Unit 4: Research into existing texts

Unit 4 Research into existing texts

The documentary that I will be studying is called ‘Thailand Tourism and The Truth’ by Stacey Dooley. It is directed by Carolyn Banks and presented by Stacey Dooley who will lead the documentary throughout the show. The documentary is about the darker side to tourism who travel to the country and obtain high standard service but in fact the people of Thailand are suffering from working long hours for low paid jobs, not being able to see their family members for long periods of time, poor living conditions, unfair payments/income that the hotel workers experience and the sacrifices they make.

The mode of address is serious, investigative, critical and optimistic documentary where Stacey Dooley participates in the documentary and discovers about Thailand’s tourist scandals. 

At last, the documentary is critical because the government or the individuals in authority take advantage of their own people by praising the tourists, which is not fair and should be altered. As Stacey Dooly talks with the Thaïs people and learns about their lives and issues around tourism.

The reason that I know that Stacey Dooley’s documentary is critical is because Stacey Dooley talks in her documentary about Thailand’s government, slums, people from lower socio-economic backgrounds who live in very deprived and polluted areas with children and families.

The mode of address has to be serious because the subject matter is serious and it has to be taken serious as the documentary is non-fiction and depicts the serious issues related to tourism in Thailand such as the gun shots after the beach party or the living conditions that the hotel workers live in are all serious matters, which have to be dealt with.

The fact that the mode of address is investigative is because it appeals to its target audience, it makes the documentary more interesting and attractive. The documentary is not formal as it enables its target audience to relate to the documentary. 

The documentary is optimistic because it maintains positive that Thailand will treat its tourists with respect but its people have to be the main priority too as they are the ones who live there all their life. Therefore, Stacey Dooley emphasizes this in her documentary.

Its mode is participatory and investigative. The reason why it is participatory is because the documentary had to be lead by a presenter as the presenter is what the documentary is entirely dependent on. The presenter leads the documentary by acting as a tourist in Thailand. We are following her throughout her journey in Thailand and Stacey Dooley also introduces us to the staffs in her hotel and beach party. We are also introduced to residents living in the slums of Thailand and the minister of Thailand. 

The documentary is investigative because it is trying to finds out why the costs of the tickets to Thailand are so cheap and affordable.  At the same time, its people are suffering due to the fact that the tourists are treated to a high standard and prioritized over its people in Thailand. Stacey Dooley wants to investigate this and overcome it.  Stacey Dooley went to Thailand to primarily investigate why Thailand treats its tourists at such a luxury but with affordable prices?

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibv4JnfznUg

The codes of conventions are documenting an aspect of reality, supportive stills, deep focus, hand held camera, location shooting with handheld camera work for realism, voice over narration, expert opinions, use of 5 shot rule, non-fiction and cutaways with voice over.

For the documentaries that Stacey Dooley produces, the target audience is young boys and girls aged 17-21, who are either in education, employment and training. Their nationality is British or mixed nationalities. The ethnic background from her target audience is mixed too as it is targeting a multicultural target audience because often her documentaries are about different people from a diverse background. Their personalities are caring, considerate, sensible, and aware of the morals or issues around them such as poverty, respectful, hardworking, polite and mature.

Stacey Dooley’s documentaries are targeted at young people who are well educated and in the academic system.

The main purpose of Stacey’s documentary is to lifting the lid on shocking stories from the developing world. To explore the darker side of tourism that the average holiday maker doesn't see.

5) This picture denotes the use of expert opinion in the documentary with Stacey Dooley sitting next to the interviewee. It is clearly visible that this image denotes an interview as they are both facing each other and interacting with each other. The custom of the interviewee is a suit, which connotes formality and seriousness, whereas, Stacey Dooley is dressed casually, which makes it more appealing to the target audience and they can easily feel that the documentary is made by a young person for young people. I can use this for my documentary as the use of the techniques makes it more likeable and engaging.

What makes Stacey Dooley’s documentary so appealing is that she actually goes out in reality in her documentary to meet people and help, support and care for them as if she knows them for years. For instance, in this documentary that I am analyzing, she actually meets someone who requires help as his land is being ruined to build other buildings. But, Stacey Dooley stops this by arranging a meeting with the Minister of Thailand and ensures that his land is not being sabotaged by the individuals who have been given orders.  This connotes that Stacey Dooley achieves something in her documentaries by helping and supporting the less advantaged people in the world.

Additionally, the expert opinion and interview makes the documentary even more appealing, believable and trustworthy as Stacey Dooley is enhancing her reputation as the rescuer in the documentary. This is what she is mainly known for in all her documentaries. Meaning, she is basically establishing a star persona for herself in her documentaries as the heroine. This makes her more likeable and popular. 

4) The voice over narration during each time when Stacey Dooley finishes her dialogues the male voice over continues in leading the documentary during the cutaways. In a way the voice over is for preventing any awkward silences in the documentary when nothing is being said by the presenter.

Voice overs connotes engagement, it sounds pleasing and attracts attention. In ‘Thailand Tourism and The Truth’ the  male voice over narration sound very dominating and authoritative as it tries to convey  the impression of seriousness and the voice over reflects what is occurring visually in the documentary.

The use of voice overs is in a way helping the presenter to lead the narrative in the documentary. It creates more atmosphere and gazes attention of the viewers and target audience.

3) This picture denotes the use of cutaways. Cutaways are shots that illustrate what is being talked about. For instance, it basically creates a visual imagery of what is being talked about in the documentary. For instance, in Stacey Dooley’s documentary the surrounding of Thailand is being talked about, at the same time, the cutaway of the buildings in Thailand is shown, which creates effect and makes the documentary visually interesting. 

The use of cutaways as a convention is essential as it makes the documentary more vibrant, fascinating and different depending on the type of cutaways that is being filmed. Cutaways are mainly used throughout documentaries. The use of the cutaways is appealing to the target audience. 

2) Secondly, the codes of conventions used in the documentary is long takes dominate, which connotes that the shot of the frame takes longer than usually, which makes it more dominant as usually other takes are shorter. The use of this convention is mainly to prevent shots from altering and makes the documentary even more interesting as it does not include any cuts in between the shots.

Long takes dominate is the long duration of the documentary with no pauses or disruptions. The use of this is necessary as it enables documentary makers to shoot their scenes for long periods of time without the need for it to stop. The viewers can watch for long with interest.

The use of this convention is primarily used in documentaries where a novel is told as reality and requires long takes to lead it in the documentary. 

1) The above picture is an example that I have used to demonstrate the codes of conventions. This picture denotes that in the documentary hand held camera work for location shooting is utilized to create an impression of realism and enables them to convey their message to their target audience or viewers.  The use of this code of convention in the documentary is very useful as it lets us, as viewers, know where we are, how the surrounding looks like, what we are expecting to see and what the documentary is about? 

The reason why this technique has been used is mainly to establish the location Stacey Dooley is at and how it all looks like? In the documentary Stacey Dooley denotes evidence or demonstrates of how they are treated during her journey in Thailand at her arrival in its hotel and the surrounding of the hotel appears very posh, hygienic, wealthy and well looked after, whereas later in the documentary Stacey Dooley also visits the slums of Thailand, which are the contrast of what Thais people are showing to their tourists.

This makes it even more appealing to its target audience as they become more interested in the hidden secrets of Thailand and sympathize with the people who live a much more complex life as they are deprived of all their basic needs than the wealthy and more affluent people.

6)  The last code of conventions that I’m going to talk about is non–fiction, which is about the documentary exploring issues of reality. The use of the convention is very essential as it makes the documentary believable, trustworthy and is appealing to its target audience.   

Stacey Dooley is investigating an issue that is occurring in reality every day. Her documentaries lift the lid of the secrets many countries conceal from the mainstream society to avoid scandals and misconceptions, which could ruin the status or reputation of the countries like India or Thailand. Yet also, it brings modifications in the issues explored in reality by Stacey Dooley in her documentaries.

Overall, the uses of all the six codes of conventions are very crucial as the use of it is not peculiar due to the fact that the main purpose of the conventions in documentaries are is to make the documentary as appealing as possible.

Another documentary that is presented by Stacey Dooley is known as Blood, Sweat and Tears, which is depicting a subject matter of the reality. It shows that the Slums of India has got the worse working conditions, low salary wages and lack of hygiene is present and people are suffering from it in India as its government like Thailand priorities people who are more advantaged and privileged.