Michael Moore - Michael is an American film maker who is known to be very capatalist in his documentaries. He is very much a left wing political commentator who shows strong opinions in his films. As a self-described liberal he has criticized globalization, large corporations, assualt weapon ownership, the Iraq War, U.S. President George Bush and the American health care sytem in his written and cinematic works.
Michael Moore at the 66th Venice Film Festival
Some of his most popular documentaries are Farenheit 9/11, Sicko and Bowling for Columbine.
- Focuses on the events of 9/11 and its aftermath
- Very capitalist and against George Bush
- Includes the unjust attack on the middle east
- Film holds the highest box office receipts of a political film
This short video clip is taken from a section of his documentary. Here it shows the clear example of his expository form of documentary. He mocks George Bush in an ironic manner making him out to look like a bad leader. This is a good example of the controversy it caused towards G.Bush, especially at the time of when he was still president of the U.S. His voice over technique allows him to talk about what is happening and being able to see the evidence on screen at the same time. This contrasts the reflexive approach of a documentary.
.- Explores the causes of the Columbine High School massacre from Moore's point of view
- Also goes into violence and gun crime/ownership
- ''Free gun for opening a bank account''
- Won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
In this viewing of Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine he is seen receiving a fire arm at a bank. Here he is trying to find out information in order to show how ridiculous the whole 'free gun when open an account' policy is. This extract shows an observational and partially reflexive technique of documentary.
Nick Broomfield - Nicholas "Nick" Broomfield born in 1948 is an English documentary film-maker. Broomfield films with a minimum of crew, just himself and one or two camera operators, which gives his documentaries a distinctive style. In his documentaries he has many different types of producing his documentary. He has used all types of documentary over the years but is noticed for his observational technique of documentary. He has received many awards of his career, one award being a BAFTA. Some of his most recent documentaries are Life and Death of a serial killer and Ghosts.
Two of his documentaries, Aileen: Life and Death Of A Serial Killer and Biggie and Tupac are good examples of Nick's work:
- Poetic, observational and reflexive documentary
- Views the life of Aileen and her mental state and her questionable sentence to death
- A research into how Aileen experienced her life in prison
- Lots of interviews and old news reports involved
This is the trailer Aileen: life and death of a serial killer where they have used her voice as she is being interviewed by Nick the day before her execution. It ultimately portrays that the documentary is quite observational as the events occur however it is also very hybrid as it is constructed in a poetic way.
- Poetic documentary
- It is an investigation of the the two rapper icons, Biggie Small and Tupca, which some people claim their deaths were orchestrated by Death Row Records and a planned murder in a corrupt police force
- Interviews and lots of past events from news, still pictures etc
This trailer of the documentary shows the styles they have used in this documentary. As you can see there is a mix of interviews, old clips and pictures. It is a very controversial documentary as apparently it tells the 'real' truth of their deaths and not the ones which were publicly announced.
Louis Theroux - Louis is a British-American broadcaster, best known for his Gonzo style journalism. His documentaries are sometimes sarcastic, exaggerated, funny and profaned. This style is written subjectively, often including the reporter as part of the story via first person narrative. He has won British Academy Television awards for his documentaries.
His most famous work is his documentary series 'Weird Weekends' and 'When Louis Met...' and other documentaries produced for BBC 2 specials such as 'A place for Paedophiles'.
His documentaries in Series 1:
Here are some clips from a few of his series:
These are just a few examples of Louis' work, but as you may notice they are very hard to belief, quite interesting, opinionated documentaries. Louis almost wants to find out and explore around these peoples worlds in order to make out what they're like and to see if it can be believable or not. These weird weekends are prime examples of his Gonzo style journalism.
Louis Theroux's weird weekends is a documentary series which was shown on BBC2 from 1998 to 2000 separated into 3 series. In these documentaries Louis gives a small insight into the lives of different types of people who have extremist beliefs or live in a culture which is stereotyped badly; Individuals who would not normally come into contact with what we know as 'normal' existence.
His documentaries in Series 1:
- Born Again Christians
- U.F.O Hunters
- Porn Stars
- Survivalists
- Weird Christmas
- Infomercials
- Swingers
- Black Nationalism
- Demolition Derby
- Off Off Broadway
- Wrestling
Series 3:
- Hypnotists
- Indian Gurus
- Thai Brides
- Boer Separatists
- Gangsta Rap
- Body Building
As you can see from this list, Louis has had a wide range of documentaries on numerous amounts of topics. Some have shocked people, others have simply made people laugh. These documentaries cover all forms of documentary however most of them are always reflexive.
Here are some clips from a few of his series:
These are just a few examples of Louis' work, but as you may notice they are very hard to belief, quite interesting, opinionated documentaries. Louis almost wants to find out and explore around these peoples worlds in order to make out what they're like and to see if it can be believable or not. These weird weekends are prime examples of his Gonzo style journalism.
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