Media Studies - Documentary Research

This blog post features a list of different documentary openings that I have watched, detailing what I have learned from them, and what I like about them. This research and blog post was independently conducted and written by me (Maxi).

Modern Family - Season 1, Episode 1 (2009): ABC - Dir. Levitan

Modern Family is an American observational mockumentary/sitcom television series that revolves around, as the title my allude to, a modern American family. The story revolves around 3 different families (nuclear, blended, and same sex) living in suburban Los Angeles, who are all apart of one bigger family, interrelated through business owner Jay Pritchett, and his 2 children Mitchell and Claire.

Media Language

A variety of shots are used throughout the first episode. The episode is shot using multiple different cameras that follow the family around and show the audience their daily lives. Handheld/random camera movement is also used often as to allow audiences to feel as if they're actually in the scene with the characters. Interviews are often edited in to juxtapose the actions that the characters are seen doing or things they are saying, which are effectively used to add comedic effect throughout the episode. 

Audience

Due to the variety of different stories and topics covered throughout the series, and the diversity of its cast, modern family targets people from all backgrounds. Whether young or old, white or black or hispanic, audiences find ways to relate to the show. It incorporates stories, characters, stereotypes, humor, from all parts of life and thus attracts all kinds of people. It's a show thats not built for a single type of person or audience but instead is intended for all people to find something or someone they can relate to. This makes modern family such an accessible and talked about show, as no matter who you are, you can find something about yourself or your life in the characters and stories of Modern Family.

Genre Conventions

As a mockumentary, Modern Family follows conventions of the genre to a T. In the first episode, we are introduced to 3 of the different families. The Dunphy's, The Pritchett's, and the Delgados. All of whom are features in the classic mockumentary style interview segments in which the families talk about their lives and give the audience a feel of who they are. The episode is filled with many humorous moments that succeeds in giving anyone who watches it a good laugh. Its witty writing and eccentric characters keeps the audience entertained throughout the whole episode and leaves you wanting more each time. The families lives are documented by multiple cameras and follows around the three different families as they go on with their day and face a multitude of challenges from raising their children to gaining acceptance from other family members, and provides a modern take on the typical sitcom, due to technology, and modernity being embraced heavily throughout the show. 

Representation

As previously mentioned, modern family brings together people from all walks of life. A cast of widely diverse actors and stories of different family tropes that many can relate to. The first family we are introduced to are the Dunphy's. Your run-of-the-mill typical nuclear American family with a mother, husband, and 3 children. Next we have the Pritchetts, the blended family of Jay Pritchett and Gloria Delgado, who are both each others' second marriages, Jay being much older than Gloria though. Gloria is also Colombian, while Jay is American, explaining the term "mixed family". In Glorias first marriage, she had a son named Manny, who is now being raised by both Gloria and Jay. Next we have the same-sex family of Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker. The couple have been together for 5 years and adopted a Vietnamese daughter, named Lilly. This provides a vast amount of people something they can relate to as they may see their own lives being portrayed by one or more of the families in the show. A highly relatable experience for almost anyone, Modern Family represents the struggles, triumphs, and stories of not only one group of people, but all.

In Conclusion

All in all, modern family as a mockumentary checks all the boxes. Not only is it entertaining but its also relatable, exciting, and at many times, heart-warming. It follows the traditional conventions of the comedic style of most mockumentaries but provides a uniqe approach on the common family sitcom that gives audiences something fresh. Something that blends together stories that are usually never shown on TV all at once, and builds a fanbase that not only loves the show for its entertainment value, but also loves the show for what it represents, and the characters that represent them, who they're able to see themselves in and relate to.

American Vandal - Season 1, Episode 1 (2017): Netflix - Dir. Yacenda

American Vandal is an American mockumentary television series created by Dan Perrault and Tony Yacenda, who intended to create a series to parody true crime documentaries like Making A Murderer, and Serial. The first episode of the show focusses on infamous student Dylan Maxwell who has been recently expelled by the school due to an incident where phallic images were found spray painted on the cars of faculty and staff of the school. The documentary is filmed by student Peter Maldonado, who aims to uncover the truth behind the incident and launches his own investigation.

Media Language

A variety of different camera shots and editing techniques are used throughout the episode including footage from social media, security cameras, computer generated recreations of events, and footage filmed directly by Peter. We are introduced to the main character Dylan through an interview filmed with a medium shot. Most interviews in the episode are filmed using these shots as to show whats going around the characters in the backgrounds and the environments they're in. The documentary is shot in a handheld manner by using only 1 single camera that is operated by presumably Peter, as he also provides narration throughout the documentary. This manner of filming brings the audience closer to the characters as they may feel that they are in the scene with them, interacting with them directly. The episode also features a variety of different diegetic and non diegetic pieces of sound, including an eerie backdrop soundtrack that accompanies some of the narration scenes, that are used to build suspense in audiences for whether Dylan actually committed the crime or not.

Audience

American Vandal mainly focusses on the lives and drama of kids in a high school environment. The whole premise of the documentary centers around the crimes/incidents of students in high school, and casts mainly young actors and incorporates quite immature/childish humor, and thus mainly caters towards the tastes of kids. The cast of the show though is quite diverse, accurately replicating the modern American high school. This allows a vast amount of people to relate to the characters of the show. However, the chaotic environments of the high school is more attributed to schools in America, as schools in other parts of the world would have far less crazy/chaotic events happening, and thus the documentary caters towards American/western audiences.

Genre Conventions

American Vandal follows the conventions of both a mockumentary and a true crime documentary by not taking itself too seriously and being extremely humorous, but also by having an interesting story of a crime and hooks the audience in to keep them on the edge of their seat as they watch to find out the perpetrator/who is behind the crimes. The show features a narrator that provides commentary throughout the episode and explains to audiences what is going on at all times, which is a key feature of most true crime documentaries. However, unlike most other true crime documentaries, the crimes committed are far less serious, and instead seem laughably absurd, which would lean more into the conventions of the mockumentary sub-genre.

Representation

The plot of American Vandal revolves around a rebellious white teen and his group of friends in their last year of high school. The main character and his group of rascal friends are represented using the general conventions of trouble-making teens by firstly, talking in a nonchalant way, having a total disregard towards authority, doing drugs, skipping class, and having the general "too cool to care" lifestyle. The producers of the show use this to further propel the comedic factor of the show as this group of friends are often shown doing the most ridiculous acts that seem too insane to be true. The producers of the show most likely see these kinds of people as a problem and thus represented them in such a way, however, it doesn't take away but instead adds more towards the overall appeal of the show to young people. Along with this, other tropes represented in the show include the stereotypical nerds, jocks, and more. These characters are mainly played by white teens but also include African-American, hispanic, and asian racial groups. 

In Conclusion

All things considered, American Vandal does all the right things in its opening episode as it hooks audiences in with its engaging storylines, likeable characters, and hilarious moments. It portrays the typical American Highschool life, but instead of putting the spotlights on the stereotypical main characters like jocks or academic geniuses, the focus is instead shifted towards the stories of the delinquents who are generally looked over in most other forms of media. The humor, albeit quite immature, captivates its target audience perfectly and delivers hysterical moments all throughout. As a mockumentary, American Vandal succeeds unequivocally.

Making a Murderer - Season 1, Episode 1 (2015): Netflix

Making a murderer is a 2015 True-crime documentary that details the story of Steven A. Avery, a man framed for murder and the story of how he filed suit against Manotowoc County, Wis., and the individuals involved in his arrest. 

The opening sequence of the documentary show Steven getting out of prison in 2004 and follows the main conventions of an Expository and Participatory documentary by including many clips of Steven himself and by portraying his story. The documentary most likely appeals towards young adults and older people as the topics covered are very serious and mature, and young kids/teens most likely would not understand. Representations of lawyers, police, and corrupt officials are included in which they are shown to be bad and people through the use of ominous phone calls and black and white scenes which paint them in a dark light. The opening immediately hooks in the viewer as intrigue is built by showing us who Steven Avery is and connects the audience with him as to build sympathy for him as a person, which further pulls in audiences to keep watching to know what happens to him.

Life in a day (2020): YouTube Originals

Life in a day is a 2020 lifestyle, poetic, and observational documentary created by compiling 342,000 different videos from people all over the world and editing them together to show what life is like for humans from all kinds of different backgrounds and places. 

The opening of the documentary portray the "beginning" in a figurative sense, which in this case they did by showing women giving birth, and people waking up. It features peoples daily lives as they wake up, go to work, eat breakfast, etc, and build a sense of sonder in the audience as we are taken away from our selfish beliefs of thinking life is all about us as individuals, but instead are able to see that life is so much more than that for so many people on their planet and how everyone has their own story. The documentary breaks most conventions of a lifestyle documentary, and documentaries in general as the scenes and sequences were not filmed on set or by a crew, but instead were filmed by hundreds of thousands of people in a casual manner, which was edited by a team to create a sense of meaning, inspiration, and hope in humanity in audiences. Representation wise, the documentary includes people from all over the world, speaking different languages, people of different skin color, from all parts of life. It is affective as an opening and as a documentary in general as from the very beginning it defies conventions and tells us how it was filmed by hundreds of thousands of different people. We are inspired and intrigued by how all these different people may not be so different from ourselves, no matter where they come from, and overall works very well as an opening sequence of a documentary.

Gordon Ramsey Uncharted - Season 2, Episode 2 (2019): National Geographic

Gordon Ramsey Uncharted is a 2019 travel and food documentary that follows its host, the world famous Michelin-star celebrity-chef Gordon Ramsey as he goes to different locations around the world and eats/cooks local foods.

In this episode, we follow Gordon as he travels to West Sumatra, Indonesia and takes part in local ceremonies and tries Indonesia's unique cuisine. The conventions of a food/travel documentary are followed to a T as the location and food are showcased using a variety of slow motion, close up, and establishing shots that all build upon the beauty of the local environment, in this case Indonesia, and the food that is eaten there. Indonesian culture and Indonesia as a place are represented in quite a positive light as the documentary focusses on trying to showcase the natural wildlife's beauty, as well as how the food is continuously described as being "some of the best in the world". The Indonesian population are also shown in a positive manner as they are portrayed as being as a part of one whole community who help and work together with each other in activities. The documentary effectively depicts an authentic and captivating portrayal of Indonesia, and interests the audience in the food and culture of the country through the camerawork and storytelling, as well as including clips from later on in the episode like Gordon Ramsey riding a cow, which intrigues viewers to see how this ends up happening in the episode.

The Office - Season 1, Episode 1 (2005): NBC - Dir. Kwapis

The Office is an American mockumentary sitcom Television series that depicts the everyday work lives of office employees at the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Based on the 2001 BBC series of the same name, it was adapted for American Television in 2005 and stars Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and more, in an brilliantly comedic, and one of the most critically acclaimed mockumentary/sitcoms of all time.

In the opening of the first episode, we are introduced to the almost dysfunctional work environment of the offices of the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper company, led by the borderline incompetent regional manager, Michael Scott. The Office is shot in a single-camera handheld style, which brings audiences closer to the characters and makes them almost feel like they're there with them. The Office follows the traditional style and conventions of mockumentaries, having a joyful and hilarious cast of characters with a variety of different personalities that come together to create an easy-to-love show that at many moments, leaves viewers grasping for air. The first episode also features many interviews of characters sprinkled throughout, further embracing the mockumentary nature of the show. The cast is predominantly white, but also includes actors of different races. The target audience most likely would be young and working aged adults that work or have worked in an office environment. However due to the simple premise and relatable humor, people of all ages and backgrounds would enjoy watching the show. 

Overall, The Offices opening pulls audiences in with its lovable and amusing cast as well as its easy relatable premise that many adults most likely have related to in the past, or relate to currently. The Office does a fantastic job of following conventions of the mockumentary genre and definitely deserves all the praise it gets from critics and diehard enthusiasts alike.

Self Reflection:

I think this research has helped me and my team in making decisions related to the direction of our documentary. We were able to gather a myriad of styles and techniques that are used in documentaries of the same genre as us, and were able to effectively use these elements from our research in our final product.