Question 1 rewritten

What techniques does the text use to engage the audience?


The voiceover is the text has been used as one of the main features of an expository documentary and is often referred to as the voice of God. It is often a male and authoritative voice which provides anchorage for the images being presented on the screen to the audience. Additionally, the intimate moments of the producer's life also could provide a more personal basis for the audience to relate or identify to which is part of the uses and gratifications theory which was proposed by Blumer & Katz and was looked further into my McQuail. Identification can be used to attract large audiences and the reason why these particular shots can do this is because of the natural mise-en-scene which gives the text a sense of realism.


Furthermore. relating to the voiceover, it is of a man whose tone of voice is very sombre and the audience soon realise that this is not a text that is meant to humour or provide entertainment for them. The voice used is of a family man and can also provide audiences to identify with the man and the way he is speaking about his family as he sounds as if he is a father figure and family man. He constantly uses the word 'you' which promotes a direct mode of address to the audience and increases their involvement the facts that are given throughout the video could possibly allow members of the audience to recognise themselves as individuals and this could relate to Malsow's hierarchy of needs.


The fact that the voiceover is of a male and American voice could promote hegemonic values where the dominant values in our society lead the way people think. As America is probably the largest superpower in the world at this moment in time, it could prove to be a form of Americanisation and a patriarchal society because of the conviction in the man's tone of voice. The sound that is attached to the images on the screen is parallel and not contrapuntal because for example, at the start when the setting is very dark and gloomy, the music is dull and slow paced throughout whereas when the baby is born, is a natural scene and is a high-key lighted room which is attached to a little more upbeat and lifting music which matches the scene on the screen.


The extract could relate to Todorov's theory of equilibrium which states the every narrative begins at a calm period and is then disrupted and causes unsettlement which is called the disequilibrium and towards the ending, the equilibrium is achieved once again because of a resolution given by the main members of the narrative to provide peace and harmony. The extract starts off as if it is near catastrophic because of the images of the globe and the phrase given at the start ' nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come' which makes is seem as if the idea that is being focused on could bring disastrous results and this could also be a method of foreshadowing of future events in the text.


There are several montages uses to create pace for the text and an example of this is the snapshots of the producer's son and some of these are taken from the point of view of the producer and could possibly allow audiences to emotionally attach themselves to the video and increase their involvement. The close-up shots can also reinforce this to the audience and can engage them into continuing to watch the text. The fact that this could appeal to the global village could relate to the growth of e-media and its uses to spread news virally which was a theory suggested by McLuhan.