It is also about a real-life situation. It was also turned down by HBO and PBS which was a mistake because it was nominated for six Emmys, winning four including Outstanding Documentary, Outstanding Non-Fiction Directing, Writing and Editing.
We learnt the difference between documentary and dramatic film. Some of the differences are outlined below:
There are different documentary formats such as formal and hybrid documentary, the difference being formal documentary is observational, include current affairs, it also uses documentary form techniques and conventions to educate, debate and inform content. Whereas, hybrid documentary is reality or scripted reality, such as TOWIE, or can be a drama documentary. Hybrid documentary also uses documentary form techniques and conventions but these are primarily for entertainment content.
Narrative documentary modes
- Expository - emphasise rhetoric and information. The classic 'voice of God'.
- Observational - classic 'fly on the wall'. Usually no voice-over, music or other interventions.
- Participatory - onscreen relationship between filmmaker and subject, usually via interview (Louis Theroux)
- Reflexive - makes viewer aware of filmmaking process. Seeks to challenge assumptions. (Nick Broomfield)
- Poetic - artistic montage-based. Rely on expressive editing of sound and image rather than classical continuity. (Adam Curtis)
- Performative - filmmaker/subject conveys personal experience (Michael Moore).
We then went back and applied some of this to Making A Murderer.
Content
- Objective expository mode - retelling of historical story.
- Subject relies heavily on evidentiary support (graphic and visual archive narrative testimony by interview and audio-visual archive).
Form
Subjective tension in aesthetic approach
- Use of 'reconstruction' - beach POV sequence, crime re-enactment through graphic montage.
- Use of music - decried by 'pure documentary' advocates as emotional manipulation.
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SITCOM
To start off the sitcom lecture we watched the pilot episode of Vodka Diaries. This was about a group of young people who live together in a small flat and like to have fun and ignore all responsibility until the landlord wants to come round and have a look at how they're living. It is directed by James De Frond.
While we watched this we had to look for specific things such as miss en scene, camera and sound and narrative and genre conventions.
What is a sitcom?
- 'Sit(uation)com(edy)' - sub-genre of comedy unique to television
- Typically located within single location (or minimal number of settings)
- Characters resolve comic situation or series of circumstances.
- All sitcoms share the common codes and conventions.
Traditional studio sitcoms
- Multi-camera
- Edited 'as live'
- Audience laugh track
- High-key uniform lighting
Location sitcoms
- Single-camera
- Post-edited
- No 'live' laugh track
- 'Mockumentary' - style
Sitcom Narrative Conventions
- Episodic series format - typically 30 minutes, closed narrative
- Repetition - circular narrative to keep characters in comic situation at the story's resolu
tion and feed into further episodes
- Resolution - drama (tragedy) ends with change; comedy ends with order and harmony restored.
Sitcom Genre - Narrative Conventions
- The comic trap - The basic premise of a sitcom: physical or emotional situation characters attempt to resolve or escape from. Repetition ensures further traps will be encountered.
- The running joke - Repeating visual joke or verbal line (a catchphrase). Familiarity/popularity with viewers encourage their repetition in long - running series.
- The one liner/sight gag - Humorous throwaway remark, often observational of a situation or event that has just occurred. (Periel's retort to Nic: 'If you can't shift it, don't shag it' - classic one liner from Vodka Diaries)
- Innuendo & double-entendre - Innuendo - inferred but not directly obvious to the person directed at. Double entendre - a pun, usually sexual. Sexual humour pre-watershed.
- Irony & sarcasm - Irony - to express something different from often opposite to literal meaning. Sarcasm - when a person says one thing but means another.
- Farce & slapstick - Farce - highly improbable narrative situations and coincidences combined with exaggerated physical humour. 'Black comedy' uses farce and taboo humour. Slapstick - physical comedy, usually incorporating props and elements of comic violence.
- Parody - mocks or pokes fun at an original work, its subject or author through humorous imitation.
- Satire - Similar to parody, but usually with a more angry or polemical intent. Often political and targets the elite and bureaucratic.
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SOAP OPERA
To start the soap opera lecture we watched the very first episode of EastEnders. I was quite looking forward to this as I watch EastEnders regularly and was intrigued to see what the first episode was like. I was shocked, it was so different to what we see now. I think I prefer the recent episodes to the old ones, the acting and quality is better which I know was inevitable.
EastEnders is set in a fictional London borough called Walford. It initially was broadcasted twice a week and the first episode attracted 17m viewers. The first set of storylines were set around the Beale and Fowler families. EastEnders was also the first UK soap to feature a culturally diverse cast from the opening episode.
What is a soap opera?
- Serialmelodrama, primarily dealing with family and emotional issues.
- It originated in the US, aimed at a housewife demographic.
- Sponsored by detergent companies, hence the name 'soap opera'.
- All soap operas share common codes and conventions.
Soap opera - Technical conventions
- Multi-camera
- Limited sets
- Diegetic sound
- Early soaps transmitted live or recorded 'as live'
- HD technology has required more 'realistic' sets, but also now allows shooting in natural or low-light from additional realism
Soap opera narrative conventions
- Episodic format - typically 30 minutes. Open-ended storylines with episodic cliffhangers (to sustain audience)
- Repetition - relies on stock characters and locations returned to in each episode.
- Resolution - serial form means constantly evolving; soap plots may take weeks, months or even years to be resolved.
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