Documentary Deconstruction- Protecting Our Foster Kidshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b060kk8b/protecting-our-foster-kids-3-a-clean-slate

Camera Work

Documentaries generally use a range of camera shots including close ups and long shots in order to keep the audience engaged. This is because if it was just two people talking, the audience may find it boring.

This is an establishing shot which has the purpose of showing off the location. This is done in documentaries in order to give the audience a better understanding of where the events are taking place. Establishing shots are a key element of documentaries and they may sometimes include voiceovers explaining the location shown.

Mise-en-scene

This shot shows all the props and background objects that are part of their everyday life. For example, in this shot you can see lots of food on the counter. This is because this would normally be there. This is an important part of a day in the life documentaries.

As this documentary takes place in the peoples natural environment, the lighting is generally natural in order to emphasise the fact that the story being told is true. This means that there is no special lighting, as this would make the scene seem artificial and planned, which is not the aim of this particular documentary as its supposed to be factual.

Editing

In documentaries, the pace of editing is usually quite quick. This is because they tend to show several scenes whilst using a voiceover. Therefore, we may only see whats happening in a scene and not hear whats actually being said.

Documentaries also have a mixture of long takes, which enables the audience to view a scene as if they were there. This is done in order to show the audience what its really like day-to-day, rather than just showing the interesting fast paced events. The range of fast and slow paced editing keeps the audience engaged.

Sound

This opening scene to the program includes a voiceover given by the boy on the scooter. This is a key element of documentaries because they are used to explain and give background context. This voiceover includes where he has lived which starts off the style of a chronological documentary.

In some areas of the documentary a voiceover acts as a sound bridge between two shots and then cuts to the person giving the voiceover. This is done in documentaries as the main purpose is to educate and therefore there needs to be that element of talking directly to the camera and audience to help their understanding.