The Girl Who Became Three Boys

Documentary Analysis

Type of Documentary: MixedThemes: The dangers of social networkingNarrative Structure: • Linear – it starts with the girls meeting and

ends with the sentencing. • Closed- all of the questions are answered. • Single strand – it is only about the girls.

Camera Work • The interviews are framed to the left or right and are in mainly medium

close up.

• A variety of other shots are used including extreme close ups, long shots, two shots and establishing shots.

Incorrect Framing in Interview During the documentary some of the interviews do not appear to

be framed correctly. As they are framed to the left with the interviewee looking to the left of the camera. She also looks directly

into the camera lens often.

Mise-en-scene• Most of the interviews are filmed on a black background.

• However, the interview with the Sun Journalist, Ryan Sabey is filmed in an office as this anchors his relevance to the topic and the interview with ‘Alice’ is filmed so the light is behind her as she wanted to remain anonymous.

Sound• A voice over is used. It sounds like a middle aged male and is speaking

Standard English. • Some sounds are amplified like camera shutter sounds and typing. • Music is played quietly in the background and sounds almost comical

when the interviewee says something that could be viewed as funny.

Editing • The majority of the editing is cuts. However, a super impose is used in

order to make the silhouette of a boy appear. This is because he is a figment of the Gemma (the girl who became the boys) imagination.

Archive MaterialThe archive material includes newspaper covers, still

images of the victims and Gemma Barker, YouTube videos and Facebook pages.

Graphics Part of the documentary appears to be animated and

shows post it notes with names of people involved with the situation as well as images of them. During the

interviews, the graphics are conventional of the documentary genre as they are in a plain white font and show the name of the interview and their relevance to

the topic.