Documentary Film Analysis

The documentary film I watched was about skateboarding http://www.fuel.tv/firsthand and it explored the world of skaters; challenges, projects, and their life style. The narrative of the story is the protagonist and while he talks the audience actually sees what he's talking about, it is shown. Sometimes the images talk for themselves and express feelings that the audience is able to feel easily, there's no need for words. Everything is based on a true story and the theme would be do what you love with passion and never give up because all that effort is worth it; you make the difference. The way the story develops is classical, stars with a beginning, middle and an end, the climax is when he gets injure, but he recovers (a happy ending).



The camera work is very precise and clean, the style is realism and when cuts are made it's because they're needed.  Throughout the editing the story is fluent and contributes to the development of the story. Long shots are almost not use and close ups are frequently use because they are needed. Overall the camera work was very good and it made it look real, there are no errors and every shots has good quality. The lighting is perfect which makes the shot clear and smooth. The combination of these elements gave a good result that reflects on the video.

The editing is well done and it helps the audience to understand the story better. There are no transitions or effects, except for the presentation which is animation. This is because the story is non-fiction and it needs to be believable and make the audience forget they're watching a video. The audio is very clear and almost always the sounds are obtain from the actual footage, there's no need for fake sounds. Again all these is to make it real. The time is perfect in order to develop a documentary film, it tells the story as brief as possible and with the images shown it makes the story go faster. When the narrator is telling the story  they included his pauses and they cut off what wasn't needed. They had background music playing with no lyrics, but according to the mood of the protagonist. This documentary film came up very well and the camera work along with the editing made the result a good and precise piece.