Analysis of ITV doc.

1. Bring Back
Borstal

2. Info
‘Series in which young offenders volunteer to
experience the strict regime of a 1930s-style
Borstal. In the third programme, working in the
community yields some surprising results.’
‘The unique experiment is to bus a bunch of scallies
and gobshites back to the 1930s, bang them up in
Borstal to see if today’s troublemakers can handle –
and benefit from – the regime of the past.’
‘Seventy per cent of the young men who went
through Borstal never went back to prison
again, says David Wilson, normally a
criminologist and professor at Birmingham City
Uni, now playingthe part of prison governor.’
REFLEXIVE!
The documentary
characters are all fully
aware that there is a
camera crew there at all
times, narration
continues throughout the
episodes. There are some
aspects of other modes
such as observational as
the crew are constantly
following the drama the
boys are making. We do
see conventions of both
modes throughout the
whole thing.

3. First thing we see, long shot with
a bus with ‘Borstal’ on, it’s a clue
to the programme. Music starts
to play and then narration by
Piers Morgan begins instantly
explaining what a borstal is. .
When this man is shown the
narration pauses and we meet the
borstal officer he is introduced by
him shouting at the borstal
members, this shows his authority
and instantly shows he’s boss.
Then we meet the boys in the
borstal, we have close ups and mid
shots of them to familiarise the
audience, the narrator continues
but pauses when the leader talks .
There is a small montage of clips of
the antics from life in the borstal,
the action is just a small insight into
life but enough to make you want
to carry on watching. Its gripping.
The montage carries on for a while
longer as we gradually meet all the
characters on the show. Narration
continues and tells the audience
the boys schedule and what they
will be doing.
We are able to see the climax of
events that go down. It is exciting
and the music builds which creates
tension and a bit of a mysterious
atmosphere.
The title is shown fully for the first
time, the image shown is like an
establishing shot, it shows the
brutal reality of what to expect and
the bold writing confirms the
brutality.
As I was watching the second
episode to analyse we are able to
see what happened previously as a
reminder, this just re jogs
audiences minds. This is a montage
of clips. All narrated.
We start to see their daily lives and
how it goes, Jack is the focus as he
has been told off by house master.
He is the first one to be bought to
the audience attention, meaning its
likely he’ll be a focus throughout.
This sign is shown almost like
confirming the borstal theme again
so no one forgets, the music is
lighter and more jolly and piers
formally introduces David the
criminologist and house governor.
We directly meet one of the boys
formally for the first time, as we
meet him his name and details are
shown audiences like this as it
reduces confusion and makes
things clear.
Mid shot of David, we see him
analyising work and deep in
thought, the mid shot doesn’t
reveal anything but shows us what
is going on and gives us a small
idea.