3 analysis for documentary short

My three initial ideas is a documentary about a group of urban explorers in Dorset, a documentary about an urban explorer in Dorset and a documentary about the conspiracy behind chem trails.

“Redman” – A short documentary on urban exploration by Manuel Rubio

This documentary short film is about a polish urban explorer who is exploring Łódź, known to some as "The Promised Land", ceased being Poland's most remarkable textile empire. The city is now left with hundreds of buildings in derelict state such as factories, palaces and houses – remains of the industrial paradise it once was. Despite most of these “tombs” are inaccessible to the general public nowadays, there is one man who always finds a way in.[1] The title “RedMan” suggests a man on the run or a dangerous guy or man, this is because the connotations of the colour red can be seen as danger and hazard.

The documentary opens with a clear cut transition from a black screen to video, the video is of a medium shot of the inside of an abandoned building, this shot is very eerie and surreal, the natural lighting that comes from the windows on the right of the building makes it look very intensely scary, like a scene from a horror movie, this is because there is a shift of lighting with darkness from the left and slowly emerging brightness from the right inwards, the mise-en-scene of having lots of documents and pieces of paper randomly scattered all over the dark mouldy floor as well as the broken, pierced into walls rally shows the presence of something very unnerving for the audience.

Towards the end of the introduction shot there are two sound tracks edited on top of the footage, one of the music tracks is lots of different archived news presenters talking about urban exploring and the war on urban exploring, one of the clips says “derelict and abandoned buildings have become the target of not vandals but of controversial photographers, they enter dilapidated to take pictures but authorities warn they could be breaking the law”, the next soundtrack is the sound of the shots themselves, for example sounds of the wind and sound of the rain drops that can be heard inside these buildings. This soundtrack is extremely diegetic to what’s going on within the frame and is definitely show casing what urban explorers do even though taken from archival footage, news footage and voiceover is usually taken and put into documentaries. The soundtrack is shown over shots similar to the introduction shots which showcase slow zooms and perfect mise-en-scene for example one shot is of the roof of an extremely high ten story building, you can see a tower in the centre right and the rest of the shot is looking over the rest of the city of Poland, an audio clip from an archival news broadcast says “a new frontier for those rediscovering out cities past”, this shot and the sound track is very diegetic and works together because it is presenting to the audience that it is a hidden gem to the city.

Further on in the documentary the urban explorer known as Red Man is telling his story of how he became an urban explorer, he goes over how he got interested in it, why he enjoys it and more. There are various shots of him walking through Lodz and taking photos, the natural lighting in all of the shots definitely provides a level of eeriness artificial lighting would not capture as well. The various mise en scenes within the part where Red Man is doing an introduction, there is a scene where he is taking photographs of abandoned cars, it is almost as if the camera is tracking him and constantly following him, he then walks over towards the cars and trees are half blocking the view of the camera so you can see Red Man from afar, this shot makes him look very powerful as if he is made out to look like an intruder from a viewing perspective. A powerful scene from this documentary is when a voiceover is played from Red Man when he says “I feel like I am a sentimental author”, there is then an extreme close up of family photos scattered across the ground with a slow panning camera movement around it, the music played when this clip is shown is a clip of children playing and children crying, this sound scape is very surreal and completely diegetic to the clip being shown, it shows strong connotations of memories and childhood as well as innocence and freedom which come with the representation of childhood, this is a clear attempt to make the audience feel very sentimental emotions such as sadness and gives them an inside feeling of fixation on objects within these buildings, the camera focus going in and out of focus also adds to this.

Nearer the end of the documentary there is a low angle tracking shot of Red Man walking along a roof of a building, a voiceover from Red Man says “they tell their friends and other people that our city is grey but they don’t want to know their city” this is accompanied by multiple shots of him taking risky shots in compact places in the factory he is exploring, he is showing a contrast of colours by showing the murky urban exploring graffiti as well as mould, unstable buildings and pigeons which is a representation of murky urbanized rough cities as well as showing some of the beautiful parts of the urban explorers such as the history and documents shown within which are represented in this documentary as hidden gems of the city.

In terms of audience this documentary seems to be targeted towards the people who don’t know much about urban exploring which as an age demographic would be the older generation as well as younger adults, especially with the news archives at the beginning which show a clear introduction about the debate on the illegality of urban exploring. From an ethnic demographic view I would say that this is targeted towards the polish natives of the city of Lodz, this is due to them wanting to find out about the city and also relates to what Red Man says in the documentary that people want to know more about the city but don’t want to explore. In terms of the uses and gratifications audience theory there are multiple uses of this media, informational use, which is people watching it purely for education and an insight into urban exploring which documentaries purpose is meant to be for, another use would be for escapism, even though the text is a documentary, diversion. In decoding the meaning theory the preferred reading would be that this documentary is educating people into what urban exploring is and an oppositional reading would be that this documentary is show casing something that is illegal and making it look positive to the audience and indefinitely promoting crime.

How Instagram fuels the urban explorer movement[2] – short documentary by seeker stories

This short documentary is about the urban explorer movement based in New York city, it focuses on different groups of explorers who go around to off limits places within New York, they tell their stories to the camera as well as talking about how Instagram connects urban explorers as well as the integration with photography in general.

The documentary starts off with a medium shot of an explorer looking down onto a train tracks within a sub way train platform, he then climbs down onto the train tracks and a message saying “The activities depicted in this program are illegal and highly dangerous. They could result in serious injury, incarceration, or even death. Viewers should not attempt”, the camera is then zoomed into the explorer as he opens a door and makes sure it’s all clear, this camera angle of a high angle shot makes the explorer seem powerless which shows strong connotations of being powerless which relates to the danger warning, he is a man in position of danger constantly checking if his coast is clear. In terms of narrative theory this would be an enigma code as we don’t know what he’s doing, it’s a bit of a mystery.

The sound track of a very new age instrumental hip hop music track in the background of this documentary really exposes the themes of the city and the roots of the city. Because quite a lot of hip hop movement and rhythm and blues style music came from this area of the world, added with the aerial shots of New York and the natives of New York being featured in the documentary it is a true homage to the city with the sound track being a big part of it. The mise en scene of having different urban graffiti in the shots which definitely have strong connotations of urbanisation and hip hop music themes really add to the homage to the city.

Further on into the documentary there is a low angle medium shot of one of the explorers sat on the chair in an abandoned subway train tunnel with graffiti behind him, the shot features natural lighting which is something which is essential in a documentary like this because even though it’s an urban structure it’s best to show case it in the most natural way, the natural lighting also gives a bit of mystery because you cannot see fully to the end of the tunnel, it’s there for exploration and fulfils excitement for the viewer. In this scene the urban explorer is sat in the tunnel talking about his experiences doing urban exploring. He is talking about a rooftop shoot that he did, he says “For a while me and my friend Naisha had been scoping out a 432 block building and we thought it was a possible project that we can maybe sneak into the building and get to the top, so we decided to just go for it.” The next shot is of the apartment building which looks like an unfinished building whilst he is talking over it, in terms of mise en scene the building is positioned towards the right of the shot and the camera is quickly tilting up to show its power over the people, to show danger and to showcase the risks of climbing it. The next shot is of the explorer on some stair ways that lead up to the top of the building, it is a medium shot of the top of his body, it is filmed at night and the lights from the street lights are extremely bright and lighting up this entire shot, the yellow lights definitely showcase a journey or a gateway which is similar to a sunrise, he is slowly rising to the top of this building and the lights are guiding his way, that’s how powerful the lighting is in this shot. After this happens there is newspaper headlines and web articles on the screen 2 seconds after each other all with similar headlines about the photos he took on the top of the building. The next shot is of the top of the building looking down on the rest of the city, the representation of urbanization is really strong in this shot as all you can see is buildings and buildings and flashing lights all within the mise en scene of this shot, also the high angle shots of him looking down on the city make the audience feel powerful and make them feel the power within the photographer and it’s a concept which most urban explorers go by that the city is in their hands. Another medium shot of the city from a straight on angle features the clouds going through the buildings is a very important shot because it could represent the whole silver linings within a cloud proposition that the journey has taken them this far and they’ve finally made it, the explorer describes the experience and the buildings view in general as “our Everest” which can be related to the colour scheme of Everest looking that way plus the constant comparison that it is such a beautiful place.

The next shot shows a different urban explorer who is by one of the famous bridges in New York, the shot uses natural light from the bridge behind him which works very well because it puts the urban explorer in place with the rest of the city, it supports the evidence that he is one with the city of New York and that his roots show strong. The low angle shot makes him look powerful to the viewer and makes him seem like he has the city in the palm of his hand, the emotion on the interviewee’s face also supports this. The next part of the documentary shows him being underground in the subway tunnels and having to evacuate the place, you see 23 year old Victor running out of the tunnels and climbing over fences, the way the cameraman is aggressively following him definitely represents the dangerous situation he is in, the mise en scene of having painted danger lines on the walls and the camera being so close to the walls definitely adds to the effect of it being a dangerous experience for them. He also backs up my point of having the city in the palm of their hands and a fast paced representation of the city by saying “I take the city into my own hands”.

In terms of audience a main target audience would be urban explorers, another primary target audience would be people who want to find out about urban exploring as well as people who want to do some form of urban exploring in the future, the documentary could also be targeted towards the audience of people who want to know more about their city. In terms of the uses and gratifications theory people would consume this media text for purposes of surveillance, by this I mean people wanting to find out more about their city and more about urban explorers/exploring in general terms, although this text is a short documentary people would also watch this for diversion, an escape from everyday routine and delving into the pursuit of urban exploring. In terms of the Stuart Hall encoding/decoding a media text theory this texts preferred reading would be that this documentary is show casing urban exploring in New York and showing a group of friends who like to do urban exploring where as a oppositional reading would be that this is promoting law breaking in terms of the laws damage to property and trespassing.

Urban Exploration – Short documentary by Henry Thong[3]

This documentary is based on urban exploration within the area of South Australia specifically in the area of Adelaide, it shows the lives of different urban explorers based in Adelaide as they explore places such as an abandoned warehouse, an abandoned waterpark and an abandoned train yard, they explain the risks of urban exploring and an insight into why they do it and what the purpose of it is.

The first shot is a medium shot of an abandoned train yard, the main train in view of the shot is covered with graffiti which represents urbanization and gives the audience a quick insight into the themes behind urban exploring that it is a very grimy experience in all, the mould emerging from the trains on the exterior also support this, as well as abandoned stair ways that give access to the train. This scene is faded in slowly with a very mellow natural sounds music track which also slowly fades in, this gives it a sense of comparison to natural objects, even though it’s man made it’s given personification in relation to a natural living thing such as trees and plants, this gives a flowing introduction to the rest of the documentary because it compares to what the urban explorers say in their interviews about the manmade structures being beautiful and comparable to natural life.

Further on in the documentary you see two urban explorers trying to get into an abandoned train yard a few miles East of Adelaide, one of them tries to get in through a sliding door but it is too heavy for them to get it open. The authorised personnel sign on the door he is trying to get into makes the experience seem dangerous, also natural daylight is used, this makes the shot look more natural which definitely relates to it being a very dangerous activity. He then says to his friend “let’s find a hole, or I could maybe kick down this door”, his friend then says “no” which indicates that the situation also needs to monitored with the illegality of trespassing, by this I mean to not damage any of the property, this also links with the rules most urban explorers live by “leave nothing but footsteps”.

The next scene shows the two urban explorers the introduction of this documentary is focused on sitting on one of the abandoned trains, the shot uses natural lighting which makes the shot look very natural and unnerving. One of them says “why do we do it, well because it’s a hobby it’s fun”, the surreal music which is put over the top of this gives the documentary quite a hand held documentary horror film feeling to it because it presents a binary opposite of something being not quite right with the situation, it also shows the illegality of the situation. The next shot also adds to the surrealistic part of urban exploring, the shot is of a medium shot of one of the explorers walking out of the train, natural lighting is used and the mise en scene is made to look like you can’t see out of the train and you can’t see where he is perhaps exploring next, this definitely builds up the tension of the dangerousness of the situation.

Throughout the documentary the explorers talk about the purpose of urban exploring as well as the safety aspect including the risks and what safety precautions to take. One of the explorers says “it’s more an exploration of manmade objects rather than what we find in nature, some people will walk through the bush we will walk through an abandoned building”, this quote is very important when talking about why they do it, it shows an attachment to objects and an attachment to the history of the spaces and how to the explorers this is their nature, it’s a homage to the history of Adelaide in a way. The camera work is done so that the clips of the explorers walking around the train yard put over the audio clips of the explorers talking is all medium shot that could be a representation of them being on the same level as the buildings and showing the explorers as an entity at peace with all of the structures they explore. One of the explorers says that the main risks are dying, leaping across roof tops and getting arrested, it is edited so that clips are put over the audio recording, when he says dying, it shows one of the explorers falling off of a train from a low angle, this is done to show that the audience is powerless towards the explorer and even though there is risks to be taken and that caution should be taken, other signs pictured on the screen such as dangerous pit and danger signs, the signs are all red which is a symbolic representation of danger and of hazard so this definitely supports this.

Further on into the documentary an urban explorer called Scott is sat in an abandoned warehouse talking about how he is drawn to the hobby, he says “I’m drawn to the fact that somebody used to live in this space, somebody used to work in this space, what happened here, so I’m sort of drawn to the story of the location”, this gives an audience insight into why the explorers partake in the activity, it is almost like a recollection and a homage to the history on a level that natural explorers wouldn’t understand to an urban explorer.

In terms of a target audience for this documentary the primary target audience would be urban explorers, people who want to get into urban exploring, people who want an insight into urban exploring, another primary target audience would be tourists from Australia and the rest of the world who maybe want to check out some of the locations featured in the documentary for the purpose of exploring the location. From an age demographic view point the target audience would be targeted towards the young, this is because a general representation of youth in contemporary media is arguably that they can be seen as fearless and dangerous individuals, another age demographic would be the elderly generation who by assumption would not know much about urban exploring. From an ethnic demographic view point this would be targeted towards Australian natives, this is because the documentary is ultimately based in Adelaide who are maybe watching this short documentary because they want to know more about the abandoned places in their area as a general idea of what’s about and where these places are. In terms of the uses and gratifications theory people would watch this for surveillance reasons to educate themselves on the history of urban exploring in Adelaide and also for an insight on why explorers do explore derelict and abandoned places. In terms of the Stuart Hall encoding and decoding media theory the preferred reading would be that this is a documentary showing an insight into urban exploring in the Southern Australian area, an oppositional reading would be hat it is promoting breaking laws.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdA9NGdNdxg

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upmXZnAALcc

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP55qKyo2cw