National Geographic: Living the Dream

TRAILER


This documentary followed around Renan Ozturk.  For the past 6 years, he has been living his life through travelling vagabond by following his passion of rock climbing. 


The camera angle for this documentary was very interesting.  As Renan was rock climbing the camera pointed down...so it gave the effect that Renan was small.  Like he was going against all odds, by rock climbing with no spotter, or ropes to ensure that he would be safe.  The camera was also handheld in several scenes, when he was trekking through the forest...walking through the long trails.


I especially liked how the editing was done when it was close up of certain actions that Renan did, there would be a vignette around him, and everything would be blurred out but the action itself.  This definitely made it much more interesting and made me realize that what Renan did, not anyone would be able to do it.

Why We Fight

An archival documentary for sure.  Right from the beginning of the documentary, it already grabbed my attention.  Adding in archival footage to make viewers understand what they will be in for in the documentary made it really interesting.

I liked how it was archival footage at the beginning of the doc, then it went to live footage.  Then it went to scenes of an officer being interviewed.  The interesting fact of this doc. was that there wasn't a host interviewing the people, but the people that they found to be featured in this documentary definitely added to the doc.  Because the individuals were really animated in what they had to say.

This documentary jumped back and forth from archival footage and live footage, but it didn't make it boring to watch.  I liked how there were several different subjects being interviewed.

60 MINUTES: MARK ZUCKERBERG

The documentary that I decided to watch was 60 Minutes.  The episode that I watched was an interview with Mark Zuckerberg.  I didn't know the story behind Zuckerberg so watching this interview was informative.  I thought that the interview would be quite boring, but it was actually quite interesting.

The interview opened with the host sitting across Zuckerberg, in an interview setting.  Zuckerberg sitting on one chair and the host sitting across from him.  A lot of narration was done in the interview, it was shot so that there would be shots of the facebook site and then a voice over inserted into it.

I like how voice over was used in this interview, because it made it much more interesting.  Instead of just a back and forth interview, the narration made it much more interesting and entertaining to watch.  Aside from the narration over most of the show, the camera also cut back and forth between the host and the interviewee.  The camera angles made it much more interesting to watch, and the cuts back and forth between the host and Zuckerberg was done smoothly.  I also like how archival footage was added into the interview.

National Geographic: Bed Bugs

Aside from the knowledge of knowing that this documentary would be about bed bugs, it made it extremely difficult to watch.  After watching it was grossed out and disgusted.

What made this documentary to have the effect that it did was the fact that each time a bed bug was on screen the camera zoomed in extremely close to it, where you can see the bed bugs so up close and personal.  Each move that the bed bug had the camera followed it really closely so as a viewer it feels like you are living the life of a bed bug.

Aside from this doc. being informative it was actually interesting to watch.  The topic itself is sometimes covered on the news but watching it on national geographic made you realize that bed bugs actually are really gross.  And when the camera zoomed in so close to the bed bugs it actually sent a shiver down my spine having to watch the bed bugs that closely.

Scream of Stone

This was interesting to watch for me because I was just interested in the scenery shots.  I thought that the script of this was a bit weak in terms of dialogue.  And during parts of this I didn't see a purpose or direction in where the film was going.

But I thought that the scenery shots of the mountains were nicely done.  The long shot of the snow covering the mountains and how the climbers had to make their way up the mountains made it interesting to watch.

Aside from the scenery shot I didn't find anything in particular that made me want to watch this film again.  The editing of the film was done nicely, but like script lacked something to make it more appealing.

60 Minutes: Michael Vick

There was a lot of hate for Michael Vick when the news first broke out about his involvement with dog fighting.  This interview made viewers understand what Vick went through after his time in jail.

The show used a lot of closeup shots of Vick to show the emotions that he was going through when talking about the operation that he a part of.  The show in a way showed what Vick was going through but it made viewers like me, somewhat not feel bad for Vick having to lose his fortune and his career of what he did to the dogs.  

Halfway through the show the camera shows 3 people sitting in front of the camera, this is when the show starts to get interesting and makes the show more appealing to watch.  They interview each individual with closeup shots of them sparking an interest in hearing what they have to say about the situation and Vick.  The show helped viewers and fans understand what Vick went through and how he is extremely sorry of what he did.

National Geographic: Alan Barges

The documentary that I decided to watch was about a 650lb man Alan Barges.  It was aired on the National Geographic channel.  You always hear about people being overweight, and you never really think too much about it and there are always special segments on other stations that feature people overweight.  But the way this documentary opened really made me feel for Alan.

The documentary opened with Alan being in the hospital.  And you see how big he actually is.  The p factor that made me continue watching the documentary was the fact that it took 6 strong paramedics to bring Alan home.  Since the stretcher and Alan couldn’t both fit through the doorframe, the paramedics had to put him on a sheet and drag him into the house. 

The shooting of this documentary was the typical handheld, interview style.  However it did not make this documentary boring to watch.  It actually made it quite interesting and made me want to continue to watch it as the story progressed about Alan.

The only point that I didn’t really like about this story was the fact that Alan didn’t really have motivation in life.  I know that a documentary is supposed to document an individual’s life, but it just made me view Alan as someone with no perseverance in life.  It made me feel like if it didn’t get to the point where he had health problems he probably wouldn’t have went through the bypass surgery to lose weight.

Overall this documentary was enjoyable to watch, the story line could’ve used more work on it, but the camera and editing of it was well done.

Grizzly Man

The title of this documentary sounded interesting so I decided to give it a try.  The documentary focused on a man Timothy Treadwell who spent 13 summers in the wilderness to spend times with bears and to study their habitat.  What I did not like about this documentary was the way it was filmed.  It was handheld in most shots, but at the same time it was really shaky.  I know normally handheld shots are suppose to give viewers a more dramatic effect and we can feel like we are part of the action, but this time it did not give me that feeling but whereas it made me feel dizzy as I was watching it.

This documentary was different in a way of how it was edited too.  I know that Timothy passed away, and they published this doc after, but the narration I found was very distracting.  There wasn't much emotion that the narrator's voice was very monotone.  Normally this works well for doc's but this time it was quite boring to listen to.

I think the factor that made this documentary not as interesting was the concept that the documentary portrayed.  I didn't see that Timothy was trying to learn more about the bear's habitat, but he was intruding on their surrounding.  I think if this doc was edited with more better sequence and camera shots it would've worked better.

60 Minutes: Eminem Road to Stardom

Having always been a fan of Eminem, I was interested and excited to watch this segment of 60 Minutes.  The show started off with Anderson Cooper giving a brief intro of what the show would be about.

Going into the show I knew that it would be basically profiling Eminem's life.  But the show mixed in a lot of video archive's of earlier appearances by Eminem.  I liked how that the show transitioned between present interviews with Eminem and then flashback into memories of earlier days for Eminem.  The camera was really neat was that it was a close up of Eminem every time the camera focused on him.  It gave a sense of closeness to him.

Another concept that made this show more compelling to watch was the fact that Eminem has a negative impact on a lot of people in life.  The stuff he raps about and the language he uses makes a lot of people despise him.  But this show, managed to show another side of Eminem.  The mellow and dark colours and the camera angle that the show was shot in made me as a viewer feel more close to Eminem.  It made me understand the life of Eminem.  And the fact that Anderson Cooper narrated the show and when he talked over the archived footage made the show much more compelling to watch.

National Geographic: A Man Among Wolves

The trailer to this documentary was actually really interesting.  It showed a man living amongst the wolves and how he fully incorporated himself within a pack of wolves.

Shaun Ellis is a behaviour expert who studies the behaviour of wolves.  He wants to prove that wolves and humans can learn to live together.

It was interesting to learn that Ellis did not have any formal training but he was able to incorporate himself with the wolves.  Ellis risks his life everyday in trying to learn the daily lives of wolves and to be accepted into their pack.

The documentary was really fascinating to see how Ellis learned to live with the wolves.  Not having any training Ellis is one of the most famous wolf researcher in the world.  And it is great to know as your watching the documentary to realize what others are doing in the world to help make our lives better.

Documentary: Supersize Me

I have never seen this documentary before, but I have heard of it.  Watching it really made me wonder about my eating styles.  Of course growing up every kid loves fast food.  The greasiness and fatty food just makes you want more.  But as you grow up you realize that your body doesn't take the food in well.

Watching this documentary made me see how people underestimate their own body.  Although it focused on the American culture of fast food, it also made me see that people should really watch what they eat.  It doesn't matter where you live, but nutritious eating makes you live a longer and healthier life.

60 Minutes: Sgt. Giunta's Medal of Honour

I watched this video not knowing what to expect.  The title of the show interested me into watching it, and I must say it was a shocking surprise.

Normally I know that these kind of shows are heart warming and emotional, but I didn't think that this clip would have the amount of impact as it did on me.  

Lara Logan interviews Sal Giunta, the first living soldier to win a Medal of Honour since the Vietnam war.  Hearing Sgt. Giunta explaining the situation and how him and his army went about during the attack makes you realize that we take life for granted.  When we complain about how crappy our day is our how sometimes its so hard to continue in life, you listen to the events on the day of October 25th, 2007, and you realize that there are people out there fighting every day to give us freedom.

Although Giunta is from the US, but it makes no difference what he was fighting for.  The most memorable quote that really brings out who Giunta is as a person is...

"Coming and talking about it and people wanting to shake my hand because of it, it hurts me, because it's not what I want. And to be with so many people doing so much stuff and then to be singled out—and put forward. I mean, everyone did something..."