DOCUMENTARY SOUND

RESEARCH:BY S H A N N O N S LOYA N

SOUND IN DOCUMENTARIES:

Sound that are usually used in documentaries to create tension, and for many emotions such as anger, happiness, and sadness. In a documentary, depending on the genre, the most common sound that are used in crime documentaries are ambient, voiceovers, diegetic and non-diegetic.I watched this documentary known as ‘Las Vegas with Trevor McDonald’ and noticed that the most common was voiceovers, explaining the moving image. there was another sound that was used which is known as non-diegetic sound, which is defined as music that adds effect to the audience’s state of mind. Its too add to the documentary so it didn’t seem boring when Trevor was interviewing people. This documentary mode for this documentary are mix of both expository and observational which includes voiceovers, interviews and direct addressing the audience. The sound that I recognised in ‘World’s Most Wanted Prison’ was voiceovers by Paul Connolly and also when Paul was talking to the camera, explaining the in’s and out’s of the prison. Another sound is non diegetic which adds tension to the documentary.

DOCUMENTARY

NARRATIVERESEARCH

WHAT IS A NARRATIVE? & HOW THEY ARE TOLD?A narrative is any report of connected events. All documentaries has a story to tell, for example, the documentary Ross Kemp on Gangs has a story about gangs around the world. In crime documentaries, there is are different but similar stories that mainly are about murderers, rapists, gangs, and many other lawbreakers.Many documentaries have a different way of telling the story whether its through transitions, or the type of narratives. Some documentaries have different camera shots, or music that would fit perfectly to the mood of the documentary.

REGGIE YATES: RACE RIOTS USA.Reggie Yates travels to America, to find out what

the Race Riots are all about. This Documentary is about the true story of the shooting of Michael Brown. The black18 year old who was brutally shot by a police officer (Darren Wilson). This all happened in a small town called Ferguson, in Missouri. Michael had been found stealing goods from a store, and they had called the police. Later, Wilson had found Brown's and his friend Johnson walking a long the street, matching the description he was told. Brown allegedly had his hands up surrendering, however, he had moved towards the Wilson, who had then shot fire 12 times.

The screenshots on the right clearly show what had happened just after the death of Michael Brown. There were many protests involving many people that had erupted across the USA. Protesters chanted “Hands up, Don’t Shoot!”, The protests were both peacefully and violently than continued for more than a week in Ferguson.

LAS VEGAS WITH TREVOR MCDONALDThis documentary is about the secret life of Sin City. Where people who wanted to start fresh in Las Vegas. It’s a sunny place for shady people. Trevor McDonald discovers that the fantasy town often collided with reality.Across the series, Trevor meets several of Vegas’ most intriguing characters, including former World Heavyweight Champion, Mike Tyson, Antonio Esfandiari, winner of the largest cash prize in poker history ($18.23million), and 1950’s showgirl Lisa Medford, who bears first-hand witness to the good, the bad and the ugly of the Nevadan city.One resident Trevor meets in this first episode is Annie Lobert, a former high-class prostitute, who at the height of her career was making $2million a year. Annie now runs a secret location safe house for prostitutes trying to make a break away from their violent pimps. Las Vegas is the prostitution capital of America, despite it being illegal, and on its appeal Annie says: “The money, the clothes, the cars, the jewellery, the nice houses, the trips, the parties, the famous people. Come on, I mean who doesn’t want that? Who doesn’t want to feel important?” However, Annie discovered a far from glamorous side to prostitution.Trevor also meets veteran bail bondsman Jon Foster, a man who knows pretty much everything about the wild side of Vegas life and often fears for his own safety: “Nevada’s an open carry state, which means you can carry a pistol walking right down Las Vegas boulevard, on your hip, fully loaded, fully legal.”

WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS PRISON:Crime journalist Paul Connolly spends a week immersed inside one of the world’s most dangerous prisons- Danli Jail, Honduras, where the 700 inmates are in charge, controlled by a convicted murderer and his armed henchmen. During his stay he meets extraordinary characters, from Henry the body-building car thief and riot leader to Ventura the knife-wielding killer, who cooks for the prison and he discovers how a jail functions when normal rules are turned on their head.

DOCUMENTARY

SPECIFIC FEATURESRESEARCH

SPECIFIC FEATURES IN DOCUMENTARIESThese features are known as:• Mis-en-scene• Sound• Editing • Camera Shots

REGGIE YATES: RACE RIOTS: USA The mis-en-scene I shall be talking about is the location and costume. The location where the documentary was filmed was mainly in the small town of Ferguson, Missouri in USA where a lot has happened. The documentary is presented by Reggie Yates, and his costume throughout the documentary was what he would usually like to wear, so for example, he worn Baggy jeans and black t-shirt, this is an stereotypical black man’s outfit. Yates had met up with a internee that gets involved in cases for black people. He explained that the way Yates was dressed, he would have been jailed for wearing baggy jeans. The police are definitely stereotyping people for others they are actually not. Which is very bad, as innocent people could go down for something they never did because of the clothes they were wearing.

LAS VEGAS WITH TREVOR MCDONALDThe camera shots for this documentary includes shots such as aerial, establishing, and mid-shot. The aerial and establishing shot are the same thing in this case, as the aerial shot is taken from the sky and is of Las Vegas. It shows the city at night with all the lights scattered. A Steadicam may have been used so the camera man avoided shaking while he was filming shots of Trevor walking around Las Vegas. Another camera shot is the over the shoulder shot, where Trevor was interviewing a man who was starting a new life considering his criminal past.

WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS PRISON:

The location of the documentary was mainly filmed in a prison called Danli Prison, in Honduras. It is most dangerous prison in the world where inmates are in charge of the prison. It is built to house just 280 people, it now holds more than 700. Its located in a remote rural community, overcrowded and woefully under resourced, it quickly becomes clear that the prison struggles to cope. Living conditions are squalid and the atmosphere is volatile. With only a handful of guards on duty at any time, the prison authorities have no choice but to hand over day to day control of the prison to employing inmates who rule with an iron fist. The costume were normal clothes that prisoners wear, as it is a boiling hot country, they wore shorts, trousers and t-shirts. Location and costume are apart the Mis-en-scene category The camera shots were mainly mid shots, this is because the camera man had to hold it secretly by his hands as he was in a prison, he may have caused some trouble with the prisoners as they didn’t want to be filmed. There was an aerial shot, to show the what the prison looks like from up in the sky. The editing involved superimposition, where Paul was on the screen and it was split into three showing the audience Paul, the police officer and the driver.

Superimposition is shown in the photo above.