DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS - Lara Croft - That Thing

Lara Croft: That Thing

TYPE OF DOCUMENTARY

This was a mixed documentary. We know this because there was usage of cut aways and archive footage. There was also a voiceover, but it we did not often hear it because the documentary is dominated by interviews contributing to its structure. 

THEMES

The documentary focuses on feminist issues with Lara Croft such as objections with the fact that she has become a virtual sex icon for some males. The documentary explains how she has gained so much popularity and how the media has marketed Lara Croft as a brand. There are also themes of money and Hollywood, which came as a result of the fame generated. The creation of Lara Croft Hollywood films has drawn more attention to the franchise as a video game and a lot of the themes discussed in this documentary are now of a much larger influence to the game's audience.

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

This documentary followed a linear narrative and has a clear opening, middle and end. The opening asks the question 'Who is Lara Croft and why was she created?'. We see footage from the game and find out more about her as a character. We are informed as to why she was made a female and not just another male. It was to represent power among females and how a virtual member of this gender can dominate a male's mind. Female video game characters were not often touched upon at the time of which the documentary was made and only were at the release of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 1996. The middle of the documentary discussed how the game came to be so popular to its fanbase, who were not just a prodominatly male audience. There was also mention of the legacy of Lara Croft, most noteably the 2001 feature length film staring Lara Croft, which may never have been created without the development of the game five years previously. The documentary discusses how Lara Croft developed into an icon not just in the gaming world but also as a sex symbol for fans. We see images of how fans have recreated her for their pleasures.

CAMERAWORK

During the interviews, there was use of medium to extreme close ups whils the camera looked up at the subject. This demonstrate's the subject's power in relation to the documentary. Some of the super close ups in interviews only showed half of the subject's faces. A lot of the camera work was fast paced with a high usage of cut aways. Most noteably, we saw a fast paced over shoulder zoom out of a computer onto people playing Tomb Raider.

MISE-EN-SCENE

The mise-en-scene is all relevent to the documentary. This includes people playing the game in Computer Rooms. In what is most likely to be a different room, the documentary shows a the creator developing and editing the game. Behind the interviews, footage of people playing the game is projected onto a screen behind the subject. The fact that the creator of the game, Toby Gard, had his interview played and recorded from a computer screen shows power and this makes a statement that he is one of the dominant figures in the world related to Lara Croft. There is some film footage of Angelina Jolie being interviewed for the Hollywood film. Immediately, the development of the franchise has been noticed by someone who might have never heard about Lara Croft before the game. The rule of third must also be noted. This kept the viewers involved with what the documentary had to offer.

SOUND

Sometimes, the narrator's voice is dubbed over interviews and then the subject carries on talking. This is an easier way for an interview subject's evaluation of a fact mentioned by the narrator can be presented to the audience. On some occasions, Gun shot sounds and Lara Croft's in game voice are presented to the audience. These sounds are diagetic for anyone who plays the game, although during the interviews this is non-diagetic. Madonna was mentioned by an interview subject. This is relevent to the idea of Lara Croft being a sex icon for some players. At the point of her being mentioned, Madonna's music was played non-diagetically in the documentary. The game's advanced intensity is defined by the techno music that was part of a music bed. These music beds were constant to make her character appear randy to some members of the audience.

EDITING

A lot of the editing we saw was fast paced in the opening of the documentary but it did slow down in places. 'That thing's slower editing speeds between camera shots are most noticable when more important information is mentioned to the audience by a subject. This could be defined as a montage. Cut aways were very common but were squeezed in to the somewhat congested documentary because it was only 10 minutes long.

ARCHIVE FOOTAGE

In the short length of this documentary, there was a vast amount of archive material. The more obvious ones was the footage from the game and the Hollywood movie. There was an interview with Angelina Jolie, who talks about playing Lara Croft in a movie that was originally just a gaming franchise. Other archive footage included fan made web pages and tributes to Lara Croft because of how much they like her as a character. In the background of the interviews, footage of the game was projected onto a screen.

GRAPHICS

Like most documentaries, white graphics were used because these are more visable to the audience  in relation to the on screen colouring and on set lighting. The subject's name and their relation to Lara Croft was below their face so they they can keep talking. The credits featured a White 'BBC Bristol' logo, seen in a lot of programs featured in this area.