Commissions | Contextual Research: 'Death Row Dogs: Dangerous or Not?'

'Battersea Dogs Home has been saving the lives of millions of hounds for over 150 years, but has its hands tied with breeds banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act. It is forced to destroy around eight Pit Bull Terriers every month. Professor Green visits the landmark charity to find out more about the heart-breaking challenges it faces every day. He meets Caramel, a loving dog whose fate hangs in the balance of a police assessment, and the man that will euthanise her if she is classed as a Section 1 breed.'

Link to the documentary

The documentary opens with a clear question of morality toward euthanising 'dangerous' dogs which is presented through the commentary and establishing shots.  We are then introduced to Professor Green, the presenter.  His style of presenting is rather informal, and very conversational, but he is still able to ask key questions and depict the issue informatively.  Whilst the issue we are exploring is not necessarily about morality, we are exploring the ethics of fairness, so I have chosen to look at this documentary to see how Professor Green tackles these ethical questions.

The documentary feels very much like a journey for Professor Green, and not just him showing us the facts.  He is being led through Battersea Dogs Home as his own personal story to find out this information - he takes the role of the investigator.  I feel that our documentary should have a similar feel to it through my presentation of the issue of car insurance premiums for young people, as this is a personal issue to me; I should highlight my journey as I find out the facts myself.

The camerawork also reflects the personal and journey-like tone of the documentary with a lot of handheld shots and shallow depth-of-field provoking a strong sense of realism, as if we, the audience are following Professor Green in this journey with him.

The commentary works as a tool to transition between interviews by injecting further statistics and facts, giving the audience a breather before heading into the next segment.  I feel we should adopt similar techniques in our documentary as we will need to rely on both the opinions of our interview subjects and the statistics behind the issue to get our point across.  Music is also used to transition from one location to another and from one information point to another.

A plethora of G/Vs and establishing shots are used throughout the film to remind us where we are and what the documentary is about.  By using so many shots of the dogs at Battersea, we are also being reminded of the lives at stake.  Therefore, I can see that the G/Vs used need to have purpose and meaning, and not just thrown in for the sake of it.