Fourth and Final

60 minutes – Congo’s Gold – November 29,2009

Scott Pelly reports on how people are being killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a war fueled primarily from gold mined in the country by warlords and smuggled out to be sold on the open market.
The show opener is very informative. The reporter announces a lot of information right away, in the beginning of the show. A graphic is also behind him. While watching this I was able to relate the information that he is giving out with the graphic. The graphic is eye catching, and it makes the viewer want to know more about what this reporter is discussing.
The b-roll images accompanied by the reporter’s narrations suit each other well.
The story is laid out effectively to allow for an audience to connect with the reality that Congo is hurting its people.
The sequence that I enjoyed a lot was when the children we’re shown working in the mines with harsh chemicals burning at their faces. The sequences of images shown to me really made an impact on what I think about gold, and where it comes from. Watching these young children work for less then 80 cents a day just made me realize how I am. I appreciate the fact that 60 minutes brought this story to people's attention. This short piece has brought a lot of awareness to the people all over the world, who do not realize how much suffering and corruption there is in third world countries.
In this documentary program, I noticed that the subject matters are almost always political.
The fast cut to different b roll footage is effective for this type of reporting. To me it gets all the information out right away, and “in your face” as well so that the viewer can acknowledge it faster.
Overall, 60 minutes is not my favorite type of newsmagazine show, because I find that it lacks the modern way of documenting. In some parts I found it boring to watch. The issues this show brings are incredible, but I just felt like I was watching the news with more graphics.

Gimmie Shelter – 1970 – Albert & David Maysles

This documentary follows the band the Rolling Stones during their 1969 US tour which the disastrous Altamont Free Concert took place.
Mick Jagger puts on a great performance for his audience. The concerts footage is cut with scenes of the Rolling Stones lawyer Melvin, as he organizes their free concert in California. Crazy fans are wild, and the hint of someone obviously getting hurt is obvious to the audience.
Four months later after Woodstock in 1969, The Stones and Jefferson Airplane join forces to have a free concert at Altamont Speedway. Shots and scenes of the audience anticipating the concert, they are sweating, chanting, dancing, smoking, and some even strip themselves naked.
I guess the Maysles Brothers wanted to capture the time of the 60s since this film was created in 1969. It was sort of a tribute to the 60s which now, when we look at it creates a little time capsule of rock and roll. Shot over the course of ten days during the Rolling Stones tour. The hand held camera moves around, capturing poorly lit, washed out images of dejected youth, bummed out rock stars and a wild performance.
The murder is the finale, it sort of sends out a symbolic meaning that the 60s went out with a bang I guess. It ended tragic to me, but this film is sort of all over the place. It lacks focus, but when I come to think of it, maybe the camera men were drunk and high, when they shot this footage, who knew what they we’re thinking. It is just fun to see, a 60s time capsule before your eyes.


Discovery Channel – Cooler Facts: Skyscrapers October 2,2009

This was a very fun show to watch, I really enjoyed all of the animation with the graphics. The information was easy to follow with the reporter’s narrations, as well as the funny and modern music in the background. This show reminded me of watching a fun informative documentary in elementary. The reporter was comedic and the tone of his voice made me want to listen more.
This piece was featured on the world and its Skyscrapers. The world is in a global battle to build bigger and better skyscrapers.
The sound effects and music really impacted me to want to listen to what this show was trying to inform me on. Especially, because it feels like I am watching a television drama. I also enjoy the fact that there is no actual video footage, just pictures and animated graphics. This may be a downside to everything, but in truth I found it much easier to follow, and having certain parts animated to me caught my attention right away.
This show is very short. It is only 4 to 6 minutes long. I guess that would be a great length for this show because someone can only take so much animation and strict narration for a certain amount of time.

Third Times a Charm

16:9 – The Bigger Picture
A Humane Society? October, 25,2009

In this segment of 16:9, the subject of Cruelty and Animal Abuse was targeted. Police and OSPCA officials charged a man with abusing a German Sheppard named Max. Max was sexually and harmfully abused by his owner, and it was all caught on tape. The reporter asked the previous owner why it had happened and all he could say was that he was drunk.
Most of these intrusive interviews are shot handheld, and the in-your-face camera shots are very personal and up close with the interviewee. This is effective because you get a real up close and personal reaction when they are asked a question. Most of them cover their faces, or hide behind a door. The beginning and opening sequence has one part with multi camera shots. This was very entertaining and had caught my attention from the beginning. It had a shot of the reporter, as well as shots of animals like dogs, and some of the people convicted of animal abuse.
A man that was convicted and charged for animal abuse is Bob Stevens. He sold videos of him having Dog fights. He was one of the first Canadians to be charged with this crime. It is disgusting to see someone harm an innocent animal. It makes you wonder why humans are human. Sexually abusing an animal? That is just disgusting, why purchase or own an animal if you need to pleasure yourself by abusing it. A physiologist who was featured on this program mentioned that children, who are usually abused growing up, take out their anger passively through animals. An animal cannot talk, nor speak verbally. What have they done to abuse you? It does not make any sense to me, why anyone would want to harm an animal.
The reporter heavily narrates throughout the program, and heavy footage of abused animals as well as disturbing footage of animal fights are shown. The narrations help the audience successful guide them through the whole subject of the program.
OSPCA officials also mentioned that if a dog fight is seized there is also potential drug use, and money laundering. Therefore the people who are usually associated with this kind of animal cruelty will be arrested. I was kind of disturbed by watching this documentary program. But it was very informative, given the fact that the footage was clear and precise to the subject as well as the narratives written.

Block Party - 2005
Directed by Michel Gondry

Block Party which features entertainer and comedian David Chappelle during the summer of 2004 hosting a big block party in Brooklyn, New York. He invited several alternative hip hop and neo-soul musical artists to perform at the party, including Kanye West, Mos Def, Jill Scott,
Erykah Badu, and the Roots along with the Central State University Marching Band.
What I enjoyed about this film was that David Chappelle is very comedic and always has the audience laughing at any given part of the documentary.
All of the camera sequences are shot handheld. I noticed this right away when watching this documentary, there is a lot of jumpy and jerky camera movements and that is how I quickly caught on. The handheld camera shots are not all that bad; in face they are actually quite appropriate. This is because when there is an interview in this film, you have to take realization that this is a comedic and funny film, so nothing should and will be taken serious. The interviews themselves are ridiculous at some point in the film.
Some of the sequences that I really enjoyed we’re the concert shots. The director had scenes of the concert placed in-between some sequences of the movie. These concert sequences are very entertaining they really catch the audience’s attention; it is sort of like a hook into the movie.
These concert sequences are long enough to show each artist equally. After all, this is a movie about hosting a big block party concert. My favorite shot/sequence in this whole movie is when David Chappelle is on a Brooklyn balcony watching the concert and he is in focus while the concert audience and performers re blurry. To me this shot is very dramatic, and aesthetically beautiful.
Overall I enjoyed this movie, I think it captured what it intended to capture, which was the concert as well as David Chappell’s whole idea coming into place. For me, this is a simple low budget documentary that, just took its time to come together. I do not believe that the director was stressed out about anything in this film; it was jut a fun project to do.


NFB - A Sunday at 105
Daniel Leger - 2007

Alden Pellerin Cormier was born on September 11, 1901 which makes her 105 years old.
This documentary follows Alden on her average Sunday. She simply wakes up and grooms herself up, eats some breakfast, prays a bit, then rocks in her rocking chair, eats some lunch, rocks some more in her chair, has a card game with her family, eats some dinner, prays some more, then takes a shot and goes off to bed.
The opening sequence of this short documentary which only lasted about 13 minuets long, is very comedic. It also establishes the subject and what this documentary entails. It shows Alden looking at herself in the mirror and getting ready by combing her hair, and applying some makeup. Music is accompanied in this sequence, it is very comedic.
The shots that the d.o.p. and director used in this documentary are very very simple. They are wide shots, medium close ups as well as just medium shots. There are no fancy or frilly effects, and because the subject is so interesting I would think that taking our attention away from the subject would ruin the point of the documentary. Alden is a special person not only because of her age, she has a certain philosophy about life, where our faith in God must be put before anything else in our lives. Because with out God there is no life, as well as taking whatever little bit of faith we may have and just re connect with God. Alden believe that working and praying is her forte.
Along with the simple camera movements and shot, ambient sound in is included as well in this film. This is the rain, and any noise that Alden might be making when she is preparing her lunch, or dinner. During interviews with Alden, she is usually on her feet and moving around, so the accompanied ambient noise is only natural to include. The director also likes to capture the reflection of the subject through mirrors and frames which are hung throughout the house. When I saw those shots, I thought to myself that this film is very personal, Daniel Leger is Alden’s grandson and seeing those reflection shots gave me emotions of love, and respect. Her eyes are very distinctive, and even though she just looks like any other old woman, her eyes make her distinguish who she really is. Her hands are also shown a numerous amount of time, throughout the documentary. This suggest to me again her age, but as well as the relationship between the director and the subject.
Overall this documentary is very comedic; Alden is a beautiful and bright spirited person who enjoys life. She is thankful for the time that she was given on this earth, and because she has lived so long she is no longer scared of what the outcome of her life will hold. She is very faithful, and mentions that God is always with her, so heaven is close by.

Round # 2

Super Size Me – 2004 - Morgan Spurlock

Super Size me is a very well done documentary about a healthy man, who eats McDonalds every single day to prove whether or not it is right to sue a corporation on the facts that they can solely make a person unhealthy and obese.
Morgan lived conveniently close enough to a food source. Living in New York City it makes the most sense to just walk everywhere, on average New Yorkers walk 4 to 5 miles a day. Except to successfully establish his “Special” diet he must limit his walking to a lesser amount then the average New Yorker.
In the beginning of this documentary, GC’s of maps, photographs, texts, images of various McDonald throughout America as well as stock footage of obese people immediately direct the viewer to the obvious subject in this documentary.
What makes the hook, so well put together is the fact that Morgan, strategically organizes all his b-roll footage with a narrative discussing the average Americans weight.
A lot of narration in this documentary in this documentary pulls me in and attracts my attention, because along with the narrations follows nicely done visual sequences. Especially parts when Morgan is consulting with doctors about going into this binging diet of just strictly McDonald. Visual time lines consisting on texts showing the Day and Number (Day 17) create a time line which is easy for the audience to grasp and understand. As well as some of the interviews with some of the doctors, trainers, specialists, writers, activists, and normal civilians they especially draw me into watching more. I guess it is because I am interested in knowing the opinions on everyone. This documentary is meant to give a huge impact on the TRUH. And this truth, is rapidly hurting our world, and sadly resulting in deaths all around the world.
It may seem like only Americans are being attacked, yes it is true that they have a growing obesity rate amongst children and adults. But in reality all over the world big fast food corporations are hurting everyone. Morgan has not only decided to target McDonald, but other big corporate fast food chains.
By watching this documentary I have noticed that many people are starting to solely depend on fast food as a main staple for themselves and in some cases for their children as well. Think about it, it is cheap, fast, and satisfying. But there are many by-products as well as enormous amounts of saturated and trans fats.
By then end of the whole “Special” binge diet Morgan has consumed 30 pounds of Sugar, 12 pounds of fat.
The bottom line is that the loyalty is not 100% to the customers to the stockholders. They are a business; by selling you unhealthy food they make millions. Sadly this is the truth.

"Look after the Customer, and the business will take care of itself."
- Ray Kroc
McDonald Founder

My different Life - TVO – Karen O’donnel

Denise has three children, and lives in a 2 bed room apartment wither kids and boyfriend. Her oldest child Alex has a learning disability, ADHD. The middle child Michael also struggles in school, but he does not act out in frustration like his bigger sister Alex.
Denise has been working hard, to get her children properly tested out by the school board to determine whether or not the kids actually have learning disabilities or if they are actually capable of doing the school work. Denise knows her own children, she has noticed that Alex was different and struggling when she was in grade 2. And now she is in grade 7. So for 5 years Alex has never been properly tested. The kids are frustrated because they cannot do school work, and they know they can’t do it, so this makes them very upset.
This documentary is sort of like a confession by Denise and her children. Throughout the whole thing, we are basically following their every step, and learning more and more about their characters. WE get to see how they work in school, what happens when they are actually tested out in hospitals and with psychiatrist to actually figure out what type of learning disabilities the children have. What shows me that this documentary is like a confession is the one on one interview as well. Denise and her children are given hand held cameras, which they can talk to and express their feelings to as well. There are also commentaries and voice over’s that go along with the sequences; it is sort of like storytelling to me because you have the actual persons voice, which goes along with their footage. Also the sequences with the doctors and teachers as well as the kids help the audience understand what the kids are going through. The kids are constantly having headaches, from their constant stress with school.
The kids are feeling very segregated within their school walls and their mother Denise just wants them to get the help that they need in order to stop feeling stressed out and frustrated all the time. Except Denise and her kids are not being given the help that they deserve, they must wait a matter of 3 years before they can get tested. And within those three years, the kids are constantly failing their subjects, and falling behind. It makes me think how come the educational system is biased, why do they need to wait that many years if their problem is very serious?

The Fifth Estate – CBC – First Do No Harm

This fifth estate documentary is based on a Toronto doctor named Y . Ping. Who has lack of judgment, and rushes patients to surgery. In one special case, Nicole who has just given birth to a baby girl, was experiencing abdominal pain and heavy bleeding from her vaginal area. So her and her husband rushed her to the emergency room. There at the emergency room, Dr. Y.Ping was the on call obigyncal specialist working that night. Dr. Y.Ping ordered some tests, including a pathology test. After that, he rushed Nicole in to surgery, where he performed a hysterectomy. After the surgery, Nicole was in a lot of pain and feared that she could have gotten an infection from the sloppy and rushed operation that Dr. Y. Ping had given her. Nicole worked at a Hospital, and knows how to read charts, she read her chart and to her surprise has an infection. She made the nurses call up Dr. Y. Ping and he did not discuss her state with her. He simply said “I am the doctor, and you are the patient” and he simply hung up the phone.
Nicole was so frightened that she called up the hospital where she worked, and told them her current state. They immediately ordered a patient transfer. If Nicole never talked to her hospital, she would have gotten a serious infection and would have been stuck in A coma.
She later found out that Dr. Y .Ping never got the results back from the pathology test that was taken from Nicole. He just immediately took her in to surgery and performed a hysterectomy on Nicole. She later got the results and the tumor was benign. That means that Dr. Y. Ping performed an unnecessary operation on a patient. Over 300 patients we’re harmed by him. They we’re miss diagnosed, maimed, and mistreated. His medical mistakes are horrendous and have caused hundreds of patients with permanent disabilities. If a doctor makes a medical mistake the doctors not patients are protected.
Throughout this documentary the visuals and b roll, are heavily used to put the story together. This is the reason because, all the actually shot footage that is in the present tense, is the interviews. The one on one interviews with the reporter, are the only actually present tense footage that we have on this story. This all happened to Nicole during the year of 1996, and since it was filmed in 2006, there is actually no actual footage of Nicole during that time, just pictures.
The non- sync sequencing of the broll footage, is paired along with narratives of the reporter and Nicole expressing either their option of something written to help with the explanation of the story. I really like the way the narrations are written, it ties everything all together, and makes the story all understandable. The broll footage also ties in the story effectively, I like how there are reenactments of what happened to the patients, it visually shows me what actually happened to the patients that Dr. Y. Ping has harmed. Post effects such as freeze frame we’re also used in this documentary, it adds a more dramatic feel to the situation. And because the footage is very old, it actually makes it seem like it is happening in the current year/day.
Dr. Y .Ping was stripped of his license and no long able to practice anywhere in the world. What he did to those poor women is horrible, and he is a bad person for thinking these women are healthy after the procedures and operations he has performed on them. It makes me wonder why, the hospital never really did anything in the earlier years when he was first starting to become sloppy. We’re they merely just trying to cover their ass’s up? Or did they not even notice? It is very strange and does not make any sense to me.

3 Documentarys, Lots of Voice

Wfive: Fight For Your Rights November, 28,2008

In Frontenac County Gloria and Frank Morrison are property owners of their land. One day when Frank was hiking on his peaceful land. He noticed a small silver plate staked on a tree. He thought it was Ontario Hydro, later on did he realize that it was a prospector staking his land. This prospector was interested in the land, because he claims that it filled with potential uranium.

If Gloria and Frank never noticed or spoke up about the potential destruction of their land, they could lose everything. For a simple $25 dollars anyone could get a prospect license and potentially destroy your property.

This documentary was heavily focused on the Frontenac County’s outdoors. The wildlife and environment was the main focus of this piece, there for the director heavily added in sequences of wildlife and the environment when needed. The interviews done by the reporter, also effectively displayed much needed answers for the questions that where brewing in my mind. I got to saw a lot of emotion through the interviewees faces. When a ridiculous question was asked, their facial gestures where clear and evident. Close ups where effective during this part as well.

The main issue was laid out nicely, which would be ownership of land and the environment. The visual sequences showing the environment, and facial gestures from the landowners who are clearly upset and worried about losing their precious homes and property.

TV Documentary: CBC: 24 meals in 24 Hours: Feeding New York

This documentary uses a Narrator who balances out all the information given from the interviewers and the facts spoken by the narrator. This narrator also uses a timeline, this is interesting to me because I like following this documentary like a book.

The Music used in this documentary is very fast paced and it keeps everyone watching on their toes. There is random horns blowing, and cars honking throughout the documentary. This fast paced music goes with the fast paced sequencing, since this doc is about New York City. One of the busiest citys in the World, everything is fast and busy. There hardly any negative space in all the shots taken. It feels like you are actually in New York, when watching this doc.

The documentary is mainly about New York City’s underground food suppliers. This doc tells you where the food comes from, how it gets there, how much it is costing, and who is making everything. Since no fresh produce comes from New York City, all the produce has to come from distributors who drive into the city to make their deliveries.

I enjoy watching the mechanics of all the machinery used to clean and transport the produce. For example there is the banana shipment, which shows a large cargo ship docking. All the freights on the ship are moving everywhere and loading onto trucks to be shipped out all over the country. The shots of this are mainly wide shots and close ups of the big cargo ship and the freights which are on the ship.
Another important aspect of this doc would be that chefs are profiled and followed around to where they buy their produce. All of them mostly go to the green market in New York, where farmers and small business owners sell their goods to the 8 million potential customers.

This documentary was very enjoyable to watch, it really captured my attention with the clever techniques. Such as the random horns and honking in the background. The timeline narration was very enjoyable to follow along. This is one of my favorite documentaries and I will tell all my friends about it. People need to know where their food comes from.

Feature Length Documentary – Woodstock – D.A Pennbaker

Woodstock promised 3 days of peace and music. This documentary explored just that. Three detailed days of peace and soulful music. Through this documentary we saw the festival goer’s real perspective on things. We saw their raw emotions, some of their hardships of the day, even some in ecstasy of joy. All of this is combined with great music from some legendary music artist, some of which have sadly passed away.

When the documentary showed the performers on stage it was almost whimsical. It took you away to another time and place, you weren’t in the year 2009 anymore, and it felt like 1969 again. The camera man was so close so the performer, you felt like you we’re on stage at that same moment as everyone at Woodstock we’re. The performances all felt like individual music videos, each one has a story to tell, just like any song.

At one point of the documentary, their where layering’s of footage, and two mirrored shots of the same subject we’re shown. This technique to me was used to create a visual drama to the documentary, as well as playing along with the whimsical and enchanted theme.

The documentary got interesting to me when the first festival go-ers starting coming into the tiny town. The people of Bethel we’re worried that the town would not have enough food for everyone. But they we’re happy that the “freaks” are booming the businesses of the town, and surrounding towns nearby. I guess people called them freaks because they had an opinion about world issues. Not many people supported those who we’re revolutionist, so this concert accepted everyone who wanted to voice an opinion.

The most interesting part of this documentary to me would be the music and performing part. I really enjoyed the close and personal shots of the artists as they performed. Later on in the movie, the layering and mirroring of the same shot, with the vibrant hues in the film really looked like a surreal dream like state, other than someone performing on stage. It was peaceful, just like Woodstock.