Vice Docs

China's Millionaire Pigeon Racers

Role of presenter:
The presenter, Thomas Morton, was very involved with this documentary as he, himself was in china walking around and learning about the different ways that people go about wining Pigeon races.
Thomas comes off as being every excited about filming this but at the same time very skeptical about being around pigeons, at  10:34, He states that he really did not want to hold a pigeon which I think makes him seem like he did not really think he would to interact in anyway to the pigeon. This technique is used to give Thomas more of a realistic appeal and make him seem like he's normal everyday person for not wanting to touch the pigeons. The presenter rarely ever looks directly at the camera mainly at the beginning in which he was talking to the camera while in a mid shot at 0:15 to about 0:52 then really doesn't look at he camera for a very long while, the reason this is done, is to make the presenter seem like he hasn't planned this out at all and is Experiencing everything with the viewer.

Techniques - camera & editing:
The camera angles were very basic as there really only two shots, close-ups mid shots and a couple long shots. The editing was very profession as there was no silly transitions and the video stuck to using simple cuts.

Techniques -Music, voice-over & dialogue: 
The music in the video which started around 0:23 is a stereotypical Chinese song which could attract a little negative attention but apart from that there is no other music. The voice-over which starts at 0:30 which is used so that the camera can film more interesting things while keeping a sense on pace while the presenter is talking. There is a few sections of dialogue in the video, between the presenter and different pigeon racers such as at 3:34 in which he talks to the pigeon racer about the bird, and even makes a joke which will keep the audience thinking its going to have elements of comedy in it.

Intro & Outro - How and why?
The intro is of some type of animal's eyes staring at the camera while the outro is of some pigeons flying around while music plays in the background. This is done as an outro to just show that the birds are happy and free at the end of all this to keep the audience at bay as the birds are still captured and kept in captivity.

Balance of archive footage vs original footage
The balance of the footage is completely one sided as all the footage seems like it was actually filmed by the camera man as all the shots seemed to be in place and made sense and didn't look different quality wise with all the other shots.

Interviews - who and their role?
There were quite a lot of interviews short and longer in the video, the most interesting one was the one at 09:30 where Thomas was talking to a man who seemed like he cared for birds as apposed to the other man who seemed like he just raced pigeons for money and honor which made the audience think of him in a brand new light. The interview also had a few humorous parts such as when Thomas kissed the bird at 10:54

Objectivity (Facts) vs Subjectivity (opinions)
At one point the presenter tells the audience a little history on how the 'sport' came about referring to wars times and having the birds there to deliver messages and such, this is used to keep the idea that this documentary is still educational. At the beginning the presenter stats that most people around the world just dislike pigeons and refer to them as 'Flying rats,' which is an opinion of them, this is done to firstly to add a bit of humor at the start and also because most people actually call pigeon such.

Exposition:
The information is given to the audience partly by seeing it and by hearing it as well. The video assumes we know little to nothing about pigeon racing as he gives a brief history on it and even talks to other people about how they look after the pigeons, how much they cost etc.

Engaged:
The video keeps the audience engaged by not only cutting quite often but also having the scene change quite often and switch between the presenter talking with a voice over and talking to people in the recording.



From Psycho Killer to painter:

Role of the presenter:
The presenter in this video is a little different from normal ones as it is one of the people who went from being a criminal to being a painter, Luis Orlando Cuevas Manchego or known in the underworld as Loco Cueva, Dracula and Frankenstein. He fits the role of presenter well as the whole video he is talking face to face with the camera which makes the audience feel like he's actually connecting to them. Luis's mode of address seems like its intimidating at first but after a while he seems like a nice person.


Techniques - camera
The camera is simple again with this video, only really using simple cuts and having the slight odd pan and zoom in/out. The editing is simple too which makes the being intro to this segment of the 'show,' really unique,
where everything becomes bright and colourful as Luis' amazing artwork comes up and uses a circle transition to the next picture, this happens at 0:50. The reason this is done, is so that the audience will be amazed with his work with the transitions not overshadowing them.

Techniques - Music, voice-over and dialogue:
The dialogue in different to the other video, as the presenter speaks a completely different language and the audience has to heavily rely on the subtitles, The music sounds like the music someone would hear in a horror film which sort of fits with the man's background and the voice-over fits with everthing as from what i can tell the subtitles are in sync with the voice over.

Intro and Outro:


There are multiple intros in this video, such as the actually begining one at 0:01 which just has the world 'Fringes,' and some strange music in the background, and the second intro at 0:50, which is just a few of Luis' artwork and a little profile of him.And the outro is just Luis walking down the road shirtless for some
reason, as the credits appear at the bottom.


Balance of archive footage vs Original footage:
I am pretty sure the video was all original footage, as all the scenes link up and seem and some of it jerks about when panning such as at 0:32 where the camera jerks as it pans which makes the video seems unprofessional.

Interviews:

The presenter did not interview anyone during the video.

Objectivity (Facts) vs Subjectivity (opinions):
One moment when the video is clearly objectivity is when at 5:07 where Luis admits to being a kleptomaniac which is the urge to steal things but not for personally use.
One moment when the video is clearly subjectivity is when at 1:40 he stated that he should be dead which he wasn't.

Exposition:
The information is given to the viewers by the presenter telling them and also making slight hand jesters such as at 6:00 when he discusses with the audience about how he broke out of a mental  hospital, went to his 'crew,' almost got raped and then killed someone. Apart from times when he is talking about the paintings there was no other way he gave information. He assumed we knew nothing about who he was and what he was doing, and in turn went on to tell the viewers a lot about himself.

Engaged:
The viewers were kept interested by the man's stories from the past and what he when through to get where he is today, and because he was in jail for so long he would have a lot of stories to tell.