BBC Newsnight ; Why are women covering their faces?

I have choosen to analyse a documentary from the BBC called’why are women covering their faces’
this documentary is about Muslim women and their faith, different opinions about fitting into the
british society and if it is neccesary to wear the traditional niqab. I am going to be analysing how the
director, camera person and editor tried to convey these messages throught using the four teqniques
of cinemetography, edity, sound and mise en scene.

First off i am going to start off by talking about the cinemetography and the significance of it.

Bold close up of women in a niqab, may

represent her strong Islamic faith.

The people behind represented as the

British community. Also shows how
different she looks compared to them.

In this scene the camera shows a close up of a woman wearing the full traditional niqab scarf that
covers your face, and the background fades into other people walking in the streets. The significance
of this shot/effect is to justify their documentary title ‘why are women covering their faces?’ as other
people around them are not wearing it; this shot also represents how different these Muslim women
look compared to the people in British society.

The full niqab

In this scene a long shot of three Muslim females are shown

wearing the niqab. The importance of this shot would be to show the viewers that are unfamiliar with
what the niqab is, as this shot allows the audience to see in full.

Here a medium close up is performed, when another Muslim is being interviewed about her feelings
on the niqab and how she feels that Muslim women should not wear it as she fears British society will
 not accept them and keep segregating them. The significance of this shot is to allow the audience to
maybe feel and relate to her emotions as she shares her feelings and opinions.

Different cutaways are used such as cutting from Muslim wearing the niqab, Muslims wearing the
normal traditional head scarf, non Muslim people and establishing shots of Islamic countries. The
camera in collaboration with the director may have decided to use these cutaways to connote to the
audience just what the documentary is about. It also makes it easier for the documentary to be
followed with good understanding, it gives the audience the chance to interact with the documentary
and create their own opinions and it also allows the documentary to be less tedious.

Against the niqab= she

For the niqab = she is interviewed is interviewed on the
on the left hand side. right side

The camera work in this documentary is quite affective as when the women are being interviewed
about the niqab the Muslims that are for it are filmed on the left and the muslim that is against it are
filmed on the right. The significance of this is that it allows the viewers to be more involved and
engaged in the documentary.

Black
background
Dusty orange
background.

Now I will be talking about the mise en scene and the importance of it. In mise en scene there are six
different elements which are location, costume, character positioning, lighting, props and
composition. In the picture above the mise en scene was chosen very wisely, the location/ background
that was chose for them to be interviewed on makes a statement. The women in the niqab are
interviewed against a black background which can have different connotations such as them being
sacred, their strong faith as black is a bold strong colour or it can be represented as them being an
outcast to the British society. The woman that is against Muslims wearing the niqab is interviewed
against a dusty orange background which is much brighter colour than black; this could have
different interpretations such as she is fitting into the British society or it could just suggest the two
contrasts between their opinions.

In this documentary there are not a lot of different type of costumes used due to the subject matter
however the costumes that are involved give us the audience a good understanding of what the
document is trying to portray. We can also recognise the difference between British people and British
Muslims.

Full niqab

Wearing casual
clothes that fit in
with British society.

Sound is a very vital part of a documentary in fact of any sort of production. The voiceover used in
this documentary is not too feminine but not too masculine, this was a good choice as the subject
matter was very sensitive and touching so the voice over helped put out this emotion to the viewers.
Also it was very clear which allows the audience to understand plainly. Voiceover is very effective
when used in a documentary as it explains the story line.
When the voice over is talking
about Islamic faith the camera
cuts to an Islamic symbol which
is normally seen on top of a
mosque (Muslim place of
worship)

When the interviewee is talking about her opinions on what she thinks British society segregate them,
and how British people see Islam people as violent wolves ready to attack, the camera cuts to a
Muslim country were they are fighting and we immediately hear non digetic sounds of a gunshot.
The relevance of this sound would be that people often represent gun shots as a sign of violence.
 Violence going on
in Islamic country

This BBC logo is shown throughout the whole of the

documentary. The editor may have done this in order for the
viewers to be aware of what channel the documentary is
being shown on. Also as most people are aware BBC has an
online iPlayer it can remind the viewers if they want to
watch the programme again they can always log on to BBC.
It also may be for copy right issues.

This image is shown right at the

beginning and the very end of this
documentary. The significance of
this in the beginning is to give the
viewers an insight of what the
documentary is about and at the
end it reminds the viewers of what
the documentary was about.