AOB3 Film language and mode of address

Night Mail


Title graphics




The style of writing shakes whilst its on the screen to create the effect of an train moving along a train track. It looks unsteady and moves quite violently.

Shots

The shots are mostly long and mid shots. There are also a few close ups which are really short cuts. The important places such as what they are doing are close ups to show the audience clearly what is being explained.

Editing

The cuts are quite slow and last a longer time, but the editing is faster when there are close ups repeatadly.

Voiceover

It explains clearly to the reader what's happening in the next shots. They explain it clearly to the audinece as if they didn't know what the documentary was about.

Broomfield & Representation

AOB2 Narrative Structure

etre et avoir

There are a variety or shots used in the opening 20 minutes of "etre et avoir". During the classroom scenes when the children are going about their day, the film maker, Nicolas Philibert, uses close ups of the children learning to write to show how they are developing their learning skills. The dominating shot for the outside scenes, are long shots to establish the setting of where the school is. The content of the shots include the empty classroom, tortoises wandering freely and a fish tank. We are introduced to some of the children as if we were there watching. It shows a lot of close ups of what their doing, for example their hands on the paper as they write letters.

The shot lengths for "etre et avoir" are very slow cuts compared to most other documentarys. On average they are about 8 - 12 seconds but some are much longer, to create a peaceful and very quiet place wich is where the school is located. The shots are very long because the establishign shots outside the school, show the slow movement of the wind, and farm animals moving slowly ion the background, which goes well with the slow shots aswel.

The form of the film tells the audinece that is it set in a small village in the countryside, which is shown by both the mise en scene and the cuts in the documentary, as its all very slow, and not a lot of sound is used in the footage.

AOB1

etre et avoir

Film language

There is a variety of shots used in "etre et avoir" but uses mainly close ups and is filmed whislt being hand held to get a close view of the people talking. The editing is quite fast so a lot of different shots are used meaning a lot of the setting is being filmed.

Documentary techniques

This documentary includes interviews between a teacher and pupils, which is used as a voiceover whilst a different shot is being shown. This shows the veiwer what they are talking about and focuses on that. The audience in not aware of the documentary-maker as they do not appear in the footage or have any part where they need to interview.

Sound

The only sound used in this footage is where there is nobody talking and the children are sliding down the snow. The music is effective and sounds happy to show how the children feel about it. The footage illustrates what's being said in the interview when there are close ups of the children talking about what they do or don't know.

Documentary

The documentary is about a french school where the children are talking to their teacher individually about their learning.

Lumiere Brothers

Film language

Through the documentary footage there is only one shot used that dominates the whole film. It’s a long shot and the camera is not hand held because of its size. There is no editing for this footage as it wasn’t introduced until later.

Documentary techniques

The document does not include interviews and there is no voiceover. We are not aware of the documentary maker as this wouldn’t have been thought of at that time.

Sound

There is no sound or music used for this footage.

Documentary

The purpose of the documentary is to show people real footage for the first time. It is not influenced by any other genres, because its the first film. The audience for this footage would be anyone because it would be interesting for people to see something new that hadn’t been done before.

Nanook of the North

Film Language

There are a variety of shots used in this footage, and the camera is not hand held because of its size. There is some editing in this footage which is slow as there are only a few cuts in the whole thing. No other type of editing could have been done because that would not have been thought of.

Documentary techniques

There are no interviews in this footage as it was still early to be using cameras. There is also no voiceover, however there are captions that are used to communicate with the audience, which is descriptive text, as it explains to the viewer what's happening in the footage.

Sound

The only sound used in this footage is music that's used to set the mood and gives a "happy" and "cheerful" feel to it making it seem fun and entertaining. The music for "Nanook of the North" is very effective because if there was no sound, the viewer would have a different opinion of the footage.

Documentary

The documentary is about an eskimo building and putting together an igloo. I think this was made to show other people that it can be described as a "happy" place and also for the interest of others to see how they are made. This documentary is targeted at all audiences as it is very basic and only consists of "happy", "peaceful" music and video footage.

Kurt and Courtney

Film language

There is a wide range of different types of shots used in this footage, mostly close ups which are used in the interviews, and long shots used for other footage such as videos of Kurt whilst performing. The camera is hand held for all of the footage apart from the photos which are put into the documentary, which are also a variety of different shots.

Documentary Techniques

Nick Broomfield is an important part in the footage as he is the documentary maker and interviews people in the documentary. The shots used in the interviews are mostly close ups, as the emotions are made to be shown clearly to the audience, and the questions are asked more like a normal conversation, to get a more meaful answer, which is shown by the certain camera shots.

Sound

Different voice overs are used throughout the footage, such as music in the background to build tension and also because it's part of Kurt's life. This is also an important part to the documentary as the specific music is appropriate for the shots being shown at that time. For example theres a long, slow shot which has been filmed inside a vehicle, whilst focusing on the voiceover, as Nick Broomfield explains about where Kurt had lived. It's not the shot thats important to the audience but is there as it suits what is being said at that time, as the voiceover is what the audince would be focusing on.

Documentary

Kurt and Courtney is a documentary about Kurt's death and how Courtney was involved in his life and how it made other people think about them both individually. There are a lot of interviews included to show the information straight from Courtney, and other people included in the interviews. The target audience would be for younger adults, and teenagers as it is quite relaxed and steady. It seems more like conversations than interviews, but a lot of information has still been included and is a lot less formal.