Who Is Jeffrey Blitz's Spellbound?

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Normally, people would not think to associate spelling or anything to do with spelling as an interesting past time, but not these young Americans. Jeffrey Blitz has taken this subject and shown it from the point of Americans’, how spelling bees are all part of the bigger American Dream, and the hype they receive are all to the standard of nationwide sports games. Blitz, director of Spellbound, follows the journey of eight American middle schoolers as they train and compete in the National Spelling Bee. Throughout Spellbound, Blitz encourages viewers to adopt perspectives on ideas such as stress, the need for study and competitiveness, with techniques like sound effects, camera shot, written code, setting and technical editing that accompany them, making a lasting impact on the viewer.

Stress. Everyone has experienced it one time or another. It is the thing that sometimes pushes us to succeed and …show more content…

Jeffery Blitz has produced a master piece from utilizing all the stress that is seen throughout the Spelling Bee. The first scene, before the audience even knows the title of the documentary, throws the viewer into a high stress environment, as one boy, Harry, fumbles for the spelling of his word. Blitz has used a close up shot to bring the viewer straight into his personal space, and so making the audience feel as if they have a closer connection to him, which then allows them to experience the full effect of the stress during a spelling bee competition. The viewer is brought close to Harry’s face, allowing the audience see and experience all his expressions, the way in stumbles over the spelling and the awkwardness of his cluelessness and confusion. It also amplifies the only sound effect

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