Documentary Analysis (Free-To-Play)

The style in which we've decided to make our documentary is participatory mode. We've decided there is no possible way we can create a documentary about a subject we are passionate and informed about without slight, if not major, bias. We've agreed the best way to deal with this is by going with this style, as it accepts these terms.

The Participatory Documentary I've decided to analyze is called" Free to Play", and is a documentary about the DOTA 2 Championship in Cologne, Germany, and the members of the teams participating. It was made and produced by Valve, the Game Developer behind the game featured.

The documentary opens with an establishing shot and exposition in text form telling the audience what the subject of the documentary is about. It builds intrigue and curiosity in the viewer, and each establishing shot brings us one step closer to seeing the location of the competition, as well as the competition itself. The music is subtle at first and becomes more intense as more is shown, building up excitement for the reveal. The footage is sped up and the shots are changed frequently to hold the attention of the viewer as well as create the same tension and the excitement the music is.

A sequence of shots establish Cologne as the location of the competition, as well as create and idea as to the scale of it.

When the convention center is finally depicted, it is with a sped up shot of the sun rising as well as with the company name. This signifies the beginning of the documentary from an informative side as well as the beginning of the day of the competition.

This is then followed by shots of the convention center, showing the mass of crowds and further making clear the scale of this event. The crowd is eager for the day to start, and this anticipation is infectious to the audience, despite the presumed lack of knowledge to what the actual event is. The voice of an announcer is heard claiming the first place prize is $1 million. 

The documentary then goes on to show us the main characters that it will be following. It gives brief dialogue from them explaining a basic background, grabbing the audience's curiosity with what their personality and story is like. The individual character's scenes are interlaced with more footage from the crowds, the brief scenes themselves have multiple shots of the characters preparing for the day. All 3 of the characters are from very diverse backgrounds, giving a unique perspective of the events from each on of them, as one is from Asia, the other from Europe and the last from North America. The 3 segments are edited one after the other so the same level information about all 3 characters is given one after the other and no real bias towards any is formed. The documentary is edited this was so that the audience can make their own opinions on the characters without learning the entire story of one before being introduced to another.

This then followed by a brief summary of their motivations over shots of all of them preparing their gaming setups at the competition. It ends with a shot of Clinton looking at the camera as he puts on his headphones as it fades to the title screen. This signifies the end of the summaries and that the detail of each person and the competition will begin. These two shots are edited consecutively to show the "game" is about to begin, and everything leading up to this was just precursory.

The documentary then builds an emotional connection with the audience by giving each of these characters a personality. This builds tension within the documentary as we care whether these players succeed in the tournament or not, which also creates conflict as all of them are on separate teams and only one can win. This is done through interviews with the people themselves as well as those that know them, giving a history to the character often with archival footage or photographs edited during the speech of an interview to build an image and closer emotional connection.

Information about the character is built with personal interviews with people who knew him for a long time.

While being voiced over by these interviews, images associated with what is being said help create interest and a clearer idea of what is being said.

In between the exposition of each character are also professional interviews from experts in the industry giving a professional background of the character. This helps further build audience opinion with a mix of professional as well as personal.

As well as this, information on the competition through info-graphics which give clear and concise information with comparisons to show what the differences are even to the uninformed viewer. The footage isn't just still frames though, but instead are info-graphics that adjust as dialogue describes it, making it easier to understand both the explanation and info-graphic itself.

Other tournaments are shown with their prize money compared in a simple to understand way, despite the changes in currency.

The prize money for each place is shown as it scrolls down. This shows the vast difference in the places and puts importance into getting first place, increasing tension.

The timing of everything is clearly shown with text as opposed to narration to be quick and concise, with occasional information of import on the screen with it,along with statistics and rankings when relevant during the segment. This lets the viewer know exactly what is going on and the implications of winning or losing that day which increase the tension of the documentary without telling any untruths or shooting an acted scene.

Intrigue and tension is also created by showing the effects and consequences of what the characters are doing, both in and out of the tournament.

The gameplay of the events is also shown for archived footage, with a CGI video creating a more dramatic version of the game to give the idea that you're seeing it from the "gamer's perspective".

Gameplay

CGI Remake

Finally, after the competition, we are shown the aftermath of all the characters whether they've won or lost. This is done through establishing where they are now with an opening shot, observations of their life as well as a personal interview, and a final closing statement by the film makers saying what they're doing now.