Night Mail.
In the first three minutes of Night Mail, there are several different effects used too garb the audiences attention. They use bold, 3D lettering at the very start, which fills the shot, and draws in the eye of the audience. The graphics that are used along with this style of writing, is very bold and in your face, the graphics used are not as well known to the time when it was originally made, so this is another factor which attracts the audience. They use fade in/out's t transact between each frame in the titles. The style of the writing in the titles is very bold, which could indicate that the documentary is trying too make a statement. It is also very big and block like which again could indicate to the type of work and the way in which the Night Mail system itself works.
There are several shots used in the first three minutes of this documentary, but the cuts aren't very fast, all the shots are merged and dissolved together. The documentary is very arty and there are lots of abstract shots throughout the production. This is because it is more like a docudrama. Which is a documentary and a drama mixed together. Night Mail would fall under this category as it is acted out, therefore it is not natural reactions, and has been tweaked in order for the producer to get what he wants, rather that the actual truth if you say so, of what is happening. There are several shots used, some of which are very abstract, and some or just 'normal'. There are several mid-shots used, this could show rank in the work place by people being stood over etc. There is also a birds eye view of the rail track. which shows how long and vast the route is. From this shot, it then goes into an establishing shot of the train station, this shows the audience the conditions of there work place, and also the size and atmosphere etc.
In the actual shots themselves, there isn't much editing, as the documentary was scripted therefore it is as the producer wants it. Each shot lasts around 3-5 seconds. some lasting longer than that. This is what makes it so obviously scripted. The voice over that is used in this documentary is like a narrator, like he is telling a story of what is happening in the moving image that the audience are seeing. This is the part that makes it documentary, as there is no guessing for the audience, all the information is laid out in front of them.
There is both diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound used in this documentary. There is the sounds of the trains as they were when they were feeling, and the ambient noises of the back ground. Sometimes with ambient noises it is hard to tell whether or not they are diegetic or non-diegetic.
