Thursday, 18 August 2011

Eldon Booth is film director, writer and producer who has made such films as Withdrawal, Five Good Reasons and most recent Finding Honk which has not been released yet for it is still being worked and tidied up. His work is a documental drama and experimental drama style. He like experiment and push the boundaries of fact and fiction like in his first film Withdrawal. By following a character in the film in the form of an armature documentary. With characters being free to look directly at the camera, long takes and quick pans creating a feeling that it is real and all unfolding in front of you. He also plays with time as were he used split screen showing the two family members dealing with there problems in separate ways with the grandfather being medicated in the hospital and the teenaged grandson medicating himself with drugs. The film was shot over a long period of time so the characters aged and the landscape changed which mach the theme of the film. Some scenes were reality like the hospital scene and the landscape change as farm was being turned into suburban land.

The movie Elephant also played with fact and fiction how it was baste on a true story and the camera angels were in a way that makes you feel as if you are following the character through their day. By using long takes, usually one camera angel, close ups to long shots on a character and shallow depth of field creates a sense of being present. They also plays with time as it will follow one character through their day then will cut back to another characters path for that day.

The program that comes to mind when thinking of fact and fiction is a t.v series Trailer Park Boys it’s a comedy and is filmed in the style of a documentary as they will have sense were the characters talk to the camera explaining things about what happening and the rest of the show is filled with their stupidity and life in their trailer park. It seems as if the whole community is involved as there are many characters in the program.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Renata,

    I heard about Trailer Park Boys but I haven't seen it yet. I guess the comedy angle is quite different to what Eldon is doing, but the merging of reality with fiction is appropriate. I would like to hear a little more - like for example, when you say it is filmed like a documentary - what are some examples? Is the camera hand-held? Do people look at the camera? What else?

    TX

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