Supersize Me-Documentary

Analysis

Directed by Morgan Spurlock

Themes• There where six main themes that I spotted

throughout the documentary.

HealthFOOD

Obesity

Shifting the blame

Addicti on

Advertising

Narrative StructureLinear

This documentary is linear as it is in chronological order, sticks to one time period rather than jumping between

tenses.Open V closedThere was a closed structure as we seen Morgan finish the 30 day experiment and learnt what the consequences where of eating fast food.On the other hand it had an open structure as we were not informed on what McDonalds decided to do after watching the documentary and what actions where taken to reduce the obesity across America.

Camera

Zoom out Two shot

Low angle shot Close-up

Wide shot Zoom in

Mid shot

The camera shots where used throughout many times. using the right shot when relevant. For example, a wide shot was used when the mise-en-scene needed to be shown to understand the point being made.

Mise-en-scene

Doctors Home

McDonalds Work

In his car

Sound

Throughout the documentary songs related to ‘supersize me’, ‘fat’ and ‘McDonalds’ are played so it keeps to the themes that the documentary is based on. However, there is a juxtaposition of non-diegetic music during surgery as operatic music is played which highlights the difference. Then there is digetic sounds such as the unwrapping of food which makes it more realistic to the viewer.

Editing

There is not a complex use of editing techniques used as that is not what the documentary needs to get across its point. However as there are videos edited into it of people eating food and fat people walking the streets its used to send a message that your not in control of your body as much as you think. Also, there are cartoon animations which are used to show the viewers what they are really buying. There are many jump-cuts so that it is a clean watch through without it jumping from place to place, images are inserted to make sure the theme is kept the same for that topic of conversation. Clips also, fade in and fade out.

Archive materialThere is archive material throughout the documentary. It is mainly used so there are not so many jumpstarts throughout. It can be placed between two scenes, for example an image of a fat person walking the street so the material is something to do with the topic allowing the two scenes to flow through. The archive material is also used to be inspiring to those who watch as there are clips of speech's, one being from Jared Fogle who tried to inspire Americans. A piece of archive material that was also inspiring was a clip of a man holding his old pair of pants after loosing a large mass of weight.

GraphicsGraphics are used throughout. Most subtitles are written in Sans Serif making it clear for the viewer to understand what has been

said. The use of days, states, time and maps are used through the documentary emphasising the chronological order to the

documentary. Below there are two maps, one showing the rate of obesity in 1985 and the other in 2002, showing the public that

obesity is a new and popular thing in the U.S, hoping to scare the viewer into realising that things need to change.

The use of off putting propaganda is used throughout the documentary, imitating different famous paintings such as ‘The Last Supper’ showing how McDonalds manipulate the population into buying the food they serve to the public.