Scene Deconstruction 4

COMM 634.003: Film and Video Production II Instructor: Jonathan Adelman MFA Film and Electronic Media

Assignment 3: Deconstruction #4 American Movie The Thin Blue Line

Presented By: Priya Krishna April 7, 2009

Scene

Table of Contents 1.0

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................1

2.0

THE THIN BLUE LINE.......................................................................................................................1

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3.0

SHOOTING STYLE....................................................................................................................................1 LIGHTING..............................................................................................................................................1 RECREATIONS.........................................................................................................................................1 INTERVIEW STYLE...................................................................................................................................2 EDITING................................................................................................................................................2 STORY STRUCTURE.................................................................................................................................3

AMERICAN MOVIE.............................................................................................................................4

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6

SHOOTING STYLE....................................................................................................................................4 LIGHTING..............................................................................................................................................4 RECREATIONS.........................................................................................................................................5 INTERVIEW STYLE...................................................................................................................................5 EDITING................................................................................................................................................5 STORY STRUCTURE.................................................................................................................................5

Story Structure 10

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20 Introduction The purpose of this document is to compare elements such as shooting style, lighting, use of recreations, editing, interview style, and story structure in two documentaries. I have selected to study The Thin Blue Line and American Movie. 30 3.1

The Thin Blue Line Shooting Style

The Thin Blue Line is very unique when compared to other documentaries. The film looks more like a narrative film with preplanned cinematography which is based on storyboards. Unlike most documentaries, the film does not use narration to guide the viewer. Each shot in the film is static and composed well. The central scene to the movie is a recreation which plays like a non-fiction film. 3.2

Lighting

The Thin Blue Line employs low-key Rembrandt lighting and extensive naturalized lighting. Rembrandt lighting is characterised by an illuminated triangle under the eye of the subject, on the less illuminated side of the face. Rembrandt lighting creates a triangle or diamond shape of light underneath the eye. One side of the face is lit well from the main light source while the other side of the face uses the interaction of shadows and light, also known as chiaroscuro, to create this geometric form on the face.1 3.3

Recreations

The Thin Blue Line utilizes recreations of a crime that resulted in the death of a Dallas police officer, Robert Wood, in November of 1976. The shadowy recreations give the viewer the feeling that the story is a non-fiction film noir. The first recreation occurs at 4:03. The scene depicts the crime with the few objective facts: the position of cars in a routine pullover, an unfinished milkshake, the number of bullets fired to kill the policeman. The film proposes evidence and frequently reconstructs the scene with 1Chiaroscuro. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Chiaroscuro

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refreshed perspectives, presenting it throughout the film. The film also uses drawings as part of the recreation, a example can be found at 48:15.

Each recreation is driven by the account we have just heard and each version of events is visualised through a different version of the recreation. Randall Adams’ innocence is unknown as the film proceeds, and his “conviction is buried in misrepresentation, fabrication, and an ultimate withholding of truth.”2 We never see a recreation that shows us David Harris, the actual shooter, shooting Robert Wood alone. 3.4

Interview Style

The Thin Blue Line uses multiple interviews of attorneys, criminal investigators, witnesses, and others involved in the case. Each speaker implies that his story has remained unaltered for several years. Some interviewees seem impatient and are annoyed by the case’s hastened procedure. 3.5

Editing

As previously mentioned, The Thin Blue Line shows interviews intercut with the recreation. Paul Barnes edited this film with Morris’ input to give the film a rhythmic feeling. The effect is enhanced by the score of the film by Phillip Glass. The film uses montage by cutting together newspaper clippings, mug shots, crime photography, and maps.

Interviews are intercut with recreations often. There is a scene following Harris’ interrogation which is a cut to an image of an ashtray filled with cigarette butts. When the audience learns that the targeted vehicle is a Comet instead of a Chevy Vega, we see contrasting close-ups of each vehicle’s tail light each are different, as each car is cut in and out. We see the car being compared at 31:02. 2The Thin Blue Line. http://www.notcoming.com/reviews/thinblueline/

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3.6

Story Structure

The Thin Blue Line uses a very conventional story structure. There are three basic strands that Morris weaves together. First of all, the core of the narrative is told by the participants in interviews to camera: Adams, Harris, members of the police force that investigated the case, eyewitnesses to the shooting, Adams’ lawyers, and the judge in the original trial. These interviews are portrayed as multiple perspectives at once; each may be the subjective thoughts of an interviewee. These interviews present the viewers with facts when taken together.

Secondly, Morris shows us pieces of real, documentary evidence such as crime scene photos and diagrams, newspaper reports, illustrations by court reporters, mugshots and line-up photos.

Finally, as each participant provides differing perspectives on the murder, we see a recreation of the events, each adding or subtracting new details based upon the account we have heard. 40 4.1

American Movie Shooting Style

American Movie was shot in cinéma vérité style. The filmmaker, Chris Smith followed a hopeful filmmaker, Mark Borschardt, for 2 years while Mark was trying to shoot a film entitled Northwestern. This documentary is shot in cinéma vérité style, which in French means "cinema of truth". The cinéma vérité directors use non-actors, small hand- held cameras, and actual homes and surroundings as their location for a film. One production technique is to tape record actual conversations, interviews and statements of opinion make by real people. The final production was put together in the editing room. Cinéma Vérité was characterized by the use of real people in unrehearsed situations. Filming was 1|Page

done with unobtrusive cameras so the subjects of the film would forget the presence of the camera and just be themselves. The filmmaker’s goal is to show life as it really is using the film as his artistic medium. Sets and props were never used and everything was shot on location, often with a small, portable camera. The camera could be taken into peoples’ homes, automobiles, and other places where large production cameras would be intrusive.3

The documentary was shot in film and some of the film was shot hand held. When the participants are seen going about their lives, Smith observes unobtrusively 4.2

Lighting

The film uses high key lighting and the scenes are evenly lit. The interviews shot in the basement use low key lighting. A lot of the shots do not seem like they were explicitly lit. It looked as though they made use of the lighting that was available. The scenes seem visually flat. 4.3

Recreations

There are no recreations in American Movie. There is a lot of regular and b roll footage from Borchardt’s movies used in this documentary. The footage of Borschardt’s films serve the same function as recreations would. When the subjects speak about a movie or a scene we see the scene as it was shot bor Borschardt. 4.4

Interview Style

American Movie uses interviews of friends and family who seem skeptical that Mark can finish the film. The direct-to-camera interviews are shot simply, without trapping the subject in the frame.

3 French Realism and Cinéma Vérité. http://www.parlez-vous.com/misc/realism.htm

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4.5

Editing

Smith uses a very simple editing style. He intercuts interviews, live action of the characters, and footage from Borschardt’s movies. The film took two years to shoot and they had 70 hours worth of footage which was edited down to 107 minutes. The scrore was created by Mike Schank, Borschardt’s friend and character in the film, on his acoustic guitar. 4.6

Story Structure

American Movie is character study of an all-American underdog. The film intercuts interviews with Borchardt’s family and friends, scenes of sparsely attended production meetings, no-budget film shoots, and camp-outs in the editing room with the kids. Smith brings a narrative like energy to his documentaries. The film portrays details about the character of Boshardt, but they are not shaped into a coherent case study. So ultimately there is a lot of really interesting source material, but it is just put out there and not shaped into a compelling narrative that would help its viewers draw larger conclusions and resonances from the story.

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