The problem of les banlieues (the suburbs) became particularly prominent from the early 1980’s onwards. Violent confrontations between suburban youths and the police took place in a number of the suburbs surrounding France’s major cities like, for example, Sartrouville and La Corneuve near Paris and Valulx en Velin and Venissieux near Lyon.…
Documentaries construct an argument about the world from these assertions or claims. Every documentary has a voice over, which explains the film in more detail than just what the viewer can see.…
The idea of a documentary being an artistic or even personalised expression of a director is long gone, or so it seems in recent times. In Michael Moore’s latest documentary, Bowling for Columbine, he attempts to get across to viewers his, and essentially only his point of view, on the topic of gun laws. Although what Moore is trying to say is not necessarily wrong, he is at the same time not taking into account the other side of the argument either; all he is trying to do, essentially is hypnotise viewers into thinking his way of thinking is the only way of thinking. In his documentary, it seems that all other arguments are simply invalid.…
When it comes down to a film or television series that is known as a popular hit, most people may consider something along the lines of a comedy or drama. No one, in my opinion, gives much thought into viewing a film such as a documentary. A person may say or hear the word ‘documentary’ and particular stereotypical views such as elderly-people-sitting-around-on-a-Sunday-afternoon-with-nothing- better-to-do, or the history channel perhaps come to mind. Not many individuals give documentaries a chance, but I would encourage the viewing of the Academy award-winning documentary, Murder on a Sunday Morning, also known as Un Coupable Ideal, directed by the French-film maker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade.…
I found the documentary very compelling when they spoke about the differences between the ways that juveniles and adults are treated in the court system. For example, juveniles are sentenced their punishment is based on what is best for them, whereas adults are sentenced based on what is best for the community. Even though this is not always the case for juvenile offenders, as some are tried as adults, it is very interesting how the court…
'Documentary' has come to mean a single film or programme (sometimes part of a series) which concentrates on a single subject, and is presented in a factual way. Documentaries tell us something important about our world - and in the best examples, make us think about the world in a new way.…
I chose to use the documentary as one of the sources for my paper. I found this particular documentary to not only be very informational as far as the subject goes, but also gave citations for all of its information. I understand the reasoning for not wanting students to use these, but I found this one to be very professional and credible. Thanks.…
Compare any one documentary film with any one cinema dramatization of real events. Compare and contrast the cinematic techniques each film uses to persuade the audience that they are witnessing real story…
In the following essay I will compare two documentary films, Bowling for Columbine, Directed and written by Michael Moore, and Touching the Void, Directed by Kevin Macdonald and adapted from the book of the same name, focusing on documentary elements such as dramatic development, structure and subjective and objective aspects. I will also highlight and detail their presentational techniques.…
The narration keeps the viewers informed on the events. The introduction of the characters gives a background of their stories. For example, when he narrates, “…and then there was a hungry little girl who…
- Documentaries film real people, real life events and also explain historical events and scientific discoveries.…
Despite this potential bias discovery, common knowledge assumes that documentaries are told from trusted historians who have already been assessed for quality viewpoints. Nevertheless, once again I cross-referenced the information in the documentary with different sources such as books, interviews and internet articles in order to confirm my findings. I repeatedly cross-referenced my findings to ensure that all the information I had gathered from documentaries was reliable and valid for me to use towards my research…
The French-Belgian film (the director was Belgian) Ma Vie En Rose (My Life in Pink) is a story set in France about a family of six (Mom - Hanna, Dad - Pierre, three sons (Ludovic being the youngest, and Daughter) in which the 7 year old son, Ludovic (Ludo for short), has a gender identity disorder. Ludo thinks he's a girl and God mistakenly made him a boy when his second X chromosome didn't go down the chimney. He attempts to correct this mistake by dressing like and acting like a girl. At first, Ludo's parents find his behavior humorous. However, after repeated incidents of girlish behavior - including dressing up like a girl and pretending to marry his best friend, Jerome - his parents start to think there's a serious problem and find a psychologist to help their son. The psychologist is apparently unsuccessful in convincing Ludo that he is meant to be a boy. His continued behavior considerably stresses his parents. They are at times accepting of the way he is and at other times exasperated and livid at him for being so indecisive about his sexuality. But his problems are also affecting his school life (the parents of Ludo's classmates successfully petition the school to expel him) and his social life [his friends make fun of him and call him bent (gay)]. After Pierre (Ludo's father) is mysteriously laid-off (Jerome's father is Pierre's boss), Pierre finds another job. However, this job calls for the family to move from the suburbs of Paris. This move let's Ludo and his family get a fresh start.…
In documentaries when a director takes on a sensitive subject matter, like upsetting historical events, he or she needs to develop a certain point of view without being biased, or the authenticity of the documentary is jeopardized. Two historical events that are featured in many documentaries are the Holocaust and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Director, Alain Resnais, captures the horrors that took place in the Jewish concentration camps during World War II in the 1955 short documentary film Night and Fog; whereas director, Michael Moore, focuses on the actions of President George W. Bush following the 9/11 attacks in the 2004 documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11. Though both films expose the truth behind the said historical traumas, the different montage approaches of these directors evoke distinct point of views: one that is omniscient while the other is objective, respectively.…
The director uses special effects to persuade his audience his message by using distance from the subject. He displays this when he is interviewing teachers is it a close up on the teacher to show that what they have to say is important. He also uses point of view, by having the camera outside the scene creating an objective effect. I believe the special effect contribute to an emotional appeal in this documentary because it is real life stories. The happy and sad moments are all captured to show it is not an easy life for these children.…