Contextual Analysis
The September Issue: This documentary tells the story of Vogue magazine and the team of editors creating the 2007 September issue, the largest issue ever. RJ Cutler (the director), presents the documentary in an observational style so that he can portray Vogue in its most real form. Cutler made the documentary to cut to the roots of what and how the Vogue editors work, but also to showcase what would be known as a significant moment in history for the fashion industry. Cutler focuses the audience on two individuals, Anna Wintor the editor and chief of US Vogue and Grace Coddington Creative Director. Cutler often portrays the reality of the clashing of colleges predominantly between Grace and Anna. This is to emphasise the workplace of Vogue entirely and the power that Anna Wintour has on the fashion industry.
Bowling For Columbine: Bowling For Columbine is a harsh but playful documentary showing the horrific school shooting, in columbine, that took the files of twelve students and one teacher. The documentary is Directed produced and presented by Michael More who through-out is shown to interview individuals one on one and being from America himself often jokes upon the gun crisis. In the documentary there is a consistent pace and rhythm, this is created using
Exit Through The Gift Shop: Directed by Banksy himself, the graffiti artist symbolises the under world of society, with his iconic works of political issues made easy and humerus to understand. The style of the documentary, has a very urban hand made look, however the shots are choreographed seamlessly throughout the film. This style creates an atmosphere that suggests often a sense of danger from gratifying street sides to even the way banksy is presented, this style truly reflects on the subject matter. This idea is definitely something I will try and show in my documentary. However, this documentary doesn’t just show banksy and his genius but it tells the story of a fellow artist, (Mr Brainwash). With Banksy’s influence rises to fame as a notable street artist.
Dior & I: This documentary is a an observational and expository documentary, showing inside the house of Dior, with the arrival of their new creative director (Raf Simmons). The documentary uses the observational style of filming to establish the scene and style of the film. It relies heavily on the fact that it needs to follow every move of Raf Simmons to be successful in portraying, inside the house of Dior in its full perspective.
Mcqueen: Mcqueen is a documentary presenting the life and works of the late world renowned fashion designer Lee Mcqueen, commonly known as Alexander Mcqueen. The documentary is split up in stages in chronological order based on his most notable collections. Ian Bonhôte(the director) does this with a mix of exposition shots. Frames including skulls, snakes and birds, these subjects all symbolise Mcqueen’s inspiration. Ian Bonhôte uses a vast range of archival footage, including some shot by Alexander Mcqueen himself. Without the footage, the documentary would not have the same emotion attached to it. The story of Alexander Mcqueen is quite personal to a lot of people particularly in the fashion industry, however it is also quite sensitive and disturbing. The archival footage allows the audience to relate and understand Alexander, not just by his work but personally. Isabella Blow played a key role in Alexander’s story. She was the one who discovered him at his central saint martins MA show in 1992. Along with his outlandish and often explicit shows, Blow brought Mcqueen to the centre of British fashion. Ian Bonhôte shows the close bond between Mcqueen and Blow throughout the entire documentary constantly referring back to it. He does this to show the significance of their relationship.
Blackfish: This disturbing and powerful thriller of a documentary highlights issues including animal cruelty and greed. Blackfish is based on the scandal that is currently going on at Sea world resorts, where they’re keeping wild orcas, trapped in small cages, so that they can perform to an audience. This powerful documentary uses a range of techniques including voice overs, direct and indirect interviews, b-roll, and archival footage, to portray a biased look on why the Sea world companies are exploiting orcas for entertainment. They use these techniques to captivate the audience into their side of the argument, and build up a frustration that is created from the start, however slowly increasing as they reveal more evil facts about the treatment of the orcas as the documentary goes. Ultimately building it up to create an anti-climax.