shots were mainly close ups, two-shots and mid-shots to capture the emotion of the individual’s faces at what Louis was asking them. Also, having Louis as the presenter of sorts allowed the audience to feel like he is there on behalf of them as he was also the voice on the voiceovers.