Documentary – Street crime in Glasgow d.Adrian Harrison

The producer of this documentary uses a lot of different factors to make his short documentary effective and worthwhile to the audience. Everything you would expect from an informal educational documentary is covered here with the additional few new things as well. Although packed into a short period of time the documentary is a typical yet biased view of the streets of Scotland.

An example of this particular editing technique was the part when he interviewed some of the gang members of one group asking them why they were doing what they were doing they replied by saying it’s something to do on the weekend and that there is nothing else to do, the reason he makes this bias is that one this is a typical documenters trick to the public by editing what is said for all we know they could have said alternatives afterwards or someone in the background could have said something of use but it might have been blocked out. Secondly he failed to actually show alternative legal things that Scottish youths do on their weekends like play football and go to cinemas.

Another thing that the producer has done is used natural lighting when needed for instance when conducting his interviews with a Scottish resident living in danger you could tell he used natural lighting due to the lack of windows reflecting the light coming in. So in the interview it remained dark with only one window bringing in a portion of light this made it more realistic and beielivable while at the same time keeping the interviewees identity anonymous which is essential for not only their safety but for a good documentary as a whole.

The voice over in this documentary is not as one sided and strong as Donald McIntyre and Michael Moore. Voice over’s are used to grab the audience’s attention so they listen and take in info like stats and facts so they are learning visually and through audio , the producer who gives the voice over does exactly that in grabbing the audience’s attention.

Adrian Harrison lets everyone convey what he puts in his scene to keep it fresh and realistic from the most irrelevant thing to the most important this is significant to the mise en scene which worked really well in the fire scene when he captured some of the police in action and peoples horrified expressive looks when watching the fire unfold.

black film research

The changing social, political and cultural climate of Britain in the 1970s and 80s is what
The film pressure focuses on in particular. It is set in those times and is done to show the growing change and up and coming power that black people of all ages are starting to have and how it affects the rest of the country. The characters that are involved in the movie are young ones growing up and minority groups of this day and age especially black people are the audience that they try to acknowledge because they can relate to the characters.

It focuses on the particular racist culture that seems to be sweeping the nation at the time the discrimination through housing, police and employment all play significant roles in undermining what really went on back in those days. It is basically a much more extreme version of what some ethnic monitories still face today.

In the film burning illusion you can tell the film was on a tight budget but in having limits on the props and quality things in the movie itself it helps symbolizes the struggle for money that the young black minority had to face in those days.

The diversions of class in cultures are also used to significant affect in burning illusions.
What you consider high class back in those days like classical music, fine wine and opera theatre are displayed and mixed with the low class culture such as stealing, poverty and sticking together you would associate with the people at the bottom of society which the black people were at the time.

course evaluation

How well is the course organised? :3
Sometimes its ok and straight foward but half the time its confusing

How interesting is the content that is covered? : 2
The topics that we cover are intresting to me because we can relate to it and its very easy to understand

How useful are the handouts?:3
They could be better and have more info of them so thier ok

Have the lessons been well-paced?:4
no but only because i prefer to have that first thing in the morning compared to p.e, i would like a few more in the week

What is the standard of the teachers’ presentation/subject knowledge? : 2
my media teachers know what thier are talking about and because they can easily anaylise media thier standard of teaching is high

How well has the course met your expectations? :3
It hasnt surprised me but i did think thier would be a little more practical lessons, but when we were told about the limitations on the pratical productions i was surprised coz i fought u could do more in sixth form then yr 11 not less.

Have the extra-curricular events been useful? (eg. Awards Eve., Trips, Film Club): 1
For me its been very usful jus very annoyin aswell because of the demand as its always been compulsory but it has been very useful to the way i think about media.

Has the Macguffin Blog been useful?: 4
I wouldnt know i havent been on it much but of what ive heard it isnt that significant to you.

What went well? (WWW)
1) watching city of god in lecture room
2) getting to go to media awards
3) going to cinema to watch little miss sunshine

Even better if (ebi)
1)we were able to do more pratical stuff on a regular basis
2) watching bullet boy in the lecture room.
3)more understandable questions when writing media essay

Welcome

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