Factual TV Rules for Beginners

For this blog post I will be describing and exampling 9 Factual TV Rule's, using 4 different documentaries. The 4 documentaries that I will be using are 

• KKK : The fight for White Supremacy 
• Reggie Yates : Race Riots USA
• Is Britain Racist 
• We Want Our Country Back 

In these 4 documentaries the topic is about racism in USA and in Britain. The angle of these documentaries are for the KKK - which is more of a neutral angle where he is letting the audience decide what they what to think about the KKK. Race Riots USA is more of a bias angle as he says that what has been done is bad and that the black killing has to stop. Is Britain Racist the angle to this is more neutral as she does not judge people for who there are during the documentary. We Want Our Country Back is neutral as they are also not judging anyone on what they believe so they are giving the audience a chance to think about what the people are doing and if it is right or wrong.   

Accuracy - This is when the facts that are given are true / accurate which shows that the documentary maker has researched the facts which is staying in the contract with the viewer as they are not adding lies in to the story to make it up. An example of this is at the time code 9:23 where you see archive footage of the hangings that were happening whilst the KKK were thriving. This effects the documentary production as it  is showing how accurate the information that was given in the past was true as there is archive footage as proof.
 Another example of this is in the documentary Is Britain Racist. At the time code 0:02 they show archive to back up the point of if Britain is racist. This effects the documentary production as its shows the audience what is going on in certain parts on Britain as you can see that the footage that has been sent in looks quite recent.
A third example of this is Race Riots USA as during this documentary he speaks to the real people that have experienced the topic that he is speaking about. At the time code 6:46 you see Reggie Yates with a young boy who was Michael Browns friend and he was explaining to Reggie what had happened. This effects the documentary production as the audience know that the facts that are being told are accurate as they can see that the person that Reggie Yates is speaking to and getting facts from is someone that witnessed what happened. Another example from Reggie Yates is that they have archive footage of what took place and they also have the autopsy reports. At the time code 7:20 there is archive footage of the march that the black people done to raise awareness for Michael Brown. This also effects the documentary production as they show how accurate the situation was as there is footage from what actually happened.

Balance - This is when the documentary maker shows both sides to a story, which means that the audience can see different sides to a view that the documentary is trying to make.
An example of this is in KKK documentary at the time code 0:49 you see how the black people are reacting to the KKK, however at the time code 1:08 you also see how the white people feel about who should be in charge. This effects the documentary production as it shows the audience both sides to a story and it also gives the

 audience a chance to see who they think is right or wrong. 

Another example of this is in the Race Riots USA, where Reggie Yates goes to different people to get there opinion. At the time code 3:53 he speaks to someone that was involved in the incident, and then at the time code 10:23 he speaks to people who are on the side of police who are mainly white. This effects the documentary production as it show the audience who is on who's side and also shows the audience what other people have done to help the side that they are supporting or that they have been supporting.
A third example of Balance is in the documentary Is Britain Racist where they show different people who are not racist and people who are racist, and also give them a chance to justify them self's. At the time code 3:04 you see someone who says that she is not racist but is part of the EDL and at the time code 43:13 there is a man who is quite racist. This effects the documentary production as the audience can see what people in Britain think about other cultures and things like that.

Impartiality - This is when the documentary maker stays neutral during the documentary so that the audience are not influenced by there opinion, they can make up there own mind on what they want to think about the topic.

An example of this is We Want Our Country Back, were the women is not being impartial at the time code 1:40 the women is speaking about how they get called all sorts of names like being racist however after she speaks about how there are too many Muslims and that there should not make any more mosques in London. This effects the documentary production as it does not give the audience time to have there own opinion and think about what is right as someone else is just saying what is right and worn for them. However the documentary maker is impartial throughout the documentary as he is just describing what is going on during the documentary.

Objectivity VS Subjectivity - Subjectivity is an opinion and Objectivity is saying the facts. Some documentaries have a mixture of subjectivity and objectivity to make it more interesting to the viewers so that there is that balance of opinion and facts.
An example of this is in the KKK documentary where there is a lot of subjectivity from the people involved in the KKK and also a lot of subjectivity from the black people as well. This is shown at the time code 0:56 where the black women shows that she does not like any white people as she is racist to the documentary maker. However at the time code 2:46 the white man in the green is saying that the whites are loosing the racial war. During this documentary the documentary maker is objective as he is just stating the facts and not sharing his opinion or judging anyone. This effects the documentary production as it shows the audience 2 sides to one story and gives them the chance to choose who's side they are on or no side as the documentary maker is just giving them facts and not his opinion.
Another example of this is in the Race Riots USA where Reggie Yates shows a lot of his opinion and other opinion but then he also shows that what actually happened is the facts and this is backed up by archive footage etc. At the time code 2:19 he shares his opinion of what he thinks about being a black man in America. However at the time code 5:44 there is archive footage showing facts of what happened during the incident. This effects the documentary production as the audience are going more to the side of Reggie Yates as he is giving his opinion during the documentary as well as the other people giving there opinion about what is going on as well.

Opinion - The audience can get influenced by the documentary makers opinion or someone else's opinion as they are not getting the facts where they can decide for them self's.
An example of this in the KKK documentary the father to the little boy believes that all while people are suprem and that they are gods chosen people, this occurs at the time code 5:25.
This effects the documentary production as the audience get to see what a person that is involved in the KKK believe and what there opinion is of the KKK. 

Another example of this is in the Reggie Yates documentary where he speaks to the boy who was Michael Browns friend where he shares his opinion on what happened on the night and that what happened should not have happened, this occurred at the time code 3:40, however at the time code 9:28 you see the people that are supporting the police speak about how the police are doing what they are doing to save their life's. This effects the documentary production as the audience get to see both sides to the story and how different people feel about the same thing that occurred when Michael Brown died.

A final example is in the documentary We Want Our Country Back at the time code 1:24 you see the 2 boys speaking there opinion about how there are too many Muslims in Britain. This effects the documentary production as it shows the audience what people that are racist but say they are not think about different cultures in Britain. 

Bias - This is where the documentary maker is sticking to one side of the story, so they are being one sided on a certain topic during the documentary, this can also occur from the person or people that are getting interviewed.

An example of this where it is not shown by the documentary maker is in 3 of the documentary series which are KKK We Want Our Country Back and Is Britain Racist, in these 3 documentary a the documentary maker stays completely neutral during the documentarys as they are just telling the audience the facts and letting the audience listen to other people who are involved opinions. 

However in the Reggie Yate Race Riots USA, Reggie Yates is bias towards the black people and you can see this at the time code 5:30 where he says that what happened shocks him and at the time code 8:05 you also see that Reggie sympathises with the boy as he speaks about what happens. This effects the documentary production is that if the presenter is being bias it does not give the audience a chance to sympathises with any of the other people as the presenter is saying what they think about what is going on in there mind.
Representation - This is how it shows a group or certain person during this documentary by using different techniques like voice overs or edits, this can make the person or group of people look good or bad.

An example of this is in the KKK where the documentary represents the people that are involved in the KKK seem like nice people and that they are not bad people, but represent the people of the KKK of religious people that just believe in something different to everyone else, this is shown at the time codes 4:21. 

Another example is in the documentary Is Brietain Racist at the time code 3:23 where the EDL are shown trying to grab

the camera this represents them as being aggressive as the team were attacked during secret filming. This effects the documentary production as the audience can see how different people are represented even though they are doing something that is not been agreed by certain people/most people in the country. 
Access & Privacy - Access is the viewers right to know what is going on within that certain topic during the documentary, however privacy is someones right to have a limit on what is to be shown on camera for example blurring someones face. However this depends on how important it is for the audience to know. 

An example of this is in the we want our country back documentary were the presenter was given access to the place for 4 months which then allows the viewers to see what is going on within the group of people. This is shown at the time code 1:05

Another example of this is in the is Britain racist documentary, were at the time code 5:01 You see that they are secretly filming the EDL to show the true colours of the people involved as when the cameras are shown people can put an act on to seem nice, this has been done to show the audience what is going on in Britan. 

A final example of this is also is Britain racist where they send the Muslim girl out at the time code 10:03 where the first time she is treated nicely and people tell her were to go when she is lost etc, however once she puts on the nikarb the people are very disrespectful and this had to be done secretly to show the audience what can happene to different types of Muslims. 

This effects the documentary production as it shows the viewers what they know about there country and also shows them what is happening in different parts of the country were it is not so multi-cultured.  Contract with the viewer - This is when the documentary maker at the beginning states that what is being shown during the documentary is true, however this can be broken by the documentary maker adding in lies to make the documentary look and sound more interesting.

An example of this is in the documentary of supersized me where it has been proven that the results that occurred can not be replicated. Even simple mathematics disagrees that the mcdiet consisted of 5,000 calories a day. This was also proven to breach the contract of the viewers as after the documentary he said he had problems with liver or cholesterol, however when healthy college students were tasked to take 6,000 calories a day after 30 days they had no troubles with there liver or cholesterol. This is sometimes done to make the documentary see more interesting to make more people watch it.