Analysing a Documentary - My New Brain

Type of Documentary
Mixed

Themes
Life changing events
Growing up once more
Lifestyle of families

Narrative Structure
Non-Linear
Single Strand
Open Narrative

Camerawork
Interviews

• Eye line 3rd of the way down
• Framed to the left or right of the screen
• Medium close up and close up
• 2 shot of brothers interview, carer and Simon interview in street
• Handheld interview outside medium close up

Camerawork

• Tracking shot of Simon walking
• handheld tracking shot following Simon down the street
• Wide shot of Simon walking around the corner
• Zoom out of pictures
• Zoom in into Simons face
• Pan of room with other patients
• Tracking is used to follow Simon everywhere he goes to see what he gets up to
• Pan of living room
  
• Tracking shot of dogs running in garden
• Wide shot if garden
• Extreme close up of Simon's face when he is being told off
• Long shot of hall
• Close up of road markings with camera movement as they pass by
• Zoom into Simon from the backseat of the car
• Point of view shot of someone from the backseat looking at mother and son
• Over the shoulder shot of doctor showing Simon what's happened to his brain

Mise-en-Scene

• Revisits hospital bed he was in a coma in
• Red screen in background of interviews (chromakey)
• Hospital for people with brain problems
• Simon's house
• Simon's car
• Place of accident

Sound

• Voiceover - calm, standard english, male, clear, talks about interacting with Simon, aroun the same age as simon
• Life support machine bleeping
• Natural sound of streets
• Slow emotional music
• Short bursts of dance music when showing extremelt fast cuts of party photos

Editing

• Cut
• Can hear the questions being asked - goes against conventional method
• Quick cuts and camera movements between party photos
• Fast forward cut of lots of pictures
• Eliptical editing reveal a new location and time
• Cut between different settings
• Cross cutting between interviews

Archive Material

• Reconstruction of waking up from coma
• Brain Scan
• Pictures from past, coma, parties
• Camera movement over images

Graphics

• White text for title
• White text to reveal location
• White text on title before break

The image above is to show the reconstruction of Simon's exit of his coma state