Amy Winehouse

1. Watch the sequence Addiction to crack cocaine and Blake:
1. List the techniques used by the director to show Winehouse’s battle with drug addiction
and why they may have been used.
The techniques used by the director to show Amy’s battle with drug addiction was
interesting. They have included home footage from Blake, who appears in the shot. This
shows he played a big part in the role of Amy’s drug addiction. Amy is then shown under
the influence of drugs, which again makes the audience feel like Blake is to blame for
Amy’s addiction. This is shown with close up shots, which makes it clear she is under the
influence. Straight after this, their is footage of Amy’s performance at the Eden Project in
July 2007 where she appears to be struggling to stay awake. The song played with this song
was ‘Rehab’ which again links into her drug addiction. The scene then goes on to show still
images and footage with Blake in. The footage is shown as horizontal which gives a trip like
effect to the footage. This then looks as if Blake is to blame for Amy’s addiction, due to
encouraging her. This makes you feel sorry for Amy as she is vulnerable towards Blake.
2. What do you feel is the overall effect of this sequence?
I feel like the overall effect of this sequence is to show factors in Amy’s life which lead her
to become a alcoholic, a drug abuser, bulimic and anorexic. This documentary gives the
audience sympathy towards her, which creates a sense of blame. This is reflected in the
individuals displayed through out the documentary. Especially towards Blake, Mitch and
even fame in general. They’ve used found footage which makes the documentary non bias
but how they have edited the footage, shows a correspondence of the individuals in her life.
This shows there is always someone else to blame but herself in the documentary. The
footage has been taken from different resources which means the resources aren't from one
source, which makes the overall documentary seem like a true reflection of Amy’s life.
However, they could have edited the audio by using Frankenbiting which means the editor
could have changed the meaning of what people have said. One person who feels strongly
against the documentary was Amy’s father: Mitch. He stated that when Amy was asking
him about rehab, he said ‘she shouldn't go at that time’ the words ‘at that time’ were edited
out. This makes Mitch seem as if he doesn't care for Amy’s wellbeing due to not being
supportive in her time of need. As the footage goes on in these scenes, it shows Mitch trying
to film her whilst she was having a break from all the fame and media. He added to her
stress which shows her dad was mainly concerned over her money and fame and never tried
to understand how she felt. The sequences: Addiction to crack cocaine and Blake show a
dark time in Amy’s life. She was completely obsessed with Blake which was leading her
down a dark road. This sequence helps pin the blame on Blake, her father and the fame.
Blake played a huge part in Amy’s addiction. This is because Blake is shown with Amy
when she has been high or under the influence. This shows he didn't care what she was
doing and encouraged her behaviour. They do this by including still images and home
footage of her and blake. This footage is shown as wobbly as if someone couldn't hold the
camera correctly. This adds to the state she was in at the time. This shows Blake is equally
to blame in the documentary.

2. Amy hated the spot light and the way she lashed out was drugs and alcohol. Her dad didn't
care for this and blake encouraged her and got her addicted to these substances.