Place for Paedophiles
This documentary conducted by Louis Theroux that took place at Coalinga State Hospital, a hospital specifically for Paedophiles. The documentary itself is very interesting, but I want to analyse the way that Louis asks questions and the editing of the footage.
Questions and Voiceovers
The scenes are initially set with various interesting shots such as a Shot of Security Guard walking towards camera in Silhouette or a shot of a curved mirror, not really showing much subject matter. Louis then sets the scene with a voiceover. The voiceover overlays often shots of various scenery, such as a hallway in the building, or just a long open road leading to the area. Footage used is often shots used to set the scene and state where we are in the story, whether just a shot of the night sky to convey that a day has past, or a shot of the area where the next interview will be conducted. This footage is often followed by Louis walking to the next room or area to interview people in a different scenario. For example, Louis walks into a basketball court and has a small 10 second conversation with one of the people participating in the game, shortly followed with a different location and setting.
Louis’s questions are very simple and often seem very blunt, though his tone is always sweet and unassuming. For example, “do you find you’re still attracted to small children?” to a man who received a full physical castration, and “How could you have thought that molesting that child was something that was ever okay to do?”. He occasionally asks closed ended questions followed with “why”. Such as “Do you like it here?”. Louis focuses on the responses, and stays very silent as the person he is interviewing. Often there’s about a 3 second gap after every question has been answered before Louis reinitiates the conversation. There’s also very occasionally music playing in the background, particularly in the establishing shots.
The entire Documentary seems to be the reoccurring structured sequence of
- Establishing Shot (Either panning, moving backwards/forwards or still)
- Voice Over of what’s next with walking implying time has passed
- Interviews
And though not directly related to the filming process,
- Revisits and Shows the growth of characters we’ve empathised with
Camera Work
The Camera work is quite simple, it follows the characters being interviewed with what looks like a handheld Camera, often looking up at the characters. The camera work is often wobbly, seemingly not overly professional, but showing what needs to be shown very efficiently. The lighting and contrast of the people being filmed is good through most shots, having the face and their expressions very clear and easy to determine. The characters are positioned on the right side of the screen looking left or the left side of the screen looking right, particularly when there’s a conversation between two characters. (Usually Louis and somebody else) There looks like there’s two cameras, occasionally skipping to a different view, but often the camera will literally follow the conversation back and forth. It’s really quite easy to follow, and there’s very few cuts. Often the questions and conversations that Louis are have don’t sound rehearsed at all, but he always gets the message and his question across efficiently.
Overall, Louis Theroux conveys his documentaries in a very simple and easy to follow manner, not using overly complicated language or impressive camera work. The success in his technique is his simple and unassuming/unbiased ways of interacting with his interviewees, as he comes across very unjudgmental, and just another person, which puts his subjects at ease.
