Analysis of THE MEN WHO JUMP OFF BUILDINGS

First broadcast on Channel 4 on Wednesday 28 July 2010, The Men Who Jump Off Buildings documents the lives and exploits of several base-jumping "adrenaline junkies". The simple fact that the documentary was broadcast by the 4 Network suggest several factors. For one, the documentary will most likely be presented in a manner to better correlate with Channel 4's general demographic of young adults.

The documentary opens with an establishing shot of the London skyline and features contrasted white lettering stating the location and time: 5:00am. Already this creates a sense of intrigue, 5:00am being an unusual time to both be filming and for any activity prospectively to be filmed to be taking place. We cut to a medium shot tracking horizontally a man walking along a street, attired in some sort of sports gear, yet again suggesting several connotations early on - the sports gear is relatively generic in terms of what activities could be done whilst wearing it. Low, slow non-diegetic music begins to play alongside his journey as the camera cuts to observe him entering a security code to gain access to a building. Already there have been several suggestions of what's to come - something unusual and illicit.
The camera proceeds to follow the man into an elevator, at which point we gain a medium shot, betraying his expression - his frown suggests anxiety, and a close-up reveals him to be wearing an altitude meter in place of a watch.

A hand-held camera proceeds to follow the man onto the roof, the unsteady music continuing, until pausing as the first man meets a second - for what appears to be the first time - and is led inside to reveal that the house in which he's entered is atop a building, the skyline spanning beyond the balcony. This in itself appears fairly extraordinary; initially, that a stranger would intentionally visit this man in his high-rise home, and that the sun's hardly risen - an unusual hour within which to make a first impression. The camera pans across the view below, before the original character followed hands over several £20 notes to the stranger who's home he stands in. The intrigue is built, the prospective audience's curiosity built, this brief exchange shown deliberately in order to cement viewer's fascination regardless of their prior knowledge to the documentary's context.

Analysis of MY DAD THE SERIAL KILLER

First broadcast Friday 30th January 2009, MY DAD THE SERIAL KILLER documents the aftermath of a traumatic revelation on the family involved - the family of Levi Bellfield, who in 2008 was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of two women and the attempted murder of a third.

Unusually for such dark subject matter, the opening of the documentary is portrayed alongside largely upbeat music, a sharp and purposeful contrast to the information awaiting viewers. The idea of such bright footage juxtaposed with an uplifting soundtrack would suggest that this documentary is something other than a documentary portraying a serial killers crimes, as the title originally suggested - this documentary is about the people who survived the killer, and their attempts to live normal and fulfilling lives after the fact.

A voice-over begins, that of the central narrator and eldest daughter of the serial killer in question. She begins by introducing herself and members of her family as footage of each is portrayed taking part in every day teenage social activities. The theme of contrast continues, and an emotional response is built by these close-ups alongside information fed to the audience via the voice-over, introducing personal details and essentially building characters with which the audience can relate.

This fairly idyllic start inevitably heads towards the darker subject of the matter at hand within a minute - the voice-over states having deliberately not mentioned her father, an image of whom is then portrayed - recognizable to the majority of the prospective audience from newspapers and the national news at the time of the event. The tone for the majority of the documentary is then set, and footage cuts in of London at night, continuing to show several more clips of similar footage as archived narration of actual news coverage of the story is played, loose reenactments of the crimes themselves and police-evidence footage shown shortly afterwards to hammer home the sharp descent in tone.

Analysis of BRITAIN'S FATTEST MAN

This documentary recounts the life of 49 year old Paul Mason, officially Britain's fattest man at an estimated weight of between 60 and 70 stone - his efforts to loose weight, the complications involved in such morbid obesity, and the dramatic tole his overeating has taken on both his own life and the lives of those who care for him.

In the opening sequence, a narrator begins relaying facts relating to the startlingly high obesity statistics of the British public, alongside which images of overweight people going about daily life are shown. This fairly day-to-day footage is then interjected with the shocking image of the man in question - Paul Mason, splayed upon a bed. This highly disturbing image is a shocking contrast, stark against the fairly matter-of-fact presentation of the narration and previous clips. Continuing along a fast pace, this image almost immediately cuts to an interview with the man himself after a remark from the narration regarding his ill health, which is then justified by his manner - not that of a healthy adult. He comments that his addiction to food is something that he's entirely powerless to overcome - alone. This is most likely shown in order to give a more personalized view of the dangers of obesity, a connotation enforced later along in the documentary during interviews with family and friends. We then cut to a short clip of him eating. This image, coupled with the interview, suggests nothing other than the blatant issue raised by the documentary itself - that obesity only makes him miserable, and to let him be a warning to the audience.