Analysing a documentary BY ONDER ASLAN

My Hometown Fanatics: Stacey

Dooley

The director of this documentary is Stacey Dooley who investigates what is going on in her hometown of Luton and finds out why it is known as the extremist capital of Britain. This documentary was made in 2013. This documentary was first aired on TV – BBC three and was also available on BBC iPlayer for around 30 days or so. The actual documentary lasts around 60 minutes – 1 hour.

The type of theme for this documentary would be an interactive and reflective type(s). I think this because in the documentary Stacey Dooley is really energetic and pretty much finds out a lot of information for is it that her hometown Luton is known as the extremist capital of Britain. Her approach is very positive when filming and she is very talkative. Furthermore, the reason why I said that this documentary is a reflective is because in the actual documentary Stacey looks back on the difference of when the last time and how it has changed the attitudes of the public towards and against the new rules and society. Also, this shows how the lives of people has developed or ranked as the mood of the city had changed with the introduction of these extremists.

The message of this story is to show people how religions and groups can really have a say in on society. However, the message that Stacey Dooley is trying to get across here is to show the audience how extremists are taking over the city of Luton as once again religion is powerful and benevolent. Also, Stacey Dooley is trying to show us that violence is not the way forward and that racism don’t not bring respect into the world and all it brings is hatred and the division of the different races (whites, blacks, Asians and etc.)

I think that Mise-en-scene plays a big role in this documentary as everything in the documentary is organised and goes to plan like how Stacey Dooley would’ve wanted it to go. The location that the documentary is set in is Luton – Stacey Dooley hometown. There is a lot of different races in this documentary the mood and styles changes accordingly to that race, for example you have Muslims who are mainly wearing traditional clothes – skirts for women with headscarf's. Moreover, in the documentary there was a lot of objects used such as cameras and signs used for protests and one of those signs included a statement saying “British police go to hell” which pretty much sums up the views of the public who are protesting for their rights and opinions. The other objects used in this documentary include the holy book of Islam – the Quran which plays a big role in these protests as Stacey Dooley finds out. Additionally, the use of camera really plays a significant role in the message of the documentary as the types of different shots such as; long shot, close-up, medium shot all show how the action in this documentary is portrayed. The camera movement throughout the whole documentary was on the move as it was capturing every single movement of Stacey Dooley and the action taking place, e.g. the scene where the lady accuses Stacey of being ‘naked’ by not having that much clothes on. The camera was filming in different angles to try and show the audience a point of view from which they can see what is happening in the background or on the other side of the camera – so that no action is uncaptured. I feel that this documentary is very well edited as the editor made sure that the shots that were taken had been like a sequence which told us a story of what was going on in order – as none of action was missed, also there wasn’t any confusion in the pattern of the sequence as it was very well organised. I have also noticed that each scene particular scene lasts around 1 to 2 minutes which seems pretty fair so that the audience can understand what is going on rather than trying to discover themselves. The sounds used in this documentary are significant as it gives us a clue of what we are expecting to see/watch. For example, at the start of the documentary there is a Bollywood theme song which tells us that maybe there is going to be Asians in the documentary. Furthermore, there is music at the end of the documentary – a rock theme song which possibly tells us that the documentary was tough and troublesome. In addition, throughout the whole documentary, Stacey Dooley narrates what is going on which is a good way of keeping the audience/viewers up to date.

The reason why I liked this documentary is because first of all I how Stacey Dooley’s presents her work and portrays different characters. Furthermore, this is a documentary to inform and educate people who may not know a lot about religion and different party groups. I was really entertained while watching this documentary as it showed me how much of a difference religion can make to a society. However, what I most liked about this documentary was the different opinions of the public e.g. the scene where an English man and an Asian man had a tough argument over religion which might not be pleasant for some to see but kept me on my toes as it was good to see people settle it down with the truth and honesty. Violence is not the way forward.