The Documentary Essays

think that the documentaries are boring, but once they get turned on they are hooked. Documentaries are one of the most influential sources of film out there. This is because of the many purposes of them are to change or improve society, or just to enlighten us on a topic. While most of the other film genres are for entertainment; documentaries are supposed to be entertaining while still having a bigger purpose of informing or showing us something. Within the genre of documentaries, it includes its

Documentaries are made to capture and explain reality. Documentaries deals with people and their environments. Documentaries are usually made in order to prove a point about something, and some are persuasive. The article describes the first documentaries as being accidental, or “accidental documents of reality”. The early accounts of documentaries were used as propaganda for the war. Early TV documentaries included travelogues and lighthearted subjects, rather than extreme social problems. In the

Documentary filmmakers strive to capture the real in their documentary films – a convention used by both fiction and non-fiction films to immerse their audiences into the issue. There are a few common methods used by filmmakers to capture the real, all stemming from Dziga Vertov’s theory of Kino Pravda, which explores the idea of truth in films. Realism is important to filmmaking as it helps question the relation of a film to reality. More often than not, our disbelief are suspended the moment we

The documentary Fed Up, released in 2014, was directed by Stephanie Soechtig and executive produced and narrated by Katie Couric (Fed). The film “Fed Up will change the way you eat forever” (Geary). In my opinion, a superior documentary film must present facts that are credible and accurate, display a compelling view of the topic, and educate the viewers. I believe Fed Up effectively shows the negative impact processed foods and added sugars have on childhood obesity by presenting credible and accurate

Lila Brandeberry Sarah Bartlett ANTHR 230 1/1/2023 Documentary Analysis: The Illusionists (Elena Rossi, 2015) The film "The Illusionists" is a documentary that was released in 2015 by Elena Rossini. Elena Rossini is an Italian filmmaker and activist. She focuses on social justice, media, and female empowerment. The documentary covers many beauty topics worldwide: the United States, Japan, France, India, Lebanon, and Africa. The film brings attention to how porn, media, toys, and large corporations

What is the difference between a mockumentary and documentary? Most people state that mockumentaries are humorous whereas documentaries are more serious. Today I will elaborate on this, addressing how directors use techniques in mockumentaries to parody serious subject matters. In particular, I will analyse ‘Babakiueria’ (1986) by Don Featherstone and ‘The Majestic Plastic Bag’ (2010) by Jeremy Connor. In Australian history, a subject of conflict that we are aware of is the white settlers and the

Michael Moore, director of the world-famous documentary, Bowling For Columbine is notorious for his truth-twisting and ultimately biased filmmaking ways. Through his arrangement of other successful films, the impression of whether or not the truth he puts forward is really the truth at all, becomes increasingly evident. So much so that columnist and author, Christopher Hitchens, believes that his films are “a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of "dissenting"

The documentary genre has radically evolved throughout the years, however it can still be broadly described as a non-fictional informative footage which “documents” or captures reality. In general documentaries are used to reveal an unknown angle on either historical events, biological or controversial issues to a specific target audience. These unknown angles are mainly influenced by the intentions of the filmmaker. The filmmaker’s enthusiasm and commitment plays an enormous role in how these unknown

Throughout time Michael Moore has created many great documentaries and made a name for himself. Most of Moore’s documentaries consist of a similar theme and a similar directional diction. Two of Moore’s documentaries that really stood out to me personally are the tragic stories of Bowling for Columbine and the harsh truth of Fahrenheit 9/11. I found two specific scenes in these documentaries being the scene where the shooting occurs in Bowling for Columbine and the scene where the plane crashes

In the eye-opening documentary, The True Cost, director, Andrew Morgan presents a very biased and edited version of the events leading to the fast fashion industry and its negative impacts. Through the use a blame register the documentary is controlled to display necessary footage to expose the sweatshops and how it’s affecting lives and the environment with an underlying link to the title, “The True Cost”. In particular, persuasive language choices are purposely chosen which also link to the use

Michael Moore is an American documentary filmmaker, who is best known for his line of controversial documentaries exploring and addressing political and social issues in the US. Moore has a number of films, including 9/11: Fahrenheit, Sicko and Roger and Me for example. In particular, he has produced and directed “Bowling for Columbine” which I will be close viewing for my 3.9 report. During this film he raises and explores the issue of gun violence in the United States and uses a variety of techniques

epochal shift in subject formation that I have just described. While classic documentary filmmakers of the “Third Cinema” moment (e.g. Fernando E. Solanas [1936-] and Patricio Guzmán [1941-]) constructed their films using material from the sociohistorical archive, today’s filmmakers construct their documentaries using intimate, everyday archives, particularly those of the family. Specifically in the case of Argentine documentaries, directors often use techniques like dissociation and fragmentation to pose

Documentaries may not be thought of as narrative stories like Star Wars (1977), directed by George Lucas and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), directed by Wes Anderson, but they do follow a classical narrative structure. They are like a genre, but limited because they will usually not be as widespread or shown in theatres like blockbusters. They also will not make as much money either. Even though documentaries are not fantastical worlds, they still follow a narrative structure. Documentaries tend

The Amanda Knox documentary discusses the murder of Meredith Kercher, a study-abroad student, in Perugia, Italy, and how her roommate - Amanda Knox - and her then boyfriend were falsely convicted. The documentary misleads viewers and has a subjective viewpoint. Its producers did not go into much detail of the problem and failed to create it from a neutral viewpoint. The documentary should focus more on Meredith’s and Amanda’s relationship, and put more emphasis on key people from the case such as

The documentary 13th directed by Ava DuVernay and was the first ever documentary to open the New York Film Festival in 2016. DuVernay is a two-time academy award nominee for her films Selma - Best Picture and 13th - Best Documentary Feature (Time). She grew up in Compton California in the 1980s and 1990s where she saw a heavy police presence which she said was terrifying. She recalls seeing her father wrestled to the ground in his own back yard because he met the description of a man “running around

In the documentary “Undefeated” by T.J. Martin and Daniel Lindsay, an underprivileged black high school football team tries to break the streak of never having won a playoff game as long as the school has been around. Through all of the struggles that these kids face, they learn to come together with the help of their football coach. While the film was nominated for an Oscar, there are two completely different views on whether the film was about overcoming difficulties, considering the situation

“Benjamin Smoke”, is a documentary that shows the life of a drag, punk rock artist who exemplifies bodily knowledge and spirituality through his unique way of life. Benjamin lives in Cabbage town, a poor neighborhood in Atlanta that has been labeled the “shit”, where most of the town is run down and broken. To an outsider Benjamin Smoke is seen as a queer, drug addict, but Ben shows us spirituality in a purely individualism form. Through Ben’s body and the pain and sickness he experiences daily through

years of school, Alex was bullied because of the way he looked. He didn’t want other kids to go through what he did, so he decided to fight for what’s right. Alex was chosen to star in the documentary “Bully” and to talk about his life as a kid and what he went through. Alex’s bullying experiences, The documentary “Bully”, and Bullying, in general, are very important to his fight. Alex Libby is fighting for all people who are being bullied, not one million or 100 million, everyone. Alex’s

successful in the portrayal of all of the accurate factors that actually occurred. Feature films are factual yet intriguing and tell a more detailed version of what was told in the documentary. They are engaging, use a range of cinematic techniques, drama and special effects to engage the viewer to the feature film. The documentary was trying to portray that all of the work was contributed by the crew and that captain Philips didn’t apply any work at all compared to the crew, whereas the feature film tries

13th 13th, directed by Ava DuVenay, is a Netflix original documentary released in 2016 which brings to the table many individuals to discuss the evolution of the criminalization of African Americans using the thirteenth amendment and the growth of the U.S. prison industry. About the Director Ava DuVenay was born on August 24, 1972 in Long Beach, California. Mostly known as a director and filmmaker, DuVenay directed the Oscar-nominated film Selma (2014), which depicts the role Dr. Martin Luther King