Documentary: The Supervet (Documentary TV Series)

As part of my pre-production for the documentary unit I have chosen to look at the documentary television series: The Supervet

THE SUPERVET

The Supervet is a UK factual entertainment television series created by Channel 4 that follows vet Noel Fitzpatrick and his team at Fitzpatrick Referrals in Surrey. The program focuses on the extraordinary work Noel and his team carry out at the practice, treating animals from across the country, and carrying out life saving treatments and surgery. Noel and his team dedicate their time to saving the lives of pets that would otherwise be beyond saving, and Noel has become known as 'The Bionic Vet' because of all the new techniques and surgeries he has come up with. The filming style of the program, using handheld cameras and fixed rigs around the location, allows them to capture everything that goes on inside the practice, making for an entertaining, and often heartbreaking watch.

Noel and one of his patients

In preparation for this blog post, I watched the latest episode of the program and made some notes on what I could see and hear, in terms of how the program is put together. I have actually been watching The Supervet since it began in 2014, and so I have a good idea of how it has developed over the last 2 years.

I'm going to start off by talking about the narrator as she plays an important part in the program. The show is narrated by Rebecca Front, a British actress and writer. Right from the start of each episode her voice is very prominent. The program begins with a small opening title, lasting just over a minute, that sets up the location, characters, and theme/style. Her accompanying voice over is the element that actually introduces everything, especially the location: "Deep in the heart of the Surrey countryside". As the narrator her role includes setting up each story, and each section of every episode. This is often done by using the time of day as a set up: "It's two thirty a.m. and...". As well as this, she also helps to explain some of the surgery scenes, with Noel backing her information up with what he is saying to the camera during the actual surgery. This helps the audience understand what is going on because, unless you are a vet or a doctor, some of the visuals do not speak for themselves. Along these lines, Rebecca also talks about some of the equipment that is being used on screen: "The state of the art scanner produces 3D images of Archie's leg and body". She will then go on to explain how this will aid Noel: "It will help establish whether his cancer has spread". This again helps the audience understand the process Noel and his team must go through to establish what the issue is so they can fix it. Often Rebecca's voice over is backed up using clips from interviews with the characters featured in the stories. It is clear that overall the narrator plays an important part, and unlike most over programs I have seen of this type, the narrator speaks a lot, not just between sections but also during them.

Next I'm going to talk about the interview style. The show uses two different styles and it depends on the situation. During the scenes at the surgery, everything is filmed handheld. The people who bring the animals in are often interviewed in the carpark after their visit, and this is usually cut into the program after they have handed their pet over to Noel. During the scenes set inside the pet owners homes, that normally appear as part of the recovery or backstory parts of the program, all the interviews are filmed static, with the subject sitting in their home. I beleive these two different styles are used because, once the production team have filmed all the characters and their pets, they have time to pick and arrange to come back to certain characters homes to film a formal interview to help fill gaps in the edit, and to give them a chance to ask more questions. They wouldn't want to waste money filming formal interviews with characters that won't end up in the final edit. And I also beleive that during the initial filming, because it is actuality based and they are purely following someone that has turned up on the day, they don't have time to arrange to film a formal, sit down interview either in the practice, or in a studio, and so they film them on the fly, asking the characters to just talk about what has happened. And finally, there is another use of formal, sit down interviews in this program. Often, if a section of the program is focusing on the staff at the practice, they will cut in formal interviews they have filmed with the staff. During these interviews it seems as though they have asked the characters to talk about all sorts of different things so they can use clips from just one interview with each character, across the entire series, each time focusing on a different topic. These interviews seem to be conducted either in an actual surgery room, or a studio that has been dressed up.

Example of the handheld car park interviews

Example of the formal interviews with characters

Example of the formal interviews with staff

When looking at sound, it can be noted that is program does have it's own style, especially when it comes to music. The music used throughout is often very light and bubbly, and mainly played by orchestral instruments (strings, woodwind). Occasionally, the music can add to the emotion or tension of a scene, making it easy for the audience to really connect with the action on screen. The music was often used during the gaps between sections, and during emotional scenes, like when Noel is talking to the pet owners about the problem, and during the surgery scenes, to add to the tension. In terms of normal sound, it appears that Noel, as the main character, is always mic'd up, so nothing he says is missed. Occasionally, it sounds like at least one of the pet owners is mic'd up, but most of the time it sounds as though the audio is picked up by a camera mounted mic. From my research it doesn't seem as though this program uses boom operators. I think these two sound choices, both clip mics, and on camera mics, make shooting actuality a lot easier, hence why they chose to do it like that.

In terms of visuals, the program uses mostly actuality shots and interviews to tell the stories. Gaps between sections are filled with GVs of the exterior, the waiting room, or during surgery, the operating theatre. All lot of the GVs are very crisp and clear, with a nice depth of field, and very interesting colour. The GVs play an important part in helping set the scene, and so they do often change depending on the time of day (either day or night). Many of the GVs are exteriors, and focus on the wide amounts of countryside surrounding the location. Time-lapse shots are often used to show a change in time. These time-lapse shots are often very cinematic, and the night time ones are beautiful; obviously shot on a clear night as all the stars in the sky are visible. All actuality is shot handheld, and there isn't really any sequences made up of staged or directed shots. GoPro's are occasionally used to give the audience a different perspective of something. During the opening sequence some drone footage of the location is used. When looking at on screen titles, it can be seen that they all follow one design: a light, easy to read font, in white, with a slight glow (as seen in one of the screenshots above). During surgical scenes, the camera will often focus on Noel's hands, or face, and they don't shy away from showing all aspects of the surgery, no matter how graphic. Because the program is also filmed using remote fixed rig cameras set up around the location, they often have multiple angles for one scene. When Noel is in the consultation room talking to pet owners, one handheld camera focuses on him and the action in the room as a whole, whilst one remote camera by his desk focuses on the pet owner and their pet. Overall this visual style, and this use of multiple techniques, adds to the realness and emotion of the program.

The opening drone shot

A shot from one of the many remote cameras

A GoPro shot

A close up on Noel's hands

Example of a GV

Example of handheld and remote cameras being used together

And finally, the structure of the program. The show starts with an opening title sequence that sets the program up, introducing Noel and his team, as well as the location and style of the program. Then it begins with the first and second story, before the ad break. Throughout the course of the episode the three or four stories feature are all woven together, with the last story to conclude usually being the one that opened the episode. Between stories, little 'moments' are used to fill the gaps. This could sometimes be something that goes on with the receptionists, or something that goes on with the other vets and staff. These 'moments' are often quite humorous and help break the tension and emotion the program possesses. The final part of the program usually ends with a happy outcome, before moving on to a 'next time' segment that sets up the next episode. This structure is pretty consistent across all episodes, and is similar to that of most factual entertainment type documentary TV series.

From my research into The Supervet I have learnt a lot about the structure, visuals, and audio aspects of documentary filmmaking. I have learnt that the narrator plays an important role when there is no presenter, just characters. I have also learnt that GVs are important in setting the scene, and filling the gaps. And finally I have learnt how important it is to film actuality handheld, and not to worry about how good it looks, as long as you capture what needs to be captured. I will take all of this new information on board when thinking about how to directed my documentary.

Images:

Screenshot from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8MIDkZs_4g
http://www.fitzpatrickreferrals.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/noel-with-dog-1140x760.jpg
Screenshots from: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-supervet/on-demand/61543-015