Wednesday 18th April

Wednesday 18th April
Today in class we looked Lois Theroux and his documentary “Louis Meets The Most Hated Family In America”. Whilst watching this film we were asked to analyse it under the following headings
-Subject matter
-Style in comparison to other documentary makers
-Interviewing technique
-Directors on screen presence
After watching the documentary the class discussed this film. We noted that there were elements of Louis Theroux style that were like Nick Broomfields in regards to voice over narration while driving. In regards to his subject matter he deals with an unusual subject, that of a very strange religious group. However we also discussed the fact that his humour is very important to his appeal as a documentary maker, we said if Nick Broomfield made this documentary it would quite serious and less entertaining. In regards to his interviewing technique he asks quite bold questions however at the same time he is polite. So therefore people would tend to confide in him more than someone like Michael Moore that has a quite aggressive interviewing technique. Louis Theroux on screen presence is very important in this documentary his dead pan humour and facial expressions reacting to this family, add a comic element to a quite serious subject matter. We then got into our documentary groups and informed the lecturer on what we had done so far. We then received our results for our essays. This concluded our lecture.

Tuesday 27th March

Today in class we looked at the documentary maker Nick Broomfield. We looked at his two films about the serial killer Aileen Wuornose. We would then discuss the differences between the two documentaries. His first documentary was called the Selling of a Serial Killer. In this film Nick Broomfield tells the story of Aileen and focuses on how her story is being sold being by her friends and family in order to get money. The second documentary is called the Life and Death Of a Serial Killer. From its title we can see this film focuses more on Aileen Wuornose. Having watched these two films we can see Nick Broomfield has a distinctive style through his use of voice over narration, often used when driving his car. However there are differences between these two levels. Firstly it is important to note several years have past between the two films, we can see this visually through the better camera equipment. Another notable difference is that Nick Broomfield had developed a relationship with Aileen. This leads to more interviews with Aileen and also to Nick Broomfield being more sympathetic towards Aileen. This concluded our tutorial class.

Tuesday 20th March

Today in class we looked at the documentary called “Tell them who you are”. This documentary was made by the son of the cinematographer Haskell Weckler. Intially this documentary was about the career of the cinematographer Haskell Weckler. It showed clips of his films and included interviews with the people he had worked with over the years. However this documentary changed what it was about on Haskells suggestion that it be more interesting if it was about their relationship as father and son. This made the documentary far more personal and therefore more interesting to watch. The documentary showed the conflict between Haskell as filmmaker and his son trying to make his identity as a filmmaker. This can be seen when Haskell tells his son that the sound should be checked when recording, his son however does not listen and there is a long sequence recorded with no sound. By choosing to include his mistake Weckler is being humble and also honest as a documentary maker. This helps the audience have a greater understanding of their relationship, and also a greater respect for Weckler. An other very honest moment in this documentary is when Haskell goes to visit his sons mother in a nursing home. She is his ex-wife and has Alzheimer’s. We can see that he clearly see Haskell still loves her and for a brief moment the couple actually can communicate with each other. By choosing to leave this in the documentary it shows a more human side to his father and also the directors ability to keep himself distanced from such a emotional moment in order to capture it on film. This concluded our class.

Tuesday 13th March

Today in tutorial class we looked at the film “Roger and Me” by Michael Moore. In this documentary film he discussed how the General Motors factory was closed down leading to a major loss of jobs in his Home Town of Flint. His argument was with General Motors shareman Roger Smith and why he decided to close down the plant when the company had been making profits. His mission was to bring Mr Smith to see Flint. This documentary was very creative Michael used archive footage, and clips form movies even music to make this documentary more entertaining for the viewer. This can be seen when he uses Beach Boys music over an images of an abandoned buildings in Flint, showing his sense of humour. Originally this film was well received by critics as it was a quite unique documentary. However after a short while this documentary was criticised as being manipulating to the viewer. Michael Moore manipulated the events that occurred in flint by not showing them in the chronological order they occurred in. For this reason and other Michael Moore is also accused of being a quite biased documentary maker. This concluded our tutorial class.