From the examples below you can see how she really involves herself to truly capture what it is like. Instead of her just directing and filming these other people, actually doing the same things as them and what is normal for them allows her to even then be able to comment on the differences, because she is also experiencing it all herself too. All of these documentaries shown below can be viewed on the BBC iPlayer website.
As Dooley has produced a wide range of films and series, she also has her own 'website' which is a section on BBC 3 dedicated just to her work. This makes it much easier for the audience to locate all of what she has done, especially if they enjoy watching one they can then watch more and browse what else she has filmed, and where she has been. I also think that Dooley's success could possibly be because of the wide range of topics and issues she covers. She travels all around the world for this content, as we can see in the few examples above in Nigeria, Russia, America and many more. This is interesting to the UK viewers to see other parts of the world instead of just their own.
One of her really powerful documentaries in my opinion is when she visited Springfield Hospitals Psych Ward. She spoke to patients, workers and families whilst becoming a part of it, spending time there for three weeks to produce this and really understand everything she could about it. I think that spending 3 weeks there shows her dedication and how much she is willing to do in order to show the audience what she can. She faces many tough situations and I feel she becomes really involved and puts a lot into trying to help and do what she can as if she was actually a worker. This is an example of what I mentioned above, with her immersing herself in the new and unfamiliar situation.
This documentary begins with low, almost suspenseful music and a close up of Dooleys face walking along with the diegetic sounds of the ward and people talking. Then Dooley begins to narrate over the videos being played. The first sentence she speaks is really powerful and could easily immediately draw the audience in and definitely encourage them to continue watching the entire documentary. I want to create a similar effect when I make mine as I feel that around the first minute of what the audience see are the most important, as that will tell whether they want to continue watching.
'We all know someone who's struggled with their mental health'
Even using the pronoun 'we' brings everyone together and makes the audience relate to the documentary straight away. This one line can get them thinking about their own experiences and interest them more.
This introduction continues to show snippets of what we will be seeing later on and throughout the documentary, working almost like a trailer with Dooley speaking over some of it explaining what she'll be doing as they continue to watch. After 40 seconds the title shot appears, and the documentary begins properly. After this disappears we see wide shots of scenes and places around the ward, not only helping the audience visualise it, but also allowing them to concentrate and listen on what Dooley says.
The first patient we meet is young, 24 year old Laura. She is battling anorexia and is back in '136' after a near suicide attempt off a bridge.
We see Laura enter the ward in an afraid and anxious state as can be seen from this mid shot above. She seems very timid and closed off, and extremely scared holding her arms almost folded in each other.
Dooley then interviews her in a very natural environment clearly not staged, whilst they are both in the corridor. The location of this emphasises the reality and adds a sense of realism, as neither of them are facing the camera or looking at them directly - we as the audience are just observing their conversation. Dooley starts asking questions to Laura about how she is feeling, etc.
How are you feeling?
You are anxious?
Do you want to sit down, or do you prefer to stand?
Would it be okay if I ask you some questions?
How long were you in hospital for?
So, you were just discharged two days ago?
I found watching this interview really interesting for many reasons. I think that for me it will be useful when making my documentary as it allowed me to see how the patient was like in terms of body language and they way she was speaking too. Laura was very anxious at this time and used many filler words in her speech, for example 'like' and 'umm'. This 'interview'/conversation that Stacey had with Laura wasn't even 3 minutes into the documentary and we are already seeing the harsh reality of some mental health patients, and how they deal with their own experiences. I like that it appears as if they aren't hiding anything from the audience, like protecting how people view the ward and instead just show it how it is. An example of this is one of Laura's responses about being discharged.
She replies in such way that we can immediately see the way she feels about the ward and how they treat her. This gives a negative viewpoint, however we can also see that Laura is in a fragile position, and even says herself that she isn't thinking straight.
I really like the use of this mid point of view shot taken from behind Stacey. It is natural and not forced, adding to the realism and perfectly showing what the documentary wants - for the audience to see inside the mental health ward.
Being able to meet a patient like this and seeing how Stacey behaves around them in interesting, and not only do we see this but we also see Laura 3 months on, in a more set up interview. Even just from this screenshot compared with the 2 above we can see the physical changes she has had. At the start when Stacey first met Laura she was extremely deep into an eating disorder, but has made so much progress since.
This was really effective in my opinion, and it makes the audience feel involved. I want to create a similar idea in my documentary so that my audience can also feel part of the story and understand it as well as they can. It is able to show the audience that her mental health has drastically improved, and she is in a position where she is able to look back and talk about it being in her past.
The webpage for this documentary is similar to Jesy Nelsons Odd One Out, as they are both part of BBC 3. However, as we can see on this one it is part of Stacey Dooleys webpage.
The main image is showing Dooley (the main presenter) sat on one of the beds.
Below this is 5 paragraphs describing what the documentary entails, and giving brief descriptions of some of the patients we meet. This is useful for the audience or potential viewers, and I plan to have something similar on my website.
As you scroll down there is a 'clip' which discusses working on a psychiatric ward, and interviews some of those working on the frontline of the mental health health services. I could incorporate something similar to this into my website and this 'clip' is like an additional audio-visual on their page, like I have to create. I could possibly have an interview for mine like what is featured in this.
When you click to watch the clip it opens a new page, specifically for this and next to the play button is a 'warning' that the episode deals with adult themes. Suggesting it may be sensitive to some, and not suitable for younger children.
At the bottom of the page, as they do for everything on BBC iPlayer, they are promoting and encouraging their viewers to look at more similar content - they provide a link for more of Stacey Dooleys documentaries, as well as more on mental health.
The rest of this web page is similar to Jesy Nelsons Odd One Out, so I have linked my previous analysis for that below.
https://602216607.blogspot.com/2020/04/generic-research-2.html
No comments:
Post a Comment