Research: Jon Ronson's Documentaries

Background-

Jon Ronson was born on 10 may 1967 and brought up in Cardiff, Wales where he studied a degree in Media Studies at the Westminster university. He left uni and studied journalism at the Polytechnic London Central. When he was 20 he became the entertainment manage of the Students Union. The first ever series he made was called The Ronson Mission where he got approached by Polytechnic where he use to study to be asked if creating TV series were ever in the question. The London Academy contacted BBC 2 and Ronson created his first series.

Jon Ronson is a Welsh journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter and nonfiction author, whose works include The Men Who Stare at Goats in 2004. His work has appeared in the Guardian newspaper, City Life and Out Time magazines. He has made several different documentaries shown on Channel 4. As well as being a writer he creates documentaries with a strong meaning to the audience and gets his message across to show a connection to the narrative and conventions.

Ronson's Documentaries-

Loving- Brainwashing (PART 1-4)

This documentary is created in a way to allow the audience to become more involved with the  narrative. The fast cuts allow the audience to pay attention and focus on the topic and meaning towards the documentary and the message Ronson is inppling. The voiceover is powerful and addresses to the audience in a formal and strong way. The short shots used gives the audience more information about the topic of documentary and stores more information for the audience to understand and back up the voiceover. Several different shots and angles are shown in just one scene to allow the audience to see the narrative from different perspectives to give more information on the location. Ronson's documentaries are mainly social realism based as his budget is low and it is a easy topic to address towards the audience in the different angles and mise en scent of documentary.

Reverend Death- (PART1-9)

I like how Ronson's documentaries go straight into the topic without an introduction to allow the audience to become instantly engaged with the narrative. The non- diegetic sound is calming and not too heavy. Its relaxing and allows the shots to flow more with the music being gentle and soft. The voice overs is sharp and powerful suggesting Ronson's is addressing an important message to the audience. The interviews Ronson completes are done with no back drop, just the normal location to make it more realistic and allows the audience to understand the representation of person through the location behind them. The picture on the right is an example of an interview with a backdrop of a book case, showing the mise es scent of a religious cross and books. Inppling he it powerful and knowledgable, allowing the audience to understand and support the person with his opinion. The mise es scent of the cross links to the religious beliefs and connections to the narrative topic.