Our group our focusing on a documentary for our A2 Production, particularly music documentaries. For my in depth analysis I have chosen to look at 'Iron Maiden: Flight 666' a documentary about the famous metal band 'Iron Maiden.'
General information
‘Iron Maiden: Flight 666’ is a
concert documentary film staring the famous British heavy metal band ‘Iron
Maiden.’ The film follows the group on the first leg of their ‘Somewhere Back
in Time World Tour.’ The documentary was directed by Scott McFayden and Sam Dun
(the narrator). The documentary is co-produced by Banger Films, Inc and Rush:
Beyond the lighted stage. Banger Films, Inc are known for music based
documentaries such as ‘Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey’ and ‘Global Metal.’ The
documentary was distributed by EMI and Universal Music Group. The film was realised
on the 21st of April 2009.
Media forms and conventions
Concert Clips
The documentary features lots of
concert clips from shows all around the world. The impact that this has on the
audience is that you get to see how different cultures react to ‘Iron Maiden’s
music. Concert clips are a common feature of concert documentaries. I believe
their purpose to create the illusion that you are at one of their concerts.
Interviews
With the band
Each of the band members are
interviewed about certain aspects of band life including being on tour, what
they think of other members in the band, their thoughts on the music process
and life in general. These interviews make the audience feel closer with the
band as you begin to learn their outlook in life
With the crew
The interviews with the crew are
important to making the audience aware of what goes into putting a world tour
together. They put everything into perspective for the audience
With the fans
Possibly the most significant
interviews featured in the documentary as this gives the audience awareness of
how important the band are to others and what effect their music has on people.
Interview with fan in India
Archived footage
There is use of archived footage
in the documentary often to enrich the audiences knowledge on the band’s
history. For example, whilst Maiden are in Brazil they show a clip of them
performing at ‘Rock In Rio’ during the 80s.
Voice over
Sam Dun, one of the directors narrates
the documentary taking the audience through the different stages of the world
tour.
Use of text
The documentary often uses text.
Most noticeably, every time there is a shot of ‘Ed Force One’ landing on the ground
there is always white text with the name of the place and however many miles
they have travelled.
Representation
The documentary represents life
on tour for the band with its highs and lows. For example, a low point on tour
is travelling to places where they are not necessarily welcome by the
authority. For example, whilst they are in South America
in one of the destinations the crowd queuing outside are controlled by the
police during this time. The band state that this is an attitude they disagree
with and that the people who are queuing up to see their concert are not trying
to start any kind of revelation like the government might think but they are
there for the sole purpose to see a heavy metal show. Whereas a high point would be that they get to travel to
destinations that they otherwise wouldn’t see such as Japan and Australia. The documentary also
represents other cultures from around the world. From outside Maiden shows we
see the individual personalities of the countries including their accents/languages,
the scenery and different customs. However, during their concerts there is the
same passion for the band and their music in all Maiden fans all over the world
and suggests a one world philosophy. Lastly, I think the documentary portrays
the heavy metal community as a whole firstly because Iron Maiden are one of the
most iconic bands in the genre’s history and because of the representation of
the fans. This documentary would be evidence of the argument that heavy metal
has the most passionate fan base in the world.
Audience
I think that the target audience
is most obviously Iron Maiden fans but also heavy metal fans as a whole. I
think that the multicultural aspect of the documentary implies that this
documentary is suited for all cultures and ethnicities. The documentary also
demonstrates the large age range of Maiden fans therefore suggest that there is
no age limit for this documentary.