9/11: The Lost Tapes Analysis

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9/11 The Lost Tapes Analysis
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Type of Documentary

• - The documentary is a mixed documentary as in
  has a variety of interviews that are relevant to
  the topic, reconstruction of what people did that
  day, archive material and a voice over.
• - The themes which run throughout the documentary
  are how 9/11 has affected people, their jobs and
  the main roles people had to take on whilst the
  horrific event was happening.
• - It is a linear documentary as it follows an
  order in time and covers every detail as the
  event took place. Also it is single stranded and
  despite covering their main topic of the lost
  tapes no matter what documentary talks about 9/11
  it will always be open and not closed due to the
  fact there are still tapes that havent been
  found and conspiracy theories about what happened.

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Interviews
The interviews follow the conventions as they use
either big close up or medium close up to frame
the interview but rather than just keeping it at
one angle they change it to a different angle and
perspective half way through talking.
When the shot is a big close up the interviewees
head is angled a lot more away and does not look
at the camera directly once where as when the
shot is a medium close up theyre facing almost
straight.
What they do that does not follow the codes and
conventions of an interview is that they show the
interviewee but they do not talk. Instead the
interviewers make them sit and listen to the lost
tapes to show their emotions, this however is a
clever way to get an answer about their feelings
without asking questions.
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Sound

• Intense music to set the scene and atmosphere
• Voice of God
• Sound effects of the crash, police cars, phone
  calls
• The lost tapes(archive lettering when the tapes
  are played )
• Interviewees
• Slow, sad music when it happens which reflects
  how people were feeling.

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Camera Shots
When a place is mentioned in the voice over there
are a variety of different shots which go from
extreme long shot to a big close up of the same
object or place.
- Extreme long shot and establishing shots are
used to set the scene of a place. - Tilt and
panning shots are a reoccurring camera shot used
to show a certain thing whilst the voice over is
talking about it. - Also when something bad is
happening the shots flick quickly symbolising
the chaos
Big close ups are used on a lot of things
throughout the documentary such as the picture
above, over the shoulder close ups pf people
taking phone calls and extreme close ups of the
plane tracker.
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Archive Material
When the voice over is talking about a certain
place there is a map which is to help the
audience know exactly what location is being
talked about giving them a clear idea.
Not only are reconstruction used for cutaways
in between interviews there is also real footage
of what happened from people who witnessed every
single second.
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Graphics and Editing
An establishing shot and real footage is shown
with intense music and voiceovers at the start
before the title is shown to give the audience an
insight of what is to happen in the documentary.
This tape recorder is shown many times as a cut
away throughout when a tape is being played.
The opening title is a simple white text but as
the background is a tape recorder it links in
with the title which makes it less boring.