Documentary Films - A very British gangster

A very British gangster - 2007

 - Directed by Donal MacIntyre 

A very British gangster 

is an all access film inside one of Britain's most dangerous crime families. For the first time, a gang of contemporary criminals open their lives to reveal a brutal world and an underclass which relies upon gangsters for justice, rather than police. The film follows the trials and tribulations of Dominic Noonan over three years, as he moves from criminal trial to criminal trial.

• It starts with a snippet into one of his criminal activities to keep the audience interested, in this case it was the story about cutting a rival gang members dogs head off and taking into the pub they were in.
• Extreme long shot of Manchester's city scape at night, gives imagery of crime and danger.
• Sound bridge of his voice so we know he is talking and that it is about to cut to his face.
• Dominic Noonan is always situated in the middle of the shot as he is the antagonist of the documentary.
• All three people in the shot are wearing suits, this gives imagery of a Hollywood type gangster like in The Godfather.
• They are walking under a train underpass, typical area for crime and drugs, considered the underbelly of the city.
• Stereotypical black/urban music being played
• Projection of the title onto the train bridge in a large font, could be to show how important Dominic Noonan is considered to be in this area.
• As they walk away it is a low angle shot to give them power and authority over the audience.
• There walk is in slow motion to give it a more dramatised feel.
• It then cuts to a grainy, black and white CCTV stream of them walking, this could show that he is under constant police observation.
• He was previously a door man at a tough club in Manchester so has a rough job and background.
• Cut away to his hands, he is wearing lots of gold jewellery, this is typical for British gangsters trying to show their wealth however it is not very sophisticated.
• He has been in jail 22 out of his 39 years. 
• From the way he speaks about his past it could be said that he is proud of what he has done.
• Despite this he is trying to say he has changed his ways.
• We then see grainy newspaper images in a montage of Dominic with the music from Pulp Fiction in the background.
• It is estimated that between 5 and 6 million pounds has been stolen by the Noonans in their lifetime.
• We then see handheld footage, this gives the documentary a sense of actuality.
• It is at this point that we find out that Dominic was raped as a 13 year old and is homosexual. 
• His brother was killed in a gang related stabbing, we are given overlapping audio from news reports about the murder.  

Music Genres

We were looking at the typical characteristics and conventions of music videos within particular genres. I looked at Brit - Pop and Dance music more specifically I chose to look at Oasis - Wonderwall, Blur - Song 2 and Coldplay - Fix you within the Brit - Pop category and within the Dance category i looked at David Guetta - Without You, Swedish House Mafia ft Tinie Tempah - Miami to Ibiza and finally Dizzee Rascal ft Calvin Harris - Dance Wiv Me.  

Firstly i am going to look at Brit - Pop, these are typically bands with with between 3 and 6 members playing various instruments such as guitar, drums and sometimes keyboard and piano. The narrative of the videos is typically a performance or story, for example Coldplay's video shows the story of a young woman suffering after presumably loosing someone close to her and Blur's song is a typical band performance of just them playing their instruments. Typically they are connected to the audience through their performing style and sing directly to the camera, however if there is a narrative story like Coldplay - Fix You then the audio is detached from the story with the use of different characters not in the band. This idea of a performance linked with the audience is shown through the casting and characters within the video, if there is no narrative then it is usually just the band on screen, however it can be broken up by other characters depending on the story of the song for example Oasis - Wonderwall has clowns appear at various points of the video for an unknown reason. The mise-en-scene used within this genre is usually fairly simple, dull location, plain clothes, cheap props etc this could be due to its nature, Brit - Pop artist are usually from fairly deprived areas for example Noel Gallagher was raised in the suburb of Burnage in Manchester. Because of this fairly simplistic nature it is very unusual for any animation to be used and very little technology is used apart from the bands equipment, however in Blur's Song 2 the use of a wind machine is clear at one stage. The editing within this genre is also fairly simplistic they are often in black and white set in dark locations, also in Wonderwall they use out of focus shots regularly along with only certain objects such as guitars in colour, this could be to show salvation through music. The cuts tend to be fairly slow in the verses and slowly get faster towards the chorus with the use of spotlights to show lead characters and members. The camera work tends to be fairly minimal, the use of close ups, medium close ups and tracks are the most common used, this could be to give the video a sense of realism, it is done to show low budget productions that are made to convey a message easily. 

The genre of dance music is typically a narrative showing a clubbing scene, this is shown in both Miami to Ibiza and Dance Wiv Me however Without You could be showing an underlining message of trying to bring everyone together through the medium of music. Dance videos are often staged real life situations to give them realism but at the same time the artist sing to the camera directly to the audience and some stage. Due to the clubbing theme within these videos the casting is usually large crowds of people, within Without You there is times when it is just David Guetta or Usher on the screen but the majority of the time there is lots of people dancing. This is also shown in Miami to Ibiza and Dance Wiv Me, the main characters i.e Tinie Tempah, Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal and Swedish House Mafia are shown for various periods of time on their own but for the majority there is more than 2 people on screen at a time. As for the mise-en-scene for this genre, the costumes worn by the females are generally quite revealing and the males are typically wearing jeans, trainers, jewellery and occasionally sunglasses. The locations are very different to Brit - Pop, they are usually very exotic places on beaches with glamorous women, this creates a sense of an ideal setting for males. Typical props within this genre are dj decks, jewellery, alcohol and expensive clothing, very different to that of Brit - Pop. This genre tends to opt for the use of animation and advanced technology, for example Without You when the world begins to come together. The editing is much more erratic and the cuts are a lot faster. The camera angles used are usually, medium close ups, close ups of members of the crowd, handheld shots to give it a sense of realism and tracks to show the size of the audience. 

What is a documentary film?

Documentary films constitute a broad category of non-fictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record. A 'documentary film' was originally shot on film-stock — the only medium available — but now includes video and digital productions that can be either direct-to-video, made as a television program or released for screening in cinemas. "Documentary" has been described as a "film making practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries.


Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film

Task 2 - Researching into existing products

Documentary - Analyse the codes and conventions of a documentary film. Comment on the following along with any other points


1)What TV channel it's broadcast on?
2)What is the title of the documentary?
3)What type of documentary is it? 
     Types of Documentaries:

• Historical
• Biographical
• Investigative 
• Artistic
• Wildlife
• Political
• Drama documentary
• Reality TV
• Celebrity 
• Scripted Reality

4)What style of documentary is it?

• Narrative structure - linear / non-linear
• Editing - fast, slow, dissolves, fades, superimposing etc
• Voice overs - narration, register, tone, mode of address
• Archive footage - type, style, place, time period
• Graphics - images, charts, graphs
• Text - captions, subtitles, banners
• Music

5)What is the subject matter?

6)What are the messages and meanings behind the documentary?