Reggie Yates: Life and Death in Chicago Analysis

The archive footage used in this documentary has a huge affect on the audience int his documentary. There are many real life videos of shooting, police brutality, violence and gun crime shown, which presumably are all from he same city and area that show and narrate exactly what the voiceover is discussing. The use of these types of archive footage is effetely as it helps the audience interpret and comprehend the severity of the situation at hand, and it proves the people watching that this isn't just a theoretical issue, but that it's happening right now and is a very serious regular occurrence.

The voiceovers use are also used to provide further information to the audience so that they can understand exactly what is going on and who it concerns. The voiceover states "in 2015, 306 african americans were killed by a police in America, 8 in Chicago alone". This very important statistic is provided to us as it helps to almost emphasis the severity of the situation that is being discussed, and is used to have an impact not he audience so they can finally understand why this is such a serious problem. Statistics like these also provide validity to the documentary and overall, the audience are much more like to believe the information that their they are being told.

A shot that is often seen in this documentary is the presenter of the documentary in amongst the natural situations. These normally come in the form of medium shots of the presenter standing within the large groups filled by the general public that have nothing to do with the documentary ing filmed. The use of these shots and placements are used to effetely show that they are getting first hand information as well as real life perceptions of how everybody in concern with matter sees it. This may also suggest that the presenter does have an opinion on the matter, and that he feels a certain way about, hence why he is in amongst the crowds, to show his support for the cause.

Personally interviews between the presenter and people from the general public are very common in this interview for a variety of reasons. There are often medium shots of the two participants in the same frame, talking to each other about the topic of gun crime, and questions are often asked in order to gain opinions. These particular random interviews that look spontaneous are used to to help the audience comprehend an interpretation from inside the issue, and allows us to see how those affected by it feel, and what they feel should be done. Adding features like this gives the documentary a more sentimental feel, causing the audience to really feel touched and empathetic for those who are experiencing this issue first hand.

One big feature that is used in this documentary is an account of a personal story. There is a segment of the narrative where the woman gives a description of her encounter with the police in the past. She explains exactly what happened, how she felt, who were involved and why she did some of the things she did. Adding the personal account to storyline really engages the audience as it really provides a deep visual representation of why the issue being discussed is so important. As stated before in ta previous point, features like this cause the audience to take sides and empathise with whoever they want to, and challenges their ways in thinking, in regards to the topic of police brutality.