The most hated family in America is a BBC documentary by Louis Theroux which first aired in the UK in 2007. It's about a 'christian family' living in Kansas, USA who are so against homosexuals that they go to extremes of starting inappriate pickets in places like was soldiers funerals. They use banners with sayings such as "God hates America" "You love fags and you hate God" and "Thank God for dead soldiers" and as most would expect, the passing public are unhappy and do thinks like swear at them and argue with them. Louis regularly interviews the family and in one interview with two young sisters they tell him "if people don't follow God's word then they hate God and they are going to hell". He also talks to another young girl from the community and in a conversation about marriage says that she doesn't want to get married because she doesn't have time and then refuses to answer many of Louis' questions and laughs in awkwardness when he clearly hits a soft spot. They also attend a picket at a local hardware store because they sell Swedish vacuum cleaners as a pastor was recently arrested in Sweden for preaching his anti-homosexual views. Pasta Fred Phelps had 14 children, but 4 had fallen from the church and when asked how many children he has he could not answer. Louis also attended one of their church services where Fred preached 'anti-fag' views and the the editing cross-cuts from Fred saying "you will eat your babies" then jumps to a shot of a baby. After even travelling to Chicago to picket a funeral, Louis says "try as I might, nothing will change Shirley's mind". Overall the documentary was successful as it looked at a group of people living a controversial lifestyle which people are interested in, often because they disagree.
Clover field is a documentary film set in Central Park, New York. It's a fiction film based on an attack on New York by a creature that we as an audience never full get to see. It starts with one of the characters using his video camera to film his friends leaving party, so the whole film is filmed by a handheld camera with it occasionally cutting out along with unfocused clips and turning the camera around to his face talking to the camera, to make it seem like a realistic home movie. It also cuts to scenes when he is films the main girl character earlier on in the day on the train and in bed to give it a more personal effect making it seem realistic. When at the party he takes individuals aside to video their goodbyes with characters typically being camera shy, like many often would in reality. Then during the party they realised something was wrong and turned on the news. When running out of the building the camera starts to get really shaky and after escaping the building and being out on the street, they had to run into a local shop and lock the doors to get away from a dust cloud. During this scene the camera is put down on the floor and when the lights go off the screen is blank with just sound. Later on they go down to a tube station, and have to walk along the track and the man film it has to put his night light on, on his camera. This enables the audience to later see the creatures chasing the group until they find a small room along the track. Once getting out of the tube they eventually get down to the last two characters hiding under a bridge in Central Park with noises of the creature destroying the city. However, a loud noise of the creatures is the last thing we hear before the camera cuts out and the films ends. The video below is a short trailer for the film.
Made In Chelsea was one of the first documentarys that we looked at together as a class. It's a reality documentary series on channel 4 that focuses on groups of people all living in London's Chelsea, which is presented as a classy area for the wealthy who enjoy a vogue lifestyle. The audience see this in the opening of every scene where the mise-en-scene consists of expensive designer shops, large houses and appartments, flash cars and in this particular episode, Caggie, Spencer, Milly and Hugo all take a trip to Cannes, which is known for it's glamorous, film livlihood. The group spend a day on a yaught and then go out for dinner which of course is accompanied by cocktails and champaign. The camera spends most of the time focusing on the characters faces to see their awkward expressions and looking at the well groomed both men and women. All the character are made to look like stereotypical, rich young people with their overly posh voices and little knowledge of genuinely important things that doesn't just involve appearance and social topics. Ollie is a stereotypical gay man, with long hair who is looking to be a model, however in this episode he isn't taken very seriously with his comical portfolio which he considers a good collection of photos. He also has to much pride to cut his long brown locks which the agency request of him in order for his career to ever take off. Overal the channel 4 documentary is a typical reality documentary, people are interested in watching it because ir looks into the lives of other real people.
