GENRE ANALYSIS The cultered Ape - Own Analysis

Themes:
Wildlife - Where apes live, how they live. General overview of the environment they live in
Evolution - Theory of how we are evolved from them
Human Behaviour - Relating human behaviour to ape behaviour, how they are similar

Narrative Structure:
In the narrative structure of this documentary it has a linear narrative. It discusses how we have discovered apes were similar to us, and the development of this, telling us the points and evidence in a chronological order.

Camera Work:
In some of the interviews the camera would zoom, from a long shot angle slowing zooming into a close up. I think this was used, to show what he was saying was important, and for it to capture the audiences attention, if they had zoned out or been uninterested in the rest of the interviews, because the point he was making was long and hadn't been interrupted with a cutaway or some form of editing.
There were also close ups in the interview's, particularly on the interviews, with the famous/ important people who made an impact in the apes discovery of human behaviour. I think this shows as an audience how passionate they were as we capture a full view of their facial expressions, making the point they are suggesting very emotive too.
In the footage of the apes, and showing them in their environment the camera work is mostly handheld. I think this is used to create a atmosphere of danger, and the unexpected because it makes it like the camera is more on edge and things are constantly happening.
Point of view shots are used in the handheld camera work, walking through the jungle. By using this point of view angle, it gets the audience involved and makes them feel like they are connected more, therefore they will feel more of the mood and therefore feel the way we want them too, in some cases in this documentary, emotive.

Mise En scene
In the mise en scene there is generally a lot of jungle themed things/places that we see.
In most of the interviews the experts being interviewed have some sort of plant or in a workshop full of plants in the background and i think this is a relevant background because it relates to nature the wildlife and reminds us of the apes environment that they live.
Another background for one of the interviews is in a library, or an scientists office/laboratory and i think this is also a relevant background. It also reassures the audience that the experts we are interviewing are professional and this can reflect off our audiences opinions in how they perceive the documentary, and if they believe in the narrators opinions.

Again in the mise en scene, there was a shot of an ape driving in a car with a human. I think this really reflects on what the documentary is talking about, the way in how apes have been humanised and how similar to us, that they show a scene of an ape doing human things like driving a car. In other clips if the mise en scene there are apes drinking tea which again reminds our audience in what the narrator is trying to suggest, visually showing how they can be similar to humans.

Sound
In the introduction of the documentary, there are phrases being cut away over the clips, from the interviews. These phrases give us as an audience what the documentary is going to be about. These clips that are shown again are similar to the on e of the apes being humanised for example the ape is painting, the girl in the interview that is cut over this clip, speaks how they're minds are very similar to humans and from this sentence and clip straight away we know what the documentary is going to be about.
The main sound throughout the clips, and mostly occurring in the interviews is an old, ancient delicate sound of an orchestra playing violin like music, this music stays very mellow throughout the interviews.

In the clips where it shows footage of the apes in their environment it uses the realistic ambient sounds being made at the time, for example the trees in the wind, the apes moving and living in there habitat. This helps set the scene making the clip have more verisimilitude.

When there are still images that fade into one another, there are sounds behind this, (realistic sounds) like the apes moving, plants rustling and birds. I think this is done to bring the image to life and make the audience a bit more involved, also helps the images look less repetitive and not as boring to our audience.

The narrator in this uses a lot of rhetorical questions. In this documentary we can clearly identify his purpose as he helps sum up the interviews very clearly, (there is a lot of professional expert language) so he makes it easier for us as the audience to understand. He also helps introduce and tell us the points in a chronological way.


Editing
There are lots of cut aways involved in the editing. Examples of this is where the narrator or people being interviewed are discussing about the chimps/apes and their behaviour, and it is cutaway to show old clips of them. Every cutaway involved is related to what they are discussing.

Another editing technique was used where they changed the way of how the interview was presented. For example there was an interview with the expert discussing the ape, and it was similar to a cutaway however you could see the ape and the person being interviewed on screen two as the screen was cut into half.

I think this was a really interesting way of presenting the interviews as you keep concentrated on both clips and don't really get uninterested in watching the long interview.


One cutaway for example, was when they were speaking about the apes eyes, and in the cutaway it would go to the apes eyes. I think the cutaways were most important in this documentary because there was a lot of expert discussions that could get repetitive for the audience, cutaways are an entertaining way to help give variety to the documentary.

Archive Material:
In the archive material it involved lots of old footage, showing how apes have similar human behaviour from similar tests and studies. This archive footage, because it is real it can reassure our audience that what the narrator is suggesting is objective, and can help persuade them more.
This footage also included news updates from previous ape news that happens, and because it is taken from the news, the news is something our audience can rely on so they will be more persuaded in what the documentary is suggesting.

Graphics:

In the graphics it involved text which presented us with quotes. These quotes appeared before every subsection of the documentary,or every time they were introducing a new top to discuss  An example of one of the quotes is 'Animals are more macklines... mans tends alone'' - Kane Descarles . This text appeared on a black background in white font in the middle of the page, these colours would definitely make the quote stand out to our audience from the contrasting of the colours.

The subtitles involved where used to introduce who the person was and where they were from. Again the subtitles were in a white text in a clear times new roman font this then stood for the audience to read clearer and understand who the person is more.