2. The art of making handmade bicycles:
The narrative of this documentary can be identified by looking at different codes and
conventions such as; genre, character, form and time. If we take a look at genre we can
see that this documentary shows signs of observational mode and participatory mode
creating somewhat of a documentary hybrid. This is made obvious as the documentary
includes different codes and conventions found in both documentary modes. In regards
to observational modes we can see that the documentary includes scenes where the
social actors behave in a way in which it looks like the camera is not there. This is
especially the case when we take a look at the first 10 second of the documentary where
the father is riding the bike with the children. This serves as unobtrusive camera to
create direct engagement with the everyday life of subjects. Barthes theory of
hermeneutic codes would suggest that this was done as a way to create curiosity within
the audience’s mind as they would be wondering who is that guy? Why is he on the bike ?
Making the audience want to know more. This quickly changes as 50 seconds into the
documentary we begin to see direct interaction with the camera. Once we look at
Participatory mode we can see that the main convention that is in the documentary is
that the subject narrates the documentary and has more interaction with the audience.
Here we begin to see a wider range of camera shots, with the majority of the shots being
extreme close-ups and close ups of the bicycles with real time interludes . Furthermore,
we also see a interview style set up, where we have subjects in the documentary who ask
the main subject a range of different questions to try and get more information on the
subject.
When we take a look at the editing we can see the most dominant effect was slow focus ,
this was especially the case when there are extreme close up shots. In addition to this
when two subjects are in frame we can see that only one of them will be in focus, most of
the time the person who is talking will be the one who is in focus.
In terms of content we can see that the majority of what is shown to the audience is the
main subject creating the bikes accompanied by his narration, explaining how things work
and why certain things are done in a certain way. So although it seems like the subject
does nit have a script and is just having one big monologue, its possible that the person
behind the camera has asked them questions but has edited them out.
3. TITLE/ TEXT ON SCREEN
Here we see one of the conventions
highlighted in our research which is
a title sequence / text on screen at
the beginning of the short
documentary. Just as a way to
introduce the name of the
documentary and as a way to also
introduce the subject of the
documentary
Slow Focus
The first shot that we see is a slow
focus, this is then something that is
used throughout the rest of the
documentary when the main subject
is talking. This could have been used
as a way to set the pace of the
documentary since the subject is
talking about a slow and long
process of making bicycles
Coming Into The Frame
One of the shots after the title/
text on screen is a shot where the
subject rides the bike into the shot.
4. STILLS
This is an example of one of the
conventions that we found in our
research. Near the end of the
documentary there were still
pictures inserted of events that
were missed. Stills are often used
as a way to insert information that
the filmmaker may not have been
able to record.
SUBJECT IN FOCUS
Here we see a shot where there
are two people that are in frame
but only the subject is in focus.
This is a repetitive thing in the
documentary. Often this is used to
show the importance of a person
in the documentary, as the subject
is always the one who is in focus
when talking this shows that he is
the more important figure to the
audience and also shows the
power dynamic between the
subjects
QUESTIONS BY FILMAKER
By asking the question and
allowing for the audience to hear
this breaks one of the main
conventions in documentaries.
5. The documentary starts with a vintage feel to the shot these shots continue
through the clip they are used to represent the history of the brand, this is most
likely achieved with a filter that is applied in post. There is a high shot rate in the
documentary there are 99 cuts in this short documentary this is a quick cut rate
it has been done to represent the passing of time which is relevant to the title of
the clip. Stereotypical American behaviour is represented by the characters of
this film. Thro is product placement; the Carhatt logo is always in the bottom
right corner and often comes into the centre of the shot. Characters that are
speaking never go out of focus while talking. Through the clip there is text over
the screen at the start this text displays information about the current clothing
market. There is also text used to introduce each character that slowly fades out
as they are talking, this text is in the bottom left corner of the shot. It therefore
doesn’t take the attention away from the character that is always shot to take
up two thirds of the shot whiles speaking. The target audience for this video I
think is the American market young adults ages 18-30, I think this due to the
way Americans have been depicted. I do however think it could appeal to indie
teenagers, I think this because of the brands identity and not the video however.
6. Unlike the Carharrt documentary this documentary is relatively slow paced,
however the clip does start with a title sequence this then cuts to an
establishing shot of a house, it then cuts to a medium close up of Sam Maloof
working with the diegetic sound of machinery. There’s then a cut to ‘Roz Bock’
we are told her name by a small amount of white text in the bottom left corner.
This is similar to the Carhartt documentary. Every new character is introduced
into the documentary is introduced using white bold text in the bottom left
corner. At 1:45 there is a quote from Jimmy Carter. Similar to the sol local
heroes advert there is some stills at the start of this documentary. In this case
they are a mixture of archive pictures of Sam Maloof working. All the
interviews with people in this documentary are shot using a tripod to give a
nice steady shot. Unlike the ones in the Carhartt documentary where there is a
lot of camera shake. This documentary doesn’t have any form of narration, it
appears to be unscripted this is similar to the Carhatt documentary.
7. The documentary starts with a short introduction to the sponsor of the advert,
SOL beer, showing a still of their logo, followed up by 3 stills – close ups of
scrap metal (the tools he uses in his projects). As the documentary progresses
and we are introduced to a series of short shots of various tools set around his
work shop, there is a few examples of product placement, as the logo of his
company are evident to see in each shot. We only see the side profile of the
person we assume is speaking over the shots, yet he is central and always in
focus, whilst the things around his warehouse is often out of focus. Him always
being in the middle of the shot amplifies his importance, and that he’s the
subject of the documentary. It is after 17 seconds that we actually see him for
the first time, however facing away from the camera, this is an establishing
shot. The title sequence begins, showing a long shot of him riding a bike across
the seafront – before 3 short shots of him collecting various items from
junkyards and garages. This leads onto several close ups of the stuff he’s
collected, with him in focus in the background. Followed by stop motion stills
of the products he’d made over time, and then lastly a time lapse of his
portrait being painted.
