Assignment:
Ira Glass says that every story on This American Life
follows a structure: "there's an anecdote, that is, a sequence of actions
where someone says "this happened then this happened then this happened—and
then there's a moment of reflection about what the sequence means, and then on
the next set of actions." Select one of the documentaries assigned for
today and describe its structure. Do you see actions followed by reflection, or
did the producer use some other structure? You might want to focus on piece of
the documentary--such as one or two moments of transition--rather than the
entire work.
The structure of “Witness
to an Execution” is a relatively uncomplicated yet effective one. The skeleton around which the documentary is
built is the timeline of events leading up to an execution. Listeners are brought to the starting point
by a series of narrowing descriptions – starting with an introduction to the principal
narrator, who then introduces the penitentiary where he works, and then
introduces the death house within the penitentiary, and finally introduces the
events of an execution day.
From this point forward,
the principal narrators are Jim Willett, the warden, and Jim Brassel, the chaplain.
They recount the events of 5:55, 6:05, 6:09, and so forth. As each time period passes for the listener,
events are described and outside sources are brought in. Thoughts on capital punishment and the stresses
of the job are interspersed with the grim details of the lethal injection
procedure. Other narrators are brought
in – witnesses, medical team members, etc – to describe additional aspects of
the events, as well as to give more insight into the nature of working around
the death house. In closure, the Warden
and describes the experiences of one team member who ultimately could not
continue working on death row. This
brings a sense of closure to the documentary.
How does this structure
relate to the documentary itself? The
story is twenty-two minutes, twenty-two seconds long; an execution process lasts
roughly twenty-five minutes. By
counting through the minutes, and pausing for reflection, the narrators let the
listeners feel a bit of what the inmates, the guards, and the witnesses might
be going through. The following outline
gives an approximate breakdown of the documentary and is color-coded to help
depict the structure.
Items listed in brown are narrations, minute-by-minute, of the
facts of the execution.
Items listed in green are reflections – moments where the story
is paused to allow additional insight into the lives of those connected to the capital
punishment process.
Items listed in blue are character introductions, almost always
followed by a declaration of the number of executions they have witnessed.
Introduction:
People, names, number of
executions witnessed
à Introduce Jim Willett,
Warden
à Introduce Walls State Penitentiary
à
Introduce the death house
à Introduce execution day
1. 5:55 pm
a.
Leading
the prisoner from his cell
i.
Jim
Willett narration
ii.
Chaplain
Jim Brassel narration
b.
The
tie down -Kenneth Dean (tie down team)
c.
Thoughts
on jobs in the death house and coping strategies
2. 6:05 pm
a.
Chaplin,
final moments with the inmate
b.
Within
3 minutes the medical team has hooked him up (Warden, Chaplin)
c. Description of what is seen and
felt (Warden, Chaplin)
3. 6:09 pm
a.
Witnesses
enter the room
i.
Larry
Fitzgerald
ii.
Other
witnesses
iii.
Description
of sights, last words
b.
Actual
injection (Warden, Chaplin)
c.
Atmosphere
after injection (witnesses)
4. 6:12 pm
a.
Administration
of chemicals
i.
1st
chemical (anesthetic)
ii.
description
of the witness room
iii.
2nd
chemical (poison)
iv.
the
last moments of the inmate
v.
3rd
chemical (stops heart)
vi.
description
of witness room, mothers
b. Another perspective of the final
moments (Rev.
Pickett)
i.
First
days of lethal injection
1.
increase
in number
2.
guards
who quit
ii.
Final
45 seconds – inmate/chaplain conversations
5. 6:20 pm
a.
Pronounce
death
b.
File
out
c. Medical team
Conclusion
1. Warden
2. Fred Allen
a.. Was on exicution team
b.
Traumatic
stress
c.
Stopped
after 16 years
d.
Believes
everyone has a stopping point
3. Warden hopes it doesn’t effect
every member of the team so strongly
This website created by: |
Rebecca Mackiernan |
Contact: |
|
For |
Rice University course HANS 320 –
The Documentary Across Media |
Last updated: |
September 17, 2001 |