In class, we had an assignment to write a slideshow about a type of documentary, a documentarist, or one documentary in particular, and present it to the class. My slideshow was about Louis Theroux and is in the post below this. I learnt a lot from the other sideshows in my class, for example:
MTV television shows: These are targetted at a young audience because they are about teenagers and teenage problems. The particular documentary that was in the presentation we watched was called '16 and Pregnant' and followed the lives of teenage girls in america and their partners and families who have gotten pregnant. It follows their lives during the pregnancy, during the birth and just after the birth. There has only been one series so far, which consisted of 6 episodes. Each episode was about a different girl. This show shows the flaws and problems in teenage pregnancy and shows the different types of lifestyles the girls will now have because they have had children at such a young age. Although the primary reason this is out on television is for entertainment it is also a warning to teenage girls and reasons why they should try not to get pregnant at 16. There is a follow-on series called 'Teen Mom'. The difference is that each episode involves all 6 of the girls from '16 and Pregnant' instead of only covering one girl per episode. It shows the different choices they all made from raising the baby alone, with their partners or putting the baby up for adoption.
Mockumentaries: These are fake documentaries, made for the pupose of entertainment only. They don't contain truth and are meant to be comedy. The first mockumentary was made in the 1950's and was called 'The Spinal Tap'. It was about a made up group of musicians on tour. The term 'Mockumentary' was coined by Rob Reiner when discussinn 'The Spinal Tap' in interview. Another famous Mockumentary maker is Sacha Baron Cohen. He wrote, directed and starred in Borat and Bruno. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are famous for the British sitcom, 'The Office'. It was first broascasted in the UK in 2001 on BBC2. It is about the day to day lives of office workers in Slough who work for the fictional company Wernham Hogg Paper Company.
Morgan Spurlock: Morgan Spurlock was born on the 7th of November in 1970 in West Virginia. He has one famous documentaries out there, called Supersize Me. Spurlock used shock tactics to allow the auduience to see the real effects of eating fast food for every meal, every day for month. He deicded to do this because he wanted to expose the fast food industry and show the American public what would happen to them if they carried on eating fast food the way that they stereotypically do. Spurlock used a reflexive method of filming and using himself as a 'human guinea pig' was the ultimate sacrifice for his film.
He did not only experience being physically unhealthy, but he also experienced extreme mental stress and trauma. He used semi structured interviews in this documentary to build up a relationship with the people he was talking to.
Ross Kemp: Ross Kemp is an actor-turned-documentarist from South-East London. He started a television series after leaving Eastenders called 'Ross Kemp On...'. His style is obsevational. He uses this technique to observe how the people he is documenting live and work. What makes his documentaries so unique is that he goes to places to film that most other documentary makers would not want to go, for example in Ross Kemp on Gangs he goes and talk to the Bloods and the Cripps. Some other of his famous documentaries have been Ross Kemp on Pirates, which consisted of 3 episodes in Somalia observing pirates lives, the British Navy and the local authorities, and Ross Kemp in Afghanistan which helped depict the trauma that the British soldiers went through whilst fighting there.
MTV television shows: These are targetted at a young audience because they are about teenagers and teenage problems. The particular documentary that was in the presentation we watched was called '16 and Pregnant' and followed the lives of teenage girls in america and their partners and families who have gotten pregnant. It follows their lives during the pregnancy, during the birth and just after the birth. There has only been one series so far, which consisted of 6 episodes. Each episode was about a different girl. This show shows the flaws and problems in teenage pregnancy and shows the different types of lifestyles the girls will now have because they have had children at such a young age. Although the primary reason this is out on television is for entertainment it is also a warning to teenage girls and reasons why they should try not to get pregnant at 16. There is a follow-on series called 'Teen Mom'. The difference is that each episode involves all 6 of the girls from '16 and Pregnant' instead of only covering one girl per episode. It shows the different choices they all made from raising the baby alone, with their partners or putting the baby up for adoption.
Mockumentaries: These are fake documentaries, made for the pupose of entertainment only. They don't contain truth and are meant to be comedy. The first mockumentary was made in the 1950's and was called 'The Spinal Tap'. It was about a made up group of musicians on tour. The term 'Mockumentary' was coined by Rob Reiner when discussinn 'The Spinal Tap' in interview. Another famous Mockumentary maker is Sacha Baron Cohen. He wrote, directed and starred in Borat and Bruno. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are famous for the British sitcom, 'The Office'. It was first broascasted in the UK in 2001 on BBC2. It is about the day to day lives of office workers in Slough who work for the fictional company Wernham Hogg Paper Company. 
Morgan Spurlock: Morgan Spurlock was born on the 7th of November in 1970 in West Virginia. He has one famous documentaries out there, called Supersize Me. Spurlock used shock tactics to allow the auduience to see the real effects of eating fast food for every meal, every day for month. He deicded to do this because he wanted to expose the fast food industry and show the American public what would happen to them if they carried on eating fast food the way that they stereotypically do. Spurlock used a reflexive method of filming and using himself as a 'human guinea pig' was the ultimate sacrifice for his film.
Ross Kemp: Ross Kemp is an actor-turned-documentarist from South-East London. He started a television series after leaving Eastenders called 'Ross Kemp On...'. His style is obsevational. He uses this technique to observe how the people he is documenting live and work. What makes his documentaries so unique is that he goes to places to film that most other documentary makers would not want to go, for example in Ross Kemp on Gangs he goes and talk to the Bloods and the Cripps. Some other of his famous documentaries have been Ross Kemp on Pirates, which consisted of 3 episodes in Somalia observing pirates lives, the British Navy and the local authorities, and Ross Kemp in Afghanistan which helped depict the trauma that the British soldiers went through whilst fighting there. 