How are the entertainment values of your chosen

documentaries shaped by the institutions that produce them?

The 12 Year Old Lifer was made by Nerd TV for Channel 4. Nerd TV
aims to produce products that are daring, distinctive, deeply engaging
and built to last. This anchors the 12 Year Old Lifer as the severity of
the story is engaging for an audience and also is about an event which
will always be interesting, also supporting their aim of producing
programmes that are built to last. Channel 4 are a highly respected
commercial institution and produce consistently high quality
documentaries. Channel 4 aim to produce products that is relevant and
consists of news and current affairs: the 12 Year Old Lifer supports
this as it is an example of an informative and entertaining product.
However, the institution does utiilise character functions (Propp),
through the verbal code describing Paul as looking like Justin Biebers
cute younger brother. Here, Paul is presented as The Princess, as he is
constructed to be innocent, which positions the audience to believe he
was highly impressionable and therefore feel empathy for Paul,
disregarding the severity of the crime he has committed and
furthermore, poses the question of when is too young to be tried as an
adult, creating controversy (convention for documentaries). Creating
controversial content supports Nerd TVs remit to produce daring
products. These daring and controversial products create attention and
debates around the topics of the documentaries, and controversy is
also typical of a Channel 4 documentary, as they aim for original and
innovative content. The controversy causes people to use social media,
for example Matt Smith tweeted about the 12 Year Old Lifer, voicing his
opinion on the matter. This is a clear influence of Channel 4 as Channel
4 use social media to promote their products and to take their media
text beyond the documentary itself, and transfer it to other media
platforms.
A similar representation of Paul was demonstrated by the institution
The Daily Mail. The Daily Mail is an institution known for covering
celebrity life and also exaggerating events in order to draw audiences
in, a tabloid convention. The Daily Mail describes Paul as sweet and
angelic and contains non-verbal codes of pictures of Paul as a
younger child, laughing and smiling. This is an example of how the
institution is constructing Paul to appear a certain way, innocent and
vulnerable, to position the audience to connect with him, and
therefore feel empathy for him. This, in turn, will cause audiences to
watch the documentary to learn more about the crime and Pauls trial.
This is an example of synergy between two institutions, The Daily Mail
and Channel 4. Channel 4 obtain a wider audience from the article,
which is essential for an institution, therefore the use of synergy is a
common convention for Channel 4.