GOOD SHORT DOCOS

The following docos are all good examples short documentaries to get your creative juices flowing. There is a huge mix here and something for everyone and consider how they deal with their subject matter stylistically through sound and image and also how they create their message.

The apology line is an award winning short film based on a simple premise setting up an apology line for people to ring up and confess something. What the film-maker James Lees then did was film some cityscapes and images to help try to visualise the soundtrack he cut together. The result is a gentle and beautifully shot lyrical short film.



The Apology Line - Short Film (UKFC, Screen WM) from James Lees on Vimeo.


Lift by Marc Isaacs in 2001 is perhaps the simplest idea of all. He set up his camera equipment in a lift in tower block and filmed the comings and goings of it's inhabitants. The result is a slice of real life and the interaction, stories and characters that live within the tower. Their frankness, openness and interaction with Marc is a joy to behold.

 


 A life in a day was filmed by John Mayer on May 5, 2010, a mostly first-person chronicle of the day's events leading up to a performance in Wollongong, Australia. It is a simple idea and perhaps the hardest part of it was deciding what to leave out rather than include. The simplicity of the idea is made up with some interesting cinematography and the subtle tone leading up to what is obviously a big performance but treats all elements of the day the same.

 
"A Life In The Day" from John Mayer on Vimeo.


Peter and Ben made by Pinny Grylls in 2007 is not what seems like a promising premise of a reclusive bearded man in the Welsh mountains and his friendship with a nonconformist sheep. However the relationship between the two and the parallels drawn between the two central characters made it an internet hit and award winning film. Pinny says of her film "it is a gentle, lyrical film" adding "The story is really simple, but universal in a quirky way: the son not wanting to join the flock, but the eventually joining and the father not wanting him to."


Saving face is an exceptionally powerful 2012 Oscar award winning short film by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Daniel Junge about acid attacks on pakistani women that leads to disfigurement. We follow London based pakistani plastic surgeon as he travels to Pakinstan to perform reconstructive surgery on some survivors of acid violence. It broaches the subject of under-repoting of such attacks and as such is a social campaigning film highlighting this travesty. Given it's dark topic the film manages to be what Odaid-Chinoy describes as "a positive story about Pakistan on two accounts: firstly, it portrays how a Pakistani-British doctor comes to treat them and it also discusses, in great depth, the parliament’s decision to pass a bill on acid violence." The film demonstrates the power of documentary to inform and educate and provoke discussion about change.

POETIC DOCOS

Poetic documentaries use sound and picture to not re-create reality but to crete an interpretation of it. They are generally subjective and the emphasis is on mood, tone, emotion and texture. They often make heavy use of music and sound and are lyrically show with a strong sense of the visual often borrowing heavily from cinematic techniques. The aim is to create often a preferred reading for the viewer but to make them join the dots themselves and forge the links and realtionships between the images and audio.

The clip below "LIGHTS" is a good example of a poetic documentary that explores these techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM5lMxvIAtc

PERFORMATIVE DOCOS

A lot of the documentary work of the film-maker Nick Broomfield uses performative documentary conventions. He appears in and just off screen a lot in his work and his interaction into the journey, investigation into his subject matter. In this type of doco the process of making the film and the journey of the film-maker to get it made are central to the film. A good example of this is the following clip from Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cId3MgHgKpo

This other clip below is from Kurt and Courtney a 1998 documentary film by Nick Broomfield investigating the circumstances surrounding Kurt Cobain 's death, and allegations of Courtney Love 's involvement in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ugWA6EAYSU&feature=related

EXPOSITORY DOCOS

Most nature docos have a lot of expository documentary traits especially the "voice of god" commentators. A good example of this is the work of David Attenborough and below is a link to a clip from Planet Earth an Emmy award winning BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Alastair Fothergill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZPhQewYf3c

The Kid Stays In The Picture has a lot of expository documentary traits. Made by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans (the film shares the same name as Evans's famous 1994 autobiography).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVTyGzBo2c

PARTICIPATORY DOCOS

The work of the documentary film-maker Michael Moore is a good example of partipatory docos. The following clip is from Bowling For Columbine where he examines the link between America's gun culture and the Columbine school massacre.

http://fliiby.com/file/133755/88a9j1jggj.html

Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me as another good example of a participatory doco. In the film he uses himself as a human guinea pig as he subjects his body to 30 days of nothing but food from McDonalds. It is the ultimate participatory doco in this aspect but along the way uses a variety of other doco modes and techniques to explore the links between fast food and health issues in the USA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATYJx3x0nyo

OBSERVATIONAL DOCOS

Etre et Avoir is a strong example of an observational documentary that displays a lot of the charcteristics of this mode of doco. It is a portrait of a one-room school in rural France, where the students (ranging in age from 4 to 11) are educated by a single dedicated teacher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDcqQuoWnFI&feature=related

One Born Every Minute is a doco (still currently running) on Channel 4 that follows in an observational style the ups and downs, staff and patients at a maternity unit.

http://www.youtube.com/show/oneborneveryminute

REFLEXIVE DOCOS

Reflexive docos tend to emphasise the expressive and creative nature of film. They stay away from realism anjd opt for anti-realist techniques often employing cinematic and more avant garde approaches. They fully exploit cinematography, lighting, music and sound as well as lighting to create an emotional, subjective response in the viewer. They leave room for the audience to interpret the infortmation rthemselves more than some other modeas and voice-over are more likely to be questioning and uncertain rather than authoritative and they rely on suggestion more than fact.

The Lives of The Artists doco features freeride snowboarder Xavier de Le Rue in the incredible, untamed wilderness of Greenland before moving on to the World’s ‘most perfect’ wave, a simply awesome force of nature; Teahupoo in Tahiti with big wave surfers Tom Lowe and Fergal Smith, along with photographer Mickey Smith. Finally we get under the skin of an abrasive and dramatic tour across the US with British hardcore punk band Gallows. Three diverse domains, with a collection of seemingly diverse personalities but all united by uncompromising integrity, and a willingness to push and suffer for their art as they search for fulfillment.

http://www.relentlessenergy.com/films/view/lives-of-the-artists

Night Mail was a doco that made good use of reflexive cinematic techniques to tell the story of the journey of a Mail Train from London to Edinburgh. In the clip below it uses poetic verse written and performed by the poet W. H. Auden and music from the classical composer Benjamin Brittento help tell the story and capture the story of the journey. Listen too for the use of sound effects and consider the filmic cinematography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmciuKsBOi0