Analysis of BBC 4

Documentary
Caravans: A
British Love Affair
Shaun Hughes

Documentary Type:

Caravans: A British Love Affair was a mixed documentary. This is

because it included a combination of interview, observation,
narration, actuality footage as well as archive material.

Here is an example of
archive material used in
the BBC Four
documentary.

Themes:

Social history

Female independence

Freedom

Family

Friendship

Narrative Structure:

The documentary follows a closed, non linear, single strand narrative

structure.

It is closed due to the fact that nothing is left unanswered, it is what

is.

Also, the documentary is non linear because it jumps about through

time with the use of archive material, an example of this is when we
are shown images of Dorrie Van Lachterops trips in her caravan.

Finally, its a single strand narrative because of the fact that it

focuses on the story of the caravan only.

Camera Work; Interviews:

During interviews, the interviewee was filmed in a variety of ways

including; close up, medium close up, mid shot and long shot.

The interviewee is placed either left or right of centre and they

ignore the presence of the camera.
In this screen grab from
the documentary, the
interviewee is captured
in a mid shot and he is
left of centre. He also
ignores the presence of
the camera.

Camera Work; Other:

Many shots are used throughout the exposition, including; low angle,
wide shots, long shots, pan, tilt, high angle, zoom, handheld,
tracking, crabbing and aerial shots.

Many of these shots are used to establish the setting (aerial shots,
high angle, wide shots and long shots)

Aerial shot

High angle
shot

Wide long
shot

Tracking
shot

Mise En Scene:

Caravans

Bookshelves
behind
historian

Cars

Casual
clothing

Interior of
caravans

Interior of
houses

Contrast between caravan and house in

terms of space

Sound:

Within the documentary there were many aspects of sound,

including;

Non diagetic music relating to the time period that is being spoken
about or displayed (e.g.; French music when Paris is being
discussed).

Sombre music when looking at the death of Sam Alper (founder of

Sprite Caravans).

Much of the music is used as a music bed, underneath the narration

and visuals.

Female voice over who speaks calmly and well paced as well as in
standard English.

WW2 sound effects are used in the form of air raid sirens.

Editing:

The most common edit in the documentary is a cut, used to separate

different interviews and topics.

A montage is also used, many images and videos of Paris were put
together to make it

Montage of Paris

Another edit commonly used is the fact that questions are edited out
of the piece (cut aways).

Archive Material:

There was lots of archive material used, it helps to tell the story of
the people involved and the life of the caravan. Here are some
examples:

Graphics:

The use of the graphical feature, superimpose, helps to anchor the

relevance of an interview, the name is in a bigger font than the
subline.
Font for the name is in
a large non serif font.

Subline is also non serif, it is in a smaller font and anchors

the importance of the person and their opinions.

The title of the documentary, Caravans: A British Love Affair, is

presented on a book cover.
Title; Caravans: A
British Love Affair on
a book cover.