Expositive: a mode of documentary designed to inform the audience about a certain topic. Example, how it’s made.
Reflective: a mode of documentary in which a persons experience is documented over a period of time. Example, repo man.
Poetic: less explicit mode of documentary that uses visuals and audio to create meaning. Example, Samsara
documentary film: a non fiction film intended to document reality for education and/or entertainment.
examples:
kiss the ground, inside death row, oasis: supersonic
blocking: the moving and position directions for actors on screen.
staging: the design and arrangement of a set on screen.
The film was based of the real events within the Cidade de Deus suburb in Rio de Jenerio Brazil showing the growth in crime there during the late 1960s-1980s looking specifically at the drug dealer lil ze. During production many of the actors who starred in the film grew up in real Brazilian slums and had little acting experience giving the film authenticity.
Gender: The theme of masculinity in the city of god is portrayed as toxic. With many younger boys in the film feeling they are forced to become more aggressive and violent to be able to survive in the slums. this can be seen through steak and fries who wants to kill lil ze stating “I am a man” as a result of being forced to shot his friend earlier on in the film.
Aesthetics: City of God has a high sense of verisimilitude, this is done through the visual style of the film using grounded mise en scene in sets and costumes as well as the cinematography using hand held camera movements and dolly shots giving a realistic documentary style feeling to the film.
mise en scene: The mise en scene of the city of god consists of wide open spaces, drier locations and run down housing. This gives a barren and poor feeling to the slums which presents further of how harsh it can be to grow up in.
cinematography: Throughout the whole film hand held camera shots are used. This shaky effect gives off a sense of realism as the imperfect camera gives of the impression that the film is more of a documentary than fiction. It is also seen to build tension as seen when lil ze takes over carrots apartment. This techniques allows the audience to see the fear and unease the other characters feel.
sound: narration from Rocket is used throughout the film to give the audience important context that they might not have known beforehand allowing them to get more immersed within the plot. An example seen here when he is describing the tender trio who have a bigger role later on.
editing: a form of metric montage is used to portray lil ze as an extremely violent character. With different clips of him shooting a gun as he progressively gets older showing how he is an inherently bad person with no signs of redemption.
