Analysing other documentaries.

In this clip of Fahrenheit 9/11 Michael Moore begins to analyse the failings of the people in charge of preventing a disaster. He first begins by setting the scene of the disaster; 'On September 11th 2001 nearly 3000 people, including a colleague of mine Bill Weems, where killed in the largest foreign attack ever on American soil.'. Michael Moore uses a mixture of facts and emotional language to draw his audience in. By braking down the 3000 people and actually showing one person he knew that died that day allows the audience to become emotionally part of the documentary. I believe I will use a similar method in my documentary using facts and emotional text to allow the audience to be drawn in.

He uses several panning shots of pictures left by families of missing relatives, this is set over some slow operatic music.Once again this builds emotion and also a sense of tension as he reveals shocking facts and figures. The music used is a common convention of documentaries as it automatically tells the audience what to feel before any words are spoken.

Once Michael Moore has emotionally drawn in the audience he begins to critique the people in charge that day. By first of all emotionally drawing in the audience and then beginning his point he is leaving the audience less chance to disagree with him. Once again Michael Moore only uses facts in his argument stating that 'As the attack took place Mr Bush was on his way to an elementary school in Florida. When informed of the first plane hitting the world trade centre, where terrorists had struck just 8 years prior, Mr Bush decided to go ahead with his photo opportunity.'. When speaking of George Bush, the main target of criticism in this particular documentary, he refers to him as 'Mr Bush'. This is in stark contrast to when he refers to his friend in first name terms and tells us he was his colleague. Michael Moore does not want the audience to think of George Bush as a person but as a cold leader who is incompetent. by referring to him as Mr Bush he is giving him an elevated status which people will hate him automatically because of and also that can have a greater fall from grace in the long run.

Michael Moore uses a series of jump cuts after we find out the second plane has hit the tower. This is to show the passage of time between the tragedy occurring and anyone in charge acting. As the clock goes up and up the audience begins to feel a sense of tension and anger and this further proves Michael Moore's point and gets the audience on his side.

I believe this particular scene is highly successful in proving Michael Moore's point and getting his audience to agree with his point of view. I will use similar techniques in my documentary as I believe we cover a similar subject matter.