Documentary Unit - Researching A Documentary Film Maker (Louis Theroux)

Louis Theroux is a documentary filmmaker that was born in Singapore and moved to England as a young child. At the start of his career he became a journalist over in America before appearing regularly on the at TV show by Michael Moor called TV Nation. It was from here that his TV appearances became more regular and Theroux started making documentaries in the late 90's. His first main documentary was called When Louis Met Jimmy as it looks how to capture the famous TV personality behind his chaotic life in 2000. From here on Louis has won two BAFTA awards and has continued to make documentaries ever since.

The reason I am looking at Theroux is because his documentaries are very presenter heavy and shows his involvement in activities. As a group we all decided that this is something we all wanted to do and show a presenter being followed on their own personal journey as it feels more interesting than just facts and figures. Its also the style he incorporates into his documentaries that I find interesting and could help with our structure.


Main Directing Credits:

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends (2000)

When Louis Met (2001)

Louis Theroux: A Place For Paedophiles (2009)























Louis Theroux's LA Stories (2014)






































Louis Theroux: Savile (2016)








































Directing Style And Trademarks:
Theroux often creates documentary on controversial topics. From the credit list you can see that he talks about Paedophiles including the more recent Jimmy Savile documentary in 2016. I watched this and felt it was interesting as although its about pushing boundaries, its not heavily based around statistics. It focuses on Theroux's relationship with Savile over the years and his own opinion on him so this is the sort of feel I want to add to the documentary. I also watched the episode from Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends that focuses on the Demolition Derby. This I found very interesting as although it talks a lot about the Derby itself, he also experiences it making him a participant in the activity. I want to make sure our presenter participates in an activity for the documentary as it feels interesting and it works well.

Another trademark of Louis' is getting involved and personal with real people. He interviews them but he builds a relationship with the person he's talking to. I want to make sure when the presenter is having a conversation with someone in our documentary they look comfortable rather than just interviewing them.

After looking at Louis Theroux and his work I feel I have researched him well and can take elements of style for our own documentary.