Celebrity Documentaries generally follow the day to day life of a celebrity or a celebrity couple. The idea of the documentary is to give the audience and insight and behind the scenes look into their lives. The viewers are typically young adults and teenagers with a particular interest in up to date celebrity news or a fan of the celeb.
Some examples of Celebrity Documentaries are:
-Kerry and Me:
A Fly on the wall Documentary based on Kerry Katona's private life after her divorce.
- What Katie did next:
What Katie Did Next is a fly on the wall reality TV show that documents the model/television personality Katie Price after her separation from her husband Peter Andre. The show follows on from the Katie & Peter series which documented the couple when they were together.
This is a youtube clip of Part one of first episode of 'What katie did next':
Conspiracy documentaries reveal a new argument to why or how an historical event occurred.
They are typically subjective to only one point of view in order to persuade the audience.
They usually feature voice overs of the presenters explaining their theory whilst presenting footage of evidence as well as interviews to support their claims.
This type of documentary has a wider audience depending on the conspiracy theories featured. They are generally between 30 minutes to an hour in length.
The length of mockumentaries varies much more than documentaries of other genres as they can be documentaries presented as films or series. they include material that is often involved in current news or society such as Bruno making fun of the on going celebrity world or The Office making fun of the stereotypical office man.
Dispatches are documentaries that are often targeted at the older audience of whom are interested in Current affairs which are studied often using undercover cameras in older to reveal the true workings of associations.
They are filmed to reveal the negative aspects of associations of which society places some form of trust such as restaurants and social services or taxes and last typically between 30 minutes to an hour long.
Some examples of Documentary Film are Supersized me, directed by Morgan Spurlock and also Borat and Bruno (which are mockumentaries).
The audience for Documentary films are largely dependent on the content and topic discussed.
They offer the audience a diffferent way of viewing a Documentary which some may find more engaging however they still follow the conventions of documentary rather than film.
There are several types of documentary styles on tv for different purposes and views such as: -Celebrity Documentaries -Documentary Film -Dispatches -Mockumentaries -Conspiracy Documentaries.
Louis Theroux is a British-American broadcaster. He is known best for his Gonzo style of journalism. This style of journalism is similar to reflexive journalism. It is famous for sarcasm, exaggeration, humour and profanities and is written subjectively, in the first person narrative, including the reporter as a part of the story.
He is famous for his show 'Louis Therous Weird Weekends', which is a documentary series which was shown on BBC2 from 1998 to 2000 separated into 3 series. In this documentary, Louis Theroux gives the audience a small insight into the lives of different types of mpeople who have extremist beliefs or live in a culture which is stereotyped badly; individials who would not normally come into contact with what we know as 'normal' existence.
This is a clip of part of the episode of Louis Theroux: A place for Paedophiles:
As a class, we have watched one of his documentaries- 'Louis and The Brothel' which is about when Louis spends six weeks living in Nevada brothel, the Wild Horse Spa & Resort, set up by former prostitute Susan and one of her regular clients Lance. He meets the punters and the girls including Emily, who is the youngest prostitute at 19, Belle, who is 21 but looks 12 and attracts paedophile punters, and Haley, an alcoholic who wants to get out of the game.
It basically gives an insight of what life is like from working and living in a Brothel and how the girls of who Louis interview with, cope with everyday issues and what they expect from their job. It is a reflexive and expository type of documentary.
Michael Moore Michael Moore is an American Filmmaker as well as an Author and Liberal Political Commentator. Moore was born in Flint, Michigan on 23rd April 1954.
He began his path of success studying journalism at the university of Michigan-Flint. Michael began his journalist career by writing for the school newspaper 'The Michigan Times'. By the time he was 32, Michael became the editor of a liberal political magazine called 'Mother Jones'.
After editing, Michael moved onto Filmmaking and bBy 1989, Moore directed and produced a documentary film called 'Roger & Me'. This was about what happened to Flint in Michigan after General Motors closed its factories and opened new ones in Mexico, of where the workers were paid much less. Moore was able to produce this documentary from earning the money for the budget by getting sued for wrongful dismissal and settled out of court for $58,000 which produced him enough money for his first film.
He had also Directed and produced films of mainly which were a string of Documentaries and TV Series predominently about the same subject of attacks on corrupt politicians and greedy business corporations. These are the films of which Michael Moore had produced and directed:
-Pets or Meat: Return to Flint (1992)
-Canadian Bacon (1995)
-The Big one (1997)
-Bowling for Columbine (2002) The Bowling for Columbine was his first big hit about the bad points of the right to bear arms and probes the culture of guns and violence in the United States, which earned him an Oscar and a big reputation.
-Fahrenheit 9/11 (2005) Fahrenheit then became a bigger hit which examined the aftermath of America's September 11th, 2001 attacks, Particularly the record of the Bush administration and alleged links between the families of George Bush and Osama Bin Laden of which were making fun out of. This is known as the highest-grossing documentary of all time. Michael is known for having the guts to give his opinion in public, which not many people are courageous enough to do, and for that is respected by many.
-Sicko (2007)
This is one of Michael Moore's most famous documentay. It is about comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations.
For my A2 Media course, i am going to be looking into documentaries and explore the different types and forms as well as researching documentary makers such as Michael Moore, Louix Theroux and Nick Broomfield. For our Main task, I will eventually be creating my own documentary aimed at specific audience so it is important to record my progress in research and development on this blog.
What are the purposes of a Documentaries?
Documentaries analyse or interrogate real life situations giving viewers entertainment and ways to express their views and opinions. They can Record, reveal or preserve and can also Persuade or promote viewers to something.
What are the types?
The types of Documentaries are: - Reflexive = the film maker acknowledges their presence, sometimes infront of camera and give some narrative guidance. - Poetic = artistic narrative is constructed, sometimes the topic is more human interest rather than current afairs. - Observational = being there as events unfold, tend to follow a person or event and document their journey. - Expository = analysis and exposition of person or topic, Michael Moore exposes society to forms or political corruption.
