Factual TV: Sub Genres - Miss Lowndes

Docusoap

A docusoap is a television documentary series in which the lives of the people filmed are presented as entertainment or drama. A few examples of a docudrama would be "Educating Essex", "Airline" and "The Undateables". "Educating Essex" is a fly on the wall docusoap in which we are shown the daily lives of students at a school in Essex. The audience are shown familiar faces in this show because it focuses on particular students and how they are in school. "The Undateables" is a docusoap television programmes which gives us an insight to the love lives of people with disabilities. This programme doesn't always focus on the same people but they have a reunion of the favourite cast of the show to give the audience a catch up of their love lives. The docusoap I will analayse will be "Airline". Airline is a reality television programmed produced in the United Kingdom that showcases the daily happenings of passengers, ground workers and on-board staff every week around the airports across the UK. 

This docusoap focuses on the daily events of what the check in staff and passengers go through every day. In this episode, we see a family with their daughter and her friend to fly to Belfast. The airline refuses to allow the 14 year old daughter to be responsible for the 13 year old friend, which causes havoc between the parents. Another event which occurred in this episode caused a chaotic argument between the a middle-aged man who turned up late to his flight and had missed it. He got verbally abusive and angry with check-in staff when they refused to give his money back, the duty manager was called to contain the situation but in face made it much worse which resulted in the police being called.

Docudrama

A docudrama can vary from a feature film or television programme which focuses on the historical events in the past using actors, evidence and archive footage. A few examples of a docudrama would be "Monster" and "Murdered by my boyfriend"."Monster" is a true story film which is based on America's female serial killer Aileen Wournos who killed the men that wanted to have sex with her She developed a strong hate for men after being raped and almost killed her because she was a hooker. "Murdered by my boyfriend" is a reconstruction about a young British girl who was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend and father to her child. This story caused an epidemic around Britain making domestic abuse a high alert topic for the police. The example I will use would be "Inside the twin towers". This is a recreation type documentary with CGI to create the cause of the catastrophic event. It focuses and retells the story from the inside of the World Trade Center to show the public what was happening fro the inside.

This docudrama retells the story of the horrific and historical event that happened in 2001 when the twin towers were attacked by an Islamic terrorist group called Al- Qaeda. The documentary uses actors and CGI (32:09) to reconstruct the events told by the survivors being interviewed. I personally found this docudrama very heart-wrenching and interesting because most evidence and reports were shown from what was witnessed from outside of the buildings, so it was different hearing about what the survivors felt and encountered. The scene that effected me the most where a survivor was naming the people he knew on the floor that had died. He started to weld up tears and as he went silent, soft music played in the background to emphasis the effect of their loss to him (1:22:20). The September is one of the most disturbing, horrific events in American history which had the world talking about it for years. This docudrama won an award and was nominated for an Emmy due to the editing and how it was overall an outstanding documentary due to the remarkable archive footage used especially between (1:16:45-1:17:59).  

Reality TV

A reality television show is a genre of style that documents unscripted situations and actual occurrences which commonly features a previously the same cast. A few examples of reality television would be "Gogglebox", "Big Brother" and "I'm a celebrity. Get me out of here!". "Gogglebox" is a fly on the wall show which features frequent British couples, families and friends sitting in their living rooms watching weekly British television shows. The show won a BAFTA award in 2014.  "I'm a Celeb" is a reality show in which celebrities are sent to a jungle in Australia where they are given tasks to complete in order to survive and get food. The celebs are then voted out of the jungle by the public until the new King or Queen of the jungle is announced each year. The example of a reality show I will analayse would be Big Brother. I have used Season 7 which specifically stars an iconic young woman called Nikki Grahame which  is now presently known for her childish temper tantrums in the house. 

Infotainment


A infotainment is a television documentary series based to give out information and entertainment to the public. A few examples of an eductional show would be "Educating Joey Essex", "An Idiot Abroad" and "Jackass". "An idiot abroad" is a British travel documentary television series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Karl Pilkington. The continuous purpose of both the television series and the books is that Pilkington has no interest in global travel, so Merchant and Gervais make him travel while they stay in the United Kingdom and monitor him. "Jackass" is an American entertainment/information show in which a group of men partake in ridiculously dangerous and vile pranks and challenges for a joke and to one-up one another. "Educating Joey Essex" is a television series in which the iconical stupid Joey Essex brushes up on his facts learning about the ways of the world due to his ditsy and un-educated background. The documentary I have chosen to analyse would be "Educating Joey Essex".

Educating Joey Essex is classed as an infotainment television documentary due to his uneducated lifestyle and behaviour. This programme was created in order to educate him becuase he admits he isn't very smart but this was following the death of his mother at an early age causing him to focus a lot less on his education. Cherry embarks on a round trip around the world to understand the basic things of life that a teenager would know, e.g what a continent was and where Africa was located.  I personally think that this documentary is the best example of this genre because Joey Essex is hilarious as a person. Not just that but we also learn with him we learn certain things that he is learning  aswelll.

Educational TV

A educational television show is a genre purely based to educate the public and to draw the audience in to watching the television show. A few examples of an educational television show would be "Mermaid: The body found" and "The Unsinkable Titanic". "Mermaid: The body found" is a true documentary in which four scientists tell the story of how they fought against goverment authority in order to analyse and identify a unknown sea creature. "The Unsinkable Titanic" is a purely factual documentary in which the story of the Titanic is retold along with how she sank. The documentary I have chosen to analyse would be "Mermaids: The body found".

This educational show gives a narrative story about how a team of scientists uncovered a phenomenon.  It was a science docufiction film that aired in 2012, on Animal Planet. It tells the story of a scientific team's investigative efforts to uncover the source behind mysterious underwater recordings and an unidentified marine carcass.  In 2004, a marine biologist named Dr Brian McCormick came across a recording of mysterious underwater sounds(16:43), he launched a scientific investigation to uncover the creature responsible. In search of conclusive proof, he and his research team are called out to an unusual whale stranding in South Africa. This is where they find the part digested remains of an animal that none of them could identify.  As each of its body parts is autopsied, they provide new pieces of the puzzle. As the evidence eventually pieces together, Dr McCormick is comes to an astonishing conclusion that this new marine creature is related to humans (59:08). This two-hour special combines beautiful CGI animation, real natural history and a conspiracy theory. (57:50)

Wildlife Documentary.

A wildlife documentary is a series in which a narrator explains the evidence and facts of a specific topic on an animal or plant. A few examples of a wildlife documentary would be "The Wonderful World of Cats", "Africa's most dangerous snake" and "Giant Megaladon". "The Wonderful World of Cats" is based on portraying the lives of domesticated and wild cats. This show explains to the public how the stubborn, fierce and killing animal evolved into such a loyal, home companion. "Africa's most dangerous snake" is a documentary that is targeted to uncover the country's deadliest snake. The show speaks of a specific snake and enlightens us into how it is so deadly and feared. The documentary I have chosen to analyse would be "Giant Megaladon".

This wildlife documentary focuses on the evolution of sharks which is narrated by Tim Birkett. This wildlife show unearths the anatomy of the famous megaladon, which was the biggest shark in the world. We, the audience are given an insight into the underwater lives of shark from past time to present time.  In the documentary, there are experts and archaeologists that give us detailed information and facts about the sharks that used to lived in the seas millions of years ago. In (4:58), we are taught that a shark’s anatomy is mainly cartilage which allows sharks to be so flexible and allows the skeleton to be shown. This is told by a member of the marine museum. This documentary consists of archive footage and CGI animation to add more intensity and profession to the documentary itself.