'The detectives' an analysis

‘The detectives’ Documentary analysis

Introduction:

-I am going to analyse the documentary ‘the detectives’. This documentary focuses on the man Ray Teret. Otherwise given the nickname ‘Savilles Chauffeur’. This also shows how police are having the cope with child molesters and rape victims. We also observed and analysed the filming and techniques used in the documentary. We observed this documentary to gather information on the various ways a documentary could look. The documentary can offend and harm.

Mode of address:

Content

Interviews and voice-overs:

In the documentary we see interviews; all though we didn’t see many shots of the actual interviewees, instead, we saw archive footage of the victims as children and then some cutaways. The specific subject they were being interviewed about was a touchy subject so it was understandable for the victims to not be shown. It was to protect their identity for their own protection.

            So as a form of protection the ones who wished to remain anonymous or wished only to be shot for a few seconds were given archive footage and various cutaway scenes so that their voice could be heard but not their face.

Throughout the documentary a different voice over, like a narrator, was featured in the documentary to give us more information and guide us through the story.

Other interviews gathered were from witnesses to explain what they have seen from other accounts of rape.

The other Molester was called Paul Fenner a rapist who sexually assaulted a young girl whilst she was on her way to school. He plead guilty later on in the documentary after trying to deny his crime. The witnesses showed where they saw Paul Fenner acting suspiciously.

The last lots of interviews gathered were from the police officers and special detectives. They explained their jobs and how they have to deal with sexual predators in the country. They also explain how they gather the truth from the suspects and then get all the information they can from the witnesses and victims.

Police tapes:

The documentary features many various pieces of archive footage from the 70’s that show some of Teret’s victims as kids around about the time that they were sexually assaulted. Police interviews with the victims were also shown, giving us in depth interviews, showing police tapes of the police making their way to interviews. Photographs from the seventies and onwards were shown to show how and where all the past assaults happened, how it looked in the past and what was around at the time of the assaults happening.

Through the documentary, radio extracts from Ray Teret’s Radio show were played; it featured extracts from the 70’s to present day.

Narrative:

The documentary features a parallel narrative, which is a narrative with two different stories together. Like a link, especially since they are both about the exact same problem. We get a narrative about Ray Teret, who is linked with Saville, and was sexually assaulting women in the 70’s.

We also get a narrative about Paul Fenner, a younger man from present day who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl whilst she was on her way to school. Fenner plead guilty to assaulting the young girl even though he was previously denying it.

The narrative was mainly there to help guide us or keep us caught up when we missed a section in the documentary.

Visual Imagery:

The visual imagery in the documentary shows every bit of archive footage and cut away shown, it features various cutaways and overlaps the shots as the there is driving shots, which links to the various camera angles, like birds eye view, worms eye view, close up, side shots and shoulder length shots. It helps add a little bit more of a detailed view.

Examples of cutaways that featured the police talking to suspects are:

-Shots of corridors in the police station

-Recording devices

-Cassette tapes

-Clocks

-Pressing record

-The counter

            They are featured to help us give a feel of the police station.

This documentary was in the theme of a fly on the wall, like spying. It featured one of the victims gardening; it showed how the victim is trying to continue with her life even though it was such a difficult time to overcome.

Conclusion:

In conclusion the documentary was very dramatic and featured various scenes that I thought were personally horrible. But the documentary did give insight on what happens to sexual assaulters.