CASE STUDY 3

STACEY DOOLEY INVESTIGATES ONLINE DRUGS:

Music:
Music in a documentary is often used as a form of non-diegetic sound that's used to create the mood and overall meaning of the documentary and mainly what it's about. The way that the documentary does this is mainly through using eerie music during scenes with meetings of the drug dealers to emphasise a suspicious and tense atmosphere, as dealing with people with such shady backgrounds could lead to anything sinister, an example of this would be around the 18:39 mark just when Stacey is about to meet the first drug dealer Tye, what makes it work, is as the music is playing connoting something sinister, Stacey also exclaims that she's "scared" and doesn't really know what to expect from a situation, which adds to the scene more and creates further tension.
By doing so it makes the scene as well as the documentary more intriguing to watch. Other examples of music contrast with other scenes where it could be argued that a motif is used to indicate a certain scene involving an encounter with drug dealers as such. In contrast to the dialogue as well as sound effects there are instances where the music sounds as if it's drowning other aspects of the score. Overall this could make the noise distorted.


SOUND EFFECTS:
In terms of sound effects, they range between the non-diegetic as well as diegetic realms of noise in this documentary in particular. In terms of diegetic noise, the most prominent example would be the use of ambience, being any background noises that could be heard throughout the documentary as most of it is filmed outside a massive example of this would be around the 25 minute mark of the video where a scene takes place between a snapchat employee (interviewee) and Stacey. As this conversation is going on we can also hear cars and other vehicles, in the background as well as other forms of ambient noises that exaggerate any forms of life in the city.

In terms of non-diegetic sound is found throughout the entirety of the documentary, an example of this is, the meet up scenes (as aforementioned) especially  the texting scenes, each time an animated graphic appears with the texts on screen we can hear little pings as well as typing noises, to emphasise activity between both people, as well as to emphasise and exaggerate realism with the drug dealer before they meet. Often examples of hyper real noises as their exaggerated by, using realistic noises to display an action or interaction that occurs. By doing this the documentary keeps it less boring, and more enjoyable to watch as the documentary isn't just giving us a static long shot, of Stacey standing there with background music which would deem to become boring as it's not very appealing for the audience to watch. Also by using this example of hyper realism the documentary also helps to dictate any form emotional realism overall, as it helps by giving us insight in what is going on with both a mix of visuals and sound effects to help that scene stand out in particular.

DIALOGUE/SPOKEN WORD:

Interview techniques: In interviews, both between the interviewer and interviewee, it's often clear to understand what's being said from Stacey as her accent is easy to understand and that she's loud and clear whereas, when it came to the interviewees, there are instances where there is an issue that nothing is being understood so in order to breach that gap between the audience and character the the documentary visually uses subtitles to help the audience understand what's being said, as there are some accents/dialects that may not be understood by the audience or the person is too quiet. A prominent example is around the 14:03 mark and further, the interviewees have a strong accent that is hard to understand, and with the use of a face mask it's harder to hear what's being said as in some instances they may seem quiet or the dialect is confusing, and strong. The Questions that is asked by Stacey helps us to further understand what's going on in the minds of these people as they're always asked deeper questions that get the people she speaks to for them to be open and honest, such as asking for views and their ages etc.

Voice Over:
Voice overs used in this documentary were done by Stacey herself and was dubbed over the entire documentary, in points to help dictate to the audience what direction the documentary is going, or even used to help tell a story or exaggerate any dynamic effects, such as at the beginning of the documentary where Stacey, opens with facts and statistics with a stern tone of voice helps with the audience to get hooked into the facts and figures of the entire thing and get them understanding, with what the program is about. The dialect she has is again easy to understand and with a loud projected voice helps to understand what is being said in the documentary.





CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, the sound mix used in this documentary in particular is a good example of how sound works all together to help produce a piece of media overall. Music is used to help set the theme and the setting for what the documentary overall has to offer to audiences giving them expectations. Sound effects allow for more exaggerated sound, more hyper realism and more so making the scene work,