Type of documentary

• Fully Narrated - Direct address documentaries use of the screen voiceover to convey the exposition.

• Mixed - Uses a combination of interview, observation and narration to advance the argument. In this documentary has mainly interviews involved.

Themes• Death- this theme is reiterated throughout as his death is the most significant event in

this documentary topic.

• Music- This is the main reason for the death of Kurt as music is what he loved and he died for it.

• Love- His love for Courtney was real however her intentions are questionable

• Betrayal

• Drugs- The scene that had corrupted Kurt and Courtney.

• Business- Courtney had seen an opportunity to make money out of helping men pursue their music careers.

• Invasion of privacy- A major trait that all famous people are striped from.

• Murder- A conspiracy theory that people believe that Kurt was murdered.

• Pain- This is the emotional trait that people will endeavour from watching this documentary and what people who were close or associated to Kurt felt this emotion.

• Conspiracy Theories- Thoughts on what actually happened to the death of Kurt Cobain.

• Money- A theme that Kurt was very successful which Courtney received from the will.

• Fame- this is the major factor why Kurt Cobain wanted to stop pursing music and question his existence.

Narrative Structure

• Open - The audiences is left to make their own mind up at the end, on whether they believe it was a suicide or a murder.

• Closed - There is a definite ending and outcome, that Kurt Cobain is dead, and Courtney is seen as innocent in the public domain.

• Single Strand - There is only one main plot through out

• Multistrand - There are many subplots which interweave

Continuity editing

This editing was shown a few times to perhaps emulate how his death will continue on to haunt the people he was involved with and how he will forever live on as an icon.

This zoom into an extreme close up may connote how we cannot see his facial expression due to the sunglasses he is wearing, this may be due to him hiding his thoughts from the public domain and how privacy is a major trait he would've liked to obtain.

Zoom

This footage is the opening sequence to this documentary stating his death with the text provided. This could give the audience a sense of shock as it is an extremely blunt way to begin the documentary, and anchoring the documentary as a memorial film for Kurt Cobain. This scene may link to the uses and gratifications through pleasure of genre, as this genre offers various emotional pleasures such as empathy and escapism- a feature that some theoretical commentaries seem to lose sight of. Deborah Knight(1994) notes that ‘satisfaction is guaranteed with genre; the deferral of the inevitable provides the additional pleasure of prolonged anticipation.

This clip shows Kurt’s life before Courtney came into it, he was with some other lady and it is the beginning of his career. This footage may link to Steve Neale(1990) theory of making sure the production companies don’t lose money by producing something that is too experimental, but different enough to keep the audience entertained and watching. However some aspects of the documentary he travels to a lot of destinations in order to grasp the feel of the aura of Kurt Cobain.

These clips may juxtapose with one another as the first clip may illustrate a warm, saturated feel to it, whilst the other one is monochrome which may have connotations that she has a sense of darkness within Courtney and may correspond with her violent past. This may foreshadow the pain that she will suffer relating to the death of Kurt Cobain. This may link to Propp’s hero vs villain theory as Courtney can be seen as the villain due to her mistreatment of Kurt Cobain leading fans to dislike her and not have any trust on her intentions.

This footage is when Courtney gets interviewed about her heroin addiction. This may be imported due manufacture all the wrong things that came into Kurt's life, for example a girl that is interested in the heroin scene. Which may foreshadow his death.

This clip from the academy awards may illustrate how Courtney cared so much about fame and money ,whilst Kurt was not comfortable with it and was embarrassed by the thought of fame.

This footage may illustrate how isolated Kurt was from society and his loved ones, as he has disengagedhimself from the younger kids that are seen in the clip. This may also create a tie with how he did not want children but then once he met Courtney he changed his mind.

This footage is from a Nirvana gig, which may highlight a uproar in his career and how the bright lighting may refer to Nirvana becoming a global success. This is a main plot of were this documentary will follow behind the international music star that took his own life. This can link to Blumler & Katz uses and gratifications theory of diversion as this has a sense of escapism.

Kurt’s auntie plays voices of Kurt when he was young, this may be used for her to get a sense of nostalgia, as she is reminiscing about the past. This may interest those who are fans of the band Nirvana; as they may feel as though they have received an insight on his childhood through his auntie.

• Music- punk rock – nirvana’s music and others throughout, this will be used to portray Kurt's music that he made with his band and how significant music can be to a person. Also shows how his music will live on in modern day society. This may link to the uses and gratifications by Blumler & Katz as those that personally identify with the music genre, the audience will have a better personal relationship with the documentary and the people mentioned.

• Voiceover- Narrated by the film maker to explain who he is interviewing, and the events that have occurred in Kurt and Courtney’s life.

Prop: CameraAnother footage is imported from this camera, as they had gone to spy on Courtney’s rehearsal to get an interview with her. This may relate to how secretive people are as they have gone covertly with this interview, whilst the whole catastrophe of Kurt’s death that may have more to it.

Prop: Guitar This may have been infiltrated due to this entire documentary stemming from music and how it has evolved and changed Kurt’s life which may be damaging as it had driven him to suicide. The lighting is bright which may represent how Kurt may be in peace; as he is no longer suffering with the problems he faced in life.

Casual clothing, this code of attire is used mainly as most people that are interviewed are wearing casual clothing, that represents a general population of people that Kurt would encounter.

Smart, professional attire this may reiterate the power and authority that he has within this case, as he is a private investigator that understands the situation clearly as Courtney previously hired him.

Makeup Sunglasses and a mask

This type of makeup is perhaps representative of the genre that Kurt associates himself with. This may also be how society pressures woman to wear makeup.

These may be worn so his privacy has not be invaded by those that could harm him in anyway. Used for protection as he could fear the power that Courtney love has.

Title and credits:This is put at the beginning to introduce the documentary and what the plot will focus on. Also the text giving credit to those that have ties with this documentary.

This documentary has a surplus of black and white video footage, this may represent how candid his life was, giving a very ‘black and white’ narrative and how ominous his death was as the subdued and grim colours are foreboding , as many people believe that Courtney had something to do with it.

This collage of images that refer to the death of Kurt Cobain is a symbolism of what this documentary is mainly about, and the conspiracy theory that he was murdered by Courtney Love. This will confuse the audience on whether they believe Kurt committed suicide or was murdered. Resulting in an entertainment element, that will grasp the audience on thinking of their own conclusion to this matter.

Establishing shot Zoom

This shot may represent how Kurt did not care much for the materialistic things that he gathered from becoming famous.

This zoom may represent how in-depththe documentary is going in, in order to retrieve a balance of Kurt’s childhood and life as a international star. This will be seen as a memoir for the fans of Nirvana.

Point of view shot

This point of view shot makes the audience feel as though they are in the documentary, which the theory by Roy Stryker said that a good documentary should tell not only what a piece or a thing or a person looks like, but it must also tell the audience what it would feel like to be an actual witness to the scene.

Close up

This documentary is full of close ups from the unstructured interviews that emulate their reactions from their facial expressions and body language. This gives the audience an indication on how passionate they felt towards Kurt Cobain, which is revealed through the close ups.

Shot reverse shot

This shot reverse shot may imply a friendly aspect to the interview making her perhaps feel more comfortable to open up about Kurt; as it is a semi structured interview allowing to gain the right information and making it sound like a conversation.

Rule of thirdsThis documentary is full of interviews with different types of people that all link to Kurt and know him personally or have conspiracy theories on his death. The theory by Steve Neale may link; as you will be able to identify similarities between documentaries, but there difference from documentary to documentary. If all documentaries were identical, the audience would get bored and not watch them. Which may be the reason why the filmmaker had a variety of different people to interview to make it interesting and entertaining. However this documentary goes against a convention as it does not acquire the text for the interviewee, resulting in the audience to forgot their link to Kurt.