Essay Plans Flashcards
(10 cards)
Discuss how two documentary techniques are used to explore a key issue
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Paragraph One = Archival and Found Footage
Paragraph Two = Voice-Only Interviews
How far are digital technologies important for capturing and manipulating reality?
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Explore how filmmakers use specific techniques to create an emotional impact
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Discuss how the film you have studied supports and/or challenges filmmaker’s theories
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Paragraph One = Kim Longinotto
- Known for her observational mode of fly on the wall filmmaking style
- Longinotto is known for her unobtrusive camera with no interference and she avoids narration as she lets the subject speak for themselves
- Her camera does not control the narrative
- Her documentaries often feature marginalised and oppressed women, she gives voice to women who are often unheard
- Longinotto does not use interviews or explanations but lets the story unfold naturally
- Kapadia is inspired by Longinotto’s observational mode as he is also does not use ‘talking heads’ but uses homodiegetic narration to let Amy narrate her own story similiar to Longinotto
- Unlike Longinotto who does not manipulate the footage, Kapadia does use technologies to enhance the impact through sound and editing. Kapadia also constructs his narrative from archival footage compared to Longinotto captures a purer form of cinema
- Kapadia focusses on marginalised and oppressed individuals, even though Amy was famous her humanity was marginalised for speculation and dramatisation of her drug abuse
- They both give voice to the voiceless to let the subject tell their own story
- They also both aim for emotional truth and human connection
- Kapadia uses his documentarys as a subtle commentary on injustice in society
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Explore how the representation of a key character contributes to the meaning of the documentary you have studied.
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How important is the creative use of digital technology in the documentary you have studied?
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- Kapadia used digital technology to restore and enhance personal footage which were originally grainy. This allows a more authentic version of Amy Winehouse.
- This amateur quality also works with the idea of capturing reality
- Archival footage has become more available to documentary filmmakers meaning
- Digital archives are the building blocks of the narrative using home videos, interviews of Amy, concert footage, paparazzi clips, phone recordings and media coverage
- Digital technology allowed low-quality footage to be restored and colour corrected which made an emotionally immersive and coherent narrative
- Kapadia curates hundreds of hours of archival footage selecting things that make a coherent and emotional narrative
- Digital technology meant that Kapadia could weave thousands of hours of raw archival material to create a seamless narrative of her which is intimate
- This brings emotional clarity to the previously grainy footage
- Kapadia utilises emotional layering of various digital technologies to create an impactful immersive experience for the audience
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- Digital technology is prominent for the editing in Amy as the different techniques in Amy to create the digital composition of the images, footage and sound
- Kapadia uses still images which reflect on key momenets in Amy’s life, this represents a more personal presence of Amy often using images of when she looked happier or younger
- Layering is an editing technique used where elements such as sound and visuals combine to create an emotional output
- Kapadia layers Amy’s lyrics over the screen to indicate her fame and talent
How is the documentary you have studied made more thought-provoking by specific creative choices made by the filmmakers?
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How far does your chosen documentary demonstrate elements of one or more filmmaker’s theories you have studied?
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Explore how two documentary techniques are used in presenting the subject of your chosen film. Refer to one film-maker’s theory you have studied.
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‘Digital technologies have expanded our sense of what a documentary can be.’ How far is this true in relation to your chosen film?
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