The final documentary project subverted expectations by having a lack of editing of interview content, a personal story dictated by the interviewee, and minimal influence from the director on the story. The interviewee wrote the script based on song lyrics, and improvised the story with a musician who provided music. Though similar aesthetically to another documentary with narration and nature shots, this project took a more experimental approach through collaboration between the director, interviewee and musician.

1. Spaced Analysis
One of the most well done aspects in this episode of Spaced is the use of over-dramatized editing and sound
work to make certain scenes more exciting and action packed than they are, this is best displayed in the
“Shootout” at the end of the episode. In which five grown adults pretend their fingers are real live guns in a
childlike manner, with appropriate music and sound effects accompanying them. The complete overacting of
this scene by Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes helps to increase the comedic effect of the scene, as well as the
three teenage chavs, who join in just as enthusiastically. This shows that the world of the show can often be
molded to the needs and desires of the main characters, as they are able to engage in a mock gunfight with
near total strangers simply because this is something they have done before with each other. The surreal style
of this comedy and overdone, cheesy action editing make it a very successful and comedic scene. A lot of the
shots feature intense close ups of the Actors hands as well, to further the dramatic, over the top effect that the
main characters have on the world around them.
There is a considerable amount of product placement in the episode, best displayed when Daisy visits a shop to
buy spices and several popular British snackfoods and chocolate bars are prominently displayed. As product
placement goes, this is quite successful, as it doesn’t feel forced or unnecessary, since a local corner shop is
very likely to have such products on full display, the lack of non-trademarked sweets suggests that several
brands paid the show to have their product advertised within it.
The show was made in the late nineties/early two thousands and it often shows, a lot of the references and
character costumes are particularly dated. Most prominent in the villains of the episode; a trio of stereotypical
gum-chewing chavs, wearing fill tracksuits and talking in thick cockney accents. Many of the trends and speech
patterns displayed by these characters have long since died out of modern society, despite this, the characters
are so stereotypical and over the top, that they still work as a satire of the youth culture of the time, if not a
dated one.
Overall, the episode mixes surreal humor with satire of lower class British life in the early 2000’s and is clearly
made for people in the same demographic. Though the culture has changed considerably in the ensuing years.

2. Conflict Image

3. Conflict Analysis
• Jessica wears a hoodie and a jacket on top of it, suggesting a secretive, closed off
personality, whereas Killgrave wears only one layer and does not obscure his face,
suggesting he is much more open and vocal about his opinions.
• Killgrave being the more vocal and aggressive of the two is further shown through
his posture, which is squared off, and hunched slightly towards Jessica. Her
refusal to back down from the confrontation is shown through her determined
facial expression and slight cocking of her head to the side indicating derision.
Killgrave’s mouth is slightly opened, while Jessica’s is firmly shut. Suggesting he is
indeed the more vocal of the two.
• The background colours and lighting of the scene are all very neutral, with no
strong colours, this suggests a general greyness of morality from both characters
and enforces the bleak setting of the world around them. Though both characters
wear neutral colours, Jessica's are a lighter shade, signifying the moral greyness
of both individuals, but also showing the more heroic personality of Jessica. Thus
indicating that she is the more righteous of the two arguing

4. Amy Analysis
The ending of the Documentary AMY (2015) is clever in that it differs from the rest
of the film in one key aspect; The dialogue. For the final portion of the film,
detailing Amy's funeral, all that is shown is footage of the funeral, where original,
somber piano music starts to kick in. The voiceovers which had been present
throughout the rest of the documentary fell silent. This was a brilliant decision by
the film makers to induce an emotional reaction in the audience. As soon after
footage of the funeral was shown, the ending credits played over several stock
footage videos of Amy. In almost all of these videos, she is laughing, smiling and
most notably, looking right at the camera.
Amy's prolonged eye contact with the camera in several clips at the end, enhanced
by freezing them at her happiest moments, are very emotional to look at. As the
clips of her being alive and happy are immediately shown after the footage of her
funeral, to drive home the tragedy of her death. The method of freezing these
images while the sad music continues to play is a further usage of this effect.
Conveying how this footage is all that's left of Amy, as well as her music.

5. Factual Analysis
It is possible for Documentaries to be biased, because of the abundance of stock footage and unchanged
accounts from interviewees present in a vast majority of documentaries focusing on the daily life of subjects
such as the ones in The Mighty Redcar. However, many documentaries do edit what is said and shown, in order
to make the audience have a higher opinion of the individuals featured in the product. This is known as
"Frankenbiting." Where the full interview given by a subject is changed to better suit the ideas of the film
maker. Despite this, I think it is perfectly possible for a documentary to show unedited 'rough' footage to the
audience. Therefore it is possible for Documentaries to be objective.
We should always take what we watch/read with a grain of salt. It is nearly impossible to be sure that what you
watch or read is factual unless you have witnessed it yourself. As accounts of events can be edited to better
suit the creator of the product, or to influence to audience towards a certain idea. This is why we should never
blindly accept what we read or watch, without hard proof behind it.
We can't really make sure what a Documentary presents as fact is true. Because it is almost always possible to
edit a quote, interview, audio recording in some manner. Though it is possible to prove a certain event has
happened with such things as witness statements and original footage, it is still possible for not everything that
has be said to be true. This is why we can never really make sure that everything that has been said in a
documentary is true.

6. Factual Analysis
The representations of people in the 'poverty porn' shows, differs mainly in two key aspects; censorship and
presentation. For example, the manner in which The Mighty Redcar is presented, is very much episodic and
focuses mainly on individuals attempting to leave the town or make a better life for themselves, so the tone is
pretty idyllic despite the bleak setting in Redcar. Benefits street however, is much more 'gritty' and realistic
about the state of living in the lower class. With no whimsical editing or music to cut in between the harsher
moments and no characters attempting to escape or live a different life. Benefits treats it's inhabitants as just
going through their daily life is a casual manner, The Mighty Redcar shows the characters attempting to escape
or be more successful, so the people represented in each programme are very different. Skint falls somewhere
in between this, with a more realistic depiction of poverty than the mighty Redcar, but also a much bigger
emphasis on humour than Benefits street.
The aim of these programmes is very similar, despite their different approaches. they show the daily lives of
the lower class, in order to educate and entertain the middle class. it's unlikely that the working and lower
class would be very interested in poverty porn shows because of this. Though the main aim of these
programmes is to provide entertainment through comedy and shock value. There is also an edge of education
to them. As those living outside of poverty aren't likely to know much about the day to day struggles of those
who do.
The programmes all have a bias about them, as they were not made by the people they focus on, and
therefore were made with the purpose of showing their lives for the entertainment of others. Which shows a
subtle bias against people in poverty on the part of the creators of these shows. Though some, like benefits
street, are more realistic and objective in their approach, there is still a sense of bias against them on the part
of the showrunners.

7. Final Task
Though my final project contained a lot of basic factual conventions, such as naturalistic camerawork, an interviewee that talks
to the camera etc. it also subverted some expectations, by having a complete lack of ‘Frankenbiting’, A very personal story, and
allowing the interviewee to write and dictate the dialogue of the film. What’s especially interesting, is that she wrote the script
based on the song that I had selected earlier to appear in the film; Ivory Black. I asked her to write her script based on the
feelings the lyrics stirred up in her, this was the full extent of my influence on the story she chose to tell. This subverts the
conventions of many factual productions, since I as the director and writer, actually had very minimal effect on the story of the
documentary. Instead I handed full control to the Interviewee and the musician to improvise and decide the tone of the
documentary between themselves. This was decided after extensive meetings between the three of us; Emilia recorded her
story, the musician improvised much of the instrumental music around that, I provided the footage and context to tie it all
together. In this manner, it was a vastly experimental production, in that it took all three of us working in perfect tandem to be
able to pull it off properly. Factual productions rarely approach the process of creativity and planning in this way. So the
production process was really more akin to a dramatic fiction piece, despite the final production being firmly factual.
Aesthetically, the film is similar to the existing documentary; A Place Like This, both feature narration from an older interviewee
describing their previous life experiences, as well as many establishing shots of the surrounding nature and countryside. In each
production, the interviewee was allowed to tell their own unique story, without any audible exterior influence from the film
director. This made both productions unique in their direction (Or lack thereof.) The colour palette in each production has a
heavy focus on natural greens, reds and blues. These colours create some tonal dissonance in that the story being told is often
harsh and bleak. What’s interesting about the films, is that both interviewees do not often appear in the shots, instead often
narrating over a backdrop of the summer countryside.