Documentary Analysis 3, Dying to Be Anorexic



Documentary Analysis, Dying To Be Anorexic

I chose to analyse this documentary as it contains all of the documentary conventions but with more home footage as well as formal filmed footage, giving a sense of realism towards the lives of the people followed in the documentary.

Camera Work

The camera shots and angles throughout the documentary are more informal than of a conventional documentary, the interviews are done still using the rule of thirds but the shot is sometimes on a canted angle, or an extreme close up of the face, the interviews still follow the formal interview with the interviewee still looking at somebody as if she is talking to them.

There are lots of shots used to show what the girls are looking at on the internet, it shows them lookingat pro anorexia websites and blogs of other girls going through thr same thing, wanting to be anorexic.  



Handheld Camera shot of what
Katie is looking at on
the internet.



Lavinia and Katie are the main focus of the documentary, a lot of the footage used is home footage such

Lavinia taking a home
video of herself for her
video blog.

as video blogs and self interviews,
and of other family or friends filming them.

Lavinia does video blogs of herself each month and zooms in on the parts of her body she doesn't like, showing the fat on her body. It tells the audience how she thinks of herself.
Lavinia and Katie both do home videos of what they eat and do at home, of which their friend/relatives film for them, filming things such as the scales as Lavinia weighs herself, biscuits, cornflakes, noted food with amount of calories etc. This gives an insite as to what these pro-anorexicsdo in their everyday lives.



Two Shot of Katie talking to her
best friend about her
eaing and lifestyle.



There are various closeups and extreme closeups on a young girl who has anorexia showing the bones sticking out e.g. the ribs, sine etc, as the narrator talks about the affects of anorexia and skeletal bodies, emphasising the aftermath of anorexia.

There are several montages throughout the documentary, shots shown swiftly after one another of Katie and her lifestyle, close-up shots on her writing and shopping etc. When Katie goes out shopping there is another video montage of her trying clothes on. This shows how Katie copes when it comes to looking at herself trying clothes on.

There are various establishing shots showing the shopping centre where Katie and her friend go, and the city of Bath etc.Another of the Rhodes Farm Clinic where young adolescents go when they have severe cases of anorexia.
Editing

The editing at the beginning of the documentary is particularly effective in showing the title 'I Love Being Anorexic' as it is shown in a text and picture montage, put together in different transitions such as fades, cuts and dissolves. The montage is put together in time with the non-diegetic sound of a heartbeat, this is effective as it emphasises the theme of life and death.

There are rarely any effective transitions,just direct cuts as most of the documentary is filmed through home footage or a handheld camera.

Text has been put in for the video blogs stating the week and where,for example; Oxford, Week 3.

As the adverts are about to commence, the distributor of the documentary 'Hot Docs' logo comes on screen, this is titling with a film camera behind the text infront of a blue background.

SoundThroughtout the documentary, a large variety of non-diegetic music plays, particularly in the sections when neither the narrator or interviewees are speaking. When somebody is speaking the sound is lowered slightly so we can still hear it but primarily focusing on what the person/narrator is saying.

The non-diegetic music is played a lot when showing what is being seen on the computer as it scrolls quickly down the pages zooming in on particular pictures and text in time with the music.

The diegetic sounds emphasises the reality of the lives of the girls such as the hoover going and Katie walking through the park and hearing the birds and the wind.

One of the songs played in the documentary is when Katie is trying on cothes at the shopping centre, the song is called 'Perfect Ten' by the Beautiful South, this song relates well with the documentary as the lyrics are about sizes and how it's perfect.

Themes

The themes of the documentary are Beauty, Life and Death, Health, Perception, Perfection, Depression Reality and Individuality.

Mise en scene

There are no specific costumes within the documentary as it makes the documentary more realistic and not acted as the two main people filmed just wear their normal clothing they would wear to work, at home and out and about. The cameras follow their daily lives so they dont change any part of their rountines.

There is no specific lighting used as the general footage and interviews are informal and self filmed by Lavinia and Katie and therefore don't focus on these elements, although the fotage is always filmed in the day which gives natural lighting.

None of the documentary is acted out or reconstructed as it is not a past event, therefore nothing is needed to be reconstructed, there is no specific make-up use either apart from what the subjects normally wear in their everyday lives.

The camera focuses on props such as food and clothing, closeups and extreme closeups are used in displaying the lifestyles of the subjects .

The documentary flicks from two different settings of where the two subjects live, Oxford and Bath, the establishing shots show the Bath centre and the flat in Oxford that Lavinia wants to buy.

Narrative
The documentary is structured in a more informal way of documenting as it does contain interviews and many varieties of shots and angles but they are not set up perfectly or acted out, this kind of narrative structure has the key theme of reality.

This makes the footage more original and direct as it has been filmed, put togther and shown straight away without adding any editing techniques apart from cuts to change scenes.

There is a narrator who talks and explains the affects of anorexia and how the two pro anorexics live and eat, the narrator helps the audience understand what the subjects talk about.

Type and Style of Documentary

The style of this documentary is expository.

The type is informative as it informs the audience about anorxia and how it effects people.
Audience Response

I think that the audience will be shocked and astonished at the effects and the reality of the documentary and the anorexia itself.