Analysis of "Interview With A Murderer" Channel 4 Documentary

'"Interview With A Murderer" - Full Documentary'

- Below is my analysis of 6 shots taken from the Channel 4 documentary - "Interview With A Murderer". This interview has most definitely become a favourite out of the ones I have recently watched, mostly because of the lasting effect it has had on me since I watched it. The way in which it was filmed and then edited together - as well as the additional after-effects placed on - resulted in a piece of television that is extremely empowering and long-lasting. The mystery surrounding the death of paperboy Carl Bridgewater became one of the most extreme 'who done it' murder cases of the 1980's, and has remained a mystery ever since. Everyone appears to have come to the conclusion that the man responsible for the murder was a man named Bert Spencer - yet he has never actually been convicted, because no conclusive evidence can be placed against him. Thus, this documentary is particularly interesting since he agrees to be interviewed by a criminal psychologist Professor David Wilson. The documentary creates a constant tension and uncomfortable atmosphere, as well as a opposition between Bert and David. Opinions of both subjects change throughout the documentary and although an answer appears to be reached by the end, I as a viewer was left feeling uncertain and flustered at what I had just witnessed. 

- Interestingly, the shots I have chosen to analyse all come from the first 10-15 minutes of the documentary. Conclusively, this has given me inspiration for my own documentary. I believe I will most likely end up creating an extract from a documentary that is the first 5 minutes of the whole piece. This is because I found the first 5 minutes of this documentary the most intriguing. From the very first shot, I was completely taken in by what I was watching and wanted to carry on, just to see what it was about and what would happen next.

- Lastly, I have identified this documentary as EXPOSITORY. I have come to this conclusion as it most definitely covering a controversial issue, it uses a lot of voiceover and direct address in order to connect with an audience, and despite the use of facts and figures, the final outcome of the documentary is opinionated and leaves a viewer to come to their own decision. Although, this constant attempt to build a relationship with the audience, as well as the use of hand-held camerawork, may place this documentary under the sub-genre of PARTICIPATORY; particularly from the perspectives of Professor David Wilson, whose involvement in the case of Carl Bridgewater and his interaction with Bert are of strong focus throughout.

Nichols' 'Modes of documentary' (1991);

He takes an influential approach to the study of documentary by looking at the 5 different modes/types of documentary. This can help organise documentaries into categories, but modes are defined with reference to documentary techniques rather than subject matter etc. The 5 modes are;

1) EXPOSITORY DOCUMENTARIES;

- speaks directly to the viewer (often in form of an authoritative commentary)
- uses voice over/titles
- proposes a strong argument
- they are a point of view and are rhetorical.
- most commonly seen on TV

- uses direct address for the audience

- e.g; “Interview with a Murderer”

- "March of the Penguins"

2) OBSERVATIONAL DOCUMENTARIES;

- referred to as "fly-on-the-wall" documentaries that aim to represent the world as it is

- they'll use long takes, hand-held camera work

- no interviews or voiceover

- audience shouldn't be aware of filmmaker. 

- e.g; "Salesman"

3) PARTICIPATORY DOCUMENTARIES;

- oppose the observational style

- filmmaker is foregrounded and are known

- makes it explicit that the documentary is from the filmmaker's point of view

- the filmmaker will often be the main character, so there will be a focus on their interaction with others

- can include voice overs, hand-held camera work and informal interviews. 

- e.g; food/travel documentaries.

- e.g; "The Thin Blue Line"

4) REFLEXIVE DOCUMENTARIES; 

- can often show the construction of a documentary to a viewer

- it is a reflection of what can be seen.

- e.g; "Stories We Tell"

5) PERFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARIES;

- linked to reflexive documentary

- investigates the relationship between the real world and the way in which documentaries represents it

- representations are based on the construction/manipulation of image 

- this documentary then takes this idea further by explicitly challenging the idea of documentary truth/emphasising the process of film language itself. 

- e.g; "Tongues Untied" 

List of Satellite and Terrestrial Channel Documentaries

Documentaries – Satellite channels;

Documentaries - Terrestrial channels;

Are there any similarities or differences between the different examples?
= The documentaries listed cover a range of genres and sub-categories; there are reality television documentaries, as well as drama, nature, travel and history.
= For the sub-genres of documentaries, some of the topics are the same, e.g;
   - the travel documentaries often involve property – where people are looking for new homes abroad, or holiday homes.
   - with food documentaries, the topic generally involves real-life chefs exploring new cuisines.
   - all of these various sub-genres are also part of a series.
= There are also a wide range of one-off documentaries which take my keen interest.
= Through observing these various documentaries, I’ve noticed that the topic of coverage is often quite severe, or is something highly covered in current news, e.g;
   - the documentary-drama which aired on Channel 4, Friday 8^th July at 1am is a one-off which is covering the case of a convicted criminal who was never actually charged, even though all the evidence pointed to him being guilty.
   - another political documentary titled “Racist Britain” is part of a series and also covers a highly significant issue of the EU referendum and its effect on society.
   - maybe this is because some issues are so large in significance that they need more coverage then one single documentary – which is certainly something I shall consider when creating my own documentary.

How does each of the programmes conform to our initial definition of documentary – that it is:
- non-fiction
- about the real world
- unstaged
- based on observation, rather than intervention by the documentary-maker
- informative, educational?
= “Matron, Medicine and Me: 70 years of the NHS”
   - this is non-fiction, about current affairs, filmed in-the-moment and informs us all about the development of one our most important systems.
= “Close Calls: Caught on Camera”
   - non-fiction, immediate, possibly made from the maker’s perspective as they have chosen what clips to include.
= “Attenborough’s Passion Projects…”
   - non-fiction, filmed across a period of time that is both realistic and most likely made from the perspectives of the main subject ‘David Attenborough’, but it is informative – particularly for the fans of his life.
= “Gino’s Italian Escape – Islands in the Sun”
   - non-fiction, could be said to look from the maker’s perspective as it has a purpose to highlight the positive aspects of a country – attract people there.
= “Interview with a Murderer”
   - non-fiction, filmed across a period, again made from perspectives as it is informing people of the life and situation of a man who is considered highly interesting in the eyes of the law and the media.
= most of the documentaries listed follows a similar pattern; the only form of documentary that seems to go against our original definition of documentary is the sub-genre of reality television.
= Although it cannot be concluded that all reality-documentaries are scripted, the appearance of which the subjects come across often leave viewers feeling as though reality is not actually be represented – despite the suggestive title. 

Links/titles to some of the documentaries I found most intriguing from the ones listed;
"Matron, Medicine and Me: 70 Years of the NHS"

"Interview With a Murderer"

"Big Brother"

DOCUMENTARY MONTAGE from Sophie Rudd on Vimeo.

Before beginning my analysis of preliminary tasks, or before beginning to look at creating my own documentary, I have made a montage video of documentaries I personally found as inspiration for my own work. Through each clip I analyse the key features of the documentary, including key words and codes and conventions expected of the various genres of TV documentaries.

A Brief History of Documentaries

Great Train Robbery 1903;

- the 1900's saw the dawn of cinema.

- the first still image was taken in 1897.

- during this period, there was really no structure to a film.

- because of this, one can now witness how framing, shot types and editing are all vitally important processes when creating the narrative.

- when watching 'The Great Train Robbery', it's easy to see how - when taking any shot - it needs to be really tightly shot.

- this way, the audience are in no doubt of where they should be looking when watching a film.

The Lumiere Brothers;

- invented their own type of processing for films and documentaries.

- produced a series of films called "actualities" - massively focused on the idea of realism for an audience member.

- one such documentary titled "A Train Pulling into a Station" caused riots when it was released, as the way in which the shot was taken made it appear to audience members as though the train was going to quite literally come into the cinema.

- it scared people so much, that they ran out of the cinema screaming.

- this was because people at the time had only either seen a train in real life or in a photograph - not as a moving image.

- they were French inventors and the pioneer manufacturers of photographic equipment, who devised an early motion-picture camera and projector - the 'cinematographe'.

- they created the film 'La Sortie des ouvriers de l'usire Lumiere' - which consisted of a single camera used for both photographing and projecting 16 frames per second.

- their first films were titled "actualities" and focused on real life e.g; 'The Arrival of A Train", "A Game of Cards", "Feeding a Baby" etc.

- then at the start of 1896 they sent a trained crew of innovative cameraman-projectionists to cities throughout the world to show films and shoot new material.