http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JANpe6XpSQ4

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Camera work

This documentary uses a lot of close ups of signs and objects. We first see this with a close up of ‘Weigh Room’, this then cuts to a picture of a young girl with an unhappy facial expression. These

two shot combined emphasise the experience of being weighed for the inhabitants. It gives the viewer an insight into the associations the young girl makes with being weighed or her weight in

general therefore emphasising the mood surrounding this subject within a child suffering with the problem.

As well as this we see examples of hand held camera work, this is done in order to add ‘realism’ to the documentary. It causes the viewer to feel like they are looking in on a situation from a fly on

the wall point of view, therefore causing us to assume it is unplanned and unedited by the director to create a specific effect on us.

The documentary also has various interviews, these follow the same rules used in the previous documentary where 1/3 of the screen is filled by the speaker, however the director uses a

different style of mise-en-scene. The young girl is in front of a lilac wall with stuffed animals, this emphasises her youth causing the viewer to be more aware of how serious anorexia is within

children.

Cutaway images were used throughout , a particular example of this is the images of a clock, this Is don’t after view of the outside to show the typical routine during a morning, this emphasis’ the

seriousness of anorexia as it is then followed with images of girl struggling with the illness therefore showing therefore contrasting a normal routine with that of a child with this condition.

A CHILD ANOREXIC

Mise-en-scene is also used throughout this documentary, a key example of this is the use of natural lighting. Much of the

lighting we see is in fact natural with some lighting added in where necessary however never becomes obvious, this is done

in order to create the ‘realism’. It works to convince the viewer that they are looking in on a normal situation for the person therefore making the scene seem more realistic as

opposed to staged by a director.

Clothing is also used. Many of the young children are in their pyjamas during the beginning of the documentary, this again

emphasises how young they are and causes the viewer to become more aware of how prominent the issue is within children therefore causing the documentary to have the

correct impact.

MISE – EN – SCENE

‘A Child Anorexic’ follows Toderov’s throery in that is has a clear beginning, middle and end.

We start the documentary with and introduction with cut away images from the outside environment with a voice over, this introduces the house and its purpose therefore allowing the

audience an initial introduction to the setting of the documentary. We then go on to find out about some specific cases of the inhabitants, these are clearly defined by cuts to graphics which profile

the 3 key cases, this works as an introduction to the ‘story’ that we will see throughout

We then have a middle section. This gives us further details of the situations from interviews with both family, other inhabitants and key professionals involved in the situation. These allow you to create an emotional attachment as an audience as well as keeping you well informed therefore allowing you to fully understand what each person is going through. This use of interviews also

adds to the category of a ‘mixed documentary’, these work inform and give a balanced view of the situation as opposed to forcing a particular opinion on the audience therefore allowing them to gain their own perspective. The interviews with professionals however cause the views to be

guided in a certain direction therefore giving the documentary a purpose.

The last stage of Toderov’s theory is to give the documentary and ending, This last stage is used to follow the fifth stage of Toderov’s theory ‘regaining equilibrium’, this means that the events must

be solving any problems that we met in the middle stages of the documentary. In this documentary the ending is the recovery or improvement of some of the key cases we have been

introduced to within the house (the key setting). By ending the documentary in such as way we as an audience are able to see the journey the people have been through therefore we are more

likely to watch until the end and gain a conclusion the particular topic being presented

THEORY

This documentary uses many typical sound techniques throughout, we see voice over, this again allows the director to add in extra information

without altering the scenes which are being presented, this therefore adds to making the who documentary seem like ‘realistic’ as opposed to staged. The voice overs intention is to expand on key areas within the documentary

to minimise confusion for the audience. In this documentary it is used to present us with the facts of the situation giving us a educated insight to

combine with our own and build up an informed conclusion overall.

We are again presented with incidental music throughout different stages of this documentary, its purpose is to enhance the tone of the information being given and allow us to recognise that the ‘story’ is advancing. In this

documentary we are first introduced to it at the very beginning as the voice over of a young girl is informing us of the mind set of a child dealing

with anorexia. The incidental music works to create a mood for the audience therefore telling us how we should be viewing the information

being presented.

SOUND