post 13 benefits street

1. Post 13- Research into
similar products
(Benefits Street)

2. The Purpose Of This Still
Entertain-
This still shows two older men and a younger boy talking
while the older men are smoking and drinking. This still is
quite shocking and suggests that the purpose of this shot
is too shock people and too therefore entertain them.
Due to the fact that there are older men doing bad things
such as drinking in what looks like the early daytime in a
public area and smoking in front of a young and probably
impressionable boy causes is not something a lot of
people see normal, this is an example of how the
program raises awareness to watchers of this completely
different lifestyle that people lead.

3. The Purpose Of This Still
Inform-
This is an establishing shot and shows a family sat
outside on a dirty sofa surrounded by rubbish bag.
This shot causes emotions such as sadness and shock
amongst the audience as seeing young children
surrounded by litter is not something most people
would want too see, this is an example of how the
purpose of the documentary is too inform people on
the worse off lives of others. Another purpose of
Benefits Street is too research into the area of people
on benefits. This shot shows that as we are seeing
people on benefits living their lives normally which is
a form of research (observation).

4. The Purpose Of This Still
Raise awareness-
This shot shows a person on benefits in his front
garden which is surrounded by litter. This is further
evidence on how the documentary's purpose is too
raise awareness and show people how awful life on
“benefits street” is. This shot is also showing the ways
that the documentaries purpose is too entertain as
seeing someone's garden filled with rubbish is not
something seen in normal life and so some people may
find this amusing.

5. Codes And Convention: Interviews
Benefits Street includes many interviews with people who live
on James Turner street, this is the main way that the audience
can really hear what its like to be on benefits. Codes and
conventions of the interviews are to have the interviewee in a
mid shot often not making direct contact to the camera as
they are talking to an interviewer on the side of the camera.
Benefits streets uses interviews a lot and they are effective in
getting the message of what life on benefits is really like and
helps the audience to sympathies with the people more as it
often drops the tone to a more serious and sad level.

6. Codes And Convention: Hand held camera
Benefits Streets filming was mostly done on a handheld camera this
creates the image that we the audience are actually walking down the
road with people like Fungi. Codes and conventions of using a hand
held camera are that the camera isn't still and is usually at a walking
pace. This is a good thing to use and was effective because it put us
the audience in to the shoes of the people on the street and it helped
us too sympathize with the residents of James Turner streets which I
think the documentary wants to do. This use of handheld camera also
made the documentary more exciting, for example when Danny was
being chased through the town by police. This made the documentary
a lot more entertaining which is also another purpose of the
documentary in my opinion.

7. Codes And Convention: Background footage
In Benefits Street there is a lot of background footage played
as a montage in between things such as interviews or the
narrator talking. This background footage made the
documentary stay at a fast pace and also helped to inform the
people and raise awareness for the shocking standards the
people are forced to live in. The codes and conventions for
these shots were to have them shown only briefly and to
have some sort of sound over the top of them playing, this is
because the images alone would slow down the pace of the
documentary and they aren't more relevant then the
accounts of people so therefore they shouldn't’t be given
more on screen time.

8. Types
These shots from the documentary “Benefits
Street” all show what type and mode the
documentary is, one of the types of documentary
this program is would be ‘fly on the wall’. We can
tell that this documentary is fly on the wall mostly
due too the fact that at no point can we see
anything such as a interviewer, camera person or
producer. We also know this is a fly on the wall
documentary due to the way that most of the
shots are more action type shots such as the use
of hand held camera as oppose too more
interview type shots such as a medium close up.

9. Modes
The documentary “Benefits Street” is mostly the documentary
modes observational and expository. The theory of documentaries
being in modes was created by Bill Nichols, some other modes
include poetic, reflexive and performative. An observational mode
of a documentary is when the film maker tries to show an
objective reality of something. This can be seen in benefits street
as we are being shown the lifestyle of people living on benefits
and James Turner street and it is almost as if they have forgotten
the cameras are there. This mode can also be seen threw the
heavy use of handheld camera, for example when Danny is being
pinned down by police.
Expository mode can be seen mostly through the scripted over
voice narrator at the start of the documentary and threw the way
the documentary argues that the benefits system isn't giving
people enough money to live the way they should be able too.

10. Narrative Structure
Circular structure- This is when the documentary ends on the same point
that it started on. I think Benefits Street has a circular structure as it does not
answer an overall question and leaves the audience without summing up the
topic or anything so what the audience think after being given the facts is up
too them.
Open structure- This is when the documentary ends without answering
questions or telling the audience what they should think. I think Benefits
Street does this as after the documentary we are just left and not told of any
opinions we should think or answers too questions the documentary brings
up such as if people on benefits get enough money?

11. What Have I Learnt About Documentaries?
I have learnt many of the codes and conventions of documentaries, such as having experts being interviewed with
a medium close up on the right hand side of the screen with a subtitle of their name and profession in the left
corner. Another convention code I have learnt is that most documentaries include archival footage, this can be
seen a lot in biographical documentaries such as Amy. Archival footage can be shown in the form of photos,
videos, previous interviews etc..
Another thing I have learnt about documentaries is that it has very fast editing. Most documentaries do not stay
on the same clip or photo for more than 10 seconds, this makes the documentary a lot more interesting as shots
that go on for too long make the audience loose interest quickly. Evidence of this can be seen on Benefits Street
when an interviewer asks White Dee a question and only shows a shot of her answering it for about 5 seconds and
then we just hear the rest of her answer over a shot of Fungi walking.
I have also learnt the modes of a documentary. This theory was created by Bill Nichols and is that a documentary
has 6 modes (performative, observational, expository, poetic, ECT). I have also learnt the different types of
documentary such as mixed and fly on the wall and I made a blog post with many examples on these. Benefits
Street as an example could be seen to be in the observational and expository mode.

12. What Am I Going To Use? Why?
In my documentary I want too use archival footage. I want too do this as I think it sets the scene and background
of the documentary well and often archival footage will be in the form of a lot of photos in a fast montage and I
think this fast pace makes the documentary exciting and easy too watch. I could do this archival footage easily on
my topic as everyone has a lot of photos and videos of people drunk on nights out so footage will be easy too find.
Another thing I want too have in my documentary is Vox Pox. This is when random people possibly passing by are
asked questions sharing their thoughts on a topic. I want too do this as I think having the general publics opinions
on drinking is relevant and insightful as drinking affects the public and their opinions on it is the thing most likely
too shape other peoples opinions.
Another convention code I want to add in is professional/ experts interviews. I want this as I think it makes the
documentary seem more realistic and serious. Also having professional interviews I an easier way to get the facts
and statistics in which I also want in.
I also want to include a narrator in my documentary. I want a narrator as this makes the documentary seem more
realistic and having a narrator can keep the documentary more fast paced than having a on screen presenter at all
time. I think having a narrator will be good too put on over the top of some of the archival footage and other
photos.