Analysis of a Documentary
Title: Secret Life of the Classroom (Channel 4)
This documentary starts with information and facts, with the cutaway being an extreme long shot of a school. This determines the setting and what the documentary is going to be about – in this case, the reality of joining school at a young age. After a generalised out view and shots of young children in a natural school environment, the documentary goes straight into the story of a specific character; Isaac. There is a brief section which lets us know about Isaac and the struggle he has had. A main issue we are told is that a year ago, his father died. This makes the audience automatically sympathetic for him. While this narration is occurring, shots show Isaac struggling to change into a Physical Education kit, and unable to put his shorts on.
After his school life has had a briefing, we move straight onto his home and meet his mother. They are in the kitchen, discussing what he wants to be. This kind of shot and sound makes it seem very natural and real. The image to the right shows the shot of Isaac and his mother. In the background we see a pram/pushchair which could indicate other siblings or maybe how his mother still wishes he was young. There are also paintings and pictures on the wall. This is a sign of appreciation and appraisal of good work. After the speech from his mother about how she wants Isaac to be happy, it goes to a long shot of a hall, with many hula-hoops on the floor. This denotes a lesson at school and lets the audience know where the next scene is being held. It also has children running around in the hall in slow motion. This could signify a long period of time, or fast paced and energetic children. The sound now is mainly the teacher’s commands – this shows authority. The shots however show the children, especially Isaac, still struggling.
This shot means the lesson has now finished and the teacher is looking after Tyler – we know this as there are subtitles. A shot like this will indicate a subject and dilemma. With the child on the lap of an adult, we automatically know something is wrong with the child, also, the facial expression shows us. However, this isn’t staged, but natural. In this situation, Isaac has pushed Tyler, upsetting him greatly. Going into the second quarter, I notice that the narrative is male. This shows that it is a serious subject and can affect many people. The camera shots show the children at playtime – still, just naturally.
This shot is completely natural, however, the cameras may have a slight effect on the children’s behaviour – they may feel like they “need to put on a show”. This shot will make the audience think seriously about what happens about their children within their first year. And with this shot, we go onto the story of child two – Dylan. Dylan is introduced as a fighter and we are told that he likes to fight with the other children. He comes across as a competitive child. We also see a few seconds later, that Dylan is disabled, with the loss of one eye. He used threatening talk like “If you do not play fighting with me, I will never invite you to my party”. With more teacher narrative, almost the professionals of the documentary, the audience is told that this is natural behaviour for young boys of this age.
This is the shot shown for when the ‘professional’ – teacher – is talking. The white background could signify simplicity. The teacher herself hasn’t been ‘glammed up’ or covered in make-up – to fit the documentary, she may have been asked to come as natural as possible. She is also looking directly at the camera, I noticed.
An extreme long shot like this established the next scene. Due to the current following of Dylan, the audience would assume this is Dylan’s home. Shots like these will give the audience and idea of the place the child lives. As Dylan has been shown as quite a violent child, people may assume he comes from a low end council estate, but this image shows quite a middle-class building, and the people-carrier suggests other siblings.
After a look at Dylan’s home and family life, we go back to the school and are told about the children doing a philosophy lesson once a month. In this section, the teacher holds up a photo of an African person wearing a hat and coat. All you really see is a close up of the picture. The children firstly discuss if the person is male or female. Two of the children have their own opinions and they learn the words agreeing and disagreeing. One of the students then says that they think the person in the picture is a man because they had “black skin”, and another girl clarifies she has a friend who is a girl and dark toned. This brief scene shows the children calm and learning life. We are able to see the vulnerability of the children and their lack of understanding about life.
The next shot is of a council estate property. This means we are looking at the story of one of the children and we assume this child doesn’t come from a brilliant background. The next shot then tells us that this is the home of Isaac. From the first scene about him, we do not see the outside of his home, therefore cannot make decisions. His mother is then seen giving Isaac a bottle for his drink. The whole idea of keeping Isaac as a young child is more convincing now. Within the next few seconds, we find out that Isaac’s father committed suicide. His mother mentions that Isaac had to grow up fast, and I believe that she hasn’t wanted that, and therefore uses the young babyish things to make him seem younger.
Isaac is then naughty in class and bites a fellow classmate. He is then bought into the Head Mistresses office. The mise-en-scene for this room shows folders and bookshelves. This makes the room more ‘office like’. The two chairs are there for when parents are bought to the school and the desk and chair to the right (unseen) makes the room seem like a work environment.
As the documentary goes into the second half, it leans more into the girls’ side. This shot shows the vulnerability of one of the young girls. This next story follows Grace, who is struggles to make friends. When the cameras go to interview the mother, the exterior shot of the home (shown first) is quite glamorous. However, the interview is done outside in a back garden which looks quite shabby. Although the camera has centred her, she is talking to a person at the side, which is unseen.
This external shot shows the school on a rainy day. They may have done this to show sadness and gloom, as Isaac previously mention beforehand about his Dad. The kids were also discussing family life. When children of this age are seen discussing topics like this, the audience feel very sympathetic for them. The children describe what a ‘home’ is to them. Some talked about not spilling milk whereas others spoke about family.
The rest of the documentary summarises that over 650,000 children have to learn to make social skills and that the three children followed in this documentary all have done so. I believe this documentary would be aimed at parents of young children who haven’t started school yet. I don’t think many parents understand what their first child’s first day is going to be like. In this day and age too, it is more difficult to make friends and fit in; therefore these crucial stages at first school will help a child develop skills.
I chose to analyse this documentary as it kind of relates to mine; however the storylines are more structured and about older kids. The uses of Facebook and other social network sites will soon be a part of these young children’s lives. Bullying also starts at a young age, so it needs to be stamped out from day one – I believe.
The text used in this documentary – for subtitles and main titles – is quite a “serious font”. It is similar to Trajan Pro. I believe they chose this as it shows the seriousness. However, if I were to do it, I would use a children’s handwriting font – similar to Lucida Handwriting.
I have gained some ideas from this documentary, including possible cutaways and camera angles. Overall, this documentary used close ups to define sadness and other emotions in the children and long shots to show scenery and where the next scene will be set.
