Analysis of a professional product-Missing: Race Against Time

This documentary has the same genre as the documentary we will be creating for our main production which has the central theme of a missing person, therefore I have chosen to analyse it. The only difference is our documentary will have one person at the centre whereas the one I will be analysing is a combination of a few disappearances.

This documentary was directed by a woman named Zoe Callan and was mainly filmed in greater Manchester. It was produced by another lady called Kathy O’Neill who is an executive producer. The main production company of this documentary was ZKK and was distributed by Channel 4 Television Corporation. This documentary was released Thursday 16th April 2009 at precisely 9pm. It was shown on channel 4 and is one of their many documentaries shown. The target audience would be for anyone who has experienced losing a loved one to a disappearance, including parents of kids also whom is concerned about the whereabouts of their children.

This documentary had many clues to it to identify the genre of the product. The first clue would be the name of the product, which includes the word ‘missing’ and ‘race against time’. This gives me the idea that the documentary would be looking into a missing person, or persons and how vital it is to find out information as soon as possible, as the later you leave it the less likely they are to be found.
The narrator also gives an impression of what genre the video is, because of what he says and the information he is telling. For example at one point he explains that some people decide to go missing, some are found too late, and some just vanish out of thin air. This gives me the impression that it a documentary on missing people and different ways they could go missing.

As you watch more into the documentary police officers also appear which shows that there is a case where the police are involved which gives me more of the impression that the documentary is about a missing person.

This documentary also uses prime examples of very popular cases which have been televised all over the country, therefore by keeping an eye on the news and what has happened, you would be aware of what you are about to see in the documentary. For example if you turn on a programme and here the name Madeleine McCann, you will immediately have an idea of what the documentary will involve.

The narrative structure of the documentary is expected I feel. I say this as I feel it meets the criteria of how the narrative should be in a documentary. For example it includes a few call-ins to the police with regards to reporting a missing person, which I feel sets the mood a bit more as it gives you an insight into how the caller (usually a relative or close friend) is feeling and their emotions. For example in one of the call-ins you can hear a slight sniffle, which gives the impression she is upset and there if a possibility she had been crying prior to the call.
I also feel this documentary has a good balance of visual and sound. By this I mean, instead of the narrator talking consecutively for a few minutes and boring the viewers, there is always visual images whilst the narrator is talking and there are many pauses after he speaks and reveals information so the viewers can take in what has been said.

The documentary has also got a good combination of speakers, by this I mean instead of having one person talking and then one interviewee, they have a good combination of a narrator, a couple of police officers and many others speaking, such as friends and family.

The shaky camerawork also has the effect that the interview is not staged, it is real footage, and everything they are saying is coming from the heart.

The camerawork used in the documentary I feel is interesting however not too complicated. Most of the camerawork when referring to people and their lives inside their house is handheld camerawork, which implies that they are on a tighter budget so they can have less equipment or they want to make it seen more realistic. There are a lot of medium long shots used to show what clothes people are wearing to give the audience an assumption of their living conditions. The background is also visible with many shots to give an idea of their living conditions once more. When talking about the missing person, the camera shots tend to be closer, such as close-up shots to show the emotion of the person and how they feel about the disappearance in a visual way.

The shaky camerawork also has the effect that the interview is not staged, it is real footage, and everything they are saying is coming from the heart.

The edit techniques used between shots are also very straight formal cuts to another shot; however there are some occasions where the camera dips to black at night time which may go onto the next shot which may be in the next day in the morning.

The editing I feel is fairly fast paced between the less relevant shots, such as a shot of the call in police room and of the road in front of the car the police are driving in. However when they are interviewing family members the shots are held for longer, therefore the editing is more straight forward with the cuts in-between shots.

The setting of this documentary was based in Manchester; this is where one of the people went missing. I believe that there are more likely to do a report on a missing person in a major city as it is known for them to be harder to find as the city is more diverse.

The props used were fairly basic and realistic which is expected. For example the police officers have their walkie talkies, and normal uniform, and other props around the family members houses are as they are, which yet again gives the documentary the more realistic feeling.

The main characters in the documentary are the missing people, such as Madeleine McCann, Shannon Matthews and 'Canoe Man' John Darwin. They are represented in different ways, however these ways are expected. For example John Darwin went ‘missing’ on purpose as him and his wife tried to pull off an insurance scam which back-fired and ended up with them being found out and him being sent to jail. However Madeleine McCann on the other hand, is represented in a completely different way as she was abducted by a man on holiday and is still yet to be found. She is represented as a little innocent girl, mainly because of her age when she was abducted, three. Character representation in a documentary like this one I feel is vital, firstly because a great way to increase the likeliness of her being found is to describe her in any way possible with detail. This then gives the public and the police an idea of their personality, which may help to find out her interests and where she may have gone if escaped from the abductor.

More realistic effects include the clothes they wear and the lighting. As previously said the police officers are in their normal uniforms which you would expect whereas the family members are not overly dressed as the whole reason of the documentary is to look into their lives and feelings. The lighting was artificial as most of the filming was at night time; therefore lights were introduced to make the images clearer. This then led on to shadows being visible.

Yet again, the realism effect is proven by the actor’s performance, this is because real police officers are used and the people being interviewed are also they real family members, therefore the documentary does not look like professional actors are being used.

The main characters in the documentary are the missing people, such as Madeleine McCann, Shannon Matthews and 'Canoe Man' John Darwin. They are represen

ted in different ways, however these ways are expected. For example John Darwin went ‘missing’ on purpose as him and his wife tried to pull off an insurance scam which back-fired and ended up with them being found out and him being sent to jail. However Madeleine McCann on the other hand, is represented in a completely different way as she was abducted by a man on holiday and is still yet to be found. She is represented as a little innocent girl, mainly because of her age when she was abducted, three. Character representation in a documentary like this one I feel is vital, firstly because a great way to increase the likeliness of her being found is to describe her in any way possible with detail. This then gives the public and the police an idea of their personality, which may help to find out her interests and where she may have gone if escaped from the abductor.

I feel this documentary is a successful example of the genre because it gives a huge insight into the world of missing people. This documentary is a type of ‘appeal’ to increase the likeliness of, the missing people being found which is what many people would like to see, and at the same time it is a sort of awareness video for people who may have children, as this identifies the problems among leaving children unattended and how you could do things to help avoid this happening to you or people close to you i.e. friends and family.