1. THE 16 YEAR OLD
KILLER
Documentary Analysis..

2. ANALYSIS
 This documentary focuses on the lead up to the trial and the life
of Cynthia. A 16 year old who is on trial for murder of a man, who
was about to rape her.

3. ANALYSIS
 The documentary starts by setting the scene for Cynthia’s life and
informing the audience why she’s on trial
 It then proceeds to run through her life story and family history
and how she ended up in prostitution at a young age and what led to
the murder. It then shows the trial and all the legal side to her trial
 It ends with Cynthia being sentenced to a life sentence

4. THEMES
 The themes of the documentary are the American legal system
and how it may be abused and worked around
 Also children and child abuse in the world.

5. CAMERA WORK
 The interviews are done mainly in mid shots showing the people
connected to the case sat down from the waist up, however, during
particuly emotional times a close up shot is used to show the emotion
on the faces and allow the audience to connect with them on a
personal level.

6. MISE EN SCENE
 The documentary shows the urban area’s in which Cynthia would
have grown up and he relatives and personal friends are interviewed
in and around these area’s in order to reinforce the idea that she
comes from a troubled background.
 Legal settings such as courtrooms and prisons are also included in
interviews to maintain the theme of the legal system.

7. SOUND
 Sound is very important throughout the course of this documentary,
with both diegetic and no diegetic sound being employed,
 The diegetic sound is the interviews with the people involved in the
case who narrate the story so far and where things stand with Cynthia’s
case.
 The non diegetic sound used is that of slow guitar music in order to
give the documentary a sad and ominous atmosphere.

8. EDITING
 The documentary uses quick cut editing throughout, with normal
cuts being used the most frequently throughout.

9. ARCHIVE FOOTAGE
 Archive footage is used her in the form of footage of the trial and
interviews conducted with Cynthia beforehand. These are used as
evidence to back up what is being said on the screen.
 Magazine pages, newspaper articles and photo’s are also used to
serve the same purpose.