Website and documentry review

1. Website and documentry review By Mitchell Wilson and Patrick Noakes

2. Louis theroux : Extreme love • Participatory • Louis Theroux documents the life's of couples in which one cares for the other because of various disorders such as dementia and autism. Louis follows three couples in America through their day to day lives to observe how they cope with such disorders and how they feel it makes them a better or worse person. • The good points about this documentary is that it is very moving for to the audience because it focuses on extreme love where caring for the other improves their relationship. • The bad points about this documentary was the ending, the program ended abruptly. Overall the documentary was a very good view with some interesting views on these different people.

3. Super size me • "Super Size Me" was a well-made documentary and a harrowing story. The filmmaker Morgan Spurlock goes on a month-long binge of McDonald's food much to the detriment of his health. We follow Morgan's journey and learn of his mood swings, liver problems, and excess weight from his full-time diet of McDonald's restaurants across the country. When the doctors were advising him to end the experiment after three weeks, he should have followed their instructions and ended the film experiment right there. 

This documentary did not quite make the point that people need to be responsible for diet, calorie intake, and choice of restaurants when eating out. That responsibility includes parents overseeing their children's nutrition, plus monitoring their children's lunches at school. The lawsuits against fast-food establishments like McDonald's are well known and well documented. I'm not sure that this film added any vital new information to such a familiar topic.

The film primarily addressed the national obsession with food and the run-away epidemic of obesity in America.

4. The Undateables • The undateables was a funny and sweet hearted show that is aired on channel 4. it follows the lives of people who have a disability and struggle to find love. • Many critics have said that the show expoloits people with disabliltes however I believe that it shows a the struggle that a disabled person can have finding love and clearly informs the audience of this matter and in a better light. • On the other hand the title of the show may throw people off there feet in fury as it says the word “undateable” viewers may think that the show is saying that these people are not wanted and are ugly. • Overall, The undatebales has been one of my favorite channel 4 documentaries because it challenges the prejudice the people have with the disabled and might make them think differently.

5. Documentry review Satanism • The program introduces the topic through some archive shots of satanic rituals and props. These clips cut back and forth between that and the presenter addressing the audience. Satanists don’t necessarily worship the devil. They start off as atheists believing there is no heaven or hell. You yourself are the centre of the universe. They believe they can alter their own reality and do whatever they please. • The presenter interviews occult expert. They are sat opposite each other as the camera cuts between them both as they converse. They are both sat in a mid range shot with their head and shoulders in full frame of the camera. To organise the interview the crew would have had to seek out a satanist or an expert. Possibly from an online forum to arrange a meeting and chat. • For this situation the crew would require numerous pieces of equipment as a location for the interview. Possibly at the persons house with permission. • Also require; • - a stable tripod for the camera • - appropriate lighting for the scene • - and a high quality mic, maybe a boom microphone • Much of the archive footage is taken from a program called Satanis: The Devils Mass. It includes the founder of the church of satanAntenLavey, also taking part in many satanic rituals. • In this VICE documentary the presenter takes part in a satanic ritual. The crew set up their filming kit in an old abandoned funeral home, which was a regular hold for these rituals. • The rituals are used as a theatrical space to release any emotions and drama in your life. For example if someone does you wrong you can put a curse on them. Then you can leave the chamber with relief and this issue off your mind. For the presenter to take part the crew would have spoken to these satanists and gained permission to join in and film. • The rest of the pre-production would have been through research through archive footage by the founder of the church of satan. Also a few clips of some other well known people who practiced satanism. Including Charles Manson and Aliestar Crowley who was considered to be one of the most evil men ever.

6. dAVID ick VICE DOCUMENTRY • This documentary uncovers the stories and theories by the man David Icke. He is a conspiracist who has had some rev-elating stories and experiences which we like to share with others and spread word of uncovered truth. Theories such as the existence of the lost city of Atlantis, Humans bowing to a superior race of a Reptilian illuminati who seek complete control of everyone and everything. • The presenter is an American who comes over to the UK to visit David Ickes house in the Isle of Wight. He asks him about his work and even though he read Davids books he asks him questions such how these ideas changed his life and where the evidence comes from, all for the viewers sake. David and the presenter walk and talk and discuss various aspects from his book and seeks explanations of why he believes that the predictions by ‘George Orwell’s 1984′ were greatly understated. The idea that we are a controlled race, everything we do is for a reason which gives others to control our freedom. Powers higher than government, FBI, CIA, higher than the people we believe to be in power, people like the prime minister and president who we believe to be in power are just puppets in this big game played on us. • The title of the book they discuss is “Human Race Get Off Your Knees; The Lion Sleeps No More”. The title speaks for itself, its basically there to enlighten and possibly spark a revolution to say “No more”. “We won’t be controlled anymore”. I myself purchased this book as I was truly fascinated with some of the ideas he supports and the amount of evidence he has to back it up. The whole concept is incredibly fascinating. • The style of documentary is definitely Expository, as all content near enough opinionated and aimed at changing views on the subject at hand. Swaying people from what they originally believe to something out of the ordinary.

7. Catfish • The film centers around photographer Yaniv "Nev" Schulman, recorded by Ariel Schulman, and Henry Joost. This is all I'm going to reveal about the plot, because I strongly believe that you should see this movie knowing virtually nothing about it. If I even gave a synopsis, I'd be giving too much away.

It's a film with a rather dark tone, and smartly edited by Zachary Stuart-Pontier. The documentary does make some strong points, such as "Who is this person?" "Who can I trust?" "What's real, and what's falsehood?" It makes one wonder what length some will go to hide the truth, and wonder what they would do in a situation like Nev's.

The film starts off rather charming, but eventually the film ends up becoming so nervously unsettling, and emotionally devastating that it's painful to watch. I know it made me not want to know what happen, because it just so hard to fathom, but I just decided to grit my teeth, and keep watching. The film is highly thought provoking, question raising, and the tone Joost, and Schulman set helps the film immeasurably.

The film is hardly ever pretty to watch, but am eye opener to be certain.

8. BBcweBSITE REVIEW • Layout • Clean and lots of highlights and information on the homepage. • Navigation • When using this website I found the navigation to be easy. This is because • There are horizontal list at the top guiding you to different category's for where you want to go. • Multimedia • There are many multimedia elements on this website such as live stock exchange. A watch and listen box and also a latest news reel which is always changing.

9. Bbcwebsite:News stories • The latest news pops up on the homepage. They also have numerous links alongside the headline which links you to secondary pages to more detailed articles on the story. These could include video reports.

10. TYT NETWORK • Layout • The website has a clean layout with simple features. However it is not very exciting • Navigation • This website has the basic features of a website with a horizontal list at the top which link you to different pages. • Multimedia • This website has YouTube videos placed on the homepage which is fun for the user. It also has links to donate and support the website. Overall there are not that many features

11. Nickelodeon • Layout • The layout of the website easily attracts a young viewer because it displays lots of bright colors with cartoon characters placed on the page. • Navigation • Very good layout big bold writing showing you where to go. There is also a search bar on the top right which allows you to search the site using key words. • Multimedia • A large variety of multimedia elements such as a latest games and latest videos on the homepage and a horizontal reel at the top which allows you to see characters on the network

12. sky NEWS • Layout • The layout uses the networks signature colors on its homepage. It uses a large feature box on the homepage to present the latest news • Navigation • Very good layout big bold writing showing you where to go. There is also a search bar on the top right which allows you to search the site using key words . There is a different boxes which present different types of news. On the right hands side there is news about the winter Olympics. There is also links at the top directing to the there pages on the social network sites. • Multimedia • There are various links to facebook, twitter and google plus. At the bottom of the page they have a trending feed and video timelines. Overall the features on this website are fun to use and make the website more interesting.

13. 4 types of documentries • Types of documentaries • Poetic documentaries first appeared in the 1920s as a sort of reaction against both the content and the rapidly crystallizing grammar of the early fiction film. • (Crystallize- to make or become definite and clear. Example: writing can help to crystallize your thoughts.) • The poetic mode moved away from continuity editing and instead organized images of the material world by means of associations and patterns, both in terms of time and space. • Well-rounded characters- ‘life like people’ – were absent; instead, people appeared in these films as entities, just like any other that are found in the material world. • The films were fragmentary, impressionistic and lyrical. • Expository documentaries speak directly to the viewer, often in the form of an authoritative commentary employing voiceover or titles, proposing a strong argument and point of view. • These films are rhetorical, and try to persuade the viewer. • (They may use a rich and sonorous male voice.) The (voice-of-god) commentary often sounds ‘objective and omniscient. (all-knowing) • Images are used to advance the argument. • (Rhetoric- the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation or figures of speech and other compositional techniques. The rhetoric insistently presses upon us to read the images in a certain fashion. • Historical documentaries in this mode deliver an unproblematic and ‘objective’ account and interpretation of past events. • Observational documentaries attempt to simply and spontaneously observe lived life with a minimum of intervention. Filmmakers who worked in this sub-genre often saw the poetic mode as too abstract and the expository mode as too didactic. • (didactic- intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive.) • The first observational docs date back to the 1960’s; the technological developments which made them possible include mobile lightweight camera and portable sound recording equipment for synchronized sound. Often, this mode of film eschewed voice – over commentary, post synchronized dialogue and music, or re-enactments. The films aimed for immediacy, intimacy, and revelation of individual human character in ordinary life situations. • Participatory documentaries believe that it is impossible for the act of filmmaking to not influence or alter the events being filmed. What these films do is emulate the approach of the anthropologist: participant- observation. • Not only is the filmmaker party of the film, we also get a sense of how situations in the film are affected or altered by her/his presence.