Media Documentaries

The documentary in which I am independently researching in to is educating

essex. The reason why I have chosen to study this is because it is one of my
favourite Documentary television series and every time I am watching it I am
engaged and intrigued in to it. This television programme is produced by two
four for Channel 4. It uses a fly on the wall format to show the everyday lives of
the staff and students of Passmores Academy, a secondary school in Harlow,
Essex, interspersed with interviews of those involved and featuring narration
from the director and interviewer, David Clews. The Main title of the
documentary's name is used at the start with a black background to focus on the
title itself.

The award winning documentary opens every episode with the mise-en-sense of
the diegetic sound of a school bell which clearly demonstrates to the audience,
that the sense set in a school. It uses fly on the wall which is stimulated by
improvements in technology, the beginnings of TV and Social/political concerns
of Documentary makers. It aims to present a greater sense of realism/truth with
little interference from the makers. This is now more commonly known more as a
technique than a style as demonstrated in more recent hybrid documentary
formats such as Reality and Docu-Soaps. This style of documentary uses
observational (objective) mod which is best exemplified by the cinema verite or
direct cinema movement which emerged in the late 1950s/ early 1960s.
The narrative of this documentary is Linear; this is established through the
documentary which is shown in chronological order, with the start of the day through
to the end during each episode. This type of documentary also demonstrates a Multistranded Narrative this is portrayed throughout the documentary as the
audience will be shown 2-3 different stories through each episode. There are also
Subtitle shown after each advertisement brake, included with a hashtag to
connect with social medias.
When the teachers are talking in to the camera, they use the rule of third to create
realism and in order for the audiences to see the interviewee clearly on the TV. Also
when they are talking they also use direct mode of address, this makes the audience
feel as if they are talking directly to them making the target audience feel involved
with the documentary. This makes the audience connect with the programme,
because they begin to understand and empathise with the character on the TV.

Subtitles used so the audience knows what the person is saying if the sound isn't
loud enough. The subtitles fade away once they have been said.

They also use two shots during the interview; the reason why this is used is to
show the relationship between the individuals, and their opinions together. Titles
are used to show the name and occupation within the school. Throughout this
documentary the other shot types in which they use is medium close up to show
that the differentiation between the student and the staff through the mise en
scene of their top part of their clothing. There is a range of shots used, from
zoom, to birds eye to high angle shots. Another important shot typed used in
this documentary is establishing shots, also known as a long shot which sets the
location of the film and in this case it shows the school building with bad weather
above the school which could reflect on the pupils behaviours through the day.
The mise en scene in this documentary is through classrooms, offices and the
school playground. The lockers in the background during interviews clearly are
used to reinforce the school setting. The uniform is often messy and incorrect;
this could reflect and imply that the students dont care about their appearance
which results in behaviour issues. Also the pupils who walk around with the shirts
out this could suggest that they are the most misbehaved students, however you
could argue this case and say that Im about just being stereotypical.

There is diagetic Christmas music played to show the time of the year the series
started, keep the audience up to date. A voice over is used, which gives
information about the school, pupil or situation during that time. During the
interviews with pupils, you can hear the questions being asked by the
interviewer.
The editing used in this documentary is very effective, for example there is Spedup/time lapse of the sun rising. Which clearly suggests that the day ahead is
going to be very long and it also implies that schools starts early. There are also
Shot reverse shots throughout conversations, to show each individual when they
are talking and it makes it clearer for the audience to tell who is saying what.
There are cutaways between interviews and time in lesson or relating clips. Blur
is used on pupils faces who don't want to be shown during the documentary;
this hides the persons identity.
The target audience for this documentary for educating Essex would be people
between 14-20 as the humour is quite silly also because it is more of an informal
documentary rather than formal one. If it was a formal documentary the target
audience wouldnt be as interested and engaged with the programme as it
wouldnt appeal to them.
On the other hand some people might decide that they do not want to watch
educating Essex after seeing it advertise on the TV schedule as they might
stereotype Essex and presume it will be similar to the other Essex based shows
like The only way is Essex. The sort of people that wouldnt even think about

watching it might be around 25+ as it is something that doesnt catch their

attention. However some older people like teachers might be interested in it to
see an insight in to how the schools in Essex are wrong
The docudrama ends with next time.. And it gives brief summary of what pupil
they will be focusing on.

Some examples of shot types used:

Establishing shot

Mid shot

Long shot

Aerial camera angel

Two shot