FilmTV-2 – reflection 2

Curran Bernard, S. Documentary storytelling for film and video makers

1) stressing the necessaty of a “bomb-proof fall-back plan” is an excellent point. What attracts me to documentary film making is the candid and organic way in which the story, in a lot of cases, reveals itself during production. Sometimes though, this interesting angle or story may not reveal itself, or even exist for that matter. AS THIS Is a distinct possibility, having the foresight to plan storytelling elements which can be planned or prompted is a very practical, yet foreseeable, overlooked part of the production process.

2) my documentary film idea , as it is right now, seems to be largely focused on the visual, atmospheric elements of filmmaking. It’s not a very well thought out idea largely due to the fact that I cannot decide on the main content I would like to put forward, or what would be interesting for the audience. Curran stresses the importance of having a good balance between the visual and storytelling elements of documentary film making, as one cannot make an engaging documentary without a balance of the two.

FilmTV-2 – Question 2

I thought end of the line was amazing, although I’m sure almost everyone would agree. Considering what Paul said about it essentially being the work of one student, it seemed to have become an advantage rather than hinders nice. The interviews felt incredibly honest, intimate and candid. I terms of interviewees, I do felt that there was perhaps a little too much focus on the elderly woman who seemed fixated on death. I can see why she worked well as a subject, however we as an audience got the message relatively early into the peace, and it eventually just became tired and depressing, which I suppose could have been the directors intention. If I would have done it differently, I would have allowed more screen time for the youth at the pub, illustrating them blowing off stem, which to me seems a pretty integral part of the small town experience.

I thought the footage was very well done, the spareceness and colour of the landscape lent itself perfectly to the melancholy and reflective tone of the film. The haunting imagery of construction tape blowing in the wind and the rusted structures of the water tower make it appear as tbough the town has en neglected and forgotten by civilisation, further highlighting the perception put forward by the filmmaker of a town which i it’s own unique community and almost completely isolated.