Film analysis - session one!

During this session we observed a handful of short films, all of which were categorised as experimental-documentary.
We then split up in to small groups with the intention of picking apart each film, evaluating its strengths and weaknesses through the use of five questions.

The titles of the films were as follows:
(I will also include a link to the film if possible)

The life size zoetrope - Mark Simon Hewis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p005hyzp

Daybreak Express - D.A. Pennebaker

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6174287280331738768

Blight - John Smith

Strange lights - Joe king and Rosie Pedlow

http://vimeo.com/14732196

Love takes - Jeanie Finlay

http://vimeo.com/4668034

Steel Homes - Eva Weber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5OSaf9i1Hc

Christmas with Dad - Conor McCormack

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004r1f8




The questions were as follows :

1. Identify the themes of the film, What is the directors primary aim?

2. Describe what you consider to be the films main focus?

3. did you like/dislike the film? why?

4. Was the film successful/unsuccessful in achieving its goal?

5. Was there an element to the film that particularly stood out to you?

7. Discuss two techniques used in the film which you found interesting - why do you think the film uses this approach?

After a class discussion with in which everyone expressed there personal opinions and feelings towards each one of the films, we were given the task of writing up our own personal analysis of a film of our choice (out of the select few we had watched during the day).

I have chosen Christmas with Dad, a thought provoking and poignant social realism documentary, directed by Conor Mccormack and premiered in 2008.
The documentary follows 23 year old Aj, father to seven children, with five being from past relationships and only two his and another one on the way.
The piece shows the struggle of living in a house full of competing children whilst coming up to christmas and shows an insight in to Aj's troubled past and bleak future.

The directors aim for this film in my opinion can be split in to two main ideas, the first being he simply wants to tell Aj's story, whilst skimming the surface he appears to be one of many low lives you read about it in the papers or see on TV, with a rough and intimidating exterior and many children, sponging from the government for money.
But when you learn a small amount about his character and past, you begin to believe what he is doing is rather admirable, there are few man who would take on the task of looking after so many children who aren't his own, especially at such a young age.
This merges in to my second idea, that the Director wishes to induce a 'never judge a book by its cover' effect, through out the film you warm up to Aj, as he reveals more about himself and his current situation, he ends up being a likeable and moving subject.

The films main focus is very much the same as its main themes in my opinion, not only is it the telling of a moving story (that of Aj's) its also a lesson that there is more then meets the eye in many situations.

I found the film captivating, it shown an insight in to the life of a personality most people would tend to frown upon and made you connect with Aj on a very personal level, i felt especially moved during the telling of his past and the revealing that he is slowly turning blind, a condition that also effected his father.
From a technical point of view it provided everything you would expect, clean shots that set the tone of the surrounding area, nothing fancy or out of the ordinary, this helped it adhere to the mundane, run down house and area in which Aj lives.
How ever the intro sequence and cut away's all consisted of well shot and edited scenery, especially the use of layering and depth of field on the christmas lights.

I believe the film is successful and achieves what it sets out to do, it shows the life of a complete stranger and makes you feel empathy towards his situation.
Taking in to consideration viewers will more then likely stereo type Aj from the start, to have your mind changed about someone in such a short period of time is a big feat.

What stood out to me about the film is the pacing and editing style, not much is given away about Aj's personality at the beginning, but as time goes on, the intimacy of what he reveals about himself steadily progresses.
I felt this helped me to naturally feel for him and his situation as opposed to being forced and having his sorrows shoved down my throat, which can often be the case in a short documentary and is very much how i felt about 'Steel homes' which we watched earlier that day.
None of the documentary seemed staged or scripted and i felt very much like a fly on the wall in the household.

If i had to pick two techniques used in the production that impressed me, the first would be the lack of HD footage.
As unusual as that sounds the lack of higher quality really adds to the grimy realism of the surroundings and helps you to feel immersed.
The second as i mentioned above would be the general pace and editing style, progressive and non-intrusive, it provides exactly what it should, at the right moments and has left me wanting to know more about Aj and how his life has changed.