Use of Sound WithinHuman Behaviour Documentaries (Narrative & How the Story is Told)BY EMMA AND FELAN

Use of Sound: Educating Yorkshire

Incidental music is used throughout the title sequence, the mix of tempo throughout the music represents the ‘ups and downs’ of school year/life and how it can completely change within the matter of minutes. This can clearly show the audience how they should feel and give them more understanding of what is going on in the scene.

A score is used and layered behind some of the speech to create a mood about what is being said. For example throughout some of the interviews music is used – this is to express the situation in another way to get across the mood of the scene. With the use of a score the audience understands that what is being said and that it is genuinely heartfelt.

Music with a slow tempo creates the idea for the audience that something upsetting or serious has happened. Also music is used with an upbeat tempo – this is because using upbeat music shows the audience that what is happening needs paying attention to – the upbeat music can symbolise happy or exciting things throughout the show.

Narrative & How the Story is Told: Educating Yorkshire

A voice over is used throughout the show to explain to the audience clearly what is happening. The voice over is effective because some people may not be able to understand the accent of the Yorkshire kids and staff. Also the voice over is effective because things happen quite quickly for example a fight kicking off, that can happen quickly and so the audience could miss it so easily.

Students and staff in the school are frequently interviewed throughout the show, this is also a form of narrative because they are explaining what is happening/what has happened and they are also giving their perspective of the situation so you can hear each opinion and side of the stories.

By using interviews everyone has their say on what has happened/what is happening. Also by using the interviews the audience can really see that the school is based around community and working together, which gives the audience a very realistic view on schools and how they function in ‘real life’.

Use of Sound: Don’t Tell the Bride

Incidental music is used throughout the title sequence, this has been used alongside a voice over to make the beginning of the show seem exciting and full of surprises and unexpected things.

Music is included into the show behind the interviews, this is to make the interview more interesting. Throughout the beginning interviews the music used is upbeat and used to create excitement throughout the show – however later on in the show in the interviews the music can vary and become more serious if the mood changes – for example the bride may be crying and so slowly tempo music can be introduced.

A score is used throughout the show to signify the mood for example when the bride is looking at her dream dress or when she is looking at the venue that she wants. This is when the mood would change which is signified by the score for the audience.

Narrative & How the Story is Told: Don’t Tell the Bride

A voice over is used throughout this show – it is used during every scene, apart from the final one to explain what is happening throughout the course of two weeks and how the people in the show are feeling – also the voice over gives an overview of things, for example the things that the budget has been spent on. This is effective because this means that the audience are involved and understand what has been happening even though they haven’t physically seen it all.

Interviews are used throughout the show – they explain to the audience what has been happening – but also the interviews explain how the bride and groom are feeling and what they are thinking about what has been happening. This shows the audience that there is (usually) a mix of opinion between the interviewees.

Use of Sound: Keeping up with the Kardashians

This documentary, for each episode uses incidental music to begin the show – this gives the show a theme song so that people can recognise the show as soon as the title sequence begins, there is no mistaking the theme song and so it is recognised for the show alone. The incidental music is also used to entertain as it is an appealing, attractive and upbeat sound for the audience to enjoy.

Also used in the show is a score – this is used for moments of sadness, upset, anger and any emotions that are included in the show really. The score is effective for the audience because it represents how they should feel.

Narrative & How the Story is Told: Keeping up with the Kardashians

A voice over is used throughout the each episode – but not as frequently as other documentaries – the voice over is used to explain certain scenes and things happening however some of the cast are used as the voiceover to address the audience – for example when they say the line at the beginning of the show; “Last time on Keeping up with the Kardashians” this is effective because the audience get to know who is talking and also feel more like the show is about them.

Another form of narration for this show is the camera – the camera is constantly focused on somebody in the family. The use of the camera throughout the show is intrusive and constant throughout – this may make the audience feel involved and like they are getting to know everything that is happening and that they aren’t missing anything.

Analysis: By looking at the above documentaries I have discovered that most commonly used is a voice over to explain what is happening to the audience – also I have found that they are effective because they help the audience to understand what is happening is depth.

Also I have found that the use of interviews and questioning is included a lot throughout documentaries and it helps the audience to understand the different opinions of the people included in the documentary.

Using a score or music comes in helpful for documentaries too because they create a mood and a feeling for the audience to understand clearly without it having to be over explained to them.

All the sounds used throughout documentaries are very similar and are used for the same things they all work effectively even in different styles of documentaries.