Trailer 1 – Baraka
The documentary showed things from different peoples cultures from around the world. I feel like the scenes of tribes and people and meditating, and such can give people an excellent understanding of what this movie covers. The first scene that stood out where it showed the vast landscape with the fire and ash because it could be showing someplace near a volcano or it could be a war zone. The second scene that stood out. The second scene was where it was switching back and forth between the two train stations and the reason why it is important because it shows how people from two different countries go about their daily lives. The third scene or scenes was where they kept going back to the baboon. That monkey had some importance because of how many times they were going back to it throughout the trailer.
Trailer 2 – Nanook of the North
This documentary showed people living out in what could be the Arctic and how they try to survive. Even though this movie is silent, it seems to tell the information about how the characters act and the emotion they show. One scene that stood out was when the guy was eating something and the smile he had on his face, it looked like he just got a fresh kill and was happy to eat it. The second scene that stood out was when it showed the dogs frozen in the snow. That scene showed that not everyone is going to survive those type of conditions even the animals. The third scene that stood out was the last scene before it showed the title of the documentary and that was with the guy who was sleeping. It was hard to tell if he was having trouble going to sleep or if he was already sound asleep.
B. Structure (Baraka)
I would divide this documentary up into three parts with would be an intro, a middle, and a conclusion. The intro of the movie seems to look into the different cultures you are going to be learning about. The middle shows the daily lives of the people in those cultures. The conclusion seems to go through again of what you just have witnessed before it ends with the credit scene. What this documentary did in terms of transitioning between parts was that it would show some shots of scenery before it would delve into the next culture. This was a non-narrative documentary, nobody was explaining what is going on, and I feel like it is up to the viewer to try to understand the purpose of this film. Parts of his film seem to be divided up into different themes. One part is all about the city when another part is all about war and destruction.
C. Cinematic Style (Baraka)
This documentary seems to have a lot of still shots and many shots that pan across the scenery. There were a lot of dull colors in this film as well; nothing stood out. The lighting was used well when it came to the night scenes because they felt gloomy and somewhat uneasy. The pace of the editing has a slow style to it because almost all the shots last for more than 10 seconds especially the ones where they were looking over the landscapes of that particular country. When I was watching the documentary I thought the sequences had a straightforward narrative; it was straightforward to understand the basic concept of what was going on in the film
D. Documentarian Stance (Baraka)
I think the filmmakers wanted the viewers to be put in the shoes of these people living their daily lives. I think the purpose of this film was to show what other people around the world go through compared to here in the United States. When talking about the person responsible for this documentary, I would say the observer because of the shot they used throughout the film. It felt like I was observing these people as the movie went on such the scenes where they were meditating or praying and when people were working in the factories. When it came to improper methods of filmmaking, I thought that most of the shots were dragged on for too long and that can drag the viewer’s attention away from the film. What I did like was the variety of shots that they used because it looked like I could see these people at almost any angle.
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