2. Channel Four
Documentary Analysis – Educating the East End
Educating the East End is a Channel Four documentary series, focusing on the everyday lives of staff and
students of a comprehensive secondary school in East London. This series follows the format of award-
winning series Educating Essex and Educating Yorkshire. The series acts in a mixed documentary styles
combining aspects of expository (narration) and observational (fly-on-the-wall camera use). The series also
includes ‘talking heads’ interviews with both staff and students about their lives in school.
The opening sequences begins with a montage of shots showing
visuals of different aspects of school life, initially beginning with the
sound of a school bell ringing and a child running down a corridor,
which gives the effect of the beginning of the school day. The
montage consists of some typical school situations e.g. shots of
students walking to class, however the majority of shots are
humorous and often unconventional actions made by students and
teachers. The sequence seems to be attempting to engage with both
older and younger audiences, as they may be able to relate to similar
things that happened in their time at school and therefore creating a
sense of nostalgia, encouraging the audience to keep watching. The
use of camera in the montage uses a wide variety of different shot
types to demonstrate all aspects of school life. For example, it the top
picture on the left we see a high angle long shot of children skipping,
in comparison to the mid-close up of a girl in class (bottom left).
3. Channel Four
Documentary Analysis – Educating the East End
The opening is assisted by ‘voice-of-God’ narration and intercutting segments of a ‘talking head’ interview with
the school’s headteacher. The narration and interview act as a narrative bridge to introduce the documentary
and the theme of change within the school. This has been edited to fit with visuals and observation to support
their claims. For example, “We have… lots of potential, but not a lot of self belief.” is said and followed by a clip
of a child claiming that “[he] can’t do it.”
The title page consists of a plain black background with silver text. The
font is simple and professional, reflecting the subject of school life.
Additionally the word ‘Educating’ is in bold capital letters compared to
the rest of the title, possibly to emphasise the point of the
documentary but also to indicate that it is a part of a collective of
series with the word being an anchor to establish them e.g. Educating
Essex.
The soundtrack of the opening consists of diegetic dialogue and non-
diegetic music to represent mood. For example, the music is uplifting
as the idea of encouraging the children is introduced. Music is also
used in humorous ways, such as when Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ is
played ironically when some students are seemingly ‘disrespecting the
teachers.
4. Channel Four
Documentary Analysis – Legally High
Legally High is a hard-hitting, controversial documentary which explores the world of legal drug use. It is a part of
Channel Four’s ‘True Stories’ documentaries and was created by award-winning director, Dan Reed.
The documentary looks into drug dealing chemists and how they invent new types of highs faster than the
Government can ban them. This is an expository documentary with ‘voice-of-God’ narration to establish and explain
the observation and interviews that go along with it. The opening of Legally High seems fairly balanced in that we are
shown visuals of young people enjoying the usage in contrast to the ‘talking head’ interviews with ‘experts’ discussing
the dangers of these drugs. The narrator remains impartial, providing the audience with the facts, however his
sombre tone along with the slow and eerie non-diegetic soundtrack gives a darker atmosphere to the documentary.
This may be implying that we should agree with the ‘expert’ interviews and that the drugs are dangerous.
The documentary opens with a series of establishing shots of an industrial town. This seems
to be ‘setting the scene’ for what is to come as the weather is cloudy and fairly gloomy,
foreshadowing the dark theme of the documentary. This significance of this shot of heavy
industrialism also has associations with the topic itself as it links to the drug industry and the
process of formation of new drugs.
We are then shown observational shots of the man in the bottom screenshot. A low angle
shot here is used, to create the impression that he is important to the documentary in that he
is knowledgeable about the topic and that, as an audience, we should listen to him. We
immediately assume that he has something to do with the topic of legal drug use as a result
of our preconceived stereotypes of drug users link with his own appearance and manner. He
uses explicit language and talks philosophically about life. He goes on to talk about his
previous aspirations, which adds personality and creates realism, allowing us to sympathise
with him. It seems to be implied that he has had a hard life and uses drugs as an ‘escape’, it is
also suggested that drugs have ruined his ambitions in life adding to that sense of argument.
5. Channel Four
Documentary Analysis – Legally High
The shot later changes to him speaking directly to the ‘invisible’ interviewer, which adds to
the sense of verisimilitude. Additionally, many of the shots of him are slightly blurred or
distorted possibly to reflect how drug use can affect us. Visuals of him taking the drugs are
intercut with interviews with expert’s discussing the banning of drugs and how dealers can
find loopholes to still provide the same kind of high that can be achieved by taking illegal
substances.
The mise-en-scene of the interview across suggests intelligence and authority. For example,
there are folders and atom models in the background suggesting that he is possibly in an
office and has some scientific knowledge. He is also older which subconsciously suggests
wisdom and his clothing is fairly smart. This all adds to the sense of believability and realism,
allowing the audience to believe what he is saying to be authentic and implying that we
should agree with him. Furthermore, the framing of this ‘talking head’ interview is
significant in that we get an impression of intimacy due to the fact that this is almost a close
up and that he dominating the shot. This is possibly due to the hard-hitting nature of the
documentary and the topic. Similarly, his tone, body language and expression suggest his
worry about legal drug use, which furthers the argument of them being dangerous; ”just
because they’re legal does not mean they’re safe.”
The title of the documentary is simplistic and almost unseen. The font is small which could
be reflecting how the topic isn’t very well-known. It also fades in slowly, possibly again to
represent the process and effects of legal highs.
6. Channel Four
Documentary Analysis – The Fried Chicken Shop
The Fried Chicken Shop is a documentary film (and later series) broadcasted by Channel Four as a
part of their ‘Cutting Edge’ series. It follows the life of staff and costumers of a fried chicken shop in
London and exploring contemporary life through fast food. Much like Educating the East End, The
Fried Chicken Shop is a mixed documentary as it combines ‘fly-on-the-wall’ observation with ‘talking
head’ interviews and ‘voice-of-God’ narration. The narrator of the film contrasts the ‘typical’
documentary narrator, for example older, ‘high-class’ accent, as instead the filmmakers have chosen
a younger individual who speaks with more of an informal tone. This may be reflecting the
documentary’s target audience, and in fact Channel Four’s main audience, to make the narration
more relatable and keep interest high.
The film opens with narration, giving factual information about chicken and our
consumption of it in the UK. This is firstly accompanied by visuals of seemingly free-
range living chicken as the exposition speaks of how chicken used to be a luxury. Later
we are told that in contemporary society we consume mass amounts of chicken every
year. Comparably, these statements are accompanied with visuals of battery chicken
and of butchery in factories. This may be to build an argument that we are eating too
much chicken and that it is morally wrong. In addition to this, showing these shocking
visuals so early on, entices audience interest and intrigues them to watch on.
This sequence leads into a montage of different observations of people ordering and
eating chicken. The soundtrack that partners this is modern and electronic. It is also
very repetitive, representing how much and often people eat chicken.
7. Channel Four
Documentary Analysis – The Fried Chicken Shop
The titles of this documentary are different compared to the other two Channel Four documentaries
I have explored, in that the use of camera here is innovative and attention-
grabbing. The camera is placed as if it were a piece of fried chicken and is
‘picked up’ by a pair of tongs and put into a take away box. This creates a
sense of realism and immediately submerges the audience into this world.
The simplistic font here is similar to the other documentaries, however but
is accompanied by the colours of raw chicken meat, which in itself is
thought-provoking, much like Channel Four’s aims to create.
Following this, we are shown another sequence of montage combining
interviews and observation as the exposition establishes what the documentary
is exploring. The interviews in the film use medium to close-up shots. This could
be to create empathy as they touch on personal matters, in particular as Ali, the
Branch Manager (across) talks about his staff and how they are like family to him.
The use of camera throughout the observational scenes of the documentary
seem to be acting like CCTV camera, which therefore may mean that what we
are observing is very much so the real actions of real people. This creates a high
sense of verisimilitude and allows the audience to fully ‘believe’ what is being
shown to be truth. However we can not assume that the film is purely objective
in that the editing process may have left out footage which could alter our
reading of the film, despite the fact that the observational aspects seem to lack a
clear argument.
