Documentary Formats: Texts

La sortie des usines Lumière

As the clip is one of the first ever filmed its impressive to see some movement from film, the clip is very short but has a very strong sense of realism. There is no movement in the clip other than the people leaving the factory, the camera remains in the same location. As the clip is filmed on film its very difficult to make something artificial, unlike modern techiques. This making the clip very real and makes it easier for the viewer to compare, there is very little that happens in the one real of film with just shows that the its much more truthful.

Night Mail

This clip is very similar to that of 'La sortie des usines Lumiere' both are filmed in black and white, they also use a small amount of editing. Night Mail is a great example of 20th century film, the start shows of the credits and uses bold music to entice the viewer in. The documentary then continues to a set of shots which show the workers sending the mail between different places, the shots are natural with very little acting. Its this signs of no acting that I feel makes this documentary more realistic, the participants are doing the things because the camera is on them they are doing it because thats there job. Another point that makes this documentary more believable is the fact that there is no dialogue from the people in the film its just from the voice over.


Bowling For Columbine

A strong view for me that makes me think that this documentary isn't completely truthful is the fact that its filmed in America, guns are legal in America so anybody can have one. So I feel that the documentary could lie about its truthfulness because they could have set up something like this. The main focus of this film is Michael Moore, who presents the show and leads the camera to different locations. This could show a sense of realism as they have very little time to change things around, and not make it truthful. After watching the trailer I do feel as if the documentary could be a little bit of a joke, the advert uses cartoons and funny transitions showing that the show could have been made cheaply and is just making a joke of gun licensing.

Louis and the Nazis

I felt that this was the most believable out of all of the documentaries, when Louis met the Nazis. Throughout the entire documentary Louis spoke to camera telling them about whats happening, at one point Louis was questioning a Skinhead. After a short amount of time the Skinhead asked Louis to turn off the camera, this makes the clip more believable as you realise how the characters feel having the camera pointed straight at there face. As the film is also about there religion the actors feel much more passion and show a lot of emotion towards how they're feeling. Which if the clip wasn't real then the actors wouldn't look as confident and knowledgeable about the subjects.

The Thin Blue Line


This documentary ran on a different style and theme to the other clips that we watched, the structure was based to do with characters talking about the murder that happened. Its story is much more cinematic and interesting, many shots take on the scene of what happened on the night of the murder. A close up on the siren is often used to ensure that the viewer is alert and watching closely, the scene of the murder is also shown many times as different witnesses state what happened. This helping the viewer to understand what actually happened, another way in which they keep the viewer enticed is by using a atmospheric sound track; the music is often repeated this shows when important information is about to be produced. I really like that the interviewer talks to both Randal Adams and David Harris, it shows the different view points of the innocent and the guilty. It also gives us an understanding of how both of them felt during and after the trial. 



The Lambeth Boys

The clip was about a group of boys from Lambeth in a youth club, the camera followed the boys and girls on there day to day lives. I felt that the clip was authentic up to different points, for example at one point the boys sat in the back of the truck shouting songs to all of the pedestrians. This part felt a little fake as they would struggle to have a truck that size for such a small club. At some points I felt that this documentary didn't follow the standard flow that a usual documentary does, the camera never interviewed one person specifically and we never gained an emotional attachment to any of the characters, in most documentaries you find that the camera makes you like one of the characters more than others but this was very neutral. I enjoyed how fluid the clip ran and liked how the director made everything look natural and real, no character seemed to act differently than what they usually would other than the truck seen.