Documentary Overview : Josef Fritzl

1. Documentary overview Josef Fritzl: story of a monster

2. Type of documentary This documentary is fully narrated as we never see the person speaking as, Daisy Beaumont, the director, acts as the 'voice of god'. It is also a mixed documentary as we witness, interview, observation, as well as fly on the wall. This is effective as it creates an overall variety of what is going on, therefore the audience then can come to their own conclusion about the documentary as they believe they have all the answers needed.

3. Themes The themes of this documentary vary from; his childhood, his family, what crimes he committed, how did no one know they where down there to WHY? he did it. The various themes that are apart of this documentary entail a story of Josef Fritzl and what his life was like, from his childhood all the way to adulthood. During this timeline we see a mixture of other themes of people he meets and why they help the audience understand, why everyone is so shocked and what happened. This is then effective as the overall result on the audience impacts the final conclusions we then make.

4. Narrative Structure Multi-stranded, non-linear and open. This is because at the end the audience are still asking questions such as, what happened to them when they left, did they ever keep in touch with Josef, and how does the mum feel as she was so close to Josef (her husband) did she forgive him again?. I also understand that it is multi-standard as even though it is about is life, we are told about all aspects of his life and random scenarios that his friends tell us during interviews, that may or may not have affected why he did it to Elizabeth. However we also learn about his wife and her family as they are interviewed.

5. Camera work Long shot Extreme close up Various shots are used with in this documentary, each shot and angle is effective as it not only tells the audience where they are by using a long shot but help the audience to understand what is happening. Also by using close up and extreme close ups the audience can understand the emotions of the people who are being interviewed, which makes it a strong and convincing documentary. Zoom in Close up Mid shot

6. Mise-en-scene • Within the documentary we don’t see many places other than his home, quick clips of the dungeon, the pub Fritzl used to go to and we also see some archive footage of him at his lake house. This is effective as the audience can understand how Fritzl used to be, act and live and normal life. We can also track what is going on.

7. Sound • This documentary doesn’t have a wide variety of sound only a voice of used which acts as ‘the voice of god’ this is effective as it creates a sense of the fly on the wall as we are un sure who is there and you focus more on the content. The other sound used is of the people being interviewed and this is a simple diegetic sound.

8. Cuts are mainly used during interview scene's and this helps to make the documentary linear as what is being said in each interview is normally linked/similar. Editing Fades are nice simple, yet different way to go to the next section, the fire fades in creating a tense part. Flashbacks Gives audience a sense of what it was like back then, and can understand the feeling of environment and the situation.

9. Archive material and Castaways • Archive material is anything the director has found in newspapers, articles old footage and one main one used is old video recordings and images from Josef Fritzl personal belongings. This then makes the documentary stronger as we can see how he was how he acted around friends and if he had any pictures of Elizabeth and if not why not?, she was one of his daughters. • Castaways are anything they have produced so this is where the director has taken images herself, which makes is an emotional documentary as we can see what it is actually like and how hard it was.

11. Graphics Graphics are important during a documentary as they not only make It look professional, but they help to tell the audience what it is about. I.E. the name of the documentary but also who was involved in the making of the documentary.