The 16 year old killer

THE 16 YEAR OLD KILLER

Documentary Analysis..

ANALYSIS

This documentary focuses on the lead up to the

trial and the life of Cynthia. A 16 year old who is on

trial for murder of a man, who was about to rape her.

ANALYSIS

The documentary starts by setting the scene for

Cynthia’s life and informing the audience why she’s

on trial

It then proceeds to run through her life story and

family history and how she ended up in prostitution

at a young age and what led to the murder. It then

shows the trial and all the legal side to her trial

It ends with Cynthia being sentenced to a life

sentence

THEMES

The themes of the documentary are the American

legal system and how it may be abused and worked

around

Also children and child abuse in the world.

CAMERA WORK

The interviews are done mainly in mid shots

showing the people connected to the case sat down

from the waist up, however, during particuly

emotional times a close up shot is used to show the

emotion on the faces and allow the audience to

connect with them on a personal level.

MISE EN SCENE

The documentary shows the urban area’s in which

Cynthia would have grown up and he relatives and

personal friends are interviewed in and around these

area’s in order to reinforce the idea that she comes

from a troubled background.

Legal settings such as courtrooms and prisons are

also included in interviews to maintain the theme of

the legal system.

SOUND

Sound is very important throughout the course of this

documentary, with both diegetic and no diegetic sound being

employed,

The diegetic sound is the interviews with the people involved

in the case who narrate the story so far and where things

stand with Cynthia’s case.

The non diegetic sound used is that of slow guitar music in

order to give the documentary a sad and ominous atmosphere.

EDITING

The documentary uses quick cut editing

throughout, with normal cuts being used the most

frequently throughout.

ARCHIVE FOOTAGE

Archive footage is used her in the form of footage

of the trial and interviews conducted with Cynthia

beforehand. These are used as evidence to back up

what is being said on the screen.

Magazine pages, newspaper articles and photo’s

are also used to serve the same purpose.