Stephen Fry A Level Media

1. Stephen Fry: Out There
Documentary Research

2. What’s it about?
• This two part documentary follows Stephen Fry exploring the elements of being gay around the
world. It looks into gay marriage in England as well as the punishments of being gay in Uganda. He
interviews a wide range of people as well- gay celebrities, victims and the families of victims of
severe homophobia and then extreme homophobic people.
• The reason I chose to research this documentary is because in terms of the subject matter it is the
most closely linked documentary with my own. One key difference however, is that Stephen Fry is
gay, whereas my documentarian is not. I feel that this is important as it shows that not only
people targeted by the horrific ordeal that is homophobia are trying to tackle the issue, and that
many people are in the fight for equality. This also provides the audience with a different
perspective, as the documentarian will most likely have different questions to ask, different takes
on matters and different things to say.
• ‘’A brilliant documentary. As a heterosexual male living in a country where
homophobia isn't THAT big of an issue anymore I tend to sometimes forget that it
is still a serious problem around the world, so watching this definitely brought me
some much needed perspective.’’

3. Mode of documentary
The mode of this documentary is reflective as the documentarian is seen on screen
and provides some narrative guidance. As this documentary is on such a sensitive
topic, this is essential as there is then a trusted character is which we can follow
suit in regards to emotions and how to react to particular shocking scenes or
interviews.
Music
Music is an important element of Stephen Fry: Out There as it aids in
evoking emotion. There are many sad, shocking scenes and interviews in
the documentary, so music to match this is shown in order to emphasise
the atmosphere and cause the audience to feel more emotions. The same
is said for the more uplifting scenes and interviews, where more upbeat
music is played, causing the viewer to feel more positive.

4. Interview style
• When interviewing people, Stephen is always seen and heard on screen. As he is a well known,
likeable personality this is extremely suitable. The title of the documentary carries his name so it
would then make sense to be able to hear his questions and see his emotions to peoples answers.
It is then easier for us as viewers to create our own emotions towards the interviewees by
assessing Stephens body language and answers to these people. As seen by the images below,
there is a more intimate, close feel between Stephen and the girl he interviewed about her rape.
This helps us to feel even more sympathy as we react off of Stephens reaction. However, the
scene where Stephen interviewed the Russian politician Vitaly Milono, we can clearly see that
there is a completely different atmosphere. We can see the anger from Stephen, causing us too to
feel rage towards this homophobe.

5. Camera Angles
Throughout the documentary we see a wide range of camera angles all there to portray different emotions, feelings and
atmospheres. For instance, in the interviews we see many close ups. The interviews are a key place for discussing the more
tormenting parts of homophobia, so the close ups aid in illustrating the interviewers and interviewees emotions, in turn
causing us as viewers to feel the same.
Two shots are also essential to the documentary as they
show the relationship with the documentarian- who we
know and trust- and the interviewee or other person. This
helps the viewer in making up their mind about the person,
as we react off Stephens body language. In the image on the
left we see Stephen very relaxed and happy, showing us that
this person is also fighting for gay rights and that this is a light
hearted scene. However, on the image on the right we see
Stephen gently touching the woman on her shoulder,
showing that she has clearly been through an ordeal and that
sympathy and compassion for this woman is needed. This is
obviously a much more serious scene.

6. Inspirational and Enlightening Words
• During this documentary we can see Stephen applying his own experiences with homophobia and the fight for gay rights.
One way we particularly see this is through his words, which not only inspire audiences but also make us think about the
issues much more in depth. These quotes and sayings are said throughout the duration of the documentary and are a key
stylistic feature. Some examples of this include-
• “Homophobia impacts on all of us. It diminishes our humanity”. The effect of this is that it brings us all together through
the use of the word ‘humanity’. It then becomes apparent to us that these homophobic people are influencing the whole
of mankind- not just the people who are directly affected by them. As these are short sentences it adds more of an impact
to his words.
• ‘’Homosexuals are not interested in making other people homosexual, but homophobes are interested in making other
people homophobic’’. This quote is very hard-hitting as it makes us realize the hatred that homophobes have, and the
torment that homosexuals have to endure. The repetition of the sentence structure emphasizes the differences of both
the sets of people. This quote was particularly important to me as I felt it brought together to whole point of my own
documentary, so I decided to have it playing over the top of mine in order to introduce it.