Documentary
Review (above)
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1st Scene Critique
(below)
Chapin Eyre
Mr. Muench
Cinematography: Foundations Doc Review
September 21, 2018
Won’t You Be My Neighbor
Won’t You Be My Neighbor is a documentary of the life, work, and impact of Fred Rogers, a well known children's TV creator. This documentary was directed by Morgan Neville. Won’t You Be My Neighbor is made up of sixteen interviews of Mr. Rogers family, friends, children, coworkers, and kids who were inspired by his show, and an abundance of film from his shows, behind the scenes, and interviews all of Mr. Rogers. This Documentary looks at all views of Mr. Rogers including his personal conflicts, childhood, negative and positive impact of his show, etc. Won’t You Be My Neighbor is a touching composition of every angle of one of the greatest child communicators of all time.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor was a fantastically made documentary with everything needed to make it a success. A few of the most important things I noticed about this documentary was the audio quality, pacing, and just overall smoothness. I was extremely surprised on how clean the audio was. Even with the clearly older footage from Mr. Rogers show, it still had amazing sound. It was crystal clear, and it was leveled perfectly with all of the current day interviews that were included. The music choice also fit the film great, music was under almost everything. This documentary was a great example of “good audio makes good films”.
The pacing of Won’t You Be My Neighbor was another fantastic element of the Documentary. Everything in the documentary just felt like it happened at the right time. The story moved with a good tempo and pace. You never felt as if any part was carrying on for two long or that they did not go into enough detail. Everything felt like it belonged. The story flowed beautifully and when they cut to a current day interview it fit perfectly into what they were talking about. This takes great planning of the interviews and topics to be talked about. The flow and pacing of this documentary was great.
Another thing that really impressed me was just the overall smoothness and professional feel of the documentary. This was just a feel that you got from the documentary. For example the lighting and rule of thirds is absolutely perfect for all the interviews. The shots are crystal clear when interviewing. This film must have taken an extremely long time to edit and find all of the shots from the scenes of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and the behind the scenes and all the interviews. I very much enjoyed watching this documentary and I would one hundred percent recommend it to anyone. It is technically perfect for the critical cinematographer, it is touching and emotional for anyone who likes to feel, and it is informational for the die-hard documentary watcher. This Documentary has something for everyone and I would definitely suggest that you watch it as soon as possible.
Chapin Eyre
Mr. Muench
Cinema Critique
September 4, 2018
GET OUT: Hypnosis Scene
In the Oscar nominated film, Get Out, director Jordan Peele brings a intense, creepy, intimate scene to the film with the addition of the Hypnosis Scene. The scene hints at the underlying theme and message of racism in our country. This scene is where the movie switches gears and introduces the intensity and conflict of the story.
The scene begins with Chris (the protagonist) walking into his girlfriend's parents house late at night, this alone is an intense moment spending the first days with your in laws. Chris is walking into the dark house when his mother in law (one of the antagonists) turns on a light in her “office”. She creepily begins the conversation of Chris smoking, and how she can hypnotize him to get him to stop. As of now they are medium shots of just either the protagonist or antagonist. There is never a wide shot of them both in the same frame, showing separation. Chris proceeds to sit down and make conversation with his mother in law. These are now a series of over-the-shoulder shots or medium shots of the faces from an angle. The light seems to be coming from opposite the camera direction (see attached). As the scene intensifies the shots get closer and closer to the faces of the characters. But from the beginning we keep going to a close up of a teacup that the antagonist is holding. The protagonist begins to have these very hazy memories if his childhood. The camera angle is from behind not revealing face or expression. As this is all going on, music begins to come in that is too calm for the scene. The music matches the tone of voice used by the mother in law a creepy calm voice. Then all of a sudden, the climax of the scene, the camera is a close up of their faces, “Sink into the floor…… sink”.
This wild sound effect comes in and our main character sinks into the floor, in the current scene and his hazy memory. The music is booming with intensity. We begin to see Chris watching what he is seeing through his eyes, as if he is watching tv. The next shots are the most powerful of the scene. We see Chris in the sunken place struggling without a voice, representing the silencing of African Americans in our country. This is followed by a shot of Chris looking all the way up at the camera, and the light source coming from above. The scene is finished by a eerie line by our antagonist “Now your in the Sunken Place”. She shuts Chris’s eyes and the scene goes to black.
This scene is a intense, exciting, intimate scene that represents the movie in a nutshell. This scene is one of my favorites in all of the movies I watch.
