AMY - NOTES
AMY
KEY SCENE:
MONTAGE OF HER RISE TO FAME: 59:55 - 1:02:22
- Her Music in the background; shows her progression in life.
- Tracking handheld camera; we are there with her witnessing her awkward nature.
- We witness all of her emotions up close as she walks through New York; she has never been.
- Rehab was 9th in top 100 songs.
- The picture of her seems very fake as though she is putting on a facade; she really wasn't that happy.
- We see her full rise to fame from the montage of real previous magazines of how Amy has progressed.
- We see the overwhelming fame that has surrounded Amy as many magazines of her start to come about.
- We see the fans talk about her as though she is a 'God'.
- Amy goes on David letterman, Jay Leno, MTV unplugged to promote her album - she is making it in life and we follow this life very closely.
- 1:01:43, the way she stands on stage makes it looks like she doesn't want all this fame.
- "Everyone just wanted to spend time with Amy".
- Her boyfriend pushed her back to the stage for pictures to be taken - supportive or seeking fame.
- The footage is from the paparazzi and makes the spectator awkward as we do not want to be watching this as this is almost and invasion of her privacy.
- Her facial expressions show her to be scared of the fame as she is overwhelmed by the people wanting to see and speak to her.
Apply one filmmakers theory of documentary film you have studied to your chosen documentary. How far does this increase your understanding of the film?
Asif Kapadia could be described as an observational filmmaker due to the whole film solely featuring taken images and videos of Amy; when she was alive. There is a complete lack of new material as this would tend to take the spectator out of Amy's life and into an opinion of her life. Asif edited all the footage that was given to him for the spectator to feel very involved with Amy's life and see the progression of her fame cause her downfall. This is very prominent in the montage of her rise to fame around 1 hour into the film. Here there is a montage of pictures and videos of how Amy has been overwhelmed with fame as she is the front cover of many magazines. We also witness her walking around New York and her insecurity around these new places as she even explains how she has never been there. As the spectator, we feel sympathy for her as we can see how overwhelmed she really feels towards this corruption of fame. Furthermore, due to this style of documentary filmmaking, we can see every emotion Amy feels and we begin to feel it to as we experience a sense of awkwardness when watching her being bombarded by people. Footage from this scene is taken from paparazzi who do not stop taking pictures of her; which in turn, makes the spectator feel as though we are invading her personal space as her facial expressions seem to explain how she feels uncomfortable. As we have followed her story from the beginning we can see how she was just a young very talented jewish girl who has now been bombarded with fame; "Everyone just wants to spend time with Amy". As we view her life through footage of just her, this gives me a greater understand of what she went through because it is almost as if we are experiencing this as well.
JOSH MAY'S
In Asif Kapadia's documentary Amy which is about the life of Amy Winehouse; Kapadia could be seen as a personal documentary filmmaker and an observational due to the many hours of footage he collected and edited to make the film. Kapadia shares some traits with the observational filmmaker; Kim Longinotto where they both delve deep into the lives of their chosen projects by making the spectator feel a part of their life. Kapadia wants the spectator to feel a certain way about Amy and does this through the archived footage he edited in certain ways, this included; handheld camera footage, paparazzi footage etc. All of these micro features help the spectator to feel more involved with the documentary as these shape the meaning of the documentary as a whole. As it speaks directly to them through voice over of the people who were involved in the time of what was being shown, through the archive footage by using the people present or who were close to Amy at the time to explain and expose the deeper meaning of what was happening at that time. This influences the spectator to create new opinions on Amy and not what is just being shown. Kapadia's main theme he wanted to express was that of what publicity can do to your life and what the corruption of fame does to people.
- Her Music in the background; shows her progression in life.
- Tracking handheld camera; we are there with her witnessing her awkward nature.
- We witness all of her emotions up close as she walks through New York; she has never been.
- Rehab was 9th in top 100 songs.
- The picture of her seems very fake as though she is putting on a facade; she really wasn't that happy.
- We see her full rise to fame from the montage of real previous magazines of how Amy has progressed.
- We see the overwhelming fame that has surrounded Amy as many magazines of her start to come about.
- We see the fans talk about her as though she is a 'God'.
- Amy goes on David letterman, Jay Leno, MTV unplugged to promote her album - she is making it in life and we follow this life very closely.
- 1:01:43, the way she stands on stage makes it looks like she doesn't want all this fame.
- "Everyone just wanted to spend time with Amy".
- Her boyfriend pushed her back to the stage for pictures to be taken - supportive or seeking fame.
- The footage is from the paparazzi and makes the spectator awkward as we do not want to be watching this as this is almost and invasion of her privacy.
- Her facial expressions show her to be scared of the fame as she is overwhelmed by the people wanting to see and speak to her.
Apply one filmmakers theory of documentary film you have studied to your chosen documentary. How far does this increase your understanding of the film?
Asif Kapadia could be described as an observational filmmaker due to the whole film solely featuring taken images and videos of Amy; when she was alive. There is a complete lack of new material as this would tend to take the spectator out of Amy's life and into an opinion of her life. Asif edited all the footage that was given to him for the spectator to feel very involved with Amy's life and see the progression of her fame cause her downfall. This is very prominent in the montage of her rise to fame around 1 hour into the film. Here there is a montage of pictures and videos of how Amy has been overwhelmed with fame as she is the front cover of many magazines. We also witness her walking around New York and her insecurity around these new places as she even explains how she has never been there. As the spectator, we feel sympathy for her as we can see how overwhelmed she really feels towards this corruption of fame. Furthermore, due to this style of documentary filmmaking, we can see every emotion Amy feels and we begin to feel it to as we experience a sense of awkwardness when watching her being bombarded by people. Footage from this scene is taken from paparazzi who do not stop taking pictures of her; which in turn, makes the spectator feel as though we are invading her personal space as her facial expressions seem to explain how she feels uncomfortable. As we have followed her story from the beginning we can see how she was just a young very talented jewish girl who has now been bombarded with fame; "Everyone just wants to spend time with Amy". As we view her life through footage of just her, this gives me a greater understand of what she went through because it is almost as if we are experiencing this as well.
JOSH MAY'S
In Asif Kapadia's documentary Amy which is about the life of Amy Winehouse; Kapadia could be seen as a personal documentary filmmaker and an observational due to the many hours of footage he collected and edited to make the film. Kapadia shares some traits with the observational filmmaker; Kim Longinotto where they both delve deep into the lives of their chosen projects by making the spectator feel a part of their life. Kapadia wants the spectator to feel a certain way about Amy and does this through the archived footage he edited in certain ways, this included; handheld camera footage, paparazzi footage etc. All of these micro features help the spectator to feel more involved with the documentary as these shape the meaning of the documentary as a whole. As it speaks directly to them through voice over of the people who were involved in the time of what was being shown, through the archive footage by using the people present or who were close to Amy at the time to explain and expose the deeper meaning of what was happening at that time. This influences the spectator to create new opinions on Amy and not what is just being shown. Kapadia's main theme he wanted to express was that of what publicity can do to your life and what the corruption of fame does to people.
"Asif Kapadia could be described as an observational filmmaker due to the whole film solely featuring taken images and videos of Amy; when she was alive' - observational documentary generally involves the filmmaker being present - i.e. they shoot the film themselves. Kapadia doesn't do this.
ReplyDelete"There is a complete lack of new material as this would tend to take the spectator out of Amy's life and into an opinion of her life." - may be true to visual material, but Kapadia himself interviewed people for the voiceovers. This is therefore 'new' material.
"Asif edited all the footage that was given to him" - makes him sound too passive - remember that he researched the film and edited hundred of hours of footage.
"due to this style of documentary filmmaking, we can see every emotion Amy feels" - not really sure what style you're discussing here. Remember, also, to use film language - what IS the stye of filmmaking? How has it been edited to create meaning? Does Kapadia use cuts to emphasise the obtrusive nature of the paparazzi?
Overall:
- Needs closer reference to film language - editing techniques, shot sizes, sound etc.
- "Apply one filmmakers theory" - you're answering this question, according to the title, but you've not mentioned it at all - this must be about either Longinotto or Nick Broomfield, not about the 'modes' of documentary. You should be comparing Kapadia (personal documentary) with e.g. Longinotto (observational).
- Try to discuss subjectivity and objectivity as well