Textual analysis 3

"Black Sheep" Documentary Analysis

I wanted to attain a broader understanding of documentaries and styles of documentaries so, for my final textual analysis, I decided to watch a documentary produced by the guardian called "black sheep" this focus' on a young man who experienced lots of racism in his community growing up and how this has affected him as a person and how he views the world.

This example of a documentary adopts a more serious tone than what I want to achieve in my documentary but I wanted to broaden my understanding of documentaries as a whole so watching Watching this example is very useful

 
How Tone Is Created

. Regular blackouts between passages of a speech by the narrator of the documentary

. The very close up shot of the narrator of the documentary which creates a very personal and up-close experience for the watcher. It makes you feel as though you are being personally addressed.

. Very narrative speech, constant relaying stories from his childhood.

. Talking to the camera with a completely black background behind the main focus with lots of shadow in the shot to create a negative tone.

. Only one account of all stories conveyed in the documentary.

. Non-famous actors playing the people in the documentary. For example, the man who the documentary is based on, his mother and father, the racist group in his community etc. The shots are constantly cutting between his narration and acted out scenes

. Simple orchestral string music in a minor key to set the tone and to create an unsettling atmosphere constantly throughout the video. The music moves with the motion of the video. For example, the video becomes more intense at moments when there is a scene in which actors a re-creating a fight scene so the music moves with this motion and becomes more driven and intense.


Language - The language used is very colloquial and less formal than expected in a guardian documentary. This reflects his culture and celebrates it as he is clearly proud to use it.

Representation - We experience a negative representation white people as they are exposed for their rascism, violence and drug use throughout the video.

What can I take from this documentary?

I was inspired by the constant use of music throughout the documentary. I would like to use this technique but using positive sounding music to give a more uplifting feel to my video.

I would like to use the narrative storytelling aspect of this documentary in my final product and feature stories I have experienced and interesting, unusual things I have experienced as a young puppeteer.

Much like the background set (pure black sheet) of the narration shots set the tone of the documentary, I will use a similar technique but I will flip this technique and have items and artefacts behind me that will create a positive exposition to the film.