9/11 Faker

I have been looking at another expository documentary, this one revolving around the 9/11 terrorist attacks and their survivors. The documentary i have been analysing was based around a woman who had claimed to be a survivor of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and one of only 19 people who had been above the point of impact and survived the incident.

Head had claimed that her fiance had died in the tragic terrorist attack. Her dramatic story was highly convincing, and she even managed to create a fundraiser of the 'World Trade Centre Survivors' Network, set up to support victims who were still suffering after the attacks. Tania Head even gave guided tours around Ground Zero, giving a detailed description of her so called experience, and fooling the nation entirely. She managed to retain this facade for over 6 years, before being discovered as a liar and a fake by the New York Times.

The importance of a documentary like this, is to expose stories that are relevant and important to the public, as well as being controversial and interesting. The way that this documentary in particularly was presented, was as one where the main focus was a particular person, rather than a topic. This added interest to the documentary, as it is shocking that a person could have a mindset to behave the way that Tania Head did.

Cutting Edge: Cotton Wool Kids

This 'Cutting Edge' documentary is of an expository format, and it focuses on children who are being suffocated by their protective parents. The documentary exposes the lives of a few children in particular, who's parents stop them getting vital life experience and enjoying their childhood due to their obsessive nature regarding safety. This behaviour does not regress as their children get older, if anything it gets progressively worse.

These parents buy their children expensive gaming software, mobile phones and computing equipment such as new laptops, gaming chairs, iPhones and various other new items to retain control and encourage their children to want to stay at home rather than play with their friends from school. These children aren't even allowed to play outside the front of the house, as these parents are terrified that they might be stabbed, kidnapped or worse.

The documentary focuses on three parents in particular; Adel, Toni and Jenny. The expository nature of this documentary reveals the way in which technology now allows parents to be protective over their children, by microchipping and GPS tracking, for example, which is the means of protection that Toni was particularly interested in. 'Cotton Wool Kids' gives us insight into the way that some families live, which allows the audience to analyse their own and compare, therefore making this particular style of documentary interesting.

Link to the documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebGOl_G3jes&list=SL

The Rise Of The Documentary

The term 'documentary' was not introduced immediately, so before the 1900's, there was minimal exposure to the concept of film. This meant there was very little, if any knowledge of the documentary. The documentary equivalent was referred to as 'actuality film'. The term 'documentary' did not originate properly until 1926.

Pre 1900:

- Single shot films were made. Documentaries were focused around novelty things happening, such as a train moving etc.

- Storytelling did not originate until the 20th Century, and the majority of short films (such as those by Auguste and Louis Lumiere) were shorter than a minute due to the limitations of film.

1920s:

- Romanticism: Robert J. Flaherty's documentary film in 1922, Nanook of the North, embraced romanticism as a documentary concept.

Newsreel Tradition:

- The newsreel is important in the history of the documentary. They were often re-enactments of events from the past that were filmed. They were sometimes staged, and events that were currently happening were not often filmed.

1950s - 1970s:

Cinéma Verité: Cinéma Verité is essentially 'truthful cinema'. It is a style of documentary making which includes the combination of stylistic techniques alongside naturalistic devices. The camera is used to provoke it's subjects, and it is famous for this technique in particular. It is commonly observed that the intention of provoking the subject is to reveal the truth in the best way in cinema. The camera is always acknowledged by the interviewers and the subjects.

Modern Documentaries

Modern documentaries are considered to be very successful in today's society - they are one of the predominant ways of exposing the truth about specific, and often controversial topics to the public. Modern documentaries usually have a fairly low budget, which makes them attractive to many film companies as they can be highly profitable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/

Analysis of 'Louis and the Brothel' , 'Louis Theroux: Under The Knife' and Louis Theroux: The City Addicted To Crystal Meth

I have taken a particular interest in Louis Theroux's expository documentaries, and recently watched a few of the most famous and analysed them in detail. The three i was particularly interested in were 'Louis and the Brothel', 'Louis Theroux: Under the Knife' and 'Louis Theroux: The City Addicted To Crystal Meth'.

Louis and the Brothel:

Here we see Louis looking at a legal brothel in Nevada, and he brings a fairly sympathetic aspect to their careers on board. Where he initially tries to be emotionally detached from the prostitutes, he eventually forms a bond with one in particular, Hailey, who has had a particularly traumatic life as her husband tried to shoot her, leaving her partially deaf, before shooting himself. We see how her emotional instability due to her horrible past relationships forces her into the life of prostitution, and Louis spends a lot of time interviewing her.

Louis' expository format of his documentaries is put to the test as he attempts to expose the life of prostitutes, and when Hailey attempts to negotiate with him - asking him to pay her for more of her time. We also see a young woman of just 21, who, having been in the porn and escort business in the past, has now resorted to prostitution. She looks very young for her age, around the age of 12, and states that she is certain that 'some of the men who hire her are paedophiles' and hire her solely for her young appearance. It is evident through Louis' style of documentary, that these women are essentially business women, and we see the turn of events with their 'strictly business relationships' over the 6 week period that Louis stays with them.

Louis Theroux: Under The Knife

In this documentary, we see Louis analysing the importance of plastic surgery in the USA. Louis hunts to find a valid reason for their obsession with the 'perfect body', and in order to try and relate to the characters we see, he goes under the knife himself and has liposuction on his midriff, and becomes completely immersed in his topic.

Louis joins surgeons and patients in their consultations, and tries to understand the obsession for the perfect body. When undergoing plastic surgery himself, he experiences the pain and discomfort that these patients go through, and how they begin to get addicted to the feeling of pain and go through repetitive surgeries to allow themselves to be 'perfect'. Louis interviews a man who is pushing 50 years old, and has had pectoral and bicep implants to make himself look more 'muscular'. His face has been so distorted by plastic surgery that he looks emotionless, overly suntanned and very 'plastic'. The patient, however, believes that he is essentially perfect in every way, but due to Louis' expository documentary style, it is evident to the viewer that he has taken his obsession too far.

Louis Theroux: The City Addicted To Crystal Meth

Another of Louis Theroux's more famous documentaries is his one revolving around the Crystal Meth addiction that plagues Fresno, a town in Central Valley, California. Louis discovers that due to the cheapness of the drug, the majority of the town is addicted, or has at least tried Crystal Meth, even those as young as 15 years old have drug issues.

Louis exposes the reality of this addiction and the way in which it ruins lives. One couple, Diane and Karl, are focused on in particular. They have had their 5 children taken away from them due to their 25 years worth of drug addiction, and only the Diane seems to regard this as an extremely regrettable incident. Louis visits the homes of addicts other who have been taking the drug prior to his arrival, and when he does arrive, he witnesses them taking their daily hit and is very disturbed by the fact that children are in a such a close radius to the highly addicted drug. Louis learns about the Westcare Centre, the only place in Fresno that focuses on rehabilitation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Theroux#BBC_2_Specials
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387361/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/06_june/26/theroux.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m572d

Full Video of Louix Theroux: Under The Knife

Morgan Spurlock

Morgan Spurlock is an American documentary film maker who focuses on participatory documentation. He is best known for his documentary on McDonalds fast food in 2004, 'Super Size Me'. He, like many other documentary makers, got completely immersed in the subject and decided to eat nothing but McDonald's 3 times a day for a 30 day period. Before he started the project, he had above average fitness levels, and after eating excessive amounts of McDonald's for the 30 day period, he gained 25lbs, suffered from liver dysfunction and depression. It took him a little over 14 months to return to his normal weight, and he was put on a detox diet to help him get his normal build back.

Spurlock proceeded to make other documentaries, such as 'Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Spurlock looks at terrorism, and presents both sides of the argument regarding terrorism. He tries to find Osama Bin Laden, obviously without success, and this therefore presented more negative reviews than positive ones, as it was perceived to be a pointless documentary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Spurlock

Pyschological Documentary Presentation

I was particularly inspired by the psychological documentaries I have been looking into, such as 'Louis Theroux: A Place For Paedophiles' and Nick Broomfields 'Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer'. Due to my interest in this topic, I created a presentation to show the style of psychological documentaries, with given examples.

Psychological Documentaries

View more presentations from LGBA.

David Attenborough

Sir David Attenborough is a naturalist and a broadcaster. He is most famous for being the voice and face of documentaries for the BBC, predominantly those regarding nature such as 'Blue Planet' and the 'Life' series. He usually narrates his documentaries rather than presents them, therefore they are shown in a poetic nature more than any other style.

Over the last 25 years he has established himself as the world's leading natural history programme maker with several landmark BBC series, including:

Life on Earth (1979)
The Living Planet (1984)
The Trials of Life (1990)
The Private Life of Plants (1995)
The Life of Birds (1998)
The Life of Mammals (2002)
Life in the Undergrowth (2005)

Attenborough worked on a multitude of documentaries, one of his most famous being the 'Life' series, where he looks at evolutionary history of animal species and the like. He is also famous for his narration of 'Planet Earth', and has a knighthood for his famous voice and passion for his subject.

Due to Attenborough's interest in the subject, he has gained up most respect for his work in the natural documentary industry. Recently, warned and informed the country of the climate change issues surrounding the planet, and warned of an 'ecological disaster'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough

http://www.davidattenborough.co.uk/biography/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7631314/David-Attenborough-warns-of-ecological-disaster.html