Amy critical debate question

'Portable, digital cameras, digital sound recording equipment and non-linear digital editing have had a very significant impact on documentary film.' How far has digital technology had an impact on your chosen documentary film? [20]

Candidates may include the following: 
• an understanding of digital technology relevant to the chosen documentary (which may include the role of portable, digital cameras and digital sound recording equipment which facilitate a closer connection with subjects) or non-linear digital editing (which may lead to conscious manipulation of material or the blurring of 'fact' and 'fiction' in some documentary filmmakers' work) 
• some discussion of the significance of the move from film to digital in the production of moving image work in more general terms 
• some discussion of the impact of digital technology on documentary style, for example, a particular kind of observational intimacy or a sense of mobility and improvisation. 
• Band 5 responses may recognise that some aspects of digital production (e.g. handheld cameras) may be used to convey an illusory sense of the real (i.e. that they are coded to give the impression of reality to spectators).

- The intimate and personal style of the documentary is dependant on the footage captured using portable digital cameras (home/non-professional footage)
- without this, the filmmakers would be limited on the footage they could show, as she is of course not alive to give her account on her life - we would also not have access to footage of Amy as a young girl, and her growth through fame, addiction and relationships
- in order to see her as a victim, this footage is crucial, as the media representation of her alone presents her as simply another celebrity involved in the life of drugs and addiction - does not encourage empathy form spectators

Amy closing scene analysis

Closing Scene:

Editing
- Slow motion used extensively, often with freeze frames of the key characters
- Still images of Amy are of happier times - dissolves between them; slow zooms into the pictures
Intercut with news footage could be a. home video - also with paparazzi in background - layers of spectatorship
- Very long cuts, the images are shown for a long time SO the spectator can focus on the voiceover
- Final shots of Amy =closeups; linear (from childhood) slow zooms in; often in slow motion; all end with freeze frame.

Meaning of Editing
- Even when dead, Amy was not left in peace - paparazzi and news teams swarming around - sound of flashbulbs
- Director wants to leave a positive image of Amy at the end - juxtaposition acts as an antidote to the hard-hitting images of her body being carried out - leaves the spectator witht the impression that her life was positive
- The caption in the establishing shot highlights that this is reality.

Sound
- Non diegetic nostalgic melancholic piano and strings music in a minor key, influences the spectator to feel nostalgic and emotional towards Amy's death, viewing it as a tragedy. The music gradually increases in volume / creshendo after Amy's body is carried away. Amplifies the sense of despair, elegaic. Represents a sense of sorrow. The music is beautiful, representing the beauty of her life. The music is celebratory of her life.
- Over the credits, the music segues into Valerie. More upbeat / celebratory. Brings the spectator back to reality

Cinematography
- Scene starts with helicopter shot over london; establishing shot. Identifies amy with a time and place - immortalizes her, she lives on through her music.
- Slow motion used during funeral footage
- Centre frame man, draws attention to him crying is contrapuntal to the expectation of men in society, shows him as vulnerable.  Emphasizes the heartbreaking extent of Amy's death.
- Long shot heavily zoomed in camera struggling to focus, voyeuristic - the spectator is intruding into the grief. Camera is clearly at a high angle from a great distance and is heavily zoomed in.      - Makes the footage grainy, unsteady - sense that the spectator is intruding. Asks uncomfortable questions about spectatorship.

Mise En Scene
- Dull colours emphasizes the melancholic atmosphere created in the music.

Performance: 
- Andrew Morris brings dramatic pauses to his speach, emphasizes the intensity of the scene

Amy descent into addiction scene analysis

Descent into addiction:

cinematography:
-Amy interview while high- close up of unfocused eyes
-still photographs often close ups or extreme close ups- often camera tracking in or along

editing:
-paparazzi cameras flashing- combines with freeze frames and jump cuts - disorientating for spectator
-juxtaposition of moving and still images- often long cuts used to show still images
- director purposefully chooses video of Amy on stage as filmed by an audience member rather than professional footage- makes the sound appear worse and her appearance
-positioned from view of paparazzi- possibly being questioned as to why we are watching it- we are looking at what they produced

sound:
-VO in conjunction with editing
-period of 25 seconds of silence during still images of drugs
-captions and lyrics/locations/times- roots film in fact

Amy opening scene analysis

Editing in the first scene of AMY

By Asif Kapadia

Micro Feature	Meaning and response
Cinematography: -POV shot of Amy -Shaking, handheld camera. Amy center frame. Whip pans to Amy Home video footage	-Scene sutures the spectator into Amy’s early life -Kapadia wants the spectator to align with Amy- possibly empathise- she does however have extraordinary talent
Editing: -Two cuts in the opening sequence -Use of captions – where it takes place, and who is in it. -Elliptical editing (a type of editing that cuts unnecessary actions from a sequence. This means the sequence is shorter than real time and so doesn't last as long. This can be a positive because if a scene last (for example) a few hours it would cut it down to only a few minutes.) – used to show what is necessary and who determines it. -This has been harvested from how many hours of footage, who chose it? Why? What points are they making?	-Spectator response- either an ordinary person, or an attention seeker who needs to be the centre- could foreshadow her relationship with the paparazzi -Main issue is why this footage exists- why do people feel the need to capture the banal occurrences of their live? - Why was this footage chosen for the opening scene – is possibly a short part of longer footage
Sound: -Singing – Amy is interrupting conversation, monopolizing situation- clearly a passion from a young age; unfiltered, natural, raw (diegetic). -At the very start, over the title cards and the initial home footage, there is a single repeated piano riff/leitmotif – mood is somber, nostalgic in a melancholic way; foreboding; these were happier times for Amy though fleeting, as if her childhood had been truncated by her talent. - At the end of the sequence, there is a sound bridge to Amy’s performance of Moon river with the National Youth orchestra; bridging to a montage of stills of Amy and famed jazz singers of the classical jazz era.	-Representation- deliberate selection of material to present people and events in specific ways- who is the real Amy? -Filmed at home so possibly more natural- this is enabled by digital technology -Different people will have different perceptions of Amy- could it therefore be argued that there is reality in the way we see her/the persona she has created- peoples perceptions of each other depend on our relationships/context -this film is revisionist rather than contemporary
Mise-en-scene: -Amy, Lauren, Juliette and unidentified male -Suburban house- hallway -Not elaborately staged or costumed

Amy back to black scene analysis

Recording Back to Black:

Cinematography:

Slow zooms in on Amy and zooms out

Slow motion and close up.

When Amy receives the news of her grandmother, there is a vignette effect used of Amy smoking with a slow zoom.
Flashbacks of grainy holiday footage.
2nd recording session = low angle, claustrophobic / intrusive.
Not professionally lit. Raises the question why it was filmed.
EPK.
Focus on Amy. Grainy quality.


EDITING

The elliptical editing suggests that the death of Amy's grandmother was the reason for the spiral of her drug and alcohol abuse.
Kapadia has edited the footage and is therefore responsible for creating meaning. The flashbacks are therefore either edited by the family or by the director.
Placing the flashbacks between the two recording sessions suggests the above.

Ronson session - have more positive sequences been selected? And vice versa, have negative sequences been sed in the latter session as a means of justifying Amy's behaviour and subsequent addictions.

- Continuity editing is used  in the mark Ronson sequence; therefore the jump from this section to the recording session later
This comes into the editing in that idea of how the footage is being manipulated. Uses a series of shots in juxtaposition to highlight this idea. Forms a montage.
The footage that was used for the Mark Ronson session suggests that Amy was not troubled by alcohol due to the selection of clips used.
The idea of eleptical editing is important in terms of what is being left out.
Montage effect = family album / scrapbook of "granny".

In the latter recording session.
Fast paced editing during drinking seems to have been recorded. We don't know at what point the camera was even rolling.
They are making it look like a continuous sequence of Amy drinking more and more, but Kapedia has chosen the shots of Amy drinking and teamed them together, giving the overall effect that Amy is a heavy drinker.

Mr boon: Editing during the drinking sequence seems to have been recorded we don't know at what point the camera was even rolling; clearly this has been reassembled to create meaning - exaggerates the amount she is drink
Splices use low angle Extreme close ups in slow mo as she drinks - all signposting that the grandmother's death was the root cause is this just the director seeking an excuse for her behaviour later in her career? Is he absorbing her of all blame?

Spectatorship:
we're watching the film knowing that Amy was suffering from Bulimia, which changes the spectatorship of the scene.
As Amy is a girl / woman she has more vulnerability and is treated differently.

Sound: Ronson session - sound mixes between her apace vocals and the backing track, which periodically fades in; scene is predicated by Ronson praising her talents- mediating spectator response; she is professional, respectful (persuasive language - use of professional opinion) sound matching blends diegetic  and non-diegetic to demonstrate how successful the song eventually became meaning is created by contextual / retrospective knowledge

- use of Voiceover

- Silence punctuates the end for 1st recording session

The main way in which media is created in the film is the interaction between voice and footage. Some of the Voice overs feels more rehearsed whilst others for example her friend crying at the end feel more impromptu; also raises the question of which bits of the interview have been selected and for what purpose
silence punctuates the end of the 1st recording session; enables the spectator to align with her as she is moved by the song. - a sense of the humble brag.

Amy critical debates

Critical Debate:

The significance of digital technology in film
- the impact the digital has had on film since the 1990s is a developing debate
- some commentators argue that so far films have changed very little from pre-digital times

- digital film- unlimited- lack of meaning?

Representation:
Amy
-who shot the footage of her and why?
-would she behave the same way if the camera were not on her?

Captain fantastic deer stalking scene

Deer stalking scene:

-         - Questioning unfamiliar way of life- first scene that spectator sees of family- can’t align with family so much at the beginning- they are so alien to us- differences are shown before similarities- surprise and intrigues spectator

-       -   Challenging spectators view on morality and hypocrisy living western society- we try to ignore brutalities in capitalist world however they still go on.
-        -  Extreme/Close ups of deer before it is killed/ close up of knife with blood on/lack of non-diegetic music- possibly done to persuade alignment with animal- the fact that we aren’t aligned with the family in the first scene makes us more distanced from them