Type of documentaryLifers is an example of a mixed documentary.

ThemesThere are many themes shown throughout the

documentary; murder, crime, prison, regret and paying the price.

Narrative Structure

• This documentary is a linear film which flows through from beginning to end, with out any jumps into the past.

• This is a multi-strand documentary as it showcases many different prisoners and looks specifically at different the different sentences.

• This is a open ended documentary as we do not find out in the film what happens to all of the prisoners that are interviwed.

Camerawork

• Fly on the wall- used to capture everything in room, this could be to show how enclosed everything is in that room and to emphasise how horrible it is.

• Handheld camera- they use a hand held camera to follow the prisoners around making sure they capture their every moves.

• Wide shot- this allows the viewer to see the full picture and realise the intensity of the prison.

• Close up- to focus in on a certain detail that contributes to the documentary.

Mise-en-scene

• The main place of filming is inside the prison, showcasing different rooms; the prisoners cells, the shared rooms (such as eating area) and different offices where interviews are taken place.

Sound

• They used a formal male narrator, with an informative tone to narrate the documentary from the beginning to introduce the programme and tell the audience what its about as there is no presenter.

• Also, to interest the viewers they used actual news clips to make it more realistic and dangerous, making the documentary more exciting and interesting.

Archive material

• A photo of one the murderers as a child, although they have committed an unforgiveable crime, this possibly makes the viewer feel bad for the prisoner and it reminds them that they weren’t always bad.

Graphics

• There are titles of people when they are being interviewed. Also, when we are introduced to a new prisoner it tells us there name, crime and when they are expected to be released.