ohmanilovemesomedocumentari-blog

[ohmanilovemesomedocumentari-blog]

Becoming Kricket

http://www.nytimes.com/video/multimedia/100000004085133/becoming-kricket.html?playlistId=100000002500298®ion=video-grid&version=video-grid-thumbnail&contentCollection=Times+Documentaries&contentPlacement=1&module=recent-videos&action=click&pgType=Multimedia&eventName=video-grid-click

Major Characters - Kricket, our subject for the documentary is a transgendered woman who is in the process of transitioning from male to female. She’s had a tough upbringing because of her area and sexuality, but pushes through to be what she feels is right.

Notable Quotes - The closing sentence “Beauty is pain.”

Story Arc - The documentary opens up with multiple shots of magazines and talk shows all centered around the success and progressions of transgendered people with the montage closing on our main character, Kricket; who remarks at the fact that it’s now much more acceptable to be openly trans. Kricket then talks about a time when there was nothing but negative media surrounding transgendered people. She then introduces herself and why her name is Kricket. In her explanation, she says it had origins in the show The Young And The Restless while showing shots of the show with close ups of the character Kricket. It then cuts to shots of the out looking window of a train with Kricket riding on it. It then transitions into a hospital where we have some text narration explaining that Kricket’s operation is exceptional because it’s the first government funded surgery of that type. Kricket is seen talking to her doctor about another transgendered person, a teenager at that. While they talk about them, we see shots of them talking to their family or friends. It then cuts back to the doctors office where again, Kricket talks about when being trans was considered by most people to be ridiculous. Kricket then takes a car ride home and she explains the legal processes and the necessity of the documents; saying that the written part is the most challenging. Kricket then describes how she grew up as Jerome while showing pictures of her as a kid. She talked about how growing up in a southern baptist community in the south wasn’t the most accepting place for gays or transgendered. She even said that she couldn’t join the boy scouts because of her sexuality and kicked out by her mother when she was 16 because she contracted HIV. We then see some shots of Paris Is Burning while Kricket describes her experiences as a drag queen with Ken Burns effects on her pictures. A box of text explains Kricket’s financial troubles while she talks about how she thought she might not be able to afford the surgery. The shot cuts to seats in an air port where Kricket and her mother are waiting for their plane. Kricket explains how significant that her mother wanted to be there for her during her surgery by describing it as a way of amending her past mistakes. We see Kricket departing the plane and transition into the surgery room where she’s prepped up on the operating table talking to her mother. She is then wheeled into the surgery room and a text box says that the surgery lasted 4 hours. The documentary ends with a shot of Kricket in a hair salon narrating over her getting her hair braided. She shows her appreciation for the transgendered people before her that made her surgery possible in the first place. 

Narration - Kricket either explains things through interviews or narrates over shots of other media like Paris is on Fire or the Young and the Restless. We also see a few short text boxes explaining things that kricket doesn’t explicitly say like how long the surgery was or that Kricket’s surgery was the first one to be covered by Medicaid

Mode - Expository, Throughout the whole documentary there was no strong outside narrative presence except for about 3 text boxes. Kricket explained everything as the main subject, character, and narrator.

Shots - Close up on Kricket during interviews. Extreme close up from a low angle at the plane ticket. Low angle wide shot of Kricket and her mother waiting for the plane. Ken Burns effect on pictures of Kricket in drag. Extreme close up on the Jerome tattoo on Kricket’s arm.

Quirks - This documentary used a lot of television and movie footage to fill in time while Kricket was narrating

Why Do We Care? - Being the first transgendered person to receive government funded surgery is a huge milestone in the progression of the transgendered community. It’s significant because the government now supports and aids them instead of the previous society that ridiculed and demonized them.

[ohmanilovemesomedocumentari-blog]

A Tibetan’s Journey for Justice

http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000004031427/a-tibetans-journey-for-justice.html?playlistId=100000002500298®ion=video-grid&version=video-grid-thumbnail&contentCollection=Times+Documentaries&contentPlacement=1&module=recent-videos&action=click&pgType=Multimedia&eventName=video-grid-click/

Characters - Tashi, a local Tibetan, works against China’s eradication of his ethnic culture by getting rid of the education of language and customs. We learn he is a shopkeeper in the Tibetan plateaus and learned his Tibetan from his brother.

Quotes - The most take away quote for me was between two. One was the text after he attempted to get into the Supreme Court and failed saying that he had been imprisoned and is still missing, and the ending sentence where Tashi stats that he would commit suicide in protest if it was necessary. These quotes alone really show the corruption and destruction of his culture within a totalitarian government.

Story Arc - Our story begins with a Tibetan man calling China Central Television attempting to get an interview on their show in regards to China’s education policies on learning the Tibetan language. While this phone call is going on, some narrative text explains some of China’s cultural and political background regarding language and the government’s influence on it. Tashi stresses that the banning of Tibetan language is destroying his culture and that he plans to sue the government. At the end of the phone call, the woman talking to him asks for his name. It is only then that we learn that his name is Tashi, and some text appears on screen spelling it out. It then cuts to shots of the Tibetan plateaus while Tashi talks about how many Tibetans are abandoning their language in favor of the standard form of Chinese because it’s so difficult to get anything done in terms of government and work without it. The scene ends with Tashi claiming there is a systematic slaughter of his culture. We then see some shots of a Buddhist temple while Tashi explains that the best way to assimilate a culture is to abolish their written language. He then goes on to say that many people cannot talk about this topic because of the audio and camera surveillance all around China’s streets, and in mobile phones. While he is explaining this, we see diegetic city movement while the camera moves over to surveillance cameras. We then see Tashi writing in a book, possibly to practice, and explaining how even he, an activist trying to preserve the Tibetan written language, has a better grasp of standard Chinese and even says that his Tibetan is slipping from him. Tashi then goes on to talk about the cultural aspect of assimilation. He brings us to a government hosted horse race. Something that was originally a local Tibetan seasonal tradition, is now hosted by the government. Tashi argues against claims that the horse races are a development of his culture within China by stressing the fact that although they might preserve their horse races, their written language is still being grossly abused. He argues that the event is a veil meant to disguise the destruction of his culture. Tashi says that the only way to authentically learn about Tibetan culture is by living in a Monk monastery because there’s no other places where you can learn about it. Tashi brings up the self immolation of monks in protest. He argues that they did it because of the cultural assimilation and education banning that’s going on within China. Tashi travels to Beijing in the hopes of seeking an audience in the courtrooms and in major news stations to bring this issue into the light of the average Chinese citizen. He fails to get into China Central Television and says if he enters the building, there’s a very real possibility of him being arrested right away. He then tries to go to China’s supreme court. He says in either scenario whether he gets in or not, will prove a point. We see him talking to the guards in front of the court house and the shot goes to black. Some text explains that one day, the police took him from his home with no explanation and is still missing to this day. Some more text explains that this isn’t an odd occurrence within the Chinese government to have Tibetan political prisoners. The documentary ends with Tashi stating that if he is forced to be someone he isn’t and to say things he doesn’t believe in, he will commit the act of suicide in protest just like many monks before him.

Narrator - Through the whole documentary, there is a narrative presence in the form of on screen text. The text provides background information on the Chinese government and statistics that Tashi doesn’t directly say.

Mode - Expository. We never see the filmmakers, and there’s a consistent narrative presence through text explaining backgrounds and stats that Tashi doesn’t say directly. Extreme wide angle shots of the Tibetan plateaus. Extreme high angle wide shots of Chinese cities. Close ups of Tibetan citizens and Chinese officials at the horse race. High angle shot of China Central Television headquarters. a wide shot of Tashi talking to the officials outside of the Supreme Court.

Quirks - When Tashi is walking somewhere, the camera shots are often far in front of him seeing him walk towards the center.

Why should I care? - Tibet has had a long rich culture that is being taken away forcefully by the Chinese government. People are being imprisoned and executed. Monks are self immolating in protest. You can’t even learn about the culture anywhere except within the monk’s monasteries. This is a disgusting act of cultural abolition and this documentary really made me see that.

[ohmanilovemesomedocumentari-blog]

The Sea Turtle Hospital

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/476706/sea-turtle-hospital-florida

Characters - Bette Zirkelbach, manager of the turtle hospital. She runs the program dedicated to helping save the lives of endangered sea turtles. She primarily works to stop the spread of the Fibropapillomatosis virus.

Quotes - When I heard that over 50% of all green sea turtles had the virus, I literally could not believe it and had to google it myself. Unfortunately, the claim is true. In the intro, Bette talks about a turtle like an ancient relic of the past and that we have to preserve them.

Story Arc - The documentary starts by introducing the hospital’s manager, Bette. She then gives an explanation as to why the hospital exists and how they accommodate the turtles. The story takes a more serious turn when she mentions the human impact on turtles showing garbage debris stuck to turtles and Bette talking about turtles being struck by man made objects like boats. She then mentions how there’s a cancer causing virus effectively inside over 50% of all green sea turtles. She says that the turtles brought in because of this virus has more than doubled over the course of one year alone. She then shows us some turtles in treatment while showing that the hospital can actually help, its quite a process. Bette then stresses that if the virus does overtake the turtle population that the surrounding ecosystem will be devastated. Bette then comments that not all turtles are saved and in fact turtle death is a common occurrence, so to try to prevent these deaths, she has been working with medical doctors to provide a treatment or cure to Fibropapillomatosis. The film ends off on a happy tone with Bette saying that her work is all worth it to see her crew release a turtle back into the water.

Narration - There isn’t really a strong narrative presence, unless you count Bette as a narrator herself. She talks over almost the entire documentary giving context, stats, and processes involved in her work. There is a brief moment of text twice. One introducing Bette by name and occupation, and another giving context to the turtle’s endangerment.

Mode - Expository and possibly performative. Bette could be seen as a narrator because she gives context to literally everything in the documentary herself. However, if she is the narrator, then her actions on camera could be considered performative. Wide shot of the hospital. High angle shots of the turtle tanks. A lot of, still close up shots of pictures of diseased turtles with a slight shake by the human hand. A wide shot where Bette walks from right to left. A high angle wide shot at the end of all the people releasing the sea turtle.

Quirks - During emotional moments of the film, soft atmospheric music is played in the background.

Why Should I care? - Sea turtles are going extinct, something that I was aware of, but didn’t really comprehend fully until I saw this documentary. It made me more aware of the human impact on sea life as a whole, not just turtles. I also think that the work that the hospital is doing is very important work if we want to keep a stable ecosystem, which is something we probably all want to keep.

[ohmanilovemesomedocumentari-blog]

The Making of Malala

http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000002485983/the-making-of-malala.html?playlistId=100000002500298®ion=video-grid&version=video-grid-thumbnail&contentCollection=&contentPlacement=30&module=recent-videos&action=click&pgType=Multimedia&eventName=video-grid-click

Major Characters - Malala and her father are the two main characters this documentary focuses on. Malala, a figure for equal rights, education, anti-oppression, and young girl, born in Pakistan. Her father, an activist and poet, and Malala’s biggest influence. Over the course of this documentary, we see Malala turn from a refugee into a world known figure with the help of her father. It also details her struggles as a refugee from the Taliban and as a target of terrorism.

Quotes - Although I didn’t pull any memorable quotes apart from the ending line from Malala saying that pen and paper are their biggest weapons when regarding women getting properly educated, however there are many, many shots that stuck in my head. From the scenes of explosions, to executions, to Malala crying, and Malala being put on a stretcher after being shot in the forehead. These shots really help depict just how serious these circumstances are. Malala and her family could be killed. Another quote I remember is when Malala’s family makes it back to their hometown after evacuating, and her father asks her if she’d leave if the Taliban made her. The filmmaker/narrator then asks her father the same question he asked his daughter, and he just sits and thinks and responds with that’s a tricky question.

Story Arc - This documentary focuses on the refugee stage of Malala’s rise to world wide figure. Our filmmaker travels with her family from city to city and gives narration for exposition for past events. It starts off with something I’ve found to be common in many documentaries with starting where you end off. The opening scene is Malala giving a speech about the Taliban attacks she had survived and then cutting to news footage audio over Ken Burns effects on magazines and protest signs. After some narrative exposition, we are then greeted with our two main characters, Malala and her father, and given their backgrounds. The father gives some cultural context in terms of gender roles, and then we hear news about the Taliban banning women from education. This is where our conflict arises. We then find out that her father is already a well known activist around Pakistan. The narrator then tells how her father used her to be a voice for his cause. Next we hear about their exile from their hometown because of the Taliban (rising action). While at her new home with relatives, she states that she will honor her father’s dream of becoming a politician. We see footage of the car ride back to her hometown. Then the narrator talks about all the terrorist attacks that had been going on during the year of their filming and shows some truly gruesome imagery of explosions and executions (climax). We then see some footage inside the car with Malala and her father while the narrator discusses why she became a public voice. The Taliban were mainly targeting men, so her father thought that if she were to be the outspoken one, she would be in less danger. While talking about this, the camera zooms in on her silent face. The family gets back to their original home and Malala starts crying. The narrator then comments how it was only then he really realized she was only a young girl (climax). Malala’s activist work had then been doing good work (falling action). Taliban killings were lowered, female education was at an all time high, and eventually began to speak out against the Taliban herself. This lead to her getting shot two months after the filmmaker had already left. The documentary ends with the same speech but at a different time where she endorses education and calls it a powerful weapon.

Narration - The filmmaker himself narrates the whole documentary giving exposition to the characters and the political events leading up to the events documented. The filmmaker himself is never seen in the footage except where he introduces himself in the beginning through a Ken Burn’s effect.

Mode - Participatory. Our filmmaker lives in the same home as the family he interviews and speaks to them directly sometimes. He’s also the narrator of the whole documentary. There’s a lot of Ken Burns all over this documentary because of the high amount of exposition in the beginning. A low angle shot behind the father looking into the horizon. An extreme wide shot of the new city they evacuated to. An extreme close up on Malala in the car when they talk about her safety. A panning shot of Malala carrying her brothers into the gate of her new home.

Quirks - This documentary heavily relies on narration for exposition. This gives more room for ‘in the moment dialog’. The characters don’t really talk about their backgrounds or past events very much. The use of found footage of terrorist attacks really made a hard point. It didn’t glorify the violence by making it dramatic or with a super artistic shot, rather it gave the raw, unsaturated chaos to the audience.

Why do we care? - Malala is a world wide figure. She speaks for education, women’s rights, and anti-terrorism. The amount of good that’s come out of her work is immeasurable and will absolutely go down in the history books as a prominent figure.

[ohmanilovemesomedocumentari-blog]

Guinness - The Right Path

https://vimeo.com/138744686

Major Characters - Ashwin Willemse, our only major character and narrator. A Cape Town professional rugby player, former gang member, and death defier. They build this character by starting with him explaining how he’s a pro rugby player and how things could have gone differently. Then he details what his experience in gang life was like and the struggles and contrasts he had while playing rugby and being a gang member. The whole time he talks about the gang, he lists off immoral behavior and compares it to the rugby team saying they have opposite moralities. This builds him up for the audience by implying that he believes in the good moralities and makes him a more likeable character.

Quotes - In the beginning, right after he talks about how miraculous it is that he became a professional rugby player, he ends it with “things could have turned out differently... I suppose.” This hooked me from the start. It brings out this pro sports player who is humbled by their position because of their past hardships. The quote itself was a great time to let the documentary breathe and let the audience wonder what he meant by that. “and I would have probably ended up in prison, or in a coffin 6 feet under” This really shows just how serious his gang involvement is and just how low he had gotten. This is also another good breathing point to where they cut to a stretcher being wheeled. This was a great use of the quote for a transition

Arc - The story of this documentary is the introduction to our character now, a successful rugby player. He eludes to how he could have not ended up being a pro in the first place and then it cuts to a poor area. (rising action) Ashwin starts to detail his gang life and how he balanced that and playing rugby. As the video goes on, his detailing of the gang life gets more and more gruesome to where it ends with him saying he would have ended up arrested or dead (climax). We then see footage of a hospital where we learn that Ashwin had almost died from a rugby injury, but prevailed because of the hope his own team had provided him in his time of need.(falling action) It ends right where it started by showing him play a game of rugby and mixing in some footage of his professional games.

Narration - The whole documentary, Ashwin is talking about his own experiences with no filmmaker presence at all. Throughout the piece it goes back to him as the narrator with the same highangle close up shot.

Mode - Expository. It had Ashwin be the narrator the whole documentary. After he first talks about his involvement with gangs, a short montage of close ups of criminals takes place in a poor area. In the same explanation when he talks about running errands, a panning shot follows Ashwin until he drops an item in a garbage can. When he is changing from his rugby uniform to his street wear, the camera uses extreme close ups on his shoes and shirts to compare them. A montage of rugby shots where the player’s movements, both horizontal and vertical are panned with them as the focus. When he uses the phrase double life when describing balancing rugby and gang activity, it cuts from two close ups from the back of someone’s head to show the contrast of the two environments. When he says he would have ended up dead, the scene ends with a high angle shot of someone backing up against a wall while running away from a group of gang members.

Quirks - This documentary has a running theme of duality with many shots. The close up of the back of the head, the close ups of the contrasting clothes, Ashwin talking about their opposite moralities etc

Why should I care? - It’s an interesting story that shows that greatness can come from no where. ‘A flower blooming in the darkness’. It shows the more personal side to professional sports players, people who are looked at as super stars, as people that are almost viewed as super human. It was nice to see that stars can come from the ground up even in the worst possible circumstances.

[ohmanilovemesomedocumentari-blog]

Shoenice AKA Chris Schewe

Vice’s Shoenice22 Documentary

I recently watched Vice’s documentary centered around Shoenice, a Youtuber whose claim to fame is his iron clad stomach and timed eating and drinking challenges.

Characters: Throughout the whole documentary, Shoenice consistently holds the focus of the film, although there are three other characters that have a little bit more of a significant role than the extras in the background. That being the filmmaker Dan Stuckey, Shoenice’s hotel manager, and his old friend and fellow youtuber, Ian.

Quotes: Throughout the whole piece, Shoenice has quotes cited throughout his whole Youtube career and in the documentary interviews themselves. These quotes, with added exposition as to who Shoenice actually is, solidifies him as a character and helps to move him from a freak on the internet eating deodorant to a small time, inspirational hero figure for everyone on Youtube. The first line in the entire documentary is Shoenice saying “a lot of people think I’m a complete idiot, but actually, I’m a professional idiot with decades of experience.” “My mom told me someday that, Chris, someday you’re gonna save the world, and she’s right cause I’m gonna do it.” “Everybody tries to impersonate their heroes sometimes and I just happen to have four thousand parody videos.” A main theme of what Shoenice talks about is solving hunger. His goal is to end world hunger and he has many, many videos of him donating to the homeless with money and food.

Story Arc: The story arc of this documentary focuses on the uprising of Shoenice22 as a child, all the way up to his Youtube career. Our story starts out with exposition given by Shoenice himself, and a montage of some of his more popular videos. This is a great introduction because it both hooks the audience with the outlandish eating, but the audience also knows who and what the rest of the film is going to be focusing on. We then get some insight on his family upbringing. Shoenice being interviewed at a local diner, recalls his early years with shots inbetween to give context. He starts by talking about his childhood and his family, where on the family photo, the classic Ken Burns effect is in place while Shoenice talks about his families early trials and what it was like to grow up in that family. We then have a sequence at the original home Shoenice grew up in, reminiscing about his past of being a trouble maker with his brothers. We leave the home scene with Shoenice walking away from the property pointing out an empty beer bottle to which he remarks “nothing’s changed”. This whole scene with his family and the house makes Shoenice an even more solidified character. I like the decision to introduce his background before actually talking about his Youtube channel, because if the audience is just being introduced to Shoenice, these first couple scenes really make him a more endearing character than if he were to just talk about eating pinecones right from the start. Shoenice then skips to his life in high school, where he alludes to himself being a class clown eating things to get a big reaction out of his peers. He also briefly mentions being in a gang but quickly said he had to leave because it got too crazy. Chris then tells us about his decision to drop out of high school and joining the army. He tells us a story about his inspiration for what he is doing. While deployed in Baghdad, during a sandstorm, serving as a food rations unit, Chris found two starving children hiding in a sand dune. He fed them some rations and said that the look on their face when their hunger was over was inspiring to him. His dream was then to rid the world of hunger. We are then shown a short clip of his earlier videos while he talks about the first steps of his channel. His channel started to go viral when an old classmate of his suggest that he make videos around what he used to do in high school. Eat weird things. We’re then introduced to Chris’ old friend and fellow Youtuber, Ian, aka Glazed420. He talks about his experiences helping Shoenice22 grow as a channel. After this introduction and construction of Chris’ character, we finally see what we’ve been hearing about in action when a Vice filmmaker helps him eat an entire container of wood glue. He then talks about his Youtube comments and how active he is within them. He also talks about the negative comments like how people berate him on his videos or create rumors about him dying because of one of his eating challenges. After his initial exposure to the internet, his wife made him leave the family because of the fame it was providing. This is when Chris started to drink after being sober for 6 years and we’re shown a montage of him drinking entire bottles of liquor, similar to the montage of him eating at the introduction. We are then shown some more videos where the setting is outside of streets and bars of Shoenice doing challenges while homeless. At this point in the story you can see the rising conflict, however, this is shown on the lighter side by multiple video clips of his and interviews of people Shoenice has known vouching for him being kind hearted. This is important because it shows the conflict within the story by also doing its best to keep Shoenice as a positive figure in the audience’s mind. He talks about his mother’s death because of alcohol and how in his upbringing, being drunk in eighth grade was a normal thing. We then see more clips of his liquor slams. Ian and his hotel manager stress their concerns, but justify his actions because of the good that he’s done because of them. We leave off with a low angle shot of Chris standing at his hotel door shouting one of his usual intros for his videos and walking inside.

Narration: Shoenice does most of the narration while talking about his upbringing in life, his Youtube channel, and his downfalls. We only see two instance of text displayed. One being his channel name, and another showing just how viral Shoenice really is. To get an outside opinion on Shoenice, Vice interviews people that he lives near and one of his fellow Youtube friends,

Mode: The main mode used in this documentary is basic expository. Shoenice narrates most of his life and the interviewees fill in the gap. You never hear the questions being asked by the filmmakers. There is a little bit of participatory with the scene of Shoenice eating wood glue with a Vice filmmaker. A lot of the shots were Shoenice22 videos which generally have a close up shot of Shoenice. We see the Ken Burns effect on his family photo while giving exposition to his past. High angle, low angle shots of the town Shoenice lives in. There is also a use of panning when showing websites or comment chains to make the shots more lively.

Why Should I Care?

Shoenice is an internet celebrity. One of the oldest and most consistent Youtubers with countless viral videos. If you haven’t seen any of his videos, there’s literally hours upon hours of challenges to watch and either be horrified, shocked, intrigued, impressed, or anywhere in between. This documentary gives you a closer, more personal look into the life of a Youtube celebrity and really solidifies his character. As someone who knew who Shoenice was before I saw this documentary, I learned so many new things about him and feel like I know him as a person more. This documentary was entertaining through and through and I would recommend a watch.