Documentaries

Life behind Bars By Louis Theroux
Anaylsis of the first 5 minutes

An establishing shot is used to show the location of where he is San-Quinton prison, which is a very famous prison most noted for the most dangerous sort of criminals to be imprisoned, on such offences as murder. Louis Theroux is on his way to interview a criminal David Silver, the shots used are mainly close-ups and medium close-up showing Davis Silver behind bars in a prison outside. From this shot we see his uniforms and cell, which creates a bleak picture for the rest of the documentary.

Another close-up is used when one of the prison officers unlocks the cell so Louis Therox can interview the inmate properly, shot-reverse-shot is used when talking to him of his life sentences, which include a pans and tilt showing the cell. Many long, medium and close-up shots are used showing the surroundings and environment the prisoners live in. The medium close ups also show Louis Theroux wearing a stab proof vest demonstrating the dangerousness of the prison.

There isn't much use of editing but there are fade-in and fade outs when a new scene is shown, shot-reverse-shot is used when Louis Theroux interviews different inmates/officers. The camera can become quite handheld at times maybe to show the realness of their situation and reality of what's being shown.

As it is a documentary Louis Theroux uses a voice-over telling the audiences of his thoughts of what's happening and facts and informing us about the prison, when a voice over is not used either ambient sound of background noise such as the mass amounts of other inmates talking, or non-diegetic music is used which is quite edgy and dark at times to illustrate the seriousness of the scene and mood.