The document analyzes the style and techniques used in the documentary "The White Helmets". It describes several scenes focusing on shots, camera work, lighting, sound and actions. It notes the documentary's use of establishing shots, interviews, and emotional depictions of destruction to generate empathy for the White Helmets. The document also considers emulating these techniques for its own documentary on an LGBT youth group.

1. Textual Analysis 2
The White Helmets

2.  Camera movement:
No movement.
 Shot size:
Long shot.
 dialogue/voiceover:
None.
 Brief description of action:
Establishing shot of Aleppo to set the scene.
 Lighting:
Natural, low key.
 Setting:
Aleppo, Syria.
 Music/sound effects:
Middle eastern song.

3.  Camera movement:
No obvious movement but no use of tripod.
 Shot size:
Mid shot.
 dialogue/voiceover:
Just after this shot there is dialogue from the man in the
shot, he is talking to his daughter.
 Brief description of action:
Establishing the scene before giving information. A member
of The White Helmets is leaving his home to go to work, his
infant daughter helps him put on his helmet. This shot is
probably used to evoke sympathy and make us like The White
Helmets.
 Lighting:
Natural lighting.
 Setting:
Home of one of The White Helmets, Syria.
 Music/sound effects:
Same song.

4.  Brief description of action:
A town is the victim of an air strike, a row of buildings
are damaged and destroyed.
 dialogue/voiceover:
None. Just the sounds of the explosives and people
screaming, running, ducking for cover.
 Shot size:
Wide shot. Extreme long shot. Most likely from a crane
or drone.
 Camera movement:
Pan slightly to the right, zoom out.
 Lighting:
Natural lighting, low key.
 Setting:
Aleppo, Syria.
 Music/sound effects:
Bombs, buildings falling, people screaming. Natural
sounds, not added in after.
Shocking contrast to the peaceful scene
before, heightened by our fondness for the
family earlier. Very moving.

5.  Brief Description of the action:
Black screen behind white writing describing the atrocities in Syria.
 Dialogue/Voiceover:
No dialogue or voiceover but the screen is placed over the sounds of buildings being ruined, screams of
civilians, the white helmets working.
 Shot types etc: N/A

6.  Camera movement:
First is steady, second is extremely shaky.
 Shot size:
Both long shots.
 dialogue/voiceover:
 Brief description of action:
Both shots show similar depictions of the destruction
caused by the consistent bombing in Aleppo. In the second,
The White Helmets are working to together to save people
under the rubble.
 Lighting:
Natural, low key.
 Setting:
The midst/aftermath of the bombing in Aleppo, Syria.
 Music/sound effects:
No foley sound effects. Moans, screams, shouts, rubble
falling/being moved.

7.  Camera movement:
Steady, likely on a tripod.
 Shot size:
Mid shot and close up.
 dialogue/voiceover:
Dialogue from the man in the second image, inspirational
tone, makes audience like The White Helmets. Subtitles on
screen.
 Brief description of action:
Group shot of some members of The White Helmets on
training in Turkey + shot from interview with member – one
of several interviews, shots of which are used throughout the
documentary.
 Lighting:
Natural in the first, perhaps high key in the second.
 Setting:
First = Turkey on training, Second = unknown, background for
interviews.
 Music/sound effects:
No sound effects. Slow, dramatic music to evoke feeling,
seems to be a singular, long note.

8. Group shots and interviews
 I would like to emulate this look/feeling in my documentary and
use similar shots.
 It may be effective to get a group shot of an LGBT Society and
use the group shots of the interviews I conducted at London
Pride 2017.
 It may also be effective to conduct interviews with willing LGBT
youth to use amongst other footage. Perhaps layer the dialogue
over the footage taken from Pride in an emotional montage.
 I think this look evokes empathy and gets the audience onside.
Very useful for generating an emotional response.

9.  Camera movement:
Steady in the first, otherwise slightly shaky.
 Shot size:
Close up.
 dialogue/voiceover:
The second has dialogue from one of The White Helmets.
 Brief description of action:
Establishing shots and shots to add interest, enhances sense of
waiting, calm before the storm, focuses on details of
subjects/locations in documentary.
 Lighting:
Natural, low key.
 Setting:
Aleppo, Syria.
 Music/sound effects:
Same song, no sound effects.
I would like to emulate these shots in my documentary as they fill
out the scene, like adding illustration and enhance the feeling
created. Plus, these shots adhere to the conventions of documentary.
I would particularly like to get a similar shot of the subjects hands.

10. Where was it broadcast?
 The White Helmets was broadcast on Netflix.
 Netflix is a subscription service that allows users to stream content to multiple
devices.
 The content on Netflix reaches a wide variety of different audiences.
 There are 98.75 million Netflix users.
 On average 1 billion hours of content are streamed from Netflix per week.
 As well as being successful commercially, there are many Netflix titles with
critical acclaim.
 Although reaching a large variety of international audiences, Netflix is popular
with millennials and mostly gears content towards a younger and more liberal
demographic.
 In terms of the content of my own work, they have a large variety of LGBT
content and have a LGBT category in their search function.

11.  Genre:
Purely an observational documentary.
 Language:
There were interviews and footage of conversations as they happened. These had an
emotional and slightly harrowing tone, though at times uplifting. There was a
combination of English and Arabic.
 Audience:
People who are conscious/aware of politics and international issues, most likely people
who oppose the bombings in Syria and support Syrian refugees. Perhaps a young adult
viewership considering the platform. Otherwise documentaries, especially on Netflix,
have a wide viewership.
 Representation:
An accurate and positive representation of Syrian and Turkish communities. No
substantial representation of women.
 Narrative:
Documentation of time spent in Aleppo and Turkey, the story of a group of White
Helmets as they save lives whilst trying to survive themselves as well as support their
families.