Directed by Asif Kapadia.
Characteristics:
- Handheld Camera
- Small Crew/ One Man
- Interviews
- Real Events
- Expositions
- Voiceover
- Archive Footage
- Still Image
The very first films were documentaries made by the Lumiere Brothers in 1895. When the film camera was first invented they didn't think to create scripts and fictional events, they simply filmed people as they went about their everyday life. Hence there was no specific genre for film it was just 'real' life (though not completely real as to some extent in was constructed with fancy dress and unlikely characters in these films).
Documentaries are replicas or representations of the real life. It is a shaped reality or creative treatment of an actuality. There is always a clear message from the filmmaker and the audience are positioned to be swayed to one view or another. By studying the images, meaning is given that the films otherwise wouldn't possess.
Documentary Types:
- Poetic - moves away from reality, inner truth, manipulative
- Expository - voice of god, more interpretation, more opinionated
- Observation - factual, run and gun, honest interpretation, non-opinionated
- Participatory - gives the power over, real to the subjects, production value unimportant
- Performative - admits biased, subjective, opinionated, filmmakers as main character
- Reflexive - in the moment, little editing, filmmaker central character
Documentary Filmmakers:
Michael Moore:
- Styles - uses hybrid filmmaking process, fusing different documentary styles, mainly expository and interactive, adds a narrative similar to fiction films to engage the audience, comedic tone.
- Such Films as: 'Fahrenheit 9/11' and 'Where to invade next'
- Themes - USA, American problems, Foreign Affairs, controversial, 9/11
- Against Trump and often highlights the 'broken' way of voting in America.
Nick Broomfield:
- Performance Style
- Works with minimal crew, records sound himself and often only has one or two cameramen
- Often includes sexual content
- Films such as 'Biggle and Tupac'
Ken Burns:
- American based
- Has a factual and archive footage based style
- Invented panning in on a still image (Ken Burns Effect)
- Stylistic Features Include - photographs, simple musical melodies, American history
Stylistic Features in 'Amy':
- Archive Footage
- Still Images (Ken Burns effect)
- The Press
- The News
- Home Videos - going from very private moments to awards shows showing how difficult it would be to deal with
- Interviews
- Voiceovers
- Concert/Award Shows
- Other documentary footage
- Text Overlay - lyrics being highlighted to show their true meaning
- Multiple Perspectives of the same event
Good points for analysis include the use of overlaying lyrics with voiceover segments explaining the meaning behind them to highlight Amy's thoughts and emotions after her death. The slowing down of several of the home videos also helps to provoke thought in the viewer again in relevance to the voiceover segments.
Stylistic Features not Included:
- No inclusion of filmmaker
- No handheld camera (unless with home video and fan footage)
- No live action events
- No video footage to go with voiceovers
- No re-enactments
Interesting hybrid of how an observational documentary can be stylised to have the emotionally manipulative quality of a performative piece only it doesn't point it out that it's manipulating the spectator.
Overall it was structured as a coming-of-age tragedy with a downward trajectory. It follows Amy's life from the start of her career to her death and starts with a shot of her before she was famous and ends the same.
It is very much an observational documentary in terms of tone. It tells Amy's truth without trying to gear the audience one way or another in regards to sympathy. It uses a lot of Ken Burns' stylisation as well as Kim Longinitto's take on observational documentary making. However, he also doesn't fully commit to this. He includes the emotional montages of images and edits the sound and shots in such a way that is emotionally provoking to a spectator. This isn't a feature of observational filmmaking. Described as a biopic as it relates to the third party telling of the story of someone else's life. He strays from any one complete stylisation, or classical stylisation, in order to leave the spectator to decide how they feel about the film without any manipulation. He decided to forego the 'voice-of-god' narration and avoid staged interviews which gave the film a much more personal feeling from the sense of verisimilitude this instilled. The film is constructed like a narrative arc. Beginning with the 14 year-old Amy singing at a friends birthday party and ending with footage of her corpse being removed from her London flat. It reveals the person behind the name Amy Winehouse and doesn't just retell the way the media has portrayed her. If anything the media are portrayed as antagonistic and definitely one of the contributing factors that led to Amy's inevitable downfall.
During pre-production Kapadia formed close and trusting relationships with nearly 100 of the most significant people to Amy's life. This gave him access to previously unpublished pictures, home videos and personal messages.
The best way to discuss this film is making it a comparative argument between 'Amy' Asif Kapadia and the style taken in regards to different filmmakers. Kim Longinitto and Nick Broomfield (also has an interest in his subjects 'Kurt and Courtney' but very different style) are easiest to make reference to as 'Amy' is an interesting mix between observation stylisation and performative manipulation. Ensure reference to Amy's story and the core ways Kapadia manipulates the spectator.
It is very much an observational documentary in terms of tone. It tells Amy's truth without trying to gear the audience one way or another in regards to sympathy. It uses a lot of Ken Burns' stylisation as well as Kim Longinitto's take on observational documentary making. However, he also doesn't fully commit to this. He includes the emotional montages of images and edits the sound and shots in such a way that is emotionally provoking to a spectator. This isn't a feature of observational filmmaking. Described as a biopic as it relates to the third party telling of the story of someone else's life. He strays from any one complete stylisation, or classical stylisation, in order to leave the spectator to decide how they feel about the film without any manipulation. He decided to forego the 'voice-of-god' narration and avoid staged interviews which gave the film a much more personal feeling from the sense of verisimilitude this instilled. The film is constructed like a narrative arc. Beginning with the 14 year-old Amy singing at a friends birthday party and ending with footage of her corpse being removed from her London flat. It reveals the person behind the name Amy Winehouse and doesn't just retell the way the media has portrayed her. If anything the media are portrayed as antagonistic and definitely one of the contributing factors that led to Amy's inevitable downfall.
During pre-production Kapadia formed close and trusting relationships with nearly 100 of the most significant people to Amy's life. This gave him access to previously unpublished pictures, home videos and personal messages.
The best way to discuss this film is making it a comparative argument between 'Amy' Asif Kapadia and the style taken in regards to different filmmakers. Kim Longinitto and Nick Broomfield (also has an interest in his subjects 'Kurt and Courtney' but very different style) are easiest to make reference to as 'Amy' is an interesting mix between observation stylisation and performative manipulation. Ensure reference to Amy's story and the core ways Kapadia manipulates the spectator.
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