Louis Theroux Behind Bars

Louis Sebastian Theroux, born 20 May 1970, is an English broadcaster best known for his documentaries in the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends, his BBC2 Specials and When Louis Met... His career started off in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family such as his father, Paul Theroux and brother Marcel Theroux. He currently works with the BBC producing his documentaries and popular TV series.



                  

At the beginning of the Documentary, an establishing shot is used overlooking san Quentin prison. This is a convention of a film.

A jump cut is used to cut into the prison where Louis is engaging with another prisoner, David Silver. He had been sentenced 521 years in prison. This is used at the beginning of the documentary to pull in the audience and make them carry on watching it. This is to build up momentum, like they do in the movies, keeping the momentum fresh. Later on In the documentary, David tells Louis that as well as the 521 years he had been sentenced, he also had life in jail. This is because David had committed brutal home invasions where he hurt, shot, drowned and tortured his victims. However, no one died. He resorted to crime as he was unable to get a job, therefore he had no money. He was 29 when he was first convicted and he is now 32. When he was 11, he got sent to youth offenders until he was 29. He has no worry about getting out, and has made himself comfortable in his sell.

The BBC logo is shown during the opening sequence, which is a stamp of a reliable source and an established TV production company. The BBC have a budget of £2.2billion a year, they get this through a TV licence.

Soft, flowing music is used at the start where Louis is casually walking through the prison where the prisoners are doing their daily routine.

One prisoner is shown with a bag over his head and his hands tied behind his back. Is he dangerous?

The titles are shown one minute into the documentary, the image is a shadow of Louis in cartoon behind bars with a spot light shining down on him.

A guard puts a protective vest on Louis before he walks through the ward where all of the prisoners of kept. This is so none of the prisoners can injure him internally. Louis asked one of the guards why they’re putting the vest on him, so that the audience know too, even though he was already aware of it.

The prisoners are locked in their sells for 23 hours a day.  As Louis and the prison guard walk down the corridor, the prisoners shout and curse at them.

One of the prisoners is known as ‘play boy Nolan’. He had been sentenced for 3 years for carjacking. He would keep a gas can in his sell, made up of urine etc. and spray it in the prisoners face. One of the guards has known play boy since he was 7 years old, where he had seen him at his worse. So he felt confident when he said he wouldn’t gas him.

The prisoners get a couple of hours a week outside in the court yard, where they get to socialise. Different ethnic groups are segregated around the court yard.

Part of San Quentin, is called ‘Badger’. This is where level 4 criminals are held.  Level 4 criminals commit murder, rape, robbery etc. One prisoner that Louis interviewed said it was ‘like a playground here’. He had been sentenced 50 years for killing his best friend which he denies. The guard explains to him to ‘do your own time and not someone else’s’, as older prisoners get the young ones to do their dirty work, e.g. to stab their sell mate. He explains how his life is better in prison as he usually wakes up to gun shots. However he believes he is wrongly accused.

 Later, in the canteen, Louis sits with the ‘white ones’ where they tell him the prisoners can’t share food, otherwise they would get beaten up.

In another sell, Louis interviews someone called Bradley, but prefers to be called Debra. She got sentenced for robbery and stolen cars. She lives with her partner, but a lot of people try to separate them as they become jealous of their relationship. Other prisoners want Trans genders in their sells for lust.

The prisoners need to get permission from the prison guards to go out into the court yard. When they do get to go outside, they’re all cramped into one space where they’re all locked in. One prisoner that Louis interviewed said he was tormented by the devil. He would not say why he was convicted as it was ‘not necessary’.  If any shots were fired, the prisoners would be sentenced for death row.

Analysis of 'A Very British Gangster'

A Very British Gangster, Directed by Donal MacIntyre

A Very Britsh Gangster is an all access film inside one of Britain's most dangerous crime families. For the first time, a gang of contemporary criminals open their lives to reveal a brutal world and an underclass which relies upon gangsters for justice, rather than police.
           

There are conventions of a film at the start of the documentary as there are titles and an established shot of the city. There is a sound bridge of a man talking about Manchester; he talks directly to the audience by talking straight into the camera.

The music is now a /gangster/urban style which is used to set the scene. This is a stereotype of the life of a ‘gangster’. Urban is the under belly of society.
They juxtaposition of the three men walking under the bridge is centred in the middle of the screen, with the main character in the middle. They strut through Manchester in slow motion.

The picture has changed from colour to black and white, this may be to make is look like its CCTV footage; this could give the audience a better interpretation of real life.

The main character of this documentary use to be a bouncer of the Hacienda, which was the eppi centre of the drug culture of the early 90’s.

A cut away is used from his back, to his hand; he is shown to be wearing gold jewellery which could symbolise his wealth and his high status. This is the type of jewellery gangster wear to identify their status.

If Domenyk Noonan and his crew got in a mix up with another crew, he use to cut of the head of the leaders dog and put it on the pool table in the Hacienda to scare off the crew from coming back again.

The narrator tells the audience that he got put in prison for 22/23 years and decided to change his name. The narrator also tells the audience that Domenyk has two children, from two women. He use to make his reputation by doing up stolen cars and selling them on.

The music now changes to country/western.

In the 80’s he caused a riot where two of his mates were murdered and 200 people were wounded. This cost the government £2milion to recover.
Death

When he lived with his mother, she burned down the house so that the council would give her a bigger house.

11 years ago, Police searched Britain looking for Domenyk has he had planned his way out of custody. When he got caught, after being found after one robbery, he had been sentenced 14 years in prison.

A montarsh of Domenyk’s crew is shown in black and white. There are 20 people in his crew, but he keeps the young ones close to him as they are more loyal and have earned his respect. The montarsh includes low angel shots, showing power and dominance.

The families around the suburbs of Manchester go to Domenyk about their problems instead of the police. He and his crew are rewarded with breakfast.
When Domenyk was a child, his mother sent him to a boarding school where he was raised by older men, with a different person each night. They used and abused Domenyk, but he soon got them back by tormenting them.
Domenyk is open to his sexuality and all of his friends and family are aware that he is gay. He is not ashamed or embarrassed by this but confident.
Domenyk regularly goes to his nearest Catholic Church and prey’s to god, where he confesses his sins. Is this so god would forgive him for what pain he has caused people? Domenyk gets the satisfaction of going to church.
Domenyk set up his own protection agency where he proves a security uniform, police vans and ambulances.  Is this so he has a good getaway car? He also set up his own bank where the people of Manchester could go to him for financial help.

Domenyk is arrested for the accusation that he is witnessing a drug deal. He is taken to court put found not guilty as his pleads he was picking up foreign currency. Domenyk is set free, costing the court millions. His crew wait for him outside the court, ‘Dom serves and protects.’
Crane shots are used to stylise the documentary as they are usually used in films.

Domenyk’s brother, Des was found with several stab wounds on the streets of Manchester. The news is quickly spread and is published over the radio, newspapers, TV etc. it is known that he had convicted 27 murders.  To celebrate his life, a memorial service is held which brings Manchester to a stand stead. Flowers are laid down where he was found, with loving messages from his friends and family. It is said the person who committed the crime had been attacked several times in prison.

Research into existing products

What is a documentary film?

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record. A 'documentary film' was originally shot on film stock — the only medium available — but now includes video and digital productions that can be either direct-to-video, made as a television program or released for screening in cinemas. "Documentary" has been described as a "film making practise, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception" that is continually evolving and is without clear boundaries.
See wikipeida.

Cinema Verite

Cinéma vérité, "truthful cinema"; is a style of documentary film making, combining naturalistic techniques with stylised cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.

There are subtle yet important differences among these terms. Direct Cinema is largely concerned with the recording of events in which the subject and audience become unaware of the camera's presence. Operating within what Bill Nichols, an American historian and theoretician of documentary film, calls the "observational mode," direct cinema is essentially what is now called a fly on the wall documentary. Many therefore see a paradox created by drawing attention away from the reality of the camera and simultaneously declaring the discovery of a cinematic truth.


1. What TV channel is it broad casted it on?

2. What is the title of the Documentary?

3. What type of Documentary is it?

• Historical: The rise and fall of the Egyptian Empire.
• Biographical: The life of Sir Stanley Matthews.
• Investigation: The trust behind the disappearance of Madeline McCann.
• Artistic: The work of Van Gogh.
• Wildlife: The anatomy of the Blue Whale.
• Political: The New Labour Years.
• Drama: Margret Thatcher.
• Reality: The Kardasians.
• Celebrity: David Beckham's new tattoo.
• Scripted Reality: TOWIE.

4. What style of documentary is it? Think terms of:

• Narrative Structure: linear/non-linear
• Editing: fast, slow, dissolves, fades etc
• Voice-over: narration, register, tone, model of address
• Archive footage:  type, style, place, time-period
• Graphics: pie charts, images
• Text: captions, subtitles, banners etc

5. What is the subject manner/ Content of the documentary?

6. What are the messages and meanings behind the documentary - What is it trying to communicate to the audience?