The document analyzes four documentaries: Stacey Solomon: Depression, Teen Mums & Me; Sir Trevor McDonald: Women Behind Bars; and Rachel Bruno: My Dad & Me. It discusses the likes and dislikes of each documentary's approach, the impressions created through mise-en-scene, the conventions used, and which elements the document's author wants to incorporate into their own documentary on mental health. The goal is to create a personal documentary from the perspective of someone suffering from a mental illness.

1. Documentaries
Likes, Dislikes, Impression through
Mis-en-scene, Conventions and
Iconography and what elements I
want to use in my documentary.

2. Stacey Solomon: Depression,
Teen mums & me
Stacey Solomon starred in a documentary on
BBC3 about being a young mum suffering from
postnatal depression and how she recovered from
it. She also spoke to other young mums suffering
from it and listened to their experiences. The main
focus of this documentary was Stacey’s
experience of the illness and her reflections on it
as she meets different people, including
professionals to find out more about the illness.
Her intention is to overcome the social stigma
attached to the illness.

3. Stacey Solomon: Depression, Teen mums &
me
Likes and Dislikes
LIKES;
•
•
•
I like that it was a personal issue to her and that she went on a journey to try
and find out more about what she went through.
I also like that it was shown that she is talking to other people about the
illness and it was showing other peoples experiences of having the illness.
Another element that I think worked well was when she went to a
professional doctor to discuss it. This gives the audience facts, not just her
and a few other girls experience.
DISLIKES;
•
•
I think although it did focus on her and some other girls when she was
interviewing the girls it was very brief and did not have enough depth.
I thought that switching between Stacey’s and the other girl’s experiences
meant that you didn’t fully know who the main focus of the documentary
was, and that it may have just been focused a bit more on her because
she’s famous.

4. Stacey Solomon: Depression, Teen mums &
me
Impression created through mise en scene
The impression created through mise en scene in this documentary is
that it is both very personal to her and a very personal issue but at the
same time it is relaxed and about one person going on a journey. This
impression was created by what she was wearing, which was very
casual like it was her everyday life. It was all filmed in real life settings
such as peoples houses, including her house, the other girls houses
and in the office of the professional. This all makes it seem that this
was an everyday thing that she just wants to do. It creates a very
personal and realistic documentary as she isn’t dressing up in
elaborate costumes or fancy clothes. She is going to different settings
that aren't unusual or weird, but that would be very usual places for
someone to visit when trying to find out something about themselves.

5. Stacey Solomon: Depression, Teen mums &
me
Conventions and Iconography
The main conventions this documentary uses are voiceover,
technicality of realism, interviews with experts, text, real footage of
events and sound. The voiceover used in this documentary is not
from a different person or an expert talking about the issue or
describing what is happening but in fact is Stacey herself talking
when the camera may be frozen in a shot or when she is walking.
The filming is done in her house with her in tracksuit bottoms
showing it is very real and also showing certain things she talks
about. For example, she was able to show the audience where in
her house she finally broke down which is also real footage of
events. Interviews with experts and text were both used together to
show who the doctor was and sound was used when the camera is
frozen to set the mood. The music used was very slow and solemn
demonstrating the seriousness of the illness. The iconography is
very natural light and natural speaking with everyone dressed
casual and normally which are all elements associated with
documentaries.

6. Stacey Solomon: Depression, Teen mums
& me
Elements I want to use in mine
The main elements I think I want to use in my
documentary are the idea that it is an issue she
has faced in her life and is trying to find out more
information about to help her understand why she
had the problem. However instead of talking to
other people with the problem I may only speak to
one other person in detail. I also want to use the
idea of speaking to a professional like she did as I
think this works really well and is quite an
important part of a documentary.

7. Sir Trevor McDonald: Women
behind bars
Trevor McDonald recently made an ITV
documentary on women behind bars and their
lives inside two of Indiana's most dangerous
women's prisons. He met women serving lengthy
sentences for crimes such as assault and one for
even killing her own baby. He also met some of the
criminals who have managed to escape from the
prison, some for many years who have then been
caught again and put back inside.

8. Sir Trevor McDonald: Women behind bars
Likes and Dislikes
LIKES;
•
•
•
The main thing I like about this documentary is it is on a very different and
undisclosed subject that you don’t get to see a lot about.
He talks to people that no one else would usually get a chance to speak to.
He finds out really interesting things about them and they really open up to
him. The stories he discovers are so different to anything you would usually
hear that it makes the documentary unique.
DISLIKES;
•
•
I think he interviews too many people and that its hard for the audience to
focus on each person as it keeps changing.
I also dislike how he starts to interview someone and talk to them and then
finds out a little bit before then moving on to someone else. He then comes
back to the first subject later as it becomes confusing as to who said what..

9. Sir Trevor McDonald: Women behind bars
Impression created through mise en scene
The main impression I got was from what they were wearing. You could
really see a clear divide between the prisoners and Trevor McDonald.
The prisoners were always in orange jump suits, with very scruffy hair
and they looked like criminals whereas the presenter was in a suit
looking neat, tidy and professional.
The documentary showed all the main important things associated with
prisons such as the nasty food on the typical ‘prison tray’, the
constantly being handcuffed, and the moody and strict prison officers. It
portrayed the typical really aggressive prisoner compared to the
prisoner who actually looked so sweet and kind but had committed a
horrible crime. These were all props to show the typical prison setting.
The overall impression of the mise en scene the documentary gave
was highlighting how prison life is but challenging preconceptions about
the stereotypes of women you would expect to be imprisoned.

10. Sir Trevor McDonald: Women behind bars
Conventions and Iconography
The conventions this documentary use are voiceover, real footage
events, technicality of realism and sound. It does not use interviews
with experts and text because he is looking inside a prison at the
lives of the women not trying to find out something. He doesn't
really have the need to interview an expert and therefore hasn't
needed to use text because usually the two go together. He used a
voice over similar to Stacey Solomon by using his own voice to
explain something when the camera is ether moving around or is
still. He films real things and you can tell they are real such as the
food they are eating, the cells they live in etc which also makes it
feel very realistic. He uses emotive sound when the camera is still or
moving such as music that makes you feel suspense or sadness.
The same iconography is used which is natural lighting, natural
speaking and also natural acting. You could tell this by the stuttering
the women did or the way they appeared shy and nervous around
him at times.

11. Sir Trevor McDonald: Women behind bars
Elements I was to use in mine
The main element that was used in this documentary
that I want to use in my documentary is the idea that
the subject it is done on is a very private subject that is
not focused on very often with emphasise on the
impact on individuals. I think if I do a documentary on
mental health illness there would be very private
feelings and details shared. These may be similar to
those from the women about the crimes they did, how
they felt after and how they coped with those feelings.

12. Rachel Bruno: My Dad & Me
Rachel Bruno made a documentary on BBC3
about her Dad and his mental health illness during
Mental Health Awareness week on BBC3.
Although it was about her Dad’s bipolar illness, the
main focus was the effect it had on her life living
with him when he was ill. It also focuses on her
Dad and his problems as well as featuring her
sisters. This documentary is made from her point
of view with the camera following her, detailing her
experiences and her feelings.

13. Rachel Bruno: My Dad & Me
Likes and Dislikes
LIKES;
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•
•
I like that the camera follows and focuses on one main person’s perspective
on the situation and one main person’s feelings.
I also like that there were other family members included to say how they
felt about the situation and their experiences as it relates a range of different
people’s perspectives.
I like the issue the documentary covers as I feel mental health is such a big
issue that is not spoken about because people may feel it is something to
be ashamed of .
DISLIKES;
•
However I dislike that it was from the daughters perspective when it was a
documentary on mental health because I think it would have been better
from her Dad’s perspective as the person actually suffering from the illness.

14. Rachel Bruno: My Dad & Me
Impression created through mise en
scene
The impression created through this documentary is very similar to the
documentary about Stacey Solomon. Through mise en scene the
documentary is made to look very realistic and make you really feel like
you are living her life which makes you feel closer to Rachel. It does
this by always having her dressed in very casual clothes, by her being
filmed in her own car, using her own house as the setting and using her
Dad’s house when she goes to visit him to talk about his illness. This is
all achieved by using very real settings and her personal items which
add effect to the documentary and create the impression of this being
her life and from her perspective. It also gives the impression that the
audience are more involved with her life which can make them feel
more towards the documentary and what Rachel went through.

15. Rachel Bruno: My Dad & Me
Conventions and Iconography
The conventions used in this documentary are voiceover, sound,
interviews with expert, real footage and technicality of realism. Like
the other programmes I have considered, the voice over was the
main character, so it was Rachel speaking when she was driving in
the car down the road or when there were freeze frames. She also
had an interview with an expert to try and understand her Dad’s
illness, however the voiceover said his name and there was no text
or label saying who he was. The sound was used over freeze
frames or when she was driving to her Dad’s house which was again
mood music. The technicality of realism and real footage was very
similar to the Stacey Solomon documentary as she was being filmed
in very casual clothes, in her own car, in her own house and other
family members’ homes. The iconography again is natural lighting
and natural costumes as typically associated with documentaries.

16. Rachel Bruno: My Dad & Me
Elements I want to use in mine
I want to use the theme of mental health like Rachel
Bruno in my documentary. I want to do this because I
think it worked well in her documentary and it is a
subject that should be spoke about more. I also think it
is a very interesting subject to consider. I want to use
the idea of speaking to other people, like family
members, who may also be affected by another family
member’s illness. However I want to film it from the
person sufferings point of view instead of their friends
or family members.