Time Team – A typical historical documentary. Series 15 | Episode 5 - Bodies in the Dunes, Outer Hebrides

A historical documentary literally documents the past in a believable and truthful way. They often seek to persuade and inform so a great deal of representation could be involved and mediation although a documentaries aim is to document reality.

This documentary is Time Team, one of a long list of episodes that has been in the interest of the public for decades, therefore there must be something about this programme that still appeals to audiences. One of the conventions of a good documentary is that it contains a good story or narrative. The narrator on time team is Tony Robinson, a well known actor and narrator. This gives the audience a familiar face to which they would believe the facts he talks about. The use of a narrator behind the camera to anchor and link presentation together fits in with Barthes Theory Of Anchorage. His dress is outdoor gear which is functionality rather than presentational dress. It makes him match the rest of the archaeologists and so the audience automatically assumes his similar knowledge.

"Michael Rabiger (1998) suggests a list of criteria that a documentary must fulfil:
· Tells a good story.
· Cannot be value neutral.
· Aim to convey a personal, critical perspective on some aspect of the human condition
· Interesting characters who are trying to achieve something.
· Include contextual information (not too much/not too early).
· Contain dramatic suspense via situations that intrigue the audience and make them
Judge, anticipate.
· Develop the audience’s knowledge of at least one situation or character.
· There should be a confrontation between opposing forces which reaches a climax
And is then resolved. "



Most of these are evident in this episode for example past narratives are displayed as sketches and reconstructions which composes the element of it having to be a good story. Interesting characters could be the archaeologists as each one has a unique personality and these same characters appear in every episode with special guests to keep it less predictable.

Must include contextual information, this episode is jam packed with information about the items and people they excavate; all is relevant and interesting to the audience. Dramatic suspense is conveyed via the digging up of bodies in this episode and the enigma of how they got there, who they were and how they died. All of which are revealed in the episode.
The audience develops knowledge of the time period and some of the bodies living lives, this also follows Michael Rabiger’s theory.

The opposing forces in this piece could be the living and the dead with the dead trying to bury their secrets and the living trying to unravel the mysteries. All these criteria ensure a good viewing experience.

The producers have used real locations, real people, real events and real artefacts and equipment. They use cameras to document the excavations as they occur in real time. The camera is crudely walked about to give the audience a sense of being there in the trench, this is often to increase reality. They are often hand held cameras. Audience sympathy is increased by close ups of faces of reconstructions and also the skulls so a great deal of empathy is put upon the audience when for example the mode of death is discussed. Some documentaries also use the style of cinéma-vérité, which originated in the 1950’s. The Cinéma-vérité include followings a person during a crisis with a moving, often handheld, camera to capture more personal reactions. This is used as the camera man often has to run with the narrator Tony Robinson as new discoveries are found and time is of the essence.

Christopher Beevers, Wayne Miller, Christopher Saxby

Research on the friends of boston castle...

Boston Castle

The Friends of Boston Castle and Parkland was formed in July 2002 to support Rotherham MBC in their bid for Heritage Lottery Funding which would be used to restore Boston Castle and regenerate the parkland.

The group includes representatives from local communities and special interest groups. The aims and objective of the group are:


* To improve and work towards the restoration, management and maintenance of Boston Park as decided by the membership.

* To improve facilities within the park as described by the membership, subject to finance being available.

* To promote safe urban use of the parks and create an inviting environment.

* To promote an Urban Park Ranger operation within the parks.

* To act as the community advisory body for the park in liaison with Rotherham MBC.

* To raise the profile of the park and castle within the local community and further afield through means of events and newsletters.

* To help interpret the history of the park and castle.


Boston Castle was built, as a shooting lodge, by Thomas 3rd Earl of Effingham in 1776.
The Earl, being a nobleman with liberal ideals, approved of the American Colonists’ rights for their independence. As deputy Earl Marshall of England and a commissioned officer in the army, the Earl of Effingham was expected to fight for George III against the rebelling American colonists.

When a controversial tax on tea was levied on the colonists by the British, they angrily resisted by dumping 342 chests of tea into the harbour at Griffin’s Wharf. This act. which was known as the Boston Tea Party ultimately triggered off the American war of Independence.

Rather than fight in a war which he considered to be unjust, the Earl resigned his commission. In an impassioned speech in the House of Lords, the Earl spoke of the injustice of the proposed taxation to be levied upon tea, stating that Britain had no right to exercise this power

So strong was his opposition to the events in the Americas that he decided to name his new shooting lodge Boston Castle. The castle was the scene of many parties but “tea that obnoxious beverage” was barred.

Source: http://www.fobcap.org.uk/

Saving Britain’s Past – The Country House. Textual Analysis

All representations in TV productions are mediated by the producer. As Stuart Hall (1980) suggests, the audience can be positioned to accept a dominant, preferred representation of many aspects about society.


This documentary follows the plight and decline of Britain’s country houses and stately homes with a single narrator who describes and explains on screen and also interviews people of interest. As this is a modern piece about modern time’s producers have created a modern feel with all aspects of its making and editing which keeps audiences happy. The narrative in this segment follows the owners of houses and how they have to generate extra income just to upkeep the costs of owning the house.



Tom Dyckhoff is the narrator and unlike Culloden is actually seen and talks to the camera. The mode of address is informal as he casually reels off information to the audience and interviews owners. Laura mulveys theory of male gaze does not fit in here as the narrator is a man which would suggest the documentary is aimed more at women than men.

The technical side of this documentary is very modern compared to Culloden as it is supposed to be filmed in modern times. There are a wide range of camera angles including establishing shots to show the house in question along with big panning shots to show the grounds and to extenuate the magnitude of these buildings. These have been mediated to show the magnificence of some of these houses, which supports Stuart Hall’s theory of producers encoding messages into their media. Two shots have been used to record interviews which are basic compared to some conversation camerawork, also where the narrator walks through a door no action match shots are used, which could be down to a low budget.

This clip follows the rules of continuity editing. Simple cuts link the shots together to form a smooth fluent piece, no action matches or anything fancy are used as this clip does not contain action scenes and the camera work is mainly there to enable the audience to observe what the narrators talking about. It would appear that only one camera man was present during filming as only one point of view is covered with the camera.

Sound in this documentary is there for an opposite effect compared to Culloden, where in Culloden suspense battlefield drumming, screaming and battle sounds can be heard to create an accurately acted out reconstruction, here the music has a calming effect and reflects the nature of this documentary, orchestra music plays which has connotations of relaxation and helps the camerawork flow with the flowing music. The narrator speaks with a calm confident voice whereas Culloden had nervous actors to reflect the fear. Few sound effects are present in this documentary due to little or no need for them; the ones heard are real and not dubbed in. On screen graphics are present in this piece only to introduce the narrator, in Culloden graphics aren’t present and the title scene is a filmed board with the name printed on.

The mode of address of this documentary in my opinion is peer to peer as the narrator appears friendly and informed. This is common in many documentaries as this reassures and informs the audience without them feeling they are being taught endless facts; it brings entertainment to educational shows.

Culloden Textual Analysis

Culloden (0.00-5.00) - A BBC Historical Documentary about the battle of Culloden
All representations in TV productions are mediated by the producer. As Stuart Hall (1980) suggests, the audience can be positioned to accept a dominant, preferred representation of many aspects about society. In the documentary Culloden it could be suggested that a certain amount of biased might be put upon the documentary to persuade the audience into believing the mediated view of the producers. In this clip the biased is quite clear; the British soldiers are the barbaric “butchers” whereas the clan fighters are just simple human beings being used as rent
.

The documentary follows the battle of Culloden, in ancient times and shows reconstructions of the battle and the lives of some of the men who fought. The narrative at this point shows in detail the lives and the ranks of the men on one side of the battle who fought. For example naming Tax man, Subtenant of a Taxman, Subtenant of a Subtenant.. Etc Names and a list of possessions are narrated to give the audience an in-depth understanding of the characters on the screen. A great deal of empathy is then put on the audience as not only are the soldiers seen as fighters, but are now seen as human beings, just like the audience.

Human Rent is repeated to drill into the audience the harsh realities of slavery and debt towards other men. Human rent has connotations of men being dispensable and used as a form of currency. All denote the harsh times of the war. The voice of the narrative is a stereotypical pre-war voice which has the same feeling of past times on the documentary. Coupled with the black and white images it makes the diegisis believable. The whole aim of this narrative is to set the scene and to set the diegisis and the character profiles.

The battle and pre-battle plus after battle are portrayed with black and white wobbly film which makes the verisimilitude of the diegisis become more imaginable to the audience yet clearly the audience knows cameras were not invented in the time in question. The camera shots are used as follows, wide angle and panning shots to show the scene and used as establishing shots. Tracking shots to follow the people in the film while the narrator tells the audience about them, and along with extreme close up of emotion-telling features such as eyes and mouths this enforces the empathy onto the audience. Medium Close-ups are used also to show expressions and the wobbly movement of the camera along with the actors looking into the character give an overall feeling that the audience is soldier, like those on screen.

No shot reverse shot structures are used as none of the onscreen actors make any interaction with each other, unlike many documentaries where interviews would be common. The camera work overall is very basic to in keep with the time of the battle on which the documentary is on, for example having technical transitions such as dissolves and swipe across would ruin the diegesis onscreen. Zoom in’s to extreme close ups are used to put names to faces, for the audience.

Mise en scene is very important in this documentary as the producers have tried to recreate the battle to the highest of verisimilitude. Battle dress, costumes, and the background all is in keeping with the types of that time. Props such as the weapons are of the period which is important to create an accurate reconstruction, for example no modern weapons appear in this.
Sound is also used to create an atmosphere of battle and war, a lone bagpiper plays amongst the soldiers and also drums which would have been present during battles can also be heard. Battle cries and screaming is a constant background noise giving the audience a sense of action and unrest.

The mode of address in this clip is different to most documentaries as it appears that the audience is interviewing these men who are about to fight as actors address the camera with eye contact and respond to narrative questions. This make the audience feel involved and so a more interesting documentary is made.

Started the A2 Year,

Semiotically analyse at least two documentaries (five-minute segment) texts...