In the "True Life" documentary about post-traumatic stress disorder is really sad. It is about three men who have post-traumatic stress disorder after coming home from the war and realizing that they have to return to the civilian life. Once the doctors told them they had post-traumatic stress disorder the army wouldn't take them back. They had a life long run that they needed to occupy with a job. All three men explain what it was like on the battlefield and how different and difficult it is to return to a normal life style. The first guy talks about how his life that he wants to fix and go into treatment keeps being postponed due to his DUI. The second guy talks about how not only was he in Iraq but his mom was as well. He explains how it was a little easier to have someone there that understand what he went through and someone who he can go and talk to. He also expresses how suicidal he was at one point and that he never wants to go back to that "dark hole" again. The third guy talks about how he can't sleep and get over the fact that he witnessed an innocent father and his son being killed in Iraq. He allows us to see how at the moment yes it was a war but now he can never give those life's back that weren't deserved to be taken away. I believe that the message of this documentary is to inform us about what post-traumatic stress disorder is and what it can do to you mentally, emotionally, and physically.
The camera work in this documentary is done pretty well but there are some shots that could of been improved. Some shots were shaky as well. In some of the shots the cinematographer does a good job of using foreground, mid-ground, and background in various shots. The cinematographer also does a good job at close-ups to reveal the pain that these men have been going through. There was a couple dollying and panning shots that was a good effect too add to the documentary. In this picture to the right, earlier in the shot, the camera was dollying though a neighborhood focusing on wrecked houses and etc. and then panned over a little to reveal this guy sitting on the truck that was driving through the neighborhood. I felt that it was a good idea to reveal the place and character. There was also a various amount of long shots and waist shots used throughout the documentary. The use of B-roll in this documentary was an important role in order for us to capture the experience and feelings that these men were going through.
The cutting and timing between shots was smooth and surreal. There were no cuts that were disturbing to the documentary. Most of the cuts were straight on cuts and no special effects to the cuts. I believe that if the special effects were added to this documentary, then the whole feeling to the situation being expressed at the beginning would have been lost. I also believe that getting to the point in the documentary helped a lot out. The sound design in this film was not a heavy affect that was needed in this documentary. Music was constant throughout and connected with the flow of what was being showed and said to the audience. If on of the men was talking about something depressing the music would decrease to a slow tempo to match the mood.
good job talking about the film in relation to its form. Maybe spend a little time analyzing the narrative a bit more because it usually is the narrative that conveys the most information in documentaries.
ReplyDeleteand thank you for doing your blog post on this.