2. Type of documentary
Lifers is an example of a mixed documentary.
Themes
There are many themes shown throughout the
documentary; murder, crime, prison, regret and
paying the price.
3. Narrative Structure
• This documentary is a linear film which flows
through from beginning to end, with out any
jumps into the past.
• This is a multi-strand documentary as it
showcases many different prisoners and looks
specifically at different the different sentences.
• This is a open ended documentary as we do not
find out in the film what happens to all of the
prisoners that are interviwed.
4. Camerawork
• Fly on the wall- used to capture
everything in room, this could be to
show how enclosed everything is in
that room and to emphasise how
horrible it is.
• Handheld camera- they use a hand
held camera to follow the prisoners
around making sure they capture
their every moves.
5. • Wide shot- this allows
the viewer to see the full
picture and realise the
intensity of the prison.
• Close up- to focus in on a
certain detail that
contributes to the
documentary.
6. Mise-en-scene
• The main place of filming is inside the prison,
showcasing different rooms; the prisoners
cells, the shared rooms (such as eating area)
and different offices where interviews are
taken place.
7. Sound
• They used a formal male narrator, with an
informative tone to narrate the
documentary from the beginning to
introduce the programme and tell the
audience what its about as there is no
presenter.
• Also, to interest the viewers they used
actual news clips to make it more realistic
and dangerous, making the documentary
more exciting and interesting.
8. Archive material
• A photo of one the murderers as a child,
although they have committed an
unforgiveable crime, this possibly makes the
viewer feel bad for the prisoner and it reminds
them that they weren’t always bad.
9. Graphics
• There are titles of people when they are being
interviewed. Also, when we are introduced to
a new prisoner it tells us there name, crime
and when they are expected to be released.
