Amish: The World's Squarest Teenagers

Recently, I watched a series of documentaries on Channel 4 called 'Amish: The World's Squarest Teenagers'. It followed a group of Amish Teenagers from America travelling to the UK to experience England's culture, and socialise with typical English teenagers. Some of the teenagers were on Rumspringa, which a period of time where 18 year old Amish teenagers are allowed to go out and experience life outside the Amish community and can then decide whether or not they still want to be Amish.

I particularly liked the different styles of filming that were used throughout the series. Lots of different techniques were used to show the situations from as many different angles and view points as possible...

Formal Sit-Down Reflective Interviews

Each episode included sit-down interviews with the Amish people, which were all recorded when they arrived home from their trip and filmed in front of a backdrop with the interviewer behind the camera. These showed them reflect on the experience featured in that episode and allowed them to express their opinions in detail. These interviews are more in depth than the ones taken at the time in England, as they have had more time to prepare answers and think about the positive and negative parts of their trip.

Video Blogs

Some shots of the Amish teenagers speaking directly to a personal camcorder are used. These were recorded in England and showed the teenagers immediate response to the day they'd just had. They feel more personal, informal and honest than the sit-down interviews as the person is by themselves whilst talking directly into the camera, which makes it feel like they are speaking directly to the viewers at home.

Stand-up interviews

There were some stand-up interviews which were filmed at the time and show their immediate response to the situation, and usually took place on location, during or straight after an activity.