1) The documentary Supersize vs Super Skinny loosely follows conventions of reflexive and performative documentaries by basing its content on people's real experiences and opinions rather than just facts, and by including interactions between the film crew and subjects. 2) It reflects Channel 4's target audience of young adults through its entertaining and emotionally engaging style. 3) Mise-en-scene, camerawork, sound, and other techniques are used to draw comparisons between subjects, highlight emotions, and engage viewers in analyzing the people's bodies and lifestyles.

1. Supersize vs super skinny
Conventions
Supersize vs super skinny (series 6 episode 8) documentary follow obscure conventions in
terms of their narrative. The documentary created by Channel 4 has characteristics of
reflexive conventions in that it bases its subject on real life moments/objects or in this case
the weight of people, and furthermore based on suggestions and opinions (how people feel
about their weight, experiences of anorexia, suggestions on how to change diet etc.) rather
than solid facts, however some factual knowledge can be found in the documentary such as
recommended portion sizes, information on heart and kidney problems. Supersize vs super
skinny appears to looselyfollow the conventions of a reflexive storyline rather than restricting
to it completely.
Additionally, it also appears to follow the conventions of a performative documentary. This
type of convention is largely based on emotion, and very often involves the TV maker or crew
interacting with the subject; this fits with the narrative of supersize vs super skinny as it does
include the ‘crew’ or in this case Dr Christian Jessen interacting with the subjects of the
episode. The TV series is also hugely based on emotion and does attempt to amplify that to
the viewer throughout the show, for example in the extract we analysed, there is a scene
where they visit a woman called Robin who is severely over weight; it was noted that while
she was explaining the dramatic impact her weight has on her life, that close ups and
sympathetic music was used, which gives evidence of trying to create sympathy for the
subject, and almost crosses the boundary into entertainment
These types of conventions for the documentary really begin to reflect and give and
understanding of its broadcasting channel, Channel 4. We can see that due to the
documentaries entertainment side (the performative conventions) and ‘relaxed’ mode of
address, that it gives us an overall idea of what type of content that Channel 4 produce. This
is most likely due to the fact that their target audience is young adults aged between 18-30
year olds,which reflects that they have to show content that is more entertaining that factual
as they do not want to ‘bore’ their audience, as other types of documentaries may not appeal
to this target market.
Mise en Scene
Mise en scene is use very affectively in Supersize Vs Super Skinny. In the opening titles and
the first time we get to meet the subjects, their costumes is purely just underwear in a ‘skin
like’ colour. This is done by the director to be able to see their weight for what it really is,
without anything covering it up, it gives the connotation of the viewer’s being able to analyse
their bodies like a doctor with a patient. We also
notice that the presenter, Dr Christian, is dressed
in smart clothing, with a shirt and smart jeans, it
gives the appearance a stereotypical doctor by the
director. In terms of lighting (when we are
introduced to the subjects), when the main
characters, Linda and Thomas, are introduced and

2. brought together, their lighting on the subjects has a very clinical feel, it doesn’t have any
warm colouring or filters. This gives the connotation of a ‘hospitalised’ feel, and adds to the
sense that the subjects on the screen are being analysed which is consistent throughout the
documentary as the main topic of the program is the weight of the individuals. Another
example of when lighting was affectively used is the scene where Robin is explaining the
difficulty of her life due to her weight. This is quite an
emotional scene and it is presented in this low key
lighting, this (alongside of the close up and parallel
sound) makes the viewer feel pity and sadness for
Robin as she explains how difficult her life has become.
The low key lighting makes it visually noticeable that it
is an emotional scene, this is also accompanied by her
facial expressions which give the emotion of sadness. Another technique that is used in the
epsiode is the props. Part of programme makes Linda
and Thomas swap food, so that the other person has
to eat what they eat in a normal day. Alongside with
camerawork, the food is shown in a close up for the
viewers to analyse what Linda and Thomas normally
eats. Throughout the scene, they interchange shots
from one meal to the other to lets viewers really compare the different type of meals and
portion sizes. This is affectively used to allow the audience to judge what the subjects are
eating, to allow them to have an understanding of
how Thomas and Linda got to the weight that they
are. Another scene that uses props is when they are
interviewing Thomas and they have a stack of pizza in
the background, this again gives the impression that
not only does Thomas like pizza, but it is the main
cause of his weight, this prop techniques makes this
assumption visually obvious to the viewer.
Composition is also a powerful technique used in this documentary. In the introduction scene
where we get to see all of the subjects for the first time, we notice the positioning of the
under and overweight people. We notice that the underweight people are all along the left
side of the shot, and the overweight people are
along the right side of the shot, with Dr Christian in
the middle. This use of composition is created by
the director as it allows the viewer to be able to
easily compare the weight of the two groups, it
gives a bases of comparison of what their weights
are. We also notice that Dr Christian is in the centre
of the shot or in this case ‘the scale of weight’, this can suggest that he is at ideal weight and
adds as an additional size for the viewer to compare too.

3. Camerawork
Camerawork is used throughout the episode to amplify connotations or subjects. In the
introduction scene there is a part where Thomas and
Linda meet, there is a number of over the shoulder shots,
when they are talking it is noted that when Thomas is
talking it is projected as a slight low angle, and when Linda
is talking it is shown as a slighthigh angled shot. This gives
the feeling of dominance towards Thomas, and makes
Linda look small and weak. This is a very powerful technique in terms of projecting the weight
and size of the individuals, as by showing Thomas as dominant it gives the impression that he
is large, and with Linda it makes her look small and skinny, with this camera technique it
amplifies the weight of Linda and Thomas. Another powerful use of camera work is the scenes
where they have one person in a white background
setting. Throughout the episode they often cut to
scenes where they have individuals (often Thomas
and Linda but not always) in just their underwear,
and they have extreme/close up shots of different
body parts. This scene gives the impression that
the audience is examining or judging the individual
on screen about their weight, showing how being either over or under weight makes different
parts of your body look. Additionally, another use of camera work is the multiple extreme to
close up shots of an anorexia victim named Aria.
Through this scene she speaks about her anorexia and
how it develops; as you can imagine this is an emotion
scene, and this is reflected through the camerawork.
Whenever Aria is speaking the often use an
extreme/close up shot of her face, this is done for
affectas it focuses your attention on the victims facialexpression, and amplifies the emotions.
Another powerful camera technique used is the use of handheld camera work. Throughout
many scenes its noticeable that a handheld camera is used to record the shot, this is created
by the director to add a sense of realismto the scene, make the viewer believe they are there
themselves, which consequently adds a believability factor to the documentary.
Sound
There is a number of different sound techniques used through Supersize vs Super Skinny. At
the beginning of the show they start with a piece non-diegetic sound of upbeat music. They
play this while showing a summary of what’s coming up on the show. I believe the reason why
the director has done this is to appeal to the younger target audience, making them more
engaged with the content that they are showing so that they will want to continue watching
the show. This upbeat music was also played over a summary of the character Robin’s life
story, where she explains the difficulty in her life due to her weight. As previously mentioned,
this scene is an emotional one, so the fact that at the beginning of the show they have played
upbeat music through it, creates this contrapuntal sound, which we believe is done for a

4. comical affect.Although this sceneis emotional and meant to promote the feeling of sadness,
it is entertaining to the audience, the target audience would enjoy listening to this story,
which is why we believe that contrapuntal sound is used. Additionally, through ‘Robins scene’
where she speaks about the difficulty in her life, for a large portion of the extract a calmer,
but still upbeat , music is used. It’s not until Robin starts to cry that it all of a sudden changes
to more parallel, sympathetic music. This again amplifies the comical aspect in the scene, the
fact that the director is using this emotional seen and manipulating it into entertainment for
the viewer. The sudden change in music makes a dramatic, and noticeable change to the
viewer an makes it obvious that it is a upsetting scene.
Throughout the whole episode, nearly at every stagethere is some upbeat, pop music playing
as a non-diegetic sound. For this programme it becomes apparent that they stick to this type
of music for nearly every scene and it’s rare to find any other type. This really reflects on what
type of documentary this is, if you were to compare it to a wildlife documentary, it would be
extremely rare to hear upbeat music because it doesn’t appeal to its target audience, but for
Supersize vs Super Skinny it does. Just by the genre of music played you can establish that the
younger/middle generation are the ideal target audience for this show, which would mean
that this music would appeal to them and make them more interested in the programming.
There is a scene where Dr Christian meets up with Robin and Thomas in America where he
discusses Thomas issues and shows him Robins gas mask she has to wear at night in order to
breath. We notice that in this scene there is only diegetic sound, no music or sound effects
are played at all. This is done for effect as the absence of sound draws the attention of the
viewer, they are used to listening to upbeat, non-diegetic music, so when it stops it’s very
noticeable, and makes the viewer focus on what Dr Christian is saying.
Additionally, throughout the whole program there is also the use of a voice over. Now unlike
other documentaries where the presenter (in our case Dr Christian) is the voice over, in this
programme it’s done by another person named Liza Tarbuck. The voice over technique is used
to explain in the audience what is happening in the scene, for example of we were to take the
narrator out of the episode, it would be very difficult to understand what was going on.
Furthermore, the use of the voice over adds a sense of realismto the show in an ironic way.
If we were to have a presenter explain what was happening and give us information on the
scene, the programme would feel more like a show, rather than a documentary. It’s crucial
for documentaries to have that sense of realism to it because otherwise what they are
presenting doesn’t seem believable. So to have this voice, or narration, explain to us what is
happening rather than a presenter, it gives that sense that we are observing what is going on
(which is the same effect used in the famous David Attenborough documentaries). In this
programmes case they have a presenter as well as a narrator, but this again is done for effect.
Because of Dr Christians title in that he is a doctor, this adds an additional sense of realism
because the viewer’s trust his opinion, which is why we believe that this programme needed
an additional narrator, because Dr Christian is part of the documentary.
Editing
In the scenewhere they have certain subjects in just their underwear and awhite background,
fast paced editing is used. We notice that in this scene, the shots are changed very quickly

5. showing different close ups of body parts to the viewer. This is done to create the feeling that
we as the viewer are analysing and judging the subject on the screen, we are quickly
inspecting their body and looking at what being over/under weight does to different aspects
of the body. This also amplifies the clinical or hospitalised feel to the scene as we are believed
to feel like doctors ourselves, like we are examining a patient. Furthermore, during Robin’s
scene, we notice that there is a number of long takes used when Robin is talking about her
life. Long takes are used by the director to make the viewer feel physically awkward about
what is being shown, long shots are very uncomfortable to watch as a viewer and this is done
for affect. With this uncomfortable editing technique, it adds empathises on the emotions in
the scene, and amplifies the fact that what Robin is talking about is sad.
Furthermore, another editing technique is used during the transition of two different scenes.
The scene where Dr Christian meets up with Robin and
Thomas in America which is followed by a scene where all
three of them meet up in Robins house. During the
transition of these two scenes we notice that there is a
dissolve transition used. Dissolves are generally used to
show the passing of time from one scene to another, and in
this documentary it is used for exactly that.