GENRE ANALYSIS Lara Croft

Types of documentary

Themes:
Video/Virtual Games - Shows how games have so much planning and Lara croft was for entertainment purposes only, this is debated within the documentary.
Violence: Shows the violence within the video games, and how people can be influenced in with this
Representation of Women: Shows the opposite to how women have been represented and oposes the stereotype of women being the 'damson in ditress' not as Superior as the male sex. Also shows opinions to what women think.
Feminism: Opinions of other women, discussing that Lara Crofts character is Superior and the same stereotype of men but why does she have to wear little clothing. Debates is it for entertainment purposes...
Control and Puppeting: Relates to the debate about entertainment purposes only or the idea how men feel in control and they are in a virtual world where nothing can defeat them.

Narrative structure:  The narrative structure for this documentary is linear with a chronological storyline. It shows the history of Lara Croft, including how she was evolved and the way she has progressed through the media industry, and how she has been developed through time.

Camera work: The camera work in the interviews use
extreme close ups and close ups which helps us understand their facial expressions and there opinions of what they think of the discussion showing personal views and opinions. In all of the interviews the camera angles varied from close ups to extreme close ups and also used mid shots. I think this was used to how intense the topic they were talking about is and grabbing their attentions audience by the shots used, because it was very in our face.
During one of the interviews with the actress 'Angelina Joile' there are a lot of extreme close up shots involve, which can show in detail how she can be a match of Lara croft, Whether it is successfully or not.
Mise En Scene: In the Mise en scene for the interviews they had relevant backgrounds to what they where discussing. They showed clips of Lara Croft in action, and featured the game itself which gives us a better idea of the theme of violence in the game and what the game is about if the audience has not watched it before.

 Also the lighting in the interviews was blue and green, which also related well with he videos because it gives a setting of a jungle like atmosphere (which is one of the themes about the game)

Another mise en scene was the setting of all the male gender playing the game in a Internet cafe, with computers and headphones. This also demonstrates the  idea how the game is male populated and can show the male obsessive element about the game. The computers in the Internet cafe relate to how we play the game, and also the amount of people it shows playing the game shows us to the audience how popular it is.

Sound:  In the introduction of the documentary there was 'lara croft' themed music to help introduce the game, and if any of the audience knew what the theme tune was they could reconisge and get an idea of what the documentary will be about. It helps set the introductory to what they are discussing and it is very relevant to Lara croft. Also at the beginning there was sounds of Lara crofts voice to also introduce the game, this gives us an idea and a 'taste' of what the animated game would be about.

Other sounds involved where when the interviews were being held, there were sounds to go with the background video, for example gun shots, trees moving, bushes being chopped down, struggling and enthusiastic sounds of Lara crofts voice. These sounds obviously would be out of the game, which also helps our audience connect to what we are discussing.

Editing: There were lots of cutaways involved during the interviews, for example the people being interviewed would be the narrative discussing points, whilst the shots would cut to related images of the game, video material, relevant things they would be talking about. An example of this is where they were discussing how lara crfot has developed over time, to be more of an entertainment for men figure, they showed a small animation clip of Lara croft , the original from where she had transformed (breasts and bum had been enhanced).
Another cutaway involved was the shot of all the men on the computer in the Internet cafe, this was own footage captured, and whilst this was playing they were discussing over the narrative how it can become obsessive and how popular it is with men. This shot was sped up into fast motion/fast forward, it also looked like elliptical editing which still shows the time length meant to be created, however is cut down to a second or two. This was of editing was also just a stylish and creative way to help vary the camera work to make it look more interesting.

Another editing feature was one way to present the interviews, they selected an interview of the maker of Laracroft, and edited to put it inside a small animated laptop, so it slightly looked like he was on web cam. This could show he career, a computer game Creator (inside the computer) or it could give a stereotype to his job, for example a geek, smart, successful man.  By editing interviews and putting them with animations it can vary the way of presenting interviews so they are less boring and more interesting

Fading was used in the editing, to help visually show the transition from Lara croft to Angelina Jolie, this helped the audience understand the physical transition. This also shows from fantasy to realism and helps empathise the obsessive element.



Archive Material: The archive material in this documentary was video clips of the realised film, and opinions from Angelina Jolie (who plays lara croft in the film) from previous interviews. Other archive footage was images of newspapers and magazines that included headlines about Lara croft and her fame. By showing magazines and newspapers this shows the impact Lara Croft had on the media industry, and how she was turning from fantasy to realism.
There is also archive material of clips from fan pages, and chat rooms, which shows elements of obsession. This archive material would be used to show evidence backing up opinions from the interviews, and also showing evidence to show how Lara Croft has become and obsession.

Graphics: Graphics used in this documentary was mostly for the subtitles. The subtitles in this just introduced who they are and what they do, the text was plain white i think to stand out over the busy background of the interviews.