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1. Saxon- What are the main codes and conventions of the documentary genre used
in ‘Super-Size Me?’
Super-size me is a documentary based on Morgan Spurlocks adventure of
trailing the consumption of McDonalds for breakfast, lunch and dinner over a
30 day period. The film explores the biological effects that a high fat diet is able
to do onto your body, as well as conveying the impact fast food on American
society, and how the average American consumer is being disproportionally
targeted to bring in more revenue to unhealthy food companies.
In supersize me, Morgan spurlock is shown to be a humorous character to the audience. Through
the use of the situation he is able to be self-aware to understand the severity of the situation, whilst
also displaying enjoyment due to the extremism of the documentary’s subject. However, through
the documentary spurlock displays a variety ofemotions to the audience.This is shown through
the process ofthe 30 day binge, as his early presence within the documentary declares
excitement and curiously ofthe hypothesis he will be able to withdraw from the documentary.
However, as he starts to indulge
more ofthe fast food, he
declares disinterest and reveals
signs offatigue and tiredness.
He starts to become lazy and is
no longer showing the initial
excitement he was conveying
during the start ofthe
documentary, and seems to see
the experiment as a chore
rather than the experiment he
believed it would be. As well as
this, as his weight starts to
become more serious, he starts
to become more concerned and seems to contemplate finishing the documentary at an
unfinished point. Furthermore, with the man that has eaten 10,000 big macs he is able to convey
an enjoyable discussion despite the person differing from the points ofviewofMorgan
spurlock.This shows that spurlock is able to listen to opinions that are condescending to his own
and the films message.This implies that the film will be unbiased as it shows to the audience
that Spurlock is able to observe different points ofviewand yet is able to entertain their ideals.
Super-size me usesa variety ofdifferent background footage which is primarily used to show
how the average American is being manipulated in order to consume more fast food so
companies such as McDonalds are able to guarantee profits. Within the film, it shows the map
of America and sections ofAmerica quite regularly. It shows the map of NewYork in order to
showthe sheer mass of McDonalds that spread around for people to go to. Furthermore, he
shows the Texas map to demonstrate howmuch ofan obesity crisis the area is suffering with.
This is coupled with videos are fat people enjoying sweets. This kind offootage is important in
documentaries as it is able to illustrate the points being made visually, which therefore makesa
bigger impact on the audience. By talking about the obesity crisis in Texas and showing obese
Texan people,it is able to showthe extent ofthe problem to the audience,and therefore allows
them to see more ofa sincere crisis rather than just a passing clip ofinformation from spurlock.
Furthermore, footage of McDonald’s advertisement and children playing in McDonalds playing

2. areas is shown. This presents to the audience that spurlock is making the correlation that the
money spent by McDonalds through advertising targets children especially, and since they have
things like play areas it means the children would instantly consume the advertisement band
want to go to McDonalds.This is further presented through the film through the use ofthe
animation of the advertising budgets ofcompanies that provide high fat, salt and sugar
products compared to howmuch money is spent to advertise fruit and vegetable companies and
through the section within the middle school.
Within the film a variety ofdifferent music and sounds. When Morgan spurlock is informing
the audience ofinformation or providing the audience with a theory or hypothe sis, he uses over
repetitive non diegetic sound. This is used as it is not distracting to the viewer, and yet is able to
create a tempo for the information that surrounds it.This is therefore able to set the pace for the
documentary, allowing spurlock to seta foundation for his documentary. Furthermore, the
sound quality shown throughout the course ofthe documentary is ofa similar volume. This is
due to howMorgan uses similar music throughout the documentary, so he is able to set a
consistent volume for the documentary. This allows the documentary to be professional as the
fact that the volume is similar throughout suggests that they tested the audio in order for
nothing to go wrong.
Within the documentary, the editing is used to create a fast pace to the documentary. Some
footage is speed up in order to create a link to the subject of
the documentary fast food. The use ofthe fast pace and sped
up footage is effective as it allows the audience to
understand the process ofwhat ordering fast food is like,
The editing allows the both the non-diegetic and the diegetic
sound to merge together. As both the uses ofnon-diegetic
sound such as the narration and the over repetitive
background music inserted into the film travel at a faster
pace. This is effective as it allows the audience to always feel
entertained,whilst the use ofthe fast paced editing allows
Morgan spurlock to from information from a variety of
different formats such as vox pops,formal interviews,
animations and some vlog style footage in order to give a variety ofdifferent opinions. This
allows the audience to always stay entertained,whilst also allowing them to absorb as much
information at one time as possible without the film losing its momentum or dragging for the
viewer.
In super-size me,the micro elements are used in order to create a documentary with a solid
pace. It fits the conventions ofdocumentaries through its use ofbackground footage,as it
researches further into American society in order to display the American ideology ofexcessive
consumerism. I t is to apply both non diegetic and diegetic sound to a standard ofa professional
documentary, as well as being an able presentyer for the documentary at hand.