THEME 9 LOOKING BACK Discuss Discuss what you know about the Titanic with a partner.
1. Have you seen any films or documentaries based on the tragedy? 2. Were these factual or fictional? 3. Have you ever visited the Titanic Belfast museum?
The following documentary, Titanic: The New Evidence, looks at new evidence that reveals a fire was raging in Titanic’s boiler rooms before she left port, that it was kept secret and, it’s now believed, that it led to the tragedy.
Watch the first ten minutes of the documentary and answer the questions.
1. How tall was the Titanic? 2. Where was it built? 3. Who is Senan Molony and why was he involved in this documentary? 4. Identify some features of a typical documentary in this piece. 5. Where does the new evidence come from?
Explore
1. There were no cameras recording the events of the night in April 1912, so what technique is used by the creator of the documentary to show what happened?
2. What other voice do you hear in the opening few minutes of the documentary? Is this a common feature of documentaries?
3. What other visuals appear in the first few minutes? Do you find these effective? 4. Why do you think this ‘new evidence’ was not discovered for over 100 years?
Investigate
Have you heard any other theories about the sinking of Titanic? Find out more about the tragedy and share your findings with the class.
Create Fill in the documentary analysis worksheet on pages 95–96 of your Portfolio. 389
