Shona's analysis

Documentary Analysis :Dispatches-return to Africa’s witch children

This documentary is part of the channel 4 dispatches series which highlights social and political problems throughout the world. This is a follow up documentary which returns to Africa where children are being tortured, outcasted and even killed with the belief that they are possessed by witches. The documentary starts by briefly recapping what happened during the first documentary and how their footage shocked the world and caused a change in African law, in order to do this newspaper clippings and headlines are shown using insert shots. It revisits the people interviewed in the first series, the people who helped pass the child protection laws and also discovers that child witch condemning is still occurring in Africa.

The programme primarily follows two main characters whom are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of the topic the documentary is focused on. Firstly there is the charity worker Gary Foxcroft who has devoted his life to save the children from being condemned as witches and established the first shelter for them and conversely there is Africa’s leading evangelist who makes a living through establishing which children are so called witches and conducting exorcisms in order to ‘save’ them. There are also interviews from the children themselves and other people involved in both the condemnation and the saving of the children.

The interviews and narration used throughout the programme are conducted by an unseen voice this technique is known as vox pops. In this situation this method is quite effective as it means the viewers attention is not focused on a presenter or persona who is illustrating the situation but it is focused on the issues and situations at hand. Statistics are used by the narrator in order to portray the vast amount of torture that is occurring.

Insert shots of photographs of children who have been tortures and murdered under the belief that they are witches, these insert shots are impactive due to their horrific nature. Numerous other shots are used throughout the film, most notably is the establishing shot in order to show a change of scenery and the kind of place this is happening in. Horrific images of the torture methods used on the children as well as the disturbing exorcisms mean this programme is not created for young viewers and is recommended for people aged over 16, this helps effectively portray the seriousness of the issue as it is hard to imagine without actually seeing it.

The film is filmed using all natural lighting and only a small amount of sound is used in the form of haunting music during the point where the children’s injuries are being shown, this music is upsetting and adds to the emotion of the viewers whilst seeing these images.

Risk Assessment shauni

Script shona natalie

Script for Simon Casken posing as a BNP Supporter/Member.

Interviewer: How do you feel Barnsley has accepted your party?

BNP: We have alot of positive feedback from the people of Barnsley and the figures from the most recent local elections speak for themselves.

I: Your Party has caused alot of controversy in the media as well as within Barnsley itself what do you think about the Anti-BNP protests?

B: Thers always opposing views to every party, our views are obviously what barnsley want, despite objections fro the minority.

I: Do you feel it is the older or the younger generation that believe in you policies most?

B: We seem to have a varied age range but the majority of our members are people who've lived in Barnsley their wole life and don't want to see it change.

I: Your Party has been reported as a radical one and also gained the name The Nazi party. What do you feel about these comments?

B: We should not be associated with the term 'Nazi'. We are the only party with the guts to stand up for this country instead of being too politically correct, we are going against the other parties, whats so wrong with british jobs for british people.

I: Do you inform people of the fact you support and are an active member of the British National Party?

B: If politics is part of the converation i will proudly admit that i am a suporting member of the British National Party. But if you first meet a person would you really ask them what party they support anyway? My party does not define who i am it is merely my beliefs.

I: Your party has been named racist, how do you respond to this?

B: This country is predominantly caucasian white, it is my personal belief that it should stay that way to keep Britain britsh.

research continued group

we decided to look at the unite against fascism website before we interviewed George Arthur so that we would be more informed on the subject matter.

http://www.uaf.org.uk/

Research group

We looked on the BNP Bansley branch's website in order to gain more knowledge on the party. Whilst on the website we came across a petition to remove George Arthur on e of our pivotal characters in our documentary from teaching due to his opposing views

barnsley-nationalists2.blogspot.com

difficulties faced group

during our time filming we faced a few difficulties these included getting the white balance right on the HDV1000. This created a bluey tinge to some of our shots, we could have avoided this by resetting the white balance manually.

When using the zoom recorder we were sometimes too far away from our subject and the sound was still interupted by traffic and wind.

Equipment shona

We are using in our second year of media A level a more advanced camera, the HDV1000, this camera produces a better quality image and sound.

We used a zoom recorder which is a hand held sound recorder in order to gain clearer sound whilst outdoors, if we relied solely on the cameras recording device the sound can be interrupted by noises such as the wind and traffic

A tripod and studio lights were also used in order to improve the quality of the image a tripod steadied the camera and enabled a less shakey video and the lighting improved on the natural light in the rooms