A01 Festivals Britannia Analysis

'Festival Britannia' is an hour and a half long show that was broadcast on BBC4. I would say that the audience for this show is more for the elder audience, as it is full of interviews and I think that teenagers might find it quite dull, as performances are rarely shown. The shows titles begin with an establishing aerial shot of a modern festival. It then cuts to the beat and shows more shots of different modern festivals. The BBC logo then comes up on the second shot to brand the programme and show you that it is a BBC show. We then have a voiceover that gives us a brief history of British festivals, whilst clips of excited crowds are being broadcast. The title of the show is in a traditional plain font and it looks very British. Much like something you'd see on a war poster. In the background of this you see a man holding a Union Jack flag. This then cuts to the next shot where a traditional song is playing, in this case Jerusalem. But after a few shots this cuts dramatically to a long shot of Glastonbury Festival and hardcore rock is playing, whilst showing other shots from different festivals. These shots feature quick pans and zooms, which keep the audience interested and entertained throughout the show. It also resembles the quick pace that festivals have. This is a typical convention of Festival footage as it does keep the audience on their toes, and it makes the audience feel more like they are there, as an audience member you would be looking everywhere at the festival, not just from one point. Interviews about old British Festivals have been recorded, and the people in them talked about the festivals that they used to go to and what the festivals meant to them.

The people interviewed seem to be the target audience for the show as they are middle aged men, that seem to be Historians, or people that were involved in either the production of a Festival or were Festival goers themselves. There are then more interviews with the people that look like they were festival goers that look a lot more relaxed and 'chilled out,' compared to the men that were in a shirt and tie. This is a piece to camera that was shot stationary and the editing was very simple. The editing through the show is very simple, as I think that the show is more about being factual than being technically amazing. The show features more vintage shots from Festivals of the past. These are usually short clips that only last a few seconds. Obviously because the footage is old it looks worn and a bit tatty, but I think this adds a really nice effect and feeling to the show. Many of the shots used from our era are stationary, quite boring and dull. There isn't anything that's incredibly fancy. The shots from the 'vintage,' footage are either fast moving with pans and zooms, or handheld and showing their own experience. The music used over the top of footage and interview varies throughout the show, gradually becoming more modern as the show goes on. At the end 'Common People,'  by Pulp plays, suggesting that it is the common people that do go to festivals. The end of the show shows footage of the newer festivals such as 'Bestival,' and 'T In The Park,' and the voice over is still talking, as he has done throughout the whole show. The credits of the show are shown over the top of a crane shot of an audience enjoying a festival. The scroll upwards at a fast pace as typical credits do.