Tom Pearson's Multimedia

To gain a wider knowledge on types of documentaries, it's important to do some general snooping and watching. When I say snooping by no means do I mean to go around in a prying manner. We know what we want to make our documentary about, in our case a busker, but we are still deciding a visual approach. This along with the importance of our audio means research is required so we don't just go ad hock on one thing. The two come hand in hand.

The closest thing to what we are doing now with our 4 minute documentary would be the brilliant 3 minute wonders that 4 Documentaries show. These really are great. In terms of similarity this is as close as you can get, that’s why I’m so excited! Here are two of my favourite examples.

Susan & Susan



This first one is called "Susan and Susan". It’s about a lady who finds comfort in slugs. The way they are so slow and peaceful relaxes her. You never see the lady speaking. Instead the use of strong imagery in conjunction with the metaphors implied. For example: there is one part where she is talking about her parents. Her father likes to drink and this causes him to become violent, whilst this is being described in the audio, visual images of a male doll along with the snail and some alcohol being poured creates a really good visual style. There is never a sit down formal interview; this is the success of the piece: A strong visual experience coinciding with the audio.

Three Cherries



"Three Cherries" follows people talking about their experiences in casinos, specifically on the slot machines. Once again you never see a clear picture of who is speaking, just simple voice over’s. It’s so simple but it works exceptionally well. Once again visual imagery here is very important. However more importantly, the audio plays a bigger part. Mixing in casino sounds with the audio tracks from their subjects, along with the video creates a fine documentary. Something I really like in this one is the added bonus of the text. It emphasises key points of what is being said. This is something we will try to use in our documentary.