We viewed and studied several full length documentaries in class
I have to admit, before October, I had watched very few full length documentary. I had always thought the idea of a documentary boring, because I didn't see the point in watching two hours worth of animals hunting, or how an athlete made that one life changing shot. Which is why I initially was not excited to start the documentary unit. My teacher gave us a lecture on documentary conventions, which was what first peaked my interest. She explained the different types of documentaries, and I realized I had watched several in the past and loved them. I had watched several crime documentaries, such as one in 2017 about the case of JonBenet Ramsey, as well as a sociological documentary in 2021 on Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment.
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The Case Of
(2016) |
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The Stanford Prison Experiment
(2015) |
AMERICAN PROMISE (2013)
The first full length documentary was American Promise (2014). It was directed by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, and followed the life of two boys living in New York city for 13 years, up until they enter University. The documentary starts with the story of two boys as they go apply to the prestigious Dalton academy. Because the film was shot for so long, the directors hired three professional verite editors to assist in cutting the 800 hours of footage down to around 2 hours.
And these editors, as well as the cinematographers, did an excellent job, in my opinion, because the editing within the film is very clean and concise. The documentary was filmed in a way which created a sense of realism, as we were often reminded that the subjects lives were being filmed. One such moment was when there was a fight at Sean's school, and footage suddenly became very shaky, this was because the cinematographer was struggling to get out of the way of the people fighting. Sean then grins and turns to the camera man and says "Welcome Banneker!" Another example was one instance where Idris forgot to inform his mother about his History quiz and she begins to panic over it not being in her calendar. In the moment of stress, she completely forgets that the cinematographer is in the room, and he stays out of her direct line of sign in order to capture the true effect of the argument between mother and son. These moments create an sense of realism because it feels as if the audience is in the room with the subjects, however we do not interact with the subjects. Therefore, we have the "fly on wall" effect, which in some instances actually adds an uncomfortable feel. Some moments it almost feels too personal, as if we aren't meant to be watching this on television.
One thing I thought was interesting as well, was the use of both direct interviews and indirect interviews. The directors used direct interviews were used a lot with the children at young ages, because it is easier for a child to directly answer the question, rather than to have to restate questions into their answers. Overall, I loved this documentary. As a high school senior, I related to many of the experiences the two boys were going through regarding college application and acceptances. The piece was very telling of the hardships of minority children, the consequences of putting stress on young children, and the inexplicable situations that are thrown at us in life. It brought me chills, laughter, and tears. We were taken on a journey to experience two people's childhoods, we were witness to tragedy, love, loss, and guilt. The directors created a piece which is very telling of the human experience, it demonstrates just how much we go through as people, and just how much we are able to overcome.
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP (2010)
Another full length documentary that I enjoyed was Banksy's
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010). The point of this documentary was to capture the risky and thrilling world of street art from the perspective of the artist. The majority of the footage was taken by French cinematographer, Thierry Guetta.
The beginning of the documentary follows Guetta, as he gets inspired to create a video. He gets in touch with several big name street artists, and begins to immerse himself into this underground world.
The documentary started with a montage of several different street artists creating their art in a series of different locations, one riskier than the other. The montage contributes to the style, setting off the tone of the documentary as having a grunge aesthetic, with a very fun feel. I tried to use this in my own documentary as well. As you will see later, I used this montage to start my documentary with a similar grunge feel. I think the most interesting thing about this documentary, is the fact that it was not made by Thierry Guetta, despite it being mainly filmed by him. It is revealed within the documentary that once Guetta attempted to build it, it was unorganized and poorly edited. So, Banksy ends up collecting all of the footage and creating it himself. The use of background music was excellently chosen. Banksy uses sorrow music to set the tone as Guetta's childhood story is told, as well as slow zoom ins, keeping the audiences attention stuck on the man's words. On the other hand, playful modern music is used when showing the footage of Guetta immersing himself into the illegal activities the street artists take part in.
Episodic Documentary
I watched two episodic documentaries from Netflix's Abstract series. The series is intended to spotlight different people form a variety of artistic fields. The first one I watched was focused on Ruth Carter, the famous costume designer who worked on major productions such as Black Panther (2019). The documentary's b-roll was beautifully chose, showing her organizing, planning, an creating the details on her costumes. The film makers used close ups of her pieces used in many of her old films as well, showing the change and progressed of intricacy of her costumes over time as she grew as an artist.
The second episode was of Es Devin, set designer. The nature of her job is to create interesting an visually unique sets for artists to perform on. Therefore, the editing and transitions of her episode reflected this craft of building the world around her. One specific transition that I believed to be excellently created, was the instance when Devin cuts a slit through the backdrop, peaks her head through, ad places herself onto a Ferris wheel below.
This transition was a great choice as it showcases Devlin's style well, and it was used right after she explained her use of cuts or sips in many of her digital works.
I love the concept of episodic documentaries and I think they are an excellent style to gain views for major companies such as Netflix. Since the documentary is split into a series of episodes, all with the same purpose but different focuses, the audience is kept engaged an they are able to pick and choose which documentaries they would like to watch.
Op Docs
Op docs are short documentaries that follow a variety of styles and unrelated plots, submitted to the New York Times by pretty much anyone who would like to submit. My favorite op doc that I watched was named Oasis by Justine Martine (2023). The documentary follows two twin brothers who have begin to grow apart as they grow older, as one begins to focus on conforming to his friends. However, they cherish their summer, feeling as close as they did when they were just little boys.
There are two different tones throughout the video for the summer break section contrasts from the other. The summer break sequence contains well lit scenes, all of which are in areas with a lot of nature. The greenery of the scenes, the activities that they brothers take part in, as well as the fact that the sound is all nature oriented and original audio, all help to create a sense of realism. They all emanate childhood, giving the viewers a look into how it was that the two boys strengthened their relationship over the vacation time. it reminded them of how they were when they were younger, without their friends there to distract them.
The scenes in the skatepark show how the twins’ lives are, outside of summer. The camera is usually focused on Ralph, and often shows Remi in the corner of the screen. By focusing the camera on Ralph, we understand his sense of loneliness as he watches his brother with his friends. Dialogue is included where Ralph attempts to get his brother’s attention by offering him his hat, however Ralph accepts the gift and makes a dismissive gesture. With the combination of the solo shots of Remi watching his brother, and the lack of duologue between the two here compared to the summer, we understand how Remi feels as a handicapped individual with a neurotypical brother.
