Lucy Froud

STYLE

First if all, I wanted to get an idea of the style and layout of my documentary. I watched many

documentaries to get an overall idea of the typical layout. I found that they have some sections where

the person being filmed is in front of the camera answering questions, however you do not hear the

question being asked but rather the person answers the question with in the answer.

I also found that they use videos, photos and sometimes writing to keep the documentary interesting.

For example on the documentary ‘don’t look down’ there is a section where he is talking whilst a

video is being played about what this person does. I think in my documentary I will use similar ideas; I

will have John (my person I am documenting) speaking whilst images are being shown. This is so the

viewer does not get bored of watching a man speaking.

http://www.channel4.com/programm

s/dont-look-down

SETTING

I have noticed that obviously the documentaries are set in the areas where the

documentary is talking about. Unfortunately I can not travel back to the 60’s but I

will set out Johns house to portray the effect of a 60’s era. I will perhaps have a

Beatles costume hanging beside him and have him sat to the left of the screen. I

have noticed that in many documentaries they are sat on the left hand side of the

screen. I will use different rooms in Johns house to get the full effect of his life as

this is what the documentary is about. I got my inspiration to change rooms from a

documentary called ‘Bodyshockers’ in this, they change areas to suit what they are

talking about. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/bodyshockers/4od

MAKING IT INTERESTING

In documentaries they use clips, videos, photos and many other aspects to

keep it interesting. In the documentary ’24 hours in A&E’ they have

graphic scenes such as wounds and operations. Obviously I will not be

using graphic scenes but I will use other aspects to keep my documentary

interesting. For example I will use images of things john has experienced

throughout his work in the 60’s, I will take photos of costumes that he

has kept from famous people and I will use video clips of the concerts

etc.. he has helped and attended with. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/24-hours-

in-ae

GENERAL

Overall I have researched the main aspects of a good documentary. Whilst I was

watching different documentaries I came across one that was a perfect idea of what

I would like mine to be like. This was the documentary ‘Torvill and Dean, the

perfect day’. This went through a series of events, emotions and facts to lay out the

perfect day (the day they one gold in figure skating in the Olympics) it had the right

amount of questions and answers, the right amount of images, videos and facts that

I would like to use in mine. My documentary will be a lot shorter but I have a clear

idea of the proportioning of different aspects I would like to use.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Torvill%20%26%20Dean%3A%2

0The%20Perfect%20Day