Text being analysed: Rize

Source of text: David LaChapelle (Director) – Lions Gate Films

Approximate date of broadcast: January 2005

Description of Text
Potential Audience for Text
The topic of this documentary film follows a group of young people that
This documentary is aimed towards 15 year olds and over and aimed
are passionate about Krumping, Clowning and Striper Dance (dance
at both males and females; however the interviewees were mostly
forms). The angle or area of this documentary is how black American’s
males. The reason why I think they may have used more males is
culture (Krumping, Striper Dance and Clowning) became so popular.
because; Krumping, Clowning and Stripper Dance are mostly
The location of this documentary is situated in the United States, the
aggressive and dangerous. The target audience will obviously be
sub urban cultures or ‘Ghetto’ of Los Angles. This documentary is not at
interested in dance, Krumping, Stripper Dance and Clowning, Hip Hop
all biased of these dance forms, in this documentary everyone thinks it
music and street music. And the location the potential audience will be
is a good and positive thing. In terms of presenter, this documentary
located in is mostly around the suburban areas of USA and London.
does not involve a presenter; nevertheless, they have involved a
The audience's ethnicity is black, as seen in the video mostly black
narrator that narrates the story to the audience. When looking at facts
or figures at the beginning of the documentary the narrator shows how
many blocks in the neighbourhood of the Negro section were
Key Influences
decimated on yourThe
in the 1960’s. Idea - Content and
documentary Form ‘Tommy the
interviews
clown’, Tight Eyes, has
This documentary Lil C, Baby Tight
helped Eyes and people
and influenced who admire
my production quite a lot
‘Clowning’.
as I can nowThey have
use the also
key associatedfrom
conventions Krumping, Clowning and
this documentary in my
Stripper
work. Dance with African Folk Dance (Black American heritage). They

• The music of this documentary has helped me realise that

having music related to what you’re showing on the screen is
very important.
• The camera work of the documentary is also again very helpful
as it shows different shots of different people dancing. I could
also use this in my documentary, showing different shots and
angles of people dancing.
• The interviews in this documentary isn’t quite balanced, as
they have only shown black people who are interested in these
Use of Camera
- The use of camera in this documentary is quite
expressive as they have shown many different angles
and shots in different segments of the film.
- The documentary also shows many different shots of
different people dancing in different locations this gives
the documentary a mixture of different shots.
Use of Editing
- When looking at editing, this is a documentary film so
this hasn’t really been edited.
- However, the documentary does contain some subtitles
that introduce the interviewees.
Use of Sound
- This documentary contains many different R’N’B and
Grime music to fit and suit the text they are showing
on the screen.
- The dialogue delivery used in this documentary is very
rough and informal, as the people shown as passionate
dancers and performer, are known to be from the sub
urban side of the US ‘the hood or Ghetto’.
Content and Conventions
- The documentary does include a short period of
archive footage from three different periods, 1960’s
1990’s and 2000’s.
- The film also shows a competition between to dance
forms that have been found and expanded by
different people (Clowns vs. Krumpers).
- It also shows the past lives of the people who are
involved in the creation of these dance forms. For
example, some people were drug addicts or seller,
some people were shot as the live in the ‘ghetto’ side
of US and some people were parentless or orphans.
- This documentary shows people from different ages
performing different dance forms, people aged from 2
years to probably 40.
- These dance forms were heavily influenced by the
African heritage folk dance. This was shown in the
documentary, with archive footage.
- Some people involved in the documentary film,
expressed that Clowning, Krumping and Stripper
Dance is a way of showing the public your hatred,