Analysis Of Two Documentaries

Analysis Of Two Documentaries

I will be analysing two very different types of documentary, 'Dogtown

and the Z-Boys', which takes the role of being a full length movie

type documentary, and 'Teenage Transsexuals' which was recently shown

on Channel 4.

'Dogtown and the Z-Boys' is a documentary which takes a look at the

transformation of surfing into skateboarding. The film follows the

evolution of skating through it's heyday in the 70's, to it's decline

in the 80's, and then back upto it's popular return in the 90's. It

also follows the Zephyr team, a high profile surf/skate club which

revolutionised the skating industry right upto the present day. The

film is written and produced by Stacy Peralta and Craig Stecyk, who

were two of the original co-founding members of the Zephyr Skate Team.

Stacy Peralta also directed the film.

Peralta does not openly avoid issues such as race, gender or class. He

simply tells the story as it is..

Peralta uses a mix of intelligent editing, camera technique and format

to give the film a certain tone. The scenes are edited to be very

quick and snappy. This makes the film run less smoothly and gives it a

messy, sloppy feel which reflects the lifestyle of the Z-Boys. It also

makes the film exciting and intriguing as you don't know where it's

headed next. The rock and roll type music which includes 'T-Rex' 'Thin

Lizzy' and 'Jimi Hendrix', was dominating FM rock radio at the time

and defining the fearless, irreverent spirit of their sport. This type

of music also runs hand in hand with the editing technique that

Peralta chose to use. The film has been and definitely needs to be

edited in chronolog...

... middle of paper ...

...help them to relate with the

film. Home footage is used throughout the documentary, mostly of the

children growing up. Archive footage is also used to break up the film

a little, and to make the narrative more interesting between scenes.

Valid presentation of factual information is used in the form of

on-screen statistics. The numbers show the increasing amount of people

who are diagnosed with having 'cross gender identity'. It gives the

viewer something to think about whilst watching the film. Otherwise

the viewer may believe that the people shown are the only ones with

the disorder when really there are many others.

Overall, we can see that the two documentaries are different in almost

every way. Dogtown is quick, busy and very entertaining whilst teenage

transsexuals is a lot more subdued, serious and informative.