Q1-
Nanook of the north is a documentary of the freezing to death of people from Antarctica. In an old black and white style information on what the film is about id demonstrated through text and of course reinforced through shots. Three pieces from the trailer that stand out to me is 1. Extremely eerie music is important because it sets a mood. 2. The shot of the frozen to death dogs makes the film feel very uneasy and worrying which makes the viewer want to know how they got to that point. 3. The text cards not only give us information on what the film is about but also dates it.
Baraka is a cinematography based documentary of lives all over the world. There is no information given on what this documentary is about just lots of shots of nature and peoples lives around the world. It is not clear what the purpose is behind this film as there is no narration just scenes with music over them. Three pieces from the trailer I found important 1. The editing of the trailer- The beautiful scenic shots where slow and gave you time to take in nature where the more hectic city lives and taboo scenes where quick. 2. The “music” was paired to the scenes to set a mood calm whistle sounds for scenic shouts and a more tribal sound for the hectic shots. 3.the scene of the mountain exploding is fairly important because that is when the pace of the trailer speeds up and taboo scenes are added.
B Baraka Is unable to be broken down into three parts because each scene is from a different place in the world at a different economical standard with different beliefs. To try to break the film into three would defeat the chaotic beauty of the film. Many shots are held for over ten seconds as there is no narrative so it is up to the viewer to decide what is happening. This Documentary is unlike any other I have seen due to its lack of structure. I spent a good amount of time trying to put a structure to this piece but I believe they purposefully didn’t.
C A majority Of the scenes from Baraka A wide pan shots With rich color. I would say the average frame is 10 seconds long there really isn’t any fast pace editing the majority is pretty calm. As I said earlier shots are pretty random occasionally shots from another angle of the same scene.
D As stated earlier there is no clear narrative it is really up to the viewer to make the Narrative. Personally I find the narrative to the contrast in life all around the world from one shot of still life to people in a third world country burning their loved ones. Everything this film shows seems to be very ethical as it doesn’t get too intrusive and stays rather distant.
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