documentary

                 Poor White Kids

What is the social issue being focused on in this documentary?

The documentary that I looked at is ‘Poor White Kids’, the social issue that is being focused on is poverty in Australia, specifically poverty amongst the children in a part in Australia and how it affects them. The documentary looks at the welfare of the poorest part Australia, which evidentially has the highest number of poor children. The documentary looks at what poverty is, what it is like to live in poverty and how it can be fixed. But this documentary develops into the world of the children who experience it and provides a devastating critique of modern inequality in the wealthiest of nations

Summaries what happens in the beginning/ middle and end?

In the beginning of the documentary it sets you up with an introduction, into the part in which that documentary is focusing on. It shares facts about this area for example the area has the highest mass of poor children. A female voiceover starts with talking about experiments in social issues in Cornwall, which turned out to be an disaster, she talks about the late 1970 the new south wales government built an housing estate and filled it with over 3,000 people from Sidney’s poorest families. The planners had created a welfares ghetto. Today its one on the most disadvantage suburbs in Australia and has the highest portion of children in the country, there are 1500 people. The female voiceover goes on to saying; we are then shown pictures of the many children that live in the area. The documentary then follows up with a young girl saying that there are a lot of fights that happen in the area, and the female voice askes the young girl why is there so many fights? The girl replies with because this is Cornwall. We then a shown a family of five, the young boy in the family says that people with cameras come to the area only when there is something bad happening.

Towards the development of the documentary it starts to look closer, into the lives of the children. Children are asked questions about the topic and about their environment where they live. The female voice then tells us why they have come to this area, which is to ask the children about their lives, and then we see children answering this question. The question is then followed up with another question which is ‘who lives around here?’ a child replies druggies.  She also askes how do you see the adult world? Another young girl is shown and talks about how she doesn’t think of her mother as one because she hasn’t been there for her. A boy is then shown and talks about how his heart has been broken by a parent, he then talks about when you are at a young age and some one makes you a promise and its broken, it stays with you forever.

Towards the resolution of the documentary it finishes with a close look at a family, in the area who is living in poverty. We are first introduced to a young girl who is applying fake nails and she goes on to telling the audience that she couldn’t attend school today simply because her bag with all her books and pencils have gone missing, and she can’t afford to buy another one. If she were to attend without these things would personally be shouted at. She leaves us with the assumption that the school treats her different because of where she lives and how much money she has. The female voiceover then goes on to saying that the family have lived in this housing estate for 13 years. The voiceover also introduces us to her older brother and younger sister. And talks about how families in Cornwall don’t work and that their income comes from an organisation call centre link. 

The voiceover is then carried on as the camera shows the audience the mother with a basket of laundry. The mother then talks about the things that she has to do without, and that she has to buy her clothes as well as the children’s clothes from a charity shop. The young girl talks about how her mother manages to pay the rent, but sometimes she wouldn’t be able to because of the pay date. When I say this I mean if the rent was due on a Wednesday but the mother doesn’t get pay until a Friday. And another voiceover tells us a bit about the mother, for example that she doesn’t have a job at the moment. We then find out that the girl has to do without as well, she goes on to talking about a trip she wanted to attend, and she was going to ask but she didn’t because she felt that the money could be used for something else.

The documentary then looks closer at the brother, he then talks about the huge amount of bullying he goes through at school.  The voiceover askes him why? He then says that it’s because of the way he looks, the way he is and who he is.

What type of documentary is this? Conventions used?

This documentary was an investigative documentary, as it investigates and looks at a certain issue and stories in this case, the issue of poverty and the story of the children’s lives that have been affected by poverty. How it has influenced their way of life and how they view money and the poor area they live in. for example in the documentary the person behind the camera asked a young girl who is living in a poor place in Australia a question, and she went on to talking about a trip that she really wanted to go on but refrained from asking her mother for the money for the trip because she felt that her mother could use it in a more constructive way. Though children should have to have concerns about the lack of money that their parents are making and should just enjoy their child hood. That this young girl didn’t have the luxury and that she was holding off on things that she wanted because of lack of money.

The style of the documentary that is performative as the documentary looks at a stressful subject in this case poverty in Australia and how it is affecting the children in these poor families. The documentary show the peoples affected experiences and their emotional response to the issue and world. As the documentary shows people affected in their personal habitat (homes) living their daily lives, this is another feature in the performative style. The documentary shows events such as the way the poor children live, which are designed to make us experience what it might be like for us to possess a certain specific perspective on the world that is not our own.

There were a few conventions that were used in the documentary; one of the conventions that were used was voiceover. This convention was used when introducing the audience to the topic matter and telling us who poverty drastically affects. The voiceover also is used to introduce us to the area which the issue is happening in, and is also used to tell us a bit about the person who is being interviewed such as their name, age and a bit about their lives. This was an effective convention because it allowed the audience to have an insight into not only the topic and the place it is drastically affecting in the country but also into the peoples who are affected lives.

Another convention that was used in the documentary is interviews. Interviews were used when talking to children who lived in the poor area. For example children who lived in the area were asked if they think people are afraid to live here. The children then responded saying that they think people are afraid to come around here because of the druggies and sort of people who live around here. Interviews was also used when the camera looked into the lives of one of the families in the area, and the female voiceover talked to the brother about school, and he said that he gets bullied extremely for the way he looks.

The documentary has a clear subject matter you are instantly introduced t the subject matter, by the voice over accompanied by images of the area suffering in poverty. We are shown footage of Cornwall which is the area being looked at, the female voiceover then talks about a bit of history of the area, such of how the area came to be and how many people live there now.

Another convention that is used is facts; this is used when talking about the children. The voiceover talks about how this area has the highest mass of young children in poverty than in any other area in Australia. I think that fact is used, is to make the audience sympathise and feel for the children as well the people who live there, and make us want to help and make a change.

Another convention used is footage the documentary constantly shows you footage of the area and the sort of people who live there. I think that footage is used is to give the audience an idea of how the area is and what the living conditions are for the people who live there.

One last convention that was used in the documentary was opinions; there were various opinions from the children living in the area. I think that opinions were used to get an input and feedback from people who actually live in the community.  The female voiceover ask questions such as ‘what do you think of adults? A couple children were asked and gave us there opinions such as the girl in the documentary that responds to this question with talking about her mother and how she doesn’t deserve to be her mother.

What techniques are used to maintain the audience attention?

There are a few techniques used in the documentary to maintain the audience attention. One of those techniques is the cut away shot the documentary never focused on one thing for a long period of time it always cut away to another shot. For example when the camera was focused on the young girl, living in poverty. She was asked a few questions then the scene cut away to her mother and started to focus on her. I think this is a good way to maintain the audience attention, when I watched the documentary I found that my attention didn’t go awry and that I was focusing on the whole documentary in other words my attention was maintained.

What is the purpose of this documentary? What changes is it campaigning for?

The purpose of this documentary is to raise awareness to I think other parts, I in Australia and to show them how other people lives but also maybe to reveal the true story behind this area which has a bad reputation. I also thing the documentary has the purpose of making a change, to get people to help change the situation in that area.

Who is the target audience? Age/ gender/ interest/location/language How have they been targeted?

The gender of the audience that the documentary is targeting is both boys and girls. The documentary focuses on the lives of both boy and girl children and how poverty if affecting their lives.

The age of the audience that is being targeted through this documentary, is starting from young children ages 9- onwards. I think such a young audience is being aimed at is because in the documentary young children our suffering and being affected by the issue. I think documentary would open the children’s eye to how other children their age are living and the issues they go through.

In relation to the location of the audience being targeted is those who are located primarily in Australia. Seeing that the documentary is talking about an issue and area located in Australia I think the main audience being targeted is them. In terms of the language and ethnicity of the audience again I think is Australians. Though I think the documentary is primarily aimed at Australians and those who live in Australia, I do think there is a secondary audience being targeted. I think those in maybe United Sates of America and United Kingdom would be targeted because the documentary is in the English language and poverty is something that has a huge impact and affects people in these countries, this is how I think they are being targeted.