A Level Media Studies — Research

It's now next year and I'm in A-Level Media Studies which is nice. Over the course of the last year, I got really into philosophy which is exciting stuff! It seems as though I grow a bit each year, yet, it's hard to see that in the moment. Here's to another great year of learning! 

Let's talk documentaries. This year, one of the big projects that we got in class was the documentary project, but of course, how could anyone make a documentary without first watching documentaries? Or at least, put in the bare minimum effort in researching—which in all instances I could think of involves at least watching a couple of pieces. Luckily, our teacher procured most of the pieces we had to watch, but we were also able to choose a few of our own. I've compiled the list of documentaries we've watched and what I learned/got inspired by!

The American Promise (2013)

The American Promise is a documentary about two young children growing up in a predominantly, white, public, and oh-so prestigious school. I'm sure my teacher does not really want to hear this but when I watch any piece, there is a side of me that appreciates the technical elements of it, but there's also the story-driven side of me that appreciates the end result of the technical elements more so than them in a vacuum. That is to say, I just care more for story and meaning more than I do the things that build up to it. This is just a preface to say that most of what I was influenced by in all of the pieces I will mention were more ideas about how to tell a story and what kind of a story to tell as opposed to technique. 

But for American Promise, the major thing was the usage of interviews, both direct and indirect. For the children, direct was unavoidable, but for the adults, they used indirect. It showed me the personal power of direct interviews, but simultaneously spoke to the more formal-approach that indirect interviews employ. I suppose I prefer indirect interviews in almost all instances. 

The story, however, was a field of great interest to me. This piece is definitely a sophisticated one in that in captures growing up, institutional racism, and race all in one. I can understand the challenge of creating a succinct and meaningful story when given so many themes and messages to disseminate. The American Promise's most prominent influence on me was to inspire me to want to tell a personal story that mixes the inevitable aspects of race and other external factors into the equation. Whether me and my group succeeded is another question...

Exit Through the Gift Shop

I think I speak for a majority of people in my reception of Exit Through the Gift Shop which was that its narrative structure is by far its most entertaining and novel component. I love art, and any documentary that talks about art is already great, but the meta-nature of the documentary, I felt, aimed to transcend the documentary into the artistic realm and that was really cool. 

This documentary left me feeling conflicted, certainly, but also infinitely more convicted in my love for the arts. If it is true that the worth of art is completely arbitrary, then it just means I will and never can have a wrong reason for liking something. As long as the worth of art is internally determined, then I can't say I've ever held a wrong opinion. I really wanted to replicate the humor of this piece which emanates so brightly in practically every scene through Thierry's seeming ignorance and foolishness. 

Opinion-Docs (New York Times)

For an amateur filmmaker like me, these were definitely the most interesting in the sense that I could very much see their creators just like me, sat down, working within a time constraint, trying to best tell their story to the best of their ability. I chose two animated documentaries to work with, but they were both so incredibly raw and uncontained in their storytelling. The sense of genuineness, as though the documentary was both an outlet for the documentarian and a conversation for the audience really stuck with me. Documentaries are invitations to think and moreover, pieces only truly and deeply understood through great contemplation and reflection. 

I've also watched a lot of Michael Moore's documentaries. From those alone, I had always wanted to have some sort of political focus but that ended up not working out so I won't expand on Michael Moore. But I will say, Roger and Me, and Bowling for Columbine are amongst the most flawless examples of deadpan humor emphasizing a real, much less humorous issue.