MEGAN WATERS TELEVISION PRODUCTION JOURNAL: Documentary Unit: 'Katie Piper: My Beautiful Face'

Today I have watched the documentary 'Katie Piper: My Beautiful Face'. I for some reason had never heard of Katie Piper and her story, until I saw an episode of Body Shockers (which she presents) and was intrigued, so I decided to research her. I found out that she was an up and coming model, until she had acid thrown in her face - orchestrated by her ex boyfriend. I was so shocked and disgusted when I learned this, and so was even more intrigued when I found out there was a 2009 documentary on this.

For the most part, the documentary was very shocking and emotional. It begins with her showing us her pictures on TV, with her back to us, telling us about her past, then the first shocking moment is revealed when she shows us CCTV footage, tells us she had acid thrown in her face and shows us herself now, with a scarred face and a plastic protective mask. After this first shocking and upsetting moment, more follow with her revealing that she's so afraid, of her attacker being at the door every time she hears the door bell, of hot drinks and candles. There are then incredibly sudden and shocking pictures of her in hospital, first with plaster over her face, but then gruesome images of her burnt face, having surgery and her skin graft. Shocking for the audience in general, but this upset me very much - which obviously achieves having an extreme amount of sympathy for her as well as anger toward her attacker.

Accompanying this, her voice overlays with "they removed my entire face, I guess it just ended up in a medical waste bin" - which is devastating. The final most shocking moment followed, with a family video of her struggling in her early recovery days at hospital, unable to talk, along with an interview with her parents, who get emotional talking about her not being able to talk and writing questions like 'am I dead?', 'help me' and "the worst of all" ...'kill me'.

The biggest break through moments were when she and the audience experience a suspenseful await the verdict of her ex boyfriend and her attacker, who both received two life sentences. The lead to the second breakthrough, of her no longer needing to live in as much fear, and deciding to finally leave the house and go shopping. Although it's emotional as she is so self conscious, it's also a turn around moment as it's the beginning of her new life, and her being able to be more like herself again.

The most uplifting moment is when she, her family and friends go out to celebrate her birthday. For the first time since her attack, she got dressed up and went out in public to celebrate, finally feeling like she had her life back. With this being one of the final moments of the documentary, it gives a very upbeat and inspirational vibe.

It was extremely uplifting for me to watch now, as in the documentary she says that she wanted kids and a husband and wasn't sure if she could have that anymore, and she now has a baby and a husband. She also thought her career was over, and she is still an active presenter today. While the documentary had very gruesome, unsettling and devastating moments, it gives off a very positive message that you can truly overcome anything.