DOCUMENTARIES- AMY

There are many ways in which a documentary can be filmed; one of which is a very polished production with a presenter and scenes all edited together smoothly. Another alternative is one with a narrator doing a voice-over and scenes edited together which also achieves a polished style. As well as these there can documentaries where the presenter is walking around with a camera person, microphone and sound equipment with them; this type is often employed in fly-on-the-wall documentaries which follow a person/people. In this instance some of the camera work can be shaky and some parts can be improvised completely. Finally there could simply be a single person with a hand held camera speaking into it.
A similar documentary that covers 'the rise and fall of' is a famous one about the late Michael Jackson. It has a basis of interviews with Michael, voice-overs and scenes of him that relate to content of what the latter are talking about. This is a similar style to what our group is aiming for; combining footage and interviews makes the audience feel as though they are accessing a close, honest relationship to the subject.


This website http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1036621-Types-of-Documentaries discussed five distinct documentary types. Our film will aim to stick to the conventions of number 4, 'interactive documentary', where there are interviews, and scenes and shots edited together, with little or no footage of the interviewer. The focus is on the subject- Lola.



The Rise and Fall of WCW

Living With Michael Jackson

Katie and Peter: The Next Chapter

http://www.state.ie/2009/01/features/tv-pete-doherty-in-24-hours/
This link is to a review of the documentary by a critic. Although the focus is mainly on Doherty's behaviour rather than technical elements such as camerawork, style etc., it is interesting to see how people interpreted it. The page also has YouTube links to the 5 parts of the documentary.
When coming up with ideas for a documentary the group considered a '24 hours', 'day-in-the-life-of...' style originally, which is why we mention them here, as the fast-paced style is a key element we were inspired by.
Another very similar documentary by MTV is Topshop NYC in 24 Hours, featuring supermodel Kate Moss opening the flagship store.


Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Britpop