Documentary Analysis

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09b6y8s/eat-well-for-less-series-4-episode-5#

Introduction:

“Eat well for less” is an english food documentary aired on BBC One at 8pm on a weekly basis. Two presenters, by the names of Gregg Wallace and Chris Bavin< scour the country to help those individual families spending a fortune upon  their groceries when they can save much more money by purchasing cheaper but good quality alternatives.

Techniques:

At the start of the programme, an example of actuality footage is used to introduce the audience into what the show might be about and where it is set. It also adds detail without the need for additional footage. Just like many other documentaries, narration is used. Without it, watching documentaries would be extremely hard for people to understand. The steady voice of a narrator provides balance and structure to what is being displayed in front of us. This calms the audience down and helps some understand what is going on. It is also a form of verbal perspective and another form of interpretation.

Reconstructions generally provide factual information, and give the viewer a sense of realism, as if the event really happened in front of them live. They often indicate that the footage is not real by using techniques such as blurring, distortion, lighting effects, changes in camera level, and color enhancement within the footage. In this documentary, reconstructive footage is used to replay events that may have occurred off camera and may have not been scripted.

Music for a documentary can be one of the most powerful emotional tools at a directors disposal. Just like music can guide the emotion queues of the audience in a fictional film, so too can it guide the emotions of a non-fiction documentary audience. “Happy”,non-diegetic music is used to relay the emotions of what he people in the documentary are going through.Furthermore it shows the audience the atmosphere which has been built up.