Blog 4 - November 28th, 2011

Grass (1999)

Directed by Ron Mann, the documentary Grass covers the war on marijuana by the American Government during the 20th century.  From the El Paso Ordinance in 1914 and onward, the documentary covers the prejudice, politics, and propaganda speaking louder than voices of reason in the United States.

The documentary is done entirely with archival footage of interviews, news reels, and graphics from whatever time period currently being covered.  There is a vast amount of unique footage put together in this documentary and a lot of dug up videos of America's history.  The doc makes apparent the questionable ill effects that the substance has and the studies upon studies discredited in the pursuit of illegality. 

Personally the idea of using nothing but archival footage was a choice that makes this documentary unique.  Grass is narrated by Woody Harrelson as he explains the archival footage and drives the story forward through history.

This particular documentary's segments are divided into not only time periods, but points in history where America changes their official policy on marijuana (which is a lot).  I found the documentary interesting and informative, but partially annoying.  This wasn't because of any cinematic standpoint because it's all archival footage, but on more of a global scale.  It was the confusion I had similar to watching Inside Job.  So many things go by in life unaccounted for that the majority of people just forget are wrong.

The documentary does its job; to make you start thinking about it again.
For information on this documentary, visit here.


W5: Into Thin Air - Saturday, November 19th, 2011

W5 and their episode on November 19th, covered the disappearance of Mariam Makhniashvili (left) two years ago and the questions they have yet to answer.

Through reenactments and archival footage W5 and Sue Sgambati cover her original disappearance and interviews with detectives, police, and her mother to cover the time during the primary search.

With security camera footage, the first few clues, and onward you realize that she seemed to have completely fell off the map.  Nobody recognized her because she had recently come to Canada, which made the international search all the more harder.

W5 covers the family's background, the two year search, and what's happened recently.  Their interviews have deep settings and content that are always relevant to her case.  An example of this is the detective and her Missing Person posters in the background.  W5 always brings their A-game to their stories and this is no exception.

To watch this episode, click here.

Planet Earth - Shallow Seas
 

Shallow seas cover 8% of the planet's water, but contain the vast majority of marine life.  Planet Earth travels down with the humpback whales, across the Great Barrier Reef, and all around the world documenting life in the shallow seas.

Planet Earth and their team can never be praised enough for their shots.  They're amazingly unique to the point where you start to believe they're done digitally.  Just a few examples are the close up of humpback babies being supported to the surface, time lapses of multiple kinds of algae growing, and the 18 million sea birds that migrate to Australia.

The shots are synced together with the music and make the twisting, swaying, and time lapsing feel like a musical.  As dolphins sway through the walls of fish left and right, Shallow Seas makes it feel like a choreographed dance number underwater.  Planet Earth always delivers because they don't leave until they get their shots.  It's respectable work that deserves all the high praise it receives.

For information on Planet Earth, visit here.

Blog 3 - November 7th, 2011

Supersize Me (2004)

Supersize Me is a feature documentary by Morgan Spurlock on obesity in the United States and the consequences of a month of solely McDonalds food.  Morgan essentially attacks the original statement of McDonalds Founder Ray Kroc - “Look after the customer and the business will take care of itself.”

The documentary begins with a question.  Morgan Spurlock proposes to everyone, ‘what would happen if someone ate McDonalds for an entire month?’  ‘Let’s find out.’  A Cardiologist, Gastro Entomologist, Dietician, and a General Practitioner all tell him that the results will be low and change will be slightly moderate – how wrong they are.

Supersize Me is split into two stories – Morgan Spurlock’s personal 30 days and the titled accounts and personal stories of those that the food industry effects.  The film is clearly at a lower budget, but its story is solid and relatable for its time.  His ‘McDiet’ is documented very well from day 1 to 30 and the change in his physical and emotional appearance becomes largely evident from his first vomiting to his last.  The documentary has rules and regulations such as scorecards and charts created by Morgan that he adheres to so that the story stays factual.  There are computer graphics, stills, and narration that are standard in many documentaries.  In my opinion the cinematography is nothing special, but as I mentioned before the doc is all about his personal account.

For more info on Supersize Me, visit here.

Daily Planet - November 4th, 2011

Daily Planet, hosted by Ziya Tong and Dan Riskin, focused their episode on November 4th on not only Spain, but the architectural changes over the last century.  The episode gave a ton of information on architectural design, geometry, engineering, and physics through expert explanation and computer graphics draped with narration.  Each story has a sense of uniqueness when you watch it.  They are quick, professional cuts to the tone and mood of each individual account.  Every narrative feels like its own little documentary because it essentially is.  My favorite thing about this episode is the amount of information you gather on physics and engineering.  There is a mass amount of information on trajectory, stabilization, geometry, and the planning involved in every feat that inspires other.  The amount of B-roll and beautiful shots, such as the Metropol Parasol (Top Right), involved in each story for not only the projects, but the interviews as well is gigantic and exciting.  I enjoyed this episode and what Daily Planet continuously offers because I always expect to learn something about the world and I never knew before - this episode is no exception to their brilliance.

To watch this episode or other episodes of Daily Planet, visit here.

Planet Earth Series – Caves

From the structural ingenuity of man, to the marvels of nature and the thousands of miles of underground passages all over the world, this is the Planet Earth documentary entitled Caves.

I like to be surprised, excited, awe inspired – everything I ask for I get plus more in Caves.  There are glow worms with chemical lights, lizards drastically changed through adaptation, millions of bats and cockroaches, and eroded limestone passages that stretch for miles – all amazingly documented with excellent cinematography and through the narrative of David Attenborough.

From Deer Cave in Borneo, the subterranean water world of the Yucatán, and the Chandelier Ballroom of Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico (Right) are just a few of the wonders in this world that are so stunningly beautiful, but lost in miles of darkness until the last recent decades.

Right off the bat (no pun intended) I insist everyone see this documentary.  It is in my opinion the best one out of all the series and maybe the best nature documentary I’ve ever seen.  There is so much about caves that we know nothing about.  They are those yet to be trekked parts of the world that people these days long to discover.  But Planet Earth goes there and you’ll learn so much about the dark and creepy side of nature.  The classical music selection is superb for the action. The ambient sound of the B-Roll helps you feel the tone of the clips.  They got cameras on mountain-sized piles of feces, the least we can do is watch.

For more information on Planet Earth visit, here.

Blog Two - October 16th, 2011

Inside Job

Inside Job (2011) is a documentary directed by Charles Ferguson that takes a very close look at the collapse of the US economy in the late 2000s.  Inside Job won an Academy Award as the Best Documentary for 2010.

The film uses an excellent assortment of interviews, computer graphics, and the narration of Matt Damon to thoroughly explain the debt and disintegration of the US economy.  It describes the people involved and the poor ideas put into motion such as sub-prime loans and derivatives that were large parts of the throwing the population into debt.

The film has a meticulous flow, in-depth, thorough research, and beautiful shots all over from interviews to b-roll.  The graphics with graphs and charts further amplified the numbers related to debt and potential loss, which I found very useful.

What surprised me the most was that, unlike many other documentaries, this one focused solely on the national and global problems rather than taking individuals or families who have been struck by the debt crisis and chronologically detail their problems.  I found this approach less emotional, but more shocking and engaging.  I feel stylistically that this approach was the right choice.   It’s quite obvious why this documentary is the best one of 2010 after watching it.  It’s excellently executed and thought through.

For more information on Inside Job visit their imdb page here.

CTV’s W5 with Lloyd Robertson, Victor Malarek, and Litsa Sourtzis – Aired October 15^th, 2011

Victor Malarek discusses the question of assisted suicide and dying with dignity when your life is completely reliable on others.  Victor interviewed many people including those struggling with MS, those who have gone to another country for assisted suicide, and those detailing the potential risks of allowing assisted suicide.  The story details the origin of assisted suicide and the future of the court battles as well as where the battle lines are drawn in this debate.

With many different points of view the report covers both sides of the debate over euthanasia.

Litsa Sourtzis delivers a detailed story of the face of women’s rights Gloria Steinem and the future of the feminist movement.  They discuss how her face has faded away and that many women these take the rights they have now for granted.

It’s an important report on women’s rights.  It has very interesting information like the Ms. America Pageant is the place that delivers the most scholarship money to women in the US, which are surprising to hear.

The interview is done in one well lit studio, but W5 follows her all over from her talks with the Canadian Women’s Foundation to the creators of SlutWalk in Toronto.

For the euthanasia report visit here.

For the Gloria Steinem report visit, here.

Planet Earth – Ice Worlds

Ice Worlds details life on the glaciers for life as the Planet Earth team dives into the rich arctic waters of Antarctica and the North Pole and fly high into the frigid skies.

The cinematography makes you feels like you’re discovering the continent of Antarctica for the first time.  The mammoth world full of cathedrals of ice is beautifully displayed with aerial shots and life itself is brilliantly displayed in close up fashion.

The most interesting part in my opinion is the Antarctic penguins and how the males struggle to keep their eggs warm as the females leave.  Through speeding up the time you can see how penguins cram together in a huddle to prevent heat from escaping.  They can only survive 100mph winds and -60 degree weathers through teamwork.

The most interesting shots are done in the water.  There is so much life in the ice waters that I didn’t expect as well as a ton of life and green foliage in the Arctic Circle.

As with many nature documentaries, it is the sound accompanied by the life that creates the atmosphere.  It did an excellent job in this documentary combining animal noises with narration and effects.  To me I felt like I was watching another planet.  Antarctica is a place that despite being barren rock and mile-high snow is captured in all its beauty in this documentary.

To see clips of Planet Earth, visit here.

My first post's theme will entail going all around the world and learning about things you may not know.  To portray this I've chosen an episode of Discovery's Daily Planet, Part 1 of BBC's Planet Earth series, and a feature documentary from 1922 created by Robert Flaherty called Nanook of the North.

Daily Planet, hosted by Ziya Tong and Dan Riskin (right), featured an assortment of colourful and engaging stories.  From technology to environmental issues, Daily Planet has always delivered things you should know.


To begin the Daily Planet team travelled to Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, Florida to meet with Winter the dolphin who was rescued back in 2006 that lost her tail from amputation due to injury.    You are able to see techniques on how they shot Winter for the film Dolphin Tale by Daily Planet paralleling from them being on set to the actual film itself and how the shot turned out.  Daily Planet goes on set and interviews the original designers of Winter's prosthetic tail, the directors of the film based on Winter, as well as the team of workers in Clearwater who helped Winter swim again to give you a detailed, full circle story.  This was a well done segment full of aspects leaving me with no question left to ask.

Daily Planet also traveled to the Netherlands to talk to the Dutch National BMX team preparing for the London Olympics in 2012, Magnetic Hill in Moncton, New Brunswick, and many, many other places in stories packed into a one hour segment.  The different stories are engaging and interesting on top of being informative.

You can catch all these fascinating stories and more on Discovery Channel's Video Catalogue.


Planet Earth
 For those of you unaware of this documentary TV series, Planet Earth is a nature documentary produced by the BBC detailing on certain habitats and parts of Earth each episode through stunning visuals and narration shot over a five year period.  BBC has the reputation for creating mind blowing documentaries on the world around us from Planet Earth, to The Blue Planet, and their newest series, Life.  I honestly can never get enough of these amazing documentaries because they're so well done with so much heart put into them.

From Pole to Pole is part one of the series.  This part takes you all around the world with narrator David Attenborough discovering how basic things like sun and water shape the world in ways you otherwise wouldn't be able to see.  It is a relevant documentary shaping different parts of the world with stunning substance and cinematic style.

From Pole to Pole is just a general overview of the series before the more focused parts, but even seeing the forests, wetlands, and polar caps and knowing that they're deteriorating is saddening.  Planet Earth lets you see these animals in all their natural splendor and it's fascinating to watch through the amazing cinematography and patience required to film such an extraordinary documentary.

My favourite segment is the birds of paradise in New Guinea.  These birds look like they are props put together for some mythical setting in a world far, far away.  They seem like they've been plucked out of people's imaginations and brought to New Guinea.  I think what most amazes me is how they actually got these shots by waiting in hides for days.  The documentary specifies how rare the birds are and, like with all of Daily Planet, relay the importance of all these birds and animals.


Clearly this film has taken years of dedication to get such amazing photos.  Shots of elephants swimming as the camera swims with them, a great white shark exploding completely out of the water in super slow motion to grab a seal, and the hunting dog's co-ordinated flanking attacks to catch a meal are just a few the most amazing things you'll find in this series.  Although it's shot in a typical nature documentary way like many of BBC’s docs with close ups and tracking shots, their visuals are beyond compare simply because you won't find these animals anywhere else.
 There's a filmmaker's perspective as well in their segment at the end of each part called Diaries.  Diaries shows you exactly how it is they got the shots in the first place.  From Pole to Pole's Diaries is entitled Eye in the Sky, showing how top shots to close ups were filmed all through the use of Heligimbal; a HD helicopter lens that bears amazing results.

For clips of Planet Earth and all their segments, visit Discovery channel's Planet Earth section.

Nanook of the North

1922’s Nanook of the North by Robert Flaherty is a documentary based on the lives of Eskimos (or Inuit) in northern Quebec spanning one year.  The central target of Flaherty’s film is Nanook or ‘The Bear’ and his followers, the Itivimuits.

The film stylistically is narrated by Flaherty through cuts to paragraphs describing what it is you are about to see; sometimes vaguely, sometimes with thorough explanations.  There are also many different variations of shots and interesting moments that help this film stand out especially for when it was made.

There are bonding moments throughout the film’s content showing just how close Nanook and his people are.  They are close not only for survival, but for the loving union they share.  Examples include the moments around building the igloo.  Nanook’s son not only gets to watch his father build the igloo, but when it’s all made he teaches the boy how to hunt with a practice bear made of snow and keeps his son’s hands warm by pressing them against his own cheeks.

 What always caught intrigued me about this when I first watched it years ago to watching it again for this is just how in-depth the film goes.  It was a remarkable untold story of people that weren’t understood at all in the 20s.  I am also aware that Flaherty was widely criticized for staging scenes in the documentary, but it still fulfills its main purpose of educating people on who the Inuit are and how they live.  It’s certainly a documentary that shouldn’t be forgotten.

To watch Nanook of the North you can find part 1 here.

This has been 'The World You May Not Know.'