American Vandal has pegged the true crime documentary style to a tee. The narrator speaks ominously over still pictures, heavily relying on the Ken Burns Effect. That is, slowly panning across a static image, optionally zooming in or out, to make it less visually boring. Images of evidence and establishing shots are spliced with talking heads giving their personal side of the story one on one with the camera. Often the questions asked by the interviewer are clipped out, and answers are reduced by manipulative editing to give a certain story. American Vandal gives a forecast of their organization of evidence at the beginning of the first episode, and follows this format through the episode, with a surprise twist that indicates not all is as it seems. This is all very par for the course. The difference is, this is a series mockumentary, a la Documentary Now!
A mockumentary is a fictitious story presented as a documentary. They tend to follow a particular style, and many (though not all) are comedies. The difference between Documentary Now! And American Vandal is that the former has completely independent episodes where a different specific style of documentary is drawn from and mocked. American Vandal tells a continuous story. In some ways, this is appealing to me. A continuous story arc is more gratifying, even if it is limiting. Documentary Now! has a format that allows them the freedom to go wherever they wish in the next episode. However, sticking with one story and one style allows American Vandal’s parody to be fully fleshed. The tone is serious, the style imitated is that of Making A Murderer, but the context is… slightly different. American Vandal takes place in the context of a mysterious high school vandalism: Who drew the dicks on all of the teacher’s cars?
The evidence points to Dylan Maxwell. The first half of the episode is spent in the manner that their forecast of organization states. These are the points the school board used to expel Dylan.The evidence is laid out, and it really doesn’t look good for Dylan Maxwell. Even his peers believe he did it. However, the latter half of the episode goes through the points of evidence in reverse, uncovering the side of the story the school board didn’t realize, or purposefully ignored. It becomes apparent that not all is what it seems.
The drama, comedy, stakes, and Dylan are all high. The truth is as muddy as the rivalries are crystal clear; Dylan doesn’t like the teachers, but it’s equally true that teachers don’t like him. Was the heinous crime perpetrated by Dylan? Could it have been another student spray painting the phalluses? Or, a darker option… Could a teacher be framing Dylan Maxwell? Find out!
I think it's funny how you use Ken Burns as your documentary example when he is known for his historical documentaries instead of true crime (which I would argue have slightly different styles and goals in mind when sharing information). That being said, Ken Burns certainly is one of the big names in the documentary world, and if I am honest with myself, I could not name a single other documentary director besides him off the top of my head.
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