This document summarizes and analyzes several documentaries: 1. March of the Penguins - It follows emperor penguins in Antarctica and their breeding and mating cycles. It uses narration, music, and cinematography to engage audiences. 2. Sicko - This documentary by Michael Moore criticizes the US healthcare system. It uses interviews, archival footage, and an emotional tone. 3. Misbehaving Mums - This TV documentary examines pregnant women engaging in risky behaviors. It profiles at-risk women and nurses helping them using interviews and montages.

1. Documentaries
By Michelle Asafu-Adjaye

2. March of the penguins
• What I learnt from this documentary
is that a documentary can still be
successful with a voiceover
This is a nature documentary following
throughout.
the life of the emperor penguins in the
• When making a nature documentary
Antarctica. It shows us how penguins
a lot of post-production is needed to
survive, how they breed and how they
make it interesting to the audience.
mate.
E.G-the music and the transitions.
• I also learnt about the life of
Likes
penguins and what they go through
• I liked the way they made the every year chronologically.
penguins seem like real
people.
• The voiceover added emotion
to the film and created an
emotional response from the
audience( well most)
• The music was really good
and fitted in well with E.G- When the narrator jokes
whatever mood they were that male penguins are similar
trying to create.
to men the music here is
upbeat and comical.

3. Analysis of scenes
During scenes like this when the
penguins where walking there
would be a voice over which was
good because it made it more
interesting and less boring.
Whilst showing some of the emperor penguins searching
for food in the water they also showed the penguins main
predator, the leopard seal attacking as soon as they
entered the water. The music and the jump cuts from the
seal to the penguins trying to escape created tension and
anticipation. Also the close up shot of the inside of the
seals mouth highlighted the danger the penguins were in.

4. They use a lot of close of shots
which shows the audience lots
of detail. E.G.- the egg being
carried, one of the eggs
cracking and how penguins
feed their young.
There was a good use of long shots and it
was really effective when they where
showing how penguins choose one
person to mate with for life.

5. How it met the conventions of a documentary?
Who the target audience was and
This met the conventions of how they reached their target
documentaries through the use of audience?
the ‘voice of god’ narration and
use of natural sounds. The target audience for this
documentary is for kids and
adults. The rating is a G so
How this documentary has inspired its very family friendly. I
me? think they where able to
reach their target audience
It has inspired me because it by including loads of facts
shows me that animal for the adults and showing
documentaries don't have to be how the penguins act like
boring if u have a good humans would have
voiceover and good use of appealed to the kids.
camera movements/shots.

6. SICKO
This a documentary film by Michael
Moore is about health care in America
and the American health insurance
industry.
Likes Dislikes
• It gave us a lot of information
• They used lots of examples and evidence • Sometimes the narrator
to support points made. Michael Moore was very
bias and it is obvious he
has a thing against the
American government.
• At times the tone of his
voice was very sarcastic.
• He didn't explore the
downside of having
universal healthcare. E.G-
long waiting lists.

7. Analysis of scenes
They introduce the
participants they are
interviewing and clearly
introduce them by showing
their names on the screen
and their profession.
The narrator gets information
from doctors in other countries
and compares it to the health
care in America.
He uses close-ups of important
documents and highlights
important information for the
audience to focus on.

8. Good use of graphics
He uses CCTV images as evidence
of how patients in America are
treated and the music here is very
emotional.
They use old clips from various
points in history.

9. He gets true life stories from various
people in order to build an emotional
response from the audience and even
shows the method he used to contact
these people.
Most of the images that are used are in sync with
the voiceover. E.g. This newspaper article of a
woman.

10. How it met the conventions of a documentary?
It met the conventions of a documentary
through the use of the shaky
camera, archival footage and interviews with
experts.
Who the target audience was and how they
reached their target audience?
The target audience is adults and young
adults because the documentary covers
an issue that is of great concern in the
United States
How this documentary has inspired me?
It has inspired me by showing me that
documentaries can be about anything
and you can represent issues in anyway
you like.

11. Misbehaving mums
This a TV documentary which researches
pregnant women who are doing things that
are putting their unborn babies at risk and
this documentary shows how specialised
nurses try to help them.
Likes
•Very factual
•The music was very modern
and fitted in well because
they’re using young/teenage
women in their documentaries

12. Analysis of clips
Good use of graphics. E.g. the baby scan with the baby
smoking and drinking was very affective.
The participants in the documentary talk
to the camera sometimes.
They write down
the details of the
They also follow the girls around to see person as well.
how they get on after the advice
they’ve been given.
They introduce the characters they’ll be
featuring in each episode and also give
information about the nurses who will
be monitoring the women.

13. How it met the conventions of a documentary?
It met the conventions of documentaries through the use of
montage, interviews and voice of god narration
Who the target audience was and how they reached their
target audience?
I think the target audience was women in particular mass
market women. I think they reached their target audience
by putting this on bbc three.
How this documentary has inspired me?
It has inspired me through their filming techniques and I will
consider using the method of giving some background
information about people taking part in my documentary as
this can make it more interesting and entertaining.