Frankenstein – A modern mythLuke dickinson

The documentary is about the story of Frankenstein and its history, its also about the modern twists people have put on it.

The type of documentary is mixed as it has a variety of content, interviews, narration and archive footage. It is also single stranded with a nonlinear narrative structure.

The camera work in this documentary features mostly medium close ups. Though a pan is used to go up the human body diagram.

An establishing shot is used on the villa too set the scene for that particular part of the interview, as famous events transpired there.

The interviews are mostly framed in the conventional way, though some of the interview feature two people.

The mise en scene used is appropriate for the documentary. When interviewing the historian of science the background is a science museum, and when interviewing Benedict Cumberbatch, the background is the rehearsal space of the Frankenstein play he is in.

Non-diegetic sound within the documentary occurs when a voice over which is telling the preface of Frankenstein – giving an insight into it.

During a part of the documentary featuring the rolling stones music by an actual artist is played, but it is mostly music with lyrics created for the documentary.

Also sound effects are inserted to heighten some scenario e.g. a heartbeat sound effect was edited in during a particularly intense scene.

The editing used within the documentary, is fast cuts mainly to keep the audience engaged. A montage is used prior to the title sequence to show a small amount of content before showing it fully.

The title screen of the documentary gives it a gothic effect, this is due to the background image being dark and with the use of the lightning – which has connotations of electricity which is used within the story of Frankenstein to bring the monster alive. The font for the title itself is distorted and looks like it is put together, just like Frankenstein’s monster. The subtext of the interviews/footage says who/what the relevance to the topic is.

The title screen of the documentary gives it a gothic effect, this is due to the background image being dark and with the use of the lightning – which has connotations of electricity which is used within the story of Frankenstein to bring the monster alive. The font for the title itself is distorted and looks like it is put together, just like Frankenstein’s monster. The subtext of the interviews/footage says who/what the relevance to the topic is.