Observational – This type of Documentary are characterized by their unobtrusive and fly-on-the-wall approach. This style does not interfere but simply aims to capture events as they occur naturally.

Example –

‘Salesman’ 1969 – Directed by David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, it shows a Bible seller travel across New England and Southeast Florida, selling expensive bibles door to door in low income neighbourhoods.

Reflexive – This type focuses on the relationship between filmmaker and audience, it pushes the viewers to reflect on their own perceptions and re-analyse what they believe to be true.

Example –

‘Surname Viet Given Name Nam’ 1989 – Directed by Trinh T. Minh-ha, Shows the status of Vietnamese Women since the Vietnam War, through footage, poetry and text it explores the lives of several women who faced hardship in their less status despite the extent of their wisdom, talent and intelligence.

Performative – This type, uses the involvement of film maker and their subject, to act as a jumping-off point to explore a larger, subjective truth about a variety of subjects such as Politics, History, groups or people.

Example –

‘Kurt and Courtney’ 1998 – Directed by Nick Broomfield, includes his investigation into the relationship between singer Kurt Cobain and his partner and what led up to his tragic death.

Expository – This type aims to inform the audience on a specific topic or issue, commonly using a narrator or expert interviews.

Example –

‘Why we fight’ 2005 – Directed by Eugene Jarecki, explores how since the second world war, the United States has almost always been involved in conflict. Through interviews of surviving veterans it explores the ideas of “The business of war” and military-industrial complex.

Poetic – This type is a subgenre of documentary filmmaking as it uses artistic techniques such as Avant-garde to evoke a certain mood or feeling, rather than make a statement instead of a linear narrative structure.

Example –

‘Man with a Movie Camera’ 1929 – Directed by Dziga Vertov, it shows life throughout a soviet city in the 1920s from morning to night, Using innovative camera shots.

Participatory – This type is a form of film production that directly involves people and communities into a inclusive collaborated filmmaking process.

Example –

‘Sandy Storyline’ 2012 – directed by Rachel Falcone, collects and shares stories about the impact of Hurricane Sandy had on a local neighbourhood and community.

Documentary Film – A non-fictional motion picture that shapes and interprets Factual information for purposes of entertainment or education.

Examples are:

‘I am Celine Dion’ 2024 – Directed by Irene Taylor, It explores the life of Celine Dion and dealing with her stiff persons syndrome and how its affected her life and singing career.

‘Man on Wire’ 2008 – Directed by James Marsh, he exploits story of famed tightrope walker, Phillippe Petit’s daring performance of walking between the 2 world trade centre buildings to thousands below and many more on television.

‘Superman, The Christopher Reeve Story’ 2024 – soon to release directed by Ian Bonhote. Breaks down the actors rise to fame and life following a near-fatal horse riding accident which left him paralyzed from the neck down.

Blocking –

The term that describes where, when and how subjects are placed and moved within the frame.

Staging –

Is the process of selecting, designing, adapting to or modifying the performance space for a film.

Contexts:

Technological –

With the use of digital editing allowed the films editors such as Daniel Rezende experiment and try out new ideas. According to him, many of the interpretations of the characters came from the editing stage. through the improvisation of the actors he could edit all their scenes to uniquely craft their portrayal.

Historical –

Brazil was colonised by Portugal in the 16th century which resulted into a large genocide of the indigenous people. Portugal also largely imported slaves from Africa which made up a large part of funding their economy. After it was abolished, they had become locals much like the Portuguese colonizers. As a result this is what makes their multi-ethnic communities today as seen in the film. The film set in the 60s and 70s shows this through the vehicles and music seen and heard throughout the film.

Social –

Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, covers half the continent. Being the 5th largest country in the world in terms of land area and its population of 163.7 million. It is estimated that 20% of the population (32 Million) live in poverty. The disparity line between those living below the poverty line (who receive only 2% of the GDP) differences massively to the top 10% (who receive 50.6%) is greater than most other countries in the world. This is shown largely through the depiction of Rio de Janeiros slums, as known as favela’s in the City of God.

Political –

During the time of filming, Brazil was economically dependent and dominated by the USA in the 20th century, In 2002 the same year the film was made, an ex metal worker, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva was elected ,after his fourth attempt, to become president. From this point onwards he promised economic prosperity and led the first left-wing government to be in power for more than 40 years. In City of God, Brazils reliance on the USA in the 20th century can be seen with the use of American supplied helmets and weaponry, The helmets worn where left overs from the US’s current involvement in Vietnam in which the films setting is set around.

Institutional –

Financed by TV Globo, Brazil’s biggest TV Channel as well as some other companies like O2 Filmes. It was distributed by Miramax, the company founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstien in 1979, through them they supported in the films success with showing it internationally as an independent film.

Representation of Gender –

Men –

Men such as Lil Ze and carrot, are represented as being highly patriarchal and on occasions evil with their actions. Without the access to a proper education, which is proved by their inability to read, their immaturity can stem from this and the culture that surrounds them of gang culture within the neglected slums of the City of God. Men however are also represented as being rational and forced to become involved with the reaction to survive or get revenge such as with Rocket and Knock-out Ned.

Women –

Women in City of God are represented as being mainly as accessories to men, shown throughout the film as being love interests and not having much screen time compared to the male actors. In the film they are often the victims of violence at the hands of men such as the Women in act 1 who was beaten to death for cheating, the motel workers shot dead and Knockout Neds girlfriend who was sexually assaulted by Lil Ze.

Aesthetics –

Tone –

Tone in ‘City of God’ Distancing effect is used with Lil Dice’s reveal as a psychopath, who enjoys killing and is further added to by this from the use of a soundtrack and POV shots putting us in the place of his victims. This distances the viewer from the immersion to remind them they are watching a film because its seriousness of mass-killing over the span of his childhood and teens is played off as his characters rambunctious personality type which is further shown with the choice of music.

Visual Style –

Visual style in City of God can be seen with the use of colour grading. Colour grading is present in both the past and present aspects of the film, with the sandy slums of the tender trio having a brighter more warm tint to it to the much darker shaded scenes of the slums in the city of God. Perhaps used intentionally, the tone of the past with the tender trio represents a more stable time where only their gang ran the slums, it isn’t until when we get into the later parts of the film we can see how armies of gangs have formed.

Realism –

In City of God, we can see with the use of a hyperreality, how the aesthetic is set out within the film. Based on a true event, the film exaggerates the true story with large scale wars, subplots and more. How a hyper-reality can be said to used is with the use of a distorted reality of events, to make it presentable in film and immersive.

Shooting in half term – Monday 27th May – Friday 31st May

Plan:

• Will film at my Family’s farm.

• Hopefully will incorporate day and night scenes.

Sound –

By having the main protagonist, Rocket, narrate the entire film this places us in his eyes and throughout the course of events within the film, As we are seeing these events and what led up to them from the films non-linear structure, we are able to see his narration as the narrative “truth”. Another example that can be heard is the soundtrack, which is all historically accurate to the timer periods in the film and is used in conjunction to scenes that have action, or are summarising events.

Mise en scene –

The mise en scene of Lil Dice converting into Lil Ze is done through a voodoo christening ceremony to evoke the dead and sanctifies his violent behaviour. the overall design of the setting including items such as the voodoo doll and candles as well as the aeshetic tone of being mysterious, this stuck out as it provides the further info about his character as to why he behaves the way he does as he believes he’s free from consequences.

Cinematography –

The use of handheld shots creates an immersive experience of the film where the audience are there with the characters experiencing what they are. with shots positioned at angles on surfaces this makes it feel as if we the viewers are watching it as a fly on the wall.

Editing –

Through fast cuts in a sort of rhythmic montage to the soundtrack of Brazilian samba music, a busy cook-out can be depicted through the use of these fast close-ups.