Unit27Factual Programming: 1B Report

For task 1B I will be writing up an analysis a Documentary and two other factual programmes of my choice; giving a detailed report of the codes and conventions utilised. Lastly I will be conducting an analysis of the codes and conventions of a news broadcast.

Documentary- Britain's Crimes of Honour

The documentary was broadcasted on BBC one Panorama and is based on the crimes in Britain which are going unreported, this being the beatings, imprisonment and even murder committed by those closest to the victims, and their families. These are crimes of so called 'honour'. This type of documentary is expository and utilises typical conventions such as narration, Interviews and conventional narrative structures.

For example there is narration (voice of God), which is used to directly address the viewer, giving an explanation between the footage and voice over. The narration is a direct relationship between what we see in the documentary and what we hear in the voice over. The documentary is carried out in a conventional narrative format with all the scenes in chronological order.

The narrator is also a reporter in the documentary, she plays a main role conducting interviews and visiting the places of where the crimes were committed, and these interviews help support the argument of the documentary.   

The genre of this programme is combined with reality television and educational, as the documentary presents a sense of the reality that lives in the UK within Asian society’s and this educates the audience on the realism of the attacks carried out. The programme displays the photographs of the victims before and after these attacks had occurred.

Also with access to police investigations, Panorama reveals the outrageous details of 'honour' killings, of women who were driven to suicide and those on the run, in fear of their lives. These were essential to include in the documentary as it represents the accuracy showing that this was not false information in fact true to life.

During the documentary it mentions a national helpline that is used to contact for domestic violence, there are statistics shown on how many people have called in a year, this also represents the quality of facts used to prove accuracy during the documentary.

Documentary- Walking the Americas

Walking the Americas is a travel documentary featuring Levison Wood, an explorer and writer who begins his trip from the north-eastern tip of Mexico, and continues his walk across the entire length of Central America, through eight countries. This programme was broadcasted on Channel 4 and was continuous every week showcasing four episodes.

This programme is combined with three different documentary formats; Expository, Interactive and Performative. There is narration (voice of god) by the same reporter which is edited in to the documentary addressing the viewers of what they are seeing. For example there is an establishing shot taken by a drone camera and along with this is the narration addressing the relationship between what the viewers can see and where they are.  

There are elements of interactive techniques which are used such as the acknowledgement of the camera and crew but also the film-maker who is speaking directly to his subjects for example, whilst Levison walks past villages and towns there are people who he bumps in to that have something to say to the camera.  This is also a representation of different viewpoints where these people contribute different information about their town/village.

This travel documentary is performative as the filmmaker stars in his own film, he is given camera equipment to film his journey. In one of the episodes it shows the process of the filmmaker making the film, this is shown by his partner on the journey giving the viewers a sense of how the film is made, this is known as self-reflexive. 

Another example of how this documentary is performative is the filmmaker uses a hand held camera throughout the journey; giving the audience a sense of his personality and views, this is also portrayed through conducting interviews with local people within the town and giving his opinion about it. 

The purpose of the travel documentary is to educate and entertain the viewers of the countries landmarks and cultures which Levison Wood explores. During the episodes he explores the different towns in which gang violence and drugs are well known, this gives the audience a sense of the realism that lives within those countries, towns or places.  

I also saw in one episode where Levison crosses the border and comes across a refugee camp that lives in terrible conditions, this portrayed awareness to the viewers of what the sad reality is of those refugees trying to look for work but are stuck in those camps. This was a representation of the way things are for them and demonstrations the accuracy in the documentary showing the true to life. 

The episodes were made in to the form of a narrative structure throughout the documentary. For example the episodes consisted of the journey moving forward giving us a sense of the explorer’s story from where he began his journey.  This was an effective way of addressing the audience and telling them the story of the documentary.

Documentary- Planet Earth II

Planet Earth II is a 2016 multinational nature documentary series produced by the BBC as a sequel to Planet Earth, which was broadcast in 2006. This programme is an example of an expository documentary as it relies on verbal commentary to give us a direct relationship of the footage and voice over; explaining what we are seeing.

The audience for this type of documentary listens to the narrator (David Attenborough) who’s voiceover emphasis what is happening with argumentative logic. For example during each episode there would be footage captured of the wildlife in different parts of the world and as that footage is being displayed; David Attenborough narrates and explains what is happening.

Planet Earth enables us as an audience to see the realism of the wildlife animals and how they survive around the world in magnificent places. The footage almost looks fake however the filmmakers have gone to the extreme; using brilliant cameras and perfect timing to film this footage. For example in an episode, we can see lions attacking a giraffe, this scene gives the viewer an intense feeling, particularly with the sound and narration from David Attenborough.

The use of narrativisation is a key factor within this documentary as David Attenborough narrates the story of the animals; telling the audience the life of each animal that lives within that specific area of the world. 

News Broadcast- Al Jazeera

The news broadcast that I’m analysing is an extract from “Al Jazeera News”, which covers different types of stories. During the broadcast there are studio news readers who are the main reporters/presenters that appear on TV conducting an in depth research to identify and develop news stories of interest. 

The presenters edit copy from other reporters or external news agencies, and also write news bulletins, links and assist in the production of scripts. Whilst watching this broadcast I was not able to see all the pre-production documentations of the presenter, however the presenter did hold papers in her hand which she occasionally looked at.

News readers need to have certain skills and attributes, these are having knowledge of editorial, having good interpersonal skills, good communication skills and also to have a key understanding of the legal and ethical issues which affect journalism. During this news broadcast I was able to clearly understand what news story the reporter was addressing. The presenter had good, interpersonal and communication skills and I was able to identify the five W’s of the particular story.

It is essential for the visual codes to be put in practice when watching the reporter and how they should be presented towards the viewers. The reporter looked professional and was elegant in her appearance; her hair was neat. 

There are contributors that appear in news broadcasts, these are usually experts, witnesses or members of the public. During Al Jazeera’s broadcast there was a news story which consisted of an attack in Sudan, along with this were eye witnesses who appeared on TV giving information of what happened. These contributors impact the broadcast as it strengthens the news report.

The report structure is set out in a conventional way; compromising the same techniques. This is applied with the piece to camera then cut away, interview, voice of the people and lastly graphics.