Analysis of Documentaries

A Very British Gangster
Donal MacIntyre (2007)

A Very British Gangster is an all access film inside one of Britain’s most dangerous crime family. For the first time, a gang of contemporary criminals open their lives to reveal a brutal world and a community which relies upon gangsters for justice, rather than the police.
The director of the documentary, Donal MacIntyre, explained the reason for him making the documentary “I wanted the viewer to discover this world just as I did one nerve-wracking step at a time. I want those watching to touch, smell and breathe the grit of this gangster and his family from the inside out”.



The subject of the documentary is Dominic Noonan, a gangster who goes by the alias Mr LATTLAY FOTTFOY, which is an acronym of his motto – look after those that look after you, f**k off those that f**k off you. There is extensive use of a low angle shot when Noonan is on screen to connote his power and authority over the community. At various points in the documentary, there is archive footage of news stories on Noonan and his gang. This makes the audience realise that the events have actually happened and are not made up for dramatic effect. There are varied camera shots, most of which, however have the same connotation of Noonan being in control. When the gang are walking up the stairwell, the camera is positioned as if it is a CCTV camera watching where they are going and what they are doing. This portrays them as criminals who cannot be trusted.
The music playing whilst the gang are in the club is very urban and connotes that the city of Manchester is almost a character in Noonan’s story. However, MacIntyre’s voiceover has a calming effect on the situation and allows the audience to appreciate the dramatic circumstance.
When MacIntyre is interviewing Noonan, it takes place in an informal setting, which indicates the type of person that Noonan is. During the interview, Noonan swears at someone and threatens them for talking whilst he is answering a question, he then turns to MacIntyre and apologizes for the interruption and his language. This shows that even though he is known as a brutal gangster, he still has manners, and people may start to understand him more. There is a crane shot of the area that Noonan lives during the documentary to show that it is a typical northern community. Also in the documentary, similar to archive footage, there are photos of past events shown. The black and white pictures look as if they are police photos of a crime.
When Noonan is arrested whilst filming the documentary, MacIntyre is live on camera improvising as he goes along because the event wasn’t scripted. The handheld camera following MacIntyre as he runs downs the street provides a connection between the subject, director and audience.
Later, when MacIntyre is once again interviewing Noonan, the 180 degree rule is broken, and the visually stimulating camera movement draws the audience in to keep them watching. At first, the interview appears very formal. However, when the camera pans round, the audience realise that it is set in a pub. This editing cleverly displays the juxtaposition of Noonan’s life, and there is a sense of irony to the interview.


Super Size Me
Morgan Spurlock (2004)

The 2004 American documentary Super Size Me was directed by Morgan Spurlock, who also starred in the film. The documentary follows a 30 day period (February to March 2003) during which, Spurlock is only allowed to eat McDonalds. The film documents this lifestyles drastic effect on Spurlock’s physical and psychological well being. The stated factor for Spurlock’s investigation was the increasing spread of obesity throughout U.S Society, which the surgeon general has declared “epidemic”, and the corresponding lawsuit against McDonalds on behalf of 2 overweight girls, who, it was alleged, became obese as a result of eating McDonald’s food.

“That's when the light went on for me, and I said 'Well, if it's that good for me, realistically I should be able to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for thirty days straight with no side effects. I should be able to live the All American way of life of over eating and under exercising and be fine.' So that's what I did.”

The documentary film was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature. It is also the tenth highest grossing documentary film of all time.



The film starts with a shot of a group of children singing a song about 3 well known fast food chains (McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut). This immediately introduces the subject matter to the audience without being told to us directly. Also, it gives the impression that the children have been ‘brainwashed’ by fast food at such a young age. This will start to generate discussion amongst viewers. There is also a quote on screen from the founder of McDonalds which reinforces the subject matter.
The use of images in the film is helpful in conveying the message to the audience. For example, the map on the screen when Spurlock is describing facts about increasing rates of obesity, the audience don’t necessarily need to listen as the image is easy enough to read and interpret. It also has more of an effect as not only can you hear what he is saying i.e. statistics, you can see it changing in front of your eyes.
The voice over from Spurlock helps him to connect with the audience as he isn’t just reeling off a list of facts but he is talking to us as if he knows us. He also uses humour in some parts to engage the audience. Also, he is more relatable when he describes his childhood, along with the use of pictures. To make the facts he describes easier to understand i.e. 46 million people worldwide eat McDonalds per day, Spurlock makes comparisons i.e. this is more than the entire population of Spain.
The song Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen is played whilst various images are shown as a title sequence. This has connotations of Spurlock saying what he thinks without saying it outright. Later on in the documentary, there is an interview with a doctor. The interview is broken up throughout the documentary so that what is shown has relevance. Spurlock also uses vox pops in the documentary as the opinion of the public is vital to the film. He asks them simple questions like “How often do you eat fast food?” This shows that he isn’t only concerned about McDonalds, but all junk food.


March of the Penguins
Luc Jacquet (2005)

March of the Penguins, made in 2005, directed by Luc Jacquet, is the second highest grossing documentary film of all time. It is a French nature documentary film that depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica. The film won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary feature. It was noted that, by the time of the 2006 Academy Awards, this documentary had out-grossed all 5 best picture nominees ($77 million vs. $75 million for Brokeback Mountain)



The significant thing to note about March of the Penguins is that it is a completely unconventional documentary, and is arguably more like a feature film. The entire film is made up of cleverly edited and structured shots, narrated by the Academy Award winning actor Morgan Freeman. The only time the audience see people in the film is in the credits. (7 minutes into the video below)



Breathtaking photography captures the beauty and devotion as they go on a journey to breed their young. The way the footage is shot and narrated makes the viewer feel as if they are there in the situation and part of the journey.Morgan Freeman is known for providing narration to films, and is famous for voice which people will recognise. Also, he is associated with playing characters with a calm demeanour. People will trust what he is saying because he has credibility. He has also narrated another Academy Award winning feature length documentary – They Long Way Home (1997).


Bowling for Columbine
Michael Moore (2002)

Bowling for Columbine is the 2002 documentary that brought international attention to Michael Moore as a rising filmmaker. The film explores what Moore suggests are the causes for the Columbine High School massacre and other acts of violence with guns. He focuses on the background and environment in which the massacre took place, and some common public opinion about the issue. In discussions with various interviewers, Moore has stated that in the documentary, he seeks to explain why the Columbine massacre occurred and why the United States has a high violent crime rate.



At the beginning of the documentary when Moore is introducing the film, there is use of actual footage, which the audience can relate to. He also uses humour to connect with the audience so that they are interested in what he has to say. When he goes into the bank to open “the account which gets you a free gun”, Moore is portraying how easy it is to get a gun in today’s society. He has an interview with the bank manager and questions whether offering a gun for a bank account is a good idea – echoing what the audience will be thinking. There is use of handheld camera when he is in the bank to give the audience the feeling of being there.
There is a video segment of an advert shown on TV for toy guns aimed at young children. The video is in black and white, connoting that the industry of guns has been around for a long time. Moore explains how he, himself, has won trophies for rifle shooting. He also makes reference to the well known actor Charlton Heston. There is also an interview with the police, which gives the film authenticity.
Later in the film, the song Happiness is a Warm Gun plays during a video montage in which various clips are played, for example:
-People buying guns
-People firing guns at fairgrounds and shooting ranges
-Carey McWilliams, a blind gun enthusiast
-The suicide of American politician, Budd Dwyer
The nest line spoken, “this is a great place to raise your children”, is ironic considering the footage previously shown.There are various vox pops in the film to show the public’s reaction to what happened. The archive footage shown is edited with actual footage in an attempt to get a certain message across to the audience. There is another montage of images/videos in the documentary. This time, they are shown whilst What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong is played. For majority of the montage, the audience can only hear the song playing whilst captions appear on screen. The section of video ends with handheld camera footage of the second World Trade Centre plane crash, with the audio consisting solely of the hysterical reactions of the witnesses, recorded by the microphone on the camera. Although there are parts of the montage that will be too old for a lot of people to relate to, there has been audio used on the 9/11 section as it is an event that everyone watching the video can relate to, especially the emotions that can be heard.