TV News Broadcast Analysis

Textual Analysis

'The Most Hated Family in America', Directed by Geoffrey O'Connor; Produced, Written and Presented by Louis Theroux (2007).

Louis Theroux is an interactive documentary filmmaker. He documented 'The Most Hated Family in America' who are at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. The main subjects of the documentary are the church (as a group) itself, Shirley's family, and individuals. The church's community believes that God is USA's terrorist and homosexuals are morally wrong. They picket at soldiers’ funerals, which raises many political interests and issues.

Many themes run throughout the documentary, such as religion, US politics, family, humanity, spiritualism, and interpretation. Religion is the main theme of the documentary, it's all about the church community's beliefs and the effect it has on others. Due to how strongly they feel about homosexuality being wrong, the children grow up thinking it's normal and have no real friends outside of the community they live in. The family does not get treated respectfully, although they don't deserve to be, their humanity is still intact when it comes down to the safety of their family. It's a very controversial subject.

Theroux's crew gives the impression it is a two-man crew. The reason for it being this small is because he is an interactive documentary filmmaker, this means he doesn't have space or time for a big crew with high tech equipment, he simply needs a cameraman and that is it. Also, there would not be enough space for a large crew as Theroux goes around with the family to see their routine and church activities. This makes it more personal and informal which is a good way to get the truth out. Although being informal does work for Theroux's interview techniques, he can come across too forward sometimes. For instance, he began to slightly push the boundaries when questioning the daughters about boyfriends and their sins. His opinions were too strong which meant he wasn't being as open minded as he should have been when asking personal questions. Although you can begin to understand his interview techniques because you realise how dominant his interviews are and he improvises his questions to the current situation or previous answer. He was to achieve the emotional response from the audience as well as the subject.

It is clear what Theroux wants to achieve in the documentary, and that is the truth and understanding of the family at Westboro Baptist Church. He wants everyone to know the truth of what they do and how they act as well as understanding why they do the most disrespectful actions to others. You can tell it’s difficult to acknowledge their lifestyle, but Theroux shows that there are different people who live different lifestyles and have their own freedom of speech.

I believe that he wants the audience to react with strong opinions, anger, and an open mind. This is because of the language and interview techniques that he uses. Nearer the end of the documentary, Theroux begins to show impatience and aggression when talking to mum, Shirley, about her boundaries set for her children. Although this is how he might want the audience to react, it most likely won’t be the case. The audience would react with anger and rage because it’s not a lifestyle they have ever experienced or witnessed before. Although this is for most people, there are a few that may already know about the Westboro Baptist Church and will still react with strong opinions. It’s a controversial subject that you can’t help but get frustrated about when watching, purely because of how much you disagree and how disrespectful they’re being to every other human being around them.

I would describe ‘The Most Hated Family in America’ as a participatory documentary. The crew interacts with the subject and the filmmaker, Louis Theroux, is visible to the entire audience. Having a hand-held camera makes it more personal and easier to watch because it creates the feeling of actually being a part of the audience. There is also location footage, which creates the reality of the documentary and being told about different places to add more history to the document. 

Codes and Conventions of TV News Broadcasts

Studio News Presenters
Studio News Presenters are the main reporters/presenters that appear in broadcast TV news. They conduct, identify, and develop news stories of interest. Not only do they write news bulletins, links and assist in the production of scripts, but they also research and conduct interviews, whether they're in the studio or on location.

The presenter must have the visual codes. These are to with the appearance and location to make us trust them. Here is an example:

He has a neat haircut, clean shaven, and looks very professional in his suit, which makes him look smart. This will help the audience to trust and respect the news presenter when telling us factual news. The presenter must also be in the same studio so that it becomes familiar to the viewers. For example, if the present was reading the news from his home, the audience wouldn't take him seriously.

Field Reporters
Field reporters do the same things a studio news reporter does, except they report news from outside of the studio. You'll often find that they present live from 'the scene', although they can pre-record broadcasts to be shown as part of a news show. There are many popular locations that are always used to field reporters, such as war zones, live events, and sporting matches.

Mode of Address
Mode of address is the style of delivery of presenters and reporters. It is usually authoritative and sets the mood and tone. This is a list of all the rules of mode of address:

• direct address straight at viewers down the camera
• use personal pronouns, e.g. thank you for watching
• very clear smooth, fluent and articulate diction
• any accents on national news small, e.g. Huw Edwards
• straight oni MCU for news presenters
• title sequences capture fast moving pace of news and national/international (music adds importance)
• news presenters announce top stories at the start
• high angle LS of studio at start to emphasise size
• interviewees generally look off camera to reporters 

Contributors
News packages include interviews with experts because they would give more information (factual) and the audience will have more reason to trust them. e.g.

Someone who was at the scene of the event would be classed as a witness. Witnesses have a huge impact on the audience because they create the emotional impact and the reality of the story.

Including a Vox Pop in a news story helps to illustrate what people think about a particular issue (e.g. the government) or event (e.g. the latest film release). Vox Pops often involve stopping and asking a selection of people in one place. In Latin it stands for "voice of the people", which is important to include in a news story because the audience wants to hear the publics views as well as the factual information informed by the news presenter.

Actuality Footage
Actuality footage is footage with relevance to the story being reported. For example....

News bulletins include actual footage because it makes the story more real to the audience. Being told a story is easy, but creating the emotional response and importance of the story is done through actuality footage.

Report Structure
News broadcasters have to try and keep their viewers' attention for as long as possible. To do this, they follow the report structure and also report on the most important news first to catch our attention as quick as they can. This is similar to the 'Pyramid Structure'.
(example)

Here is an example of a report structure, which includes the usual combination of conventions:

• PTC - Piece To Camera
• C/A - Cut Away's
• V/O - Voice Over
• I/V - Interview
• Vox Pops - Voice of the People
• Graphics

(example - charlie brooker, news reports)

Links to Studio
This is when one live studio cuts to another live studio, which could possibly be across the world.
(example - link on moodle powerpoint)

What is a documentary?

What is a film/television documentary?

A film/television documentary is factual footage taken from real life situations. They can be described as nonfictional motion pictures.


What is the purpose of a documentary?

The purpose of a documentary is to document an aspect of reality, maintaining a historical record. Documentaries also explain and update a certain event or subject to bring knowledge to the audiences and bring more enjoyment and suspense by knowing its real life. They expose the truth.


What do you expect to see in a documentary?

You expect to see real footage, factual information, and interviews in a documentary.


Are there particular subjects that work well for documentaries?

There are many documentary subjects, such as people, places, events, past and present, culture and sports, science and the environment. It is most likely that could you pick any interest of yours and there will be a documentary film about it. Personally, I think that people, places, and events past and present are particular subjects that work well for documentaries because it's something that not only I would take interest in but others too. With people, you make comparisons, which can be interesting. With places, you learn about the history or different ways of living. With events past and present, you learn about history development or current issues.

Codes and conventions of documentaries

Depending on the media product, the conventions can be quite similar; one could possibly be more formal than the other.

TV/Film documentaries' conventions consist of voice overs, factual information (facts and statistics), witness statements, location footage, and interviews. It will also be a small crew with a single camera capturing live footage, and they will be experts on the topic of the documentary.

Another media product is TV News Bulletins. These conventions include breaking news (current affairs), interviews with respectable people, and images/motion footage. The newsreaders will be sitting at their desk and wear formal clothing. TV News Bulletins are much different from TV/Film documentaries as they also use formal language, whereas TV/Film documentaries can be as informal as needed, depending on the subject of course.

There are 5 popular modes of documentary:

1) Expository - expose, investigate, reveal the truth

E.g. Jimmy Saville, Leveson Enquiry, War/historical documentaries

Characteristics:

•    Use of voice over (tells us to think a certain way)

•    Lots of images

•    Variety of footage

•    Main opinion is of logic and common sense





2) Observational - observe, natural environment

E.g. The Family, Nature/climate documentaries

Characteristics:

•    Location shooting

•    Direct sound recording

•    No voice over (in its purest form)

•    No interviews

•    Subject appear to be unaware of the camera





3) Participatory - interactive

E.g. Louis Theroux

Characteristics:

•    Crew interact with the subject

•    Hand held camera

•    Interviews dominate - formal, improvised questions

•    Archive material - news, stills, old footage, letters, headlines etc

•    Location shooting

•    Voice over - usually by the filmmaker

•    Filmmaker is visible to the audience (crew- some of the time)





4) Reflexive - emotional response on audience

E.g. Crimewatch

Characteristics:

•    Borrows features from fiction films for an emotional response

•    Incorporates anti-realist techniques e.g. re-enactments, expressive lighting, dramatic music etc.

•    Voice over (when present) - questioning and uncertain instead of authoritative

•    Relies of suggestion and opinion rather than fact





5) Performative - performance

E.g. Grizzly Man, The Cove

Characteristics:

•    Documentary maker interacts with (and sometimes is) the subject

•    Filmmaker comments frequently on the process of making the documentary

•    Shaped into the narrative of an investigation/mystery to be solved

•    Address audience in an emotional and direct way

•    Subject matter is often to do with identity rather than 'factual' subjects