Documentary Reflection Why did you choose the documentary topic/style? I chose to do a participatory/interactive documentary in the form of a vlog style. This allowed the audience to visually see myself as the filmmaker and take part in my journey of being a vegetarian for 2 weeks. This style seemed best fit for my topic as I could express my feelings and thoughts directly to the audience in a more casual way then say an expository style or observational. What was the purpose of your documentary? The purpose of my documentary started out a bit unclear and because of this I nearly changed my topic. I was originally just becoming a vegetarian for 2 weeks because I wanted to see if I could actually accomplish this however after reevaluating around day 4, I wanted to change this purpose to see if I could lose weight from this alter in my diet. The end results were that I did, losing up to 2kgs. Although my purpose was met, there were other minor purposes to my documentary such...
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Documentary Reviews Single Mother, Only Daughter Set in the towns of Los Angeles and Hong Kong, this documentary starts with a contrast between the two cities roads, enticing the audience. This set up shows how these two cities are similar in the way they have tall buildings and busy roads, but also shows how there worlds apart in relation to layout and looks. These two places are home to the two main characters discussed in the documentary, a daughter and her single mother who brought her up all by herself. The daughter is talking to her mother the whole time on the phone, talking about what documentary she wished to make and how the idea of one on her mother was floating around. The connection and relationship the audiences gains from the documentary is shown through the powerful images and clips from the daughters childhood with her mother. The voice overs add to the feelings these images and videos are conveying as they relate to what emotions they want the au...
Holiday Blog In my holidays I watched a LOT of television. Many ten drama shows like Riverdale and Dynasty, with the odd How I met your Mother and Brooklyn Nine Nine thrown in there. All were just really to pass the time, and also to distract myself from doing school work. The only media I watched that made an impact on my life was Demi Lovato's documentary called 'Demi Lovato; Simply Complicated'. I never knew that her life was so complicated in the way that she was seen as this Disney actress who was a role model for children and had to have this fusade about her. Really however, she was struggling with a drug addiction and didn't get to grow up in the same way that most of us did with cameras on her 24/7 so drugs were kind of like her escape. The pressures of being this role model and then wanting to have her own life were expressed in this documentary as the tipping point for her and balance needed to be found. Going into rehab and seeking help, Demi has now be...
Supersize Me vs. Me and Mickey D Supersize Me, a documentary by Morgan Spurlock, undertakes the challenge himself of eating McDonald's for an entire month in hopes to shed light on the issue if obesity in America. During the experiment, Spurlock displayed many different side effects from his new diet including mood swings, weight gain, major changes to his blood pressure and sodium levels, the effects this had on others around him and many more. This supports Spurlock's message to the wider community of that he presents McDonald's to be extremely unhealthy and that it can be linked to obesity when eaten on an everyday basis. The validity of his experiment is proven by the interviews he has with random people on the streets in America about their average consumption and thoughts on Mcdonald's, research conducted on the average American diet which Spurlock follows and expert advice from medical professionals on the effects this is having on his body. To make the aud...
Nanook of the North- Robert J. Flaherty Robert J. Flaherty, born in Michigan America, presents a depiction of the Inuit Eskimos featuring Nanook and his family. I say depiction not biography because Flaherty's work isn't one that captured the Eskimo lifestyle in real life, but one that was planned and thought out by both parties involved. Needless to say, this is still a documentary about Nanook and his families daily adventures and the tasks they face throughout. A main critique of 'Nanook of the North' is that it romanticises the Eskimo lifestyle through the use of non-diegetic sounds. I would criticise this and say that non-diegetic sounds are what make the Eskimo lifestyle effective in portraying this romanticised version of the film. Mood music is used to create an image of Nanook at certain points in the film to make him seem like the loving, caring and providing father that men were supposed to be. This is seen when Nanook lifts the children out of the ...
6 Modes of Documentary 1. The Expository Mode Being the most identifiable mode of documentary, the expository mode uses verbal commentary, also known as the 'voice of god' to evoke a desire to know from the audience. It shows this by portraying real life events, for example David Attenborough's nature documentaries. His documentaries use voice overs to show the audience a glimpse into the animal kingdom. 2. The Poetic Mode Revealing the 'inner truth' of a documentary, the poetic mode represents the artistic, abstract version of documentaries. A subjective depiction of reality is demonstrated through exaggerated imagery and narratives that link to the mood of the documentary. Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) uses low angle shots to exaggerate the power of the athletes, also contributed by the sound editing which matched to the beat of the athletes movements. 3. The Observational Mode Observational mode takes on the codes and conv...
Interpreting Images Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/gallery/2017/dec/31/favourite-australian-photographs-from-2017-in-pictures Trove Lo is a Swedish electropop singer who is seen in this image at her debut performance at Splendour in the Grass 2017. Highlighted by the fluorescent blue and purple background, this frames the focal point in the image which is Trove Lo. The meanings behind these colours combine with the overall feelings Trove Lo and the image in general portrays. The colour blue has underlying tones of confidence and relevance as it's seen on a day to day basis in the sky and water. The colour purple brings forth the meaning of royalty and power. Relating to how this image makes people feel, Trove Lo is seen as this confident, higher powered figure yet the blue helps the audience relate to her through the theme of relevance. These colours also identify with the electropop vibes and helps the viewer gain a sense of belonging. This sense ...