Research into existing products - Louis Theroux, Behind Bars

Louis Theroux Louis targets taboo subjects with obscure characters. He is a nerdy, awkward looking man but turns out to be highly intelligent. He is a BAFTA award winning presenter. He travels to California to America's well known prison, San Quentin.

Analysing the opening:

The documentary starts with an establishing/master shot of San Quentin prison. This is normally present at the start of a film. It then jumps to a shot inside the prison, showing Louis engaging with a prisoner. Louis's job as a presenter is to engage the audience and he does this by having the opening of his documentary start with a prisoner who has been put in prison for 500 years. This makes the audience want to continue to watch the rest of the documentary to find out what crime this man commited to make him serve such a long time in prison.
The BBC logo is shown at the beginning of the documentary and this will show the audience that this documentary will be well made due it being made by the popular, successful BBC studios. BBC are recognised throughout the world.
The music at the beginning of  the documentary starts to play when they are entering the prison. The music is light, soft music which represents Louis Theroux rather than the prisoners. There is a montage showing Louis walking through the prison observing what is happening there. About a minute into the documentary, a title is shown and it is an animated cell coming across Louis Theroux. His character is looking up and there is a light around him.
Louis Theroux is the medium between the documentary/officer and the audience. He needs to ask the people who work at the prison questions that he already knows the answers to so that the audience are aware of what is happening.
Many of the shots used in the documentary are hand held to create a sense of realism to the audience and make them feel like they are there.
There is a fade to black effect and this could represent the start of a new day at the prison. There are voice overs so that the audience are aware of the inside information.