There were apparent themes all the way throughout the documentary which included: - The weaknesses of technology, How the internet invades our privacy and public rights within the website.
At the beginning of the documentary it informs the viewers about Google such as the background and history of the website such as who were the creators of it and what it has to offer. There are several interviews with the expertise to answer the most asked questions about Google such as: - How the search engine works and how does it make its money when they receive none through the users. In the middle, a conflict arises asking such questions as how can such a big corporation sustain an objective view and they discuss the privacy rights of the public’s personal information due to such applications like Google Earth or Gmail. In the ending, the documentary presents both opinions to the viewer leaving it open ended for the audience to make up their own opinion on Google.
The documentary used a variety of camera angles in the introduction however throughout the documentary, only basic close ups and mid shots were used for the interviews. In the introduction, there were quite a number of zooms used to focus on well known signs such as “Welcome to San Francisco” this could also be classed as an establishing shot to let the viewers know where the documentary is taking place. There were a numerous amount of close ups of well known internet manufacturer headquarters such as Apple & Yahoo however a pan shot was used in a car which panned and then froze on a shot of Google headquarters, this shows the significance of how Google is the main theme of the documentary. There were also several high angle shots over the Google headquarters of everyone socialising with each other, this was probably done to show the vast amount of people working for Google, this shows how much power Google maintains. When talking about some one from a different location or a completely new setting altogether, using Google map, they would zoom out of the area they were originally in and then pin point the next area and zoom in on that.
In the introduction, there are several clips of San Francisco and clips of random American people doing activities, they probably used this footage to inform the audience as to where the documentary is being taken place. They also show clips of major software companies e.g. Adobe, Apple etc. these were used to show the viewer Googles rivals. Several clips of the site are shown to the viewer such as certain things that the website provides or various words being typed into Google, this is to familiarise the viewers with the website layout and how it is relevant to what they are speaking about. Although certain things are placed behind the interviewees to coincide with what they are speaking about, when they move into a close up, all that is in the background is black, this could have been done so that the viewer focuses on the person and the information they are giving. The overall Mise-en-scene shows that the target audience is young adults, this could be because Google and the internet has only been popular in recent years so the older generation might not be interested in it as much people who have been more familiar with it.
The target audience is also clear with the music they use as the song they chose at the beginning was Goldfinger – Superman, which is an upbeat ska song because of this it was also used to keep the audience’s attention to make them want to continue watching. A music bed of upbeat techno music is played throughout the documentary; this type of music was probably chosen to blend in with the subject matter as the documentary is about technology. Even though the documentary is informative not emotive, when the expertise are expressing their different opinions, there is a significant change in music; when Google are expressing their views, the music is upbeat however when there is a different opinion against them, the tone of music changes into very dark and sinister music, this was probably done to change the atmosphere of the documentary to side the viewers.
Fast takes were used mainly at the beginning of the documentary; cutaways were no longer than 3 seconds however at the documentary unfolds the takes get slower due to the information being told. At one point the editing is jittery almost as if to mimic a photocopier when discussing the view of an online library. Not that much archive material is used in this documentary as the progression of the internet and Google has only been in recent years however they use footage of internet clips of music and trailers. They also use clippings from newspaper and magazine articles showing the “birth” of Google.
Instead of usual basic font for the graphics, they “typed” the name of the person in Google then their name and occupation would come up with several photos of them to introduce them briefly to the audience, if a person had appeared a few times, their name would appear in the search engine at the top of the screen.
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