Escape From Auschwitz

Type Of Documentary- This is a mixed documentary as it combines a powerfully worded informative voice over with authentic footage of the concentration camp itself and interviews with experts on this subject.

Themes- The main themes of this documentary are the deaths and treatment of the Jews whilst at the camp and the war seemingly forgetting them, the issue of guns is also raised, the documentary is set in a very dark way as it shows the authentic footage with a sinister edge to everything. The authentic footage also gives the audience a feeling like they can see what the Second World War was really like and they can empathise with the soldiers and the Jews.

Narrative Structure- The documentary poses many questions from the beginning such as Did anyone escape from Auschwitz? Who escaped? What happened to them? This is what the audience would be thinking at this time during the documentary. The middle begins to answer these questions as it explains to the audience that 400 people managed to escape from Auschwitz but asks the question Will people ever become free of Auschwitz? This question is answered in the ending of the documentary as it informs the audience that on the 27^th January 1945 Auschwitz was liberated and all the Jews freed, this gives the audience a sense of closure but also saddens them as so many people have died.

Camerawork-There was a lot of tracking and panning evolved in this documentary as part of it was following interviewees around the camp. The interviews used a static camera to ensure a good head and shoulder shot of the interviewees, this enabled the audience to see the emotion on their faces and the tears in their eyes. Long shots were also used to show the audience the extent of the conditions that so many people had to suffer, this makes the audience grateful that they did not have to suffer these consequences and brings about a sense of thankfulness.

Mis-en-scene- The main location for the documentary was Auschwitz camp itself so it was unnerving enough without the added factor of snow masking some of the horror. The interviews were conducted with a black background so as not to distract from the interviewee speaking to the camera, this made the audience focus on the interview and see the emotions flash across their faces as they spoke. A majority of the footage was black and white as it was mostly from the 40’s and so before colour television.

Sound-The majority of the sound in the documentary was an unnerving music bed which made the audience really think about the actions on screen, the interviews were conducted with mostly natural sound except the polish interviews which had English dubbing to help the audience to understand them , also on some of the archive footage archive interview audio was also used in scenes such as the gas chambers and a voice over narrated the rest so that the audience would understand the footage better.

Editing-The editing used a lot of cuts between different archive materials to keep the audience’s attention and to explain more about the camp, fades and dissolves were also used to separate parts of the documentary and to lighten some of the atmosphere as it got a bit heavy in places.

Archive material- A lot of the archive material used was form the 40’s so it was all in black and white to show the audience the camp as it was years ago and how it worked.

Graphics- Graphics were fairly basic during the majority of the documentary, the font of the titles was fairly macabre as it was designed to look like a wall around the words as if you might find the titles scrawled on a brick wall under one of the beds, this scares the audience slightly as it is a basic reference to the Jews scratching their names into their beds and walls in order to be remembered.