Analysis of "9/11: Phone calls from the towers"

Textual Analysis

The documentary “9/11: Phone calls from the towers” features unseen footage from the attack on September the 11^th. 8 years after the event, the show reveals phone calls from the towers, and interviews with the families. The documentary looks at the attack and reflects on the nature of death and grieving.

The documentary opens with an aerial shot of suburban America, to show how many people were affected by the event. There is then zooming close-up of a telephone, with a voiceover from one of the victim’s family. A narrative voiceover then states statistics about 9/11, and relates this to the phone calls. There are also images of the towers, and a phone call message is played. The filming of the phones and the empty houses show the phone calls as the key element. These simple shots make the viewer focus on the voiceovers from the families, and create a dramatic sequence.

Genre

This show is a political documentary, focusing on the outcome of the attack, and the people it affected.

Audience

The documentary was broadcast by both ABC and Channel 4, and so seen by a large demographic. It was targeted at both the UK and America, because of both countries involvement. The documentary would have an older, mature audience, simply because of the serious topic and the emotional nature.

Context

The film was broadcast on Channel 4 on the 6th September 2009, 7 years after the event.

Style

The film uses all of the major conventions of a documentary such as archive footage, voiceovers, credits, statistics, and interviews. These features helped in creating a factual and interesting documentary.