A1– The central subject of this documentary trailer is about a man and his brothers being falsely accused of plotting to assassinate Tony Blair.
A2– This is a war time documentary that took place during the US’ early occupation of Iraq. The audience can infer this by the George Bush audio in the background as well as footage of US soldiers with weapons drawn and breaking down doors.
A3– three moments in the trailer that stuck out to me was when the footage cut to an animation. These animations mostly depicted violent scenes of torture and such things like that, which is im portant to the viewer because those abrupt changes from real footage to animation keep the viewers attention on the trailer as well as keep things interesting. It also provides almost a little comic relief for such a tense documentary.
B– The documentary I chose to watch was A Place Like This, by David May. I would say the first section of the film is when Alex Jenkins, the protagonist of the film, is describing how it was always his dream to have a big luscious garden, like the one he’s presently in in the film. The next section of the film is when he takes a radical turn in his story he’s telling, switching up from talking about his garden to talking about how he went to go avenge his father by becoming an air force pilot for the Australian Air Force, and fighting in the WWII at the raid of Dortmund, Germany. He deeply reflects into his past and describes the horrific violence he endured at just the age of 18. The last section of this film is when he brings his story full circle and says to the audience that his garden, being in “a place like this”, is his favorite place in the whole world and would be content if he just died in his peaceful, happy garden. Since this was about a 10 minute documentary, there were no huge pivotal shifts in the film. Instead, the editor relied on the slow and emotional pace of the music playing to convey the shifts in the film. The way this documentary is structured makes the film understandable for the audience.
C1– The cinematography of this film is very relaxed and laid back. The cuts and pans are very slow. The way in which this film was shot wants the viewers attention on the garden and its pristine beauty. Being in the garden, there are so many bright and beautiful colors not only from the plants, but from birds too. This film was shot at Jenkins’ home in Australia where there are lots of colorful, tropical birds.
C2– Most of the shots in this film were held for about 10 seconds or more, and that includes the interview and B-roll footage.
C3– The sequences in the film move forward in order as far as the interview goes. The rest of the footage and B-roll follows more of an alternative pattern.
D1– The goals of the filmmaker are to convey to the audience the harsh realities of war and just how long those memories stay with you. Also, the filmmaker wants to point out that it’s the simple pleasures and beauty in life, such as a garden, that offer us the most peace and serenity in this life.
D3– From what I can observe, the filmmaker followed the proper methods of filmmaking when shooting this film.
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