Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux has been successful in his documentaries by being nominated and won awards such as being nominated an emmy for outstanding informational series, he successfully won best presenter for "When Louis Meets..."

Louis has also differentiated himself from other broadcasters like himself by looking into extremely deep topics and interviewing these in some cases unethical people in a light hearted humourous way.

• Most Hated Family in America

The Most Hated Family in America was first aired on BBC 2 on 1 April 2007. The Gaurdian characterised its performance as "a ratings hit". The documentary received 4.3 million viewers.

Louis Theroux, himself stated in an interview after finnishing the documentary that the Phelps family (the family at the heart if this film) , were the most extreme people he had ever met. Despite this however, they were very kind and articulate and  especially to the younger members plesant. The Phelps family which is headed by Fred Phelps, run the "Westboro Baptist Church" in Kansas - a hate group with its core message being "God hates fags". Their twisted interpretation of the bible has lead them to believe that all tradegies on Earth are because of homosexuality, which is considered to be the worst sin of all and the public's increasing acceptance of homo and bi sexuality. They were made famous because of the church, regularly picketing funerals of fallen soliders killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, with signs such as "Thank god for dead soldiers" and " God hates fag soldiers". As with all his documentries, Louis manages to keep a level, unbiased opinion of all the family despite their extremism, accompanying them on protests and seeing their whole belief "system" for what it is. In this clip, Shirley Phelps explains the basis of their beliefs and tries to cliam that "Thou shalt not commit adultery" is about homosexuality, also claiming that God "does evil", it comes across quite outrageous but Louis remians utterly calm about it.

• Behind Bars

In this documentary Louis soends a few weeks in San Quentin prison in San Franciso, one of America's toughest prisons and home to "gangbangers", rapists and murderers. Louis focuses on a group of prisoners though not in much detail as some subjects in his other films. These include guards, a gang member named "Playboy Nolan" and a man called David Silver, who is serving 500 years plus an 11 year life sentences. Throughout this film, the face that Louis is surrounded by murderers and rapists all the time, not just in the yard or eating with them, is surreal. During his stay he starts to focus on friendships between people of the same race and also relationships in the prison including a transgender woman named Deborah who shares a cell with her boyfriend. Despite the gloomy aesthetics of the place it is home to plenty of interesting people whom Louis connects with in some ways. In other ways, he makes them speak about things a little more than they would like to.

• Gambling in Las Vegas

 

Gambling in Las Vegas is a investigative documentary in which Louis followers the high-rollers in Vegas who are the exprienced and most addicted of gamblers in the city. The documnetary aims to present the view that the risk-taking lifestyle of high rollers is a damanging aspect of their lives, however different features of the documentary make it clear that they are definatley unaware of the serious consequences that their addiction can have on them. As well as following the daily routine of the serial gamblers, Louis visits the managers of the casino in Vegas in a bid to discover their view on the issuse and their take on the on the lifestyles of these people.

In the beginning of the documentary Louis is driving along the famous Las Vegas Strip, and explaining through the use of voiceover his intentions for the documentary. As the car steadily progresses along road, low-angle shots used to the extravagance of the famous hotels an casinos on the strip. The low-angle shots used are as if they are from the viewpoints of a passenger in the car glaring through the window, giving the audience the feeling that they are witnessing the tall buildings on the strip through their own eyes.

Throughout the documentary, slow fades are used to progress to the next part of the documentary where a new point is made and different features of the gambler's lives are explored. For example after Louis has directly interviewed one of the gamblers on the routlette table, the camera slowly fades to black to progress the scene showing Louis contemplating his day in the casino. The gambler being interviewed explains why he feels he can not removed from the casino if his earnings are extremely low, presentening his as being daring and not fearful of his gambling habits getting the better of him. The fact that the camera fades into black after this moment represents the gambler as not being aware of the possible consequences that may meet him if indeed his earnings at the routlette table are poorer than he expected. This representation of the gambler is supported by the slow fade to black, as a tense moment in which happens to make the audience consider what may happen to the gambler as the result of his casual attitude towards his habits.

Gambling in Las Vegas uses the "Fly on the wall" convention of  documentary, as the camera is alongside Louis at all times, capturing the lifestyle of the "hardcore gamblers". The camera pursues the gambler through their hotel suite and local casino, thus capturing their actual daily routine where they gamble fearlessly inside the casino and go along with the thrill of the challenge and consequences of their addiction. This documentary technique for filming is used to expose the reality and seriousness of the gambler's daily actions and is essentially designed to invade the privacy on these people in an attempt to present the view that they continue with their consequential behaviour with a daring conscience. However, the actuality, of the camera work in the documentary is not always portraying the gamblers in negative light, as Louis presents humour during his exploration of the casino in which they play in, Louis engaged directly with the two expericened gamblers, as they socialise with their gambling associates and friends in what seems a plesant and outgoing manner.

Michael Moore

•  Fahrenhiet 9/11

Fahrenhiet 9/11 takes a critical look at the presidency of George W Bush, the War on Terror and its coverage in the media. The film holds the record for the most highest box office receipts by a general release political film. It is the highest grossing documentary of all time domestically.
The film debuted at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival in the documentary film catergory and received a 20 mintue standing ovation (the longest standing ovation in the festivals history). The film was awarded the Palme d'Or, the festivals highest award.

                 

• Bowling For Columbine

The film explores what Michael Moore suggests are the causes for the Columbine High School massacre and other acts of violence with guns. Moore focuses on the background and environment in which the massacre took place and some public and assumptions about related issuses. The film also uncovers the nature of violence in the United States.

In Moore's discussions with various people - including South Park co-creater Matt Stone, the National Rifle Association's (NRA) then president Charlton Heston, and musician Marilyn Manson - he seeks to explain why the Columbine massacre occurred and why the United States has a high violent crime rate (especially invovling guns).

Evaulating "Bowling for Coloumbine" 

Micheal Moore's documentary film "Bowling for Columbine" examines America's most memorable gun tragedies and also attempts to uncover the true reason for the Columbine High School shootings, where Moore himself leads on the investigation into the USA's gun laws and violence.

Moore's proactive attitude reflects how personally passionate and heartfelt he is about the issues covered in the film, as he is in the other docu-films such as, "Dude where's my country" and "Fahrenhiet 9/11". We can see the effect of this as he aims the camera through his point of view to demonstrate the American culture dealing with the problems of gun crime and gun control throughout the country. By basing the documentary around the Columbine massaccre he also successfully reveals the America has a bleak history of many gun tradegies and brings forth the ideology that these problems are out of control.

One of the facts that stands out the most is the number of deaths caused by guns in America, which tops the list of free world countries with 11,127 gun related deaths per year. Moore believes that the American society is powered by fear which is fuelled to them by on overload of media reports, about the dangers of world which then encourages people to protect themselves  by purchasing guns for self defence. Fear leads to violence, so does this explain why owning a gun for security comfort enables extreme tragedies like Columbine to occur so often in the USA.

Moore purposely positions scenes so that the audience can see both views on the subject being dicussed, for example the scene leading up to rocker Marilyn Manson's interview starts off with two young boys clearly happy and smiling whilst a voice over from Moore asks "So who was to blame?". This then leads into a montage of news reporters each zooming in at different times showing the viewer how all experts had an answer. Many different reasons were stated, usual suspects such as video games, violent movies, toy guns, however these are so popular around the world and yet other countries do not seem to have half of the problems like America does. The one common opinion all the experts had was "poster boy of fear""Marilyn Manson.
One reportter then swithced from blaming him to saying out of respect to the children lost, Marilyn Manson cancelled the last five days of his U.S tour. While this was being said one of Manson's CD covers was displayed which appeared as a very confronting image. This then tuns back to the experts blaming him quoting "this is probably the sickest group ever promoted by a mainstream record company". This scene is then followed by a preview of one of his video's dressed in all black clothing with big boots and a face fully covered with makeup. This scene is delibratley positioned before his interview to persuade the viewer to believe that Manson is partially to blame for the massacre as the two boys listened to his music.
Two years after Columbine,  Manson returned to Denver which "mounted protests". This was the opening line to the scene of Manson's interview.
Throughout the interview the camera alternated from the protest of Denver back to the scene of Manson's interview. By allowing Manson to defend himself allowed the viewer to see both sides of the controversial rocker.

Manson comes across as articulate and clear in his thoughts and offers some real insight into what he believes are problems facing the youths of American. He said all the media wants to do is to take something that happened and spin it into fear. meaning the media is a campaign full of fear and consumption. He brought up many other issuses, he mentioned how it seemed like everbody had forgotten the president, but one quote which changed everbody's mind on Manson was when Moore asked him, what he would say to the kids of Columbine,  Manson replied "I wouldn't say a single thing. I'd listen to what they had say and that is what no one did".
This lined ended the interview which encouraged the viewer to believe Manson was a good guy and also questioning that the  accusations was simply an act of the media trying to sell yet another overexaggerated story.

Moore tends to have a humourous style documenting which is entertaining for the viewers but also keeps them attentive. He uses many visual techniques, one example is use of a short cartoon " A Brief History of the United States"  to demonstate that America (particularly the white american) has always been a society run by terror. The cartoon is shot in a South Park like manner and tells a very fast-paced story, giving details of all the horrific things in American history. Some of the historic actions it covers are; killing the "savages" (Native Americans) because they were scared of thier unfamiliarity, killing each other as witches, possesion of African slaves for 200 years and the formation of both the Klu Klux Klan and The National Rifle Association (NRA). A characterized cartoon bullet narrates the story, which ironically represents all the awful things in American history and maybe also represents America as a nation today.
Not only does the cartoon come across as a comedy element for the viewers, it also reinforaces Moore's opinion to the viewers and still educates them in a different format , so if you aren't convinces by an interview, the same arguments are backed up by the use of a cartoon or found footage.

Another striking moment within the film is when Moore uses audio techniques of music to help portray the issuse of gun control. A montage of shocking and violent images of U.S killings that were committed in past history are shown whilst Louie Armstrong ionic song "What a Wonderful World" is playing alongside these various clips. The song contradicts the violence and destruction we can see and imply's just how NOT a wonderful world America is. It also highlights that the American military created the mass-murder atomsphere and therefore they are to blame.

Dialogue is used to show the viewer what American public are really like and what they care about. A message Moore creates associates with all the American public caring about making the headlines and acheiving a celebrity status.  People are shown to actually believe that making the headlines for good or bad is still a huge accomplishment, for example when a student from Oscoda High School is interviewed in relation to the two students who committed the murders at Columbine High School. The DJ student qoutes "No one told me who was number one on the list, which made me mad, like it was an ego thing knowing I was number one for something Oscoda , on the bomb threat list."  This example shows how the individual American didn't care how they made thier way into the headlines, which then rejects the idea that the media blames external factors when really it is the individuals in America.

Real life sound affects are used in the the documentary "Bowling for Columbine" to mae the viewer feel as is they are expriencing if themselves. Moore uses real life sound effects when interviewing a man at a local shooting range. Moore asks the man "why do you aim at bowling pins" his description was "its like a smaller scaled human". This makes the viewer start to think that a bowling pins could easily be used as a human targets whcih creates a suspicion that  bowling is  another key factor for the massacre in Columbine, just as much as Marilyn Manson. Whilst this was being said we are shown footage of the male aiming his gun at the "smaller scaled human." As Moore didn't add in any bullet sound effects and only used audio received by the camera ti create the real life situation and to show how much Americans love their guns and how they must live in so much fear that they even pratice shooting at what they see to be humans. This leaves us to deal with the question "Is America a nation of gun nuts or are they just nuts?".

• Sicko

In this film, Moore investigates the health care in the United States, focusing on its health insurance policy and pharamaceutical industry. The film compares the for-profit, non-universial U.S system with the non-profit univerisal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom and cuba.

Sicko was nominated for an Academy Award Documentary Feature. It was also commended in the Australian Film Critics Association 2007 Film Award for Best Documentary.  

                                   

Moore effectively tells the mass audience, the emotionally-charged stories of American citizens who lost husbands, daughters and other family members to preventable diseases, all thanks to the international, well planned payment denials by health insurance companies.

Documentary Codes and Convetions

Documentary Modes

Exository
- Voice Over addresses the auidence directly: The voiceover may be a "voice of God" commentator (heard but not seen) or "voice of authority" (seen and heard usually an expert in the relavent field).
-Images are used to illustrate (or sometimes counterpoint) the voiceover;
-Editing is used for continuity to link together images which support the argument put forward in the voiceover;
-Attempts to persuade the audience of a particular point of view, often by appealing to logic and the idea of a common sense repsonse.

Observational
-Location shooting - Handheld cameras.
-Long takes dominate
-Synchronous (direct) sound recording
-No voiceover (in its purest form)
-No interviews
-Documentary makers prescene is hidden
-Subjects pretend they are not being filmed.

Participatory
-Documentary maker (and crew) interact with subject;
-Interviews dominate but tend to be formal - literally "on the run" questioning;
-Use of archive material - stills, news footage newspaper headlines, letters etc
-Location shooting - Handheld camera;
-Long takes dominate
-Synchronous sound recording
-Voiceover - usually by the documentary maker
-Documentary maker is visible to the audience and intervenes and participates in the action.

Reflective
-Borrows techniques from fiction or film for an emotinal, subjective response;
-Emphasises the expressive nature of the film, anti realist techniques e.g. re-enactments, expressive lighting and dramatic music;
-Voiceover (when present) is likely to be questioning and uncertain - rather than authoritative;
-Reliance on suggestion rather than fact.

Perfromative
-Documentary maker (and crew) interacts with subjects.
-Documentary maker comments on the process of making the documentary.
-The documentary is often shaped in to the narrative of an investigation or search -which their may be no satisfactory conclusion to.
-Addresses to the audience in an emotional and direct way.
Subject matter often to do with indentity (gender, sexuality) - rather than "factual" subjects.


Fly on the Wall
A extension of the observational mode, fly-on-the-wall approaches aim to blend into the background as the subjects go about their daily business. Filming might continue over a considerable period of time - six months say. In a sense the aim is to give the audience unmeditated access to the world.
Examples "The Family" and "The Model Agency"


Drama Documentary
In the absence of archive footage or access to witnesses, the filmmaker might stage dramatic reconstructions.


Mockumentary
Fictional films which parody the forms and conventions of  a documentary, often for humourous effect.

Investigation
Looks at topical issuses. May use hidden cameras and aims to expose or prove something at the end of the documentary.

Documentary Conventions

• Archival Footage and Photographs
• Voice Over/ Narration
• Reconstructions
• Confrontations
• Opposing Forces
• Conveys a personal response or critical perspective
• Dramatic Suspense
• Devolpment of audiences knoweledge