Research into existing media products - Behind Bars in San Quentin

Behind Bars in San Quentin by Louis Theroux is a BBC documentary on one of America’s most notorious prisons, San Quentin where he speaks to serial killers, robbers and more. The documentary first aired on BBC Two, January 13th 2008 and it was ranked the tenth most programme of the decade on BBC Two, after gaining 5.81 million viewers. This documentary is in Bill Nichols' mode reflexive as Theroux acknowledges his presence and gives narrative guidance.

The documentary starts with fade into an opening, establishing/master shot of the San Quentin prison then it straight cuts into a close up of Louis Theroux inside the prison. Accompanying the shot is an ambient sound of the sea which is juxtaposing as this sound is associated with a holiday, not at a prison. All the shots in the prison are handheld as it gives a sense of realism and is not practical to have a massive camera crew in one of America’s notorious prison full of murders, robbers and pedophiles. There is shot, reverse shot between Theroux and a prisoner however instead of cutting between shots, the cameraperson pans as an alternative. During this dialogue, Theroux mentions that the prisoner has been sentenced to 5000 years in prison. This an example of a hook technique, which is used to keep the audience interested and to find out why the prisoner has been sentenced to 500 years in prison later on in the documentary. Throughout the documentary, the camera crew remain unobtrusive and do not disturb normal life. This technique is called a fly on the wall as the viewers are watching the programme as if they were a fly on the wall. 

Having examined the reflexive mode of documentary, we decided that this style of documentary would not suit us, this is because I prefer to use facts and figures and present information to people rather than opinionated subjective information.