Documentary Analysis 1

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Dilini Gorsia Analysis of a documentary What do I desire? – Short documentary The documentary begins with an image of the company logo “One bird studios” which appears with the addition of some special effects. This then blanks out as a quote fades in to the screen. As the quote fades out the voiceover begins which asks the audience a serious of rhetorical questions to not only interest the minds of the viewers but to also get them thinking about what the production is about considering the title doesn’t give much away. The slow and emotive music along with the film-like cutaways and the voiceover all work towards the introduction of the documentary and also the credits that appear along the way. The voiceover also directly speaks to the audience through a series of instructions, this is a very effective way of introducing the topic as it makes the viewers feel as though they’re a part of the documentary. As the documentary continues, a myriad of cutaways appear that link to the context of the voiceover, this includes things such as an establishing shot of the buildings and a slow motion close up of money falling. Soon after, it becomes apparent that the entire documentary is made to seem like a mixture between a film and a documentary. This is because there are no interviews at all throughout the piece. Instead, it solely consists of cutaways, scenes and a continuous voiceover that layers over the score music. It is difficult to say whether the documentary would be performative or poetic due to the fact that it not only stresses the

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Analysis

Transcript of Documentary Analysis 1

Page 1: Documentary Analysis 1

Dilini Gorsia

Analysis of a documentary

What do I desire? – Short documentary

The documentary begins with an image of the company logo “One bird studios” which appears with the addition of some special effects. This then blanks out as a quote fades in to the screen.

As the quote fades out the voiceover begins which asks the audience a serious of rhetorical questions to not only interest the minds of the viewers but to also get them thinking about what the production is about considering the title doesn’t give much away. The slow and emotive music along with the film-like cutaways and the voiceover all work towards the introduction of the documentary and also the credits that appear along the way.

The voiceover also directly speaks to the audience through a series of instructions, this is a very effective way of introducing the topic as it makes the viewers feel as though they’re a part of the documentary.

As the documentary continues, a myriad of cutaways appear that link to the context of the voiceover, this includes things such as an establishing shot of the buildings and a slow motion close up of money falling.

Soon after, it becomes apparent that the entire documentary is made to seem like a mixture between a film and a documentary. This is because there are no interviews at all throughout the piece. Instead, it solely consists of cutaways, scenes and a continuous voiceover that layers over the score music. It is difficult to say whether the documentary would be performative or poetic due to the fact that it not only stresses the lyrical, rhythmic and emotional aspect of documentaries but also shares a personal experience from the perspective of the film maker as he talks about the death of his dad. Another reason why it may be of a poetic nature is because of the continuity editing as if to reveal a storyline that underlines the message about doing what you love.

Halfway through there is an extremely effective moment that the director has included whereby he captures a fast motion establishing shot of a number of people in a specific area. At this point, as the voiceover says the word “stop” the shot freezes as if to reflect what he is talking about. This is effective because it is as if he is stressing

Page 2: Documentary Analysis 1

Dilini Gorsia

his point in terms of his imagery in a way that allows the audience to imagine what he is saying by physically seeing it.

Furthermore, the clip features blurred out re-enactments of the words the director is saying about his personal experiences.

Other shots that in the documentary, include, close ups, medium shots, and establishing shots. These are used along with slow motions effects, bids eye views an plenty of other filming techniques.

Finally, the last thing that is used from start to finish is the emotive score music. This begins slow and steady, speeds up a little towards the middle and ends to bring motivation and determination to his final words. The more upbeat pace of the song “Divernire” by Ludovico Einaudi really works well to introduce the final credits of the clip along with finishing it off in a positive and inspiring manner.

From this documentary, I can see that the dialogue and score music are important to the clip as they add the finishing touches and are crucial to setting the mood for the production. As well as this, the cutaways are also very important in terms of how they connect to the overall content.