Amy

digital and critical debates
practitioner / film theoristy

Bowling for Columbine (2002)

- actively engages
- openly participates or interacts with people and institutions within documentary
- Moore has presence throughout, driving the documentary forwards
- engages with individuals more directly while not reverting to classic exposition interview styles
- interview with Heston
- meaningful cuts between shots that influence audience
- Moore has a voice over
- non linear

- absence - never see or hear Asif Kapadia
- entirely made up of archival / found footage (home videos, voicemails, concert footage, press footage)
- bias in framing of characters (Blake and Mitch)
- not really any reconstruction due to it being a chronological documentary made up to archival footage + Amy's songs telling her story however could be argued against due to editing and sound / choice of what to include
- never hear or see interviewer only hear voiceover
- chronological order

- in a recording studio
- professional equipment
- messy (in the midst of working)
- makeshift sound proofing (foam + blankets)
- sound operator and Amy in casual clothing
- red shirt + black shorts - tight, sexualising outfit
- iconic eyeliner
- cigarette - coping mechanism / foreshadowing later problems with drug use
- professional work environment contrasts the home videos and archive footage of nan that follows

- opens on CU of soundboard
- shaky handheld camera - authenticity
- zooms in and out
- canted midshot ronson
- midshot of Amy singing in recording booth - zooms into ECU then midshot
- lighting is naturalistic and authentic
- midshot of Amy looking through glass - audience looking in - voyeuristic feel of watching her

- long takes - footage of recording studio
- cut from soundboard to Amy recording singing
- cut from Amy to archive footage of nan
- straight, minimal cuts
- simplistic editing to not take away from Amy being the focus
- overlayed titles - make the audience reflect on the lyrics and how they illustrate her life as well as showing the audience who's talking - highlighting the people in Amy's life

- Amy + Ronson talking about song process
- back to black intro music - non diegetic
- Amy singing Back to Black - no music - diegetic
- back to with music
- Amy talking commenting on song, happily joking - diegetic
- Ronson and Beese non diegetic voiceover (B- speaking of her nan) (R- caught her at the right time)

- messy living room
- lots of cds
- Amy is in robe on phone
- suitcase open on floor
- cuts to footage in hotel room
- concert with Amy in signature makeup
- paparazzi - chaotic, crowded outside building
- interview with hair rollers in
- photos of drugs and Amy high
- Amy 'looked like a child'

- home videos - authentic shaky handheld camera
- different angles
- zoom out on Amy
- midshot across table
- CU of Amy looking into camera
- establishing wide angle shot of Amy on stage
- ECU of amy in interview

- long take
- overlayed titles 'voice of Blake Fielder' - introducing audience to the people in her life
- cuts to slowed ECU Amy's face
- cuts to high during performance at the Eden project
- overlayed lyrics maker audience reflect on the relation to her life and it's her telling her own story
- cut to swarmed by paparazzi with erratic loud flashing - jarring
- cut to high during interview
- panning over static shots / stills
- freeze frame on Amy with a greeny yellow tongue
- fade to black
- cut to CU Amy's face
- cut to paparazzi

- Blake Fielder - detailing start of addiction -> just a voice in the background
- muted clips of Amy
- singing 'you know I'm no good' reflects her life
- sounds of cameras clicking - harassing her
- Juliette and Nick voiceover
- Amy in interview high - slurred speech

- establishing shot of London landscape
- static shot of Amy's iconic eyeliner
- shot of Amy as kids with 2 others
- LS london house - police outside, body on stretcher - red bodybag
- pan shot of Tony Bennett in studio (reflecting their professional relationship)
- funeral - black clothing
- slow-mo grainy videos of Amy in the past not as much makeup or persona

- still photos from paparazzi, different angles getting closer to her face
- photos from childhood with friends
- aerial shot of London
- paparazzi footage showing police commotion outside her apartment
- slowed down footage, shaky when body comes out
- MCU family crying
- paparazzi footage from outside her funeral - wide angle (showing many people there)
- montage of home footage

- aerial shot of city dissolves into Amy one of the last photos taken of her
- slow zoom on static shot of her in street symbolic of feeling like time is slowing or stopping as she died
- dissolve to shot of same day, different shot on street fade like fading memory
- montage of Amy's past, childhood -> young adulthood
- pan birds eye over city with overlay of date
- cut to slow-mo police outside her apartment
- cut to bodybag being carried to private ambulance
- "3 days later" crying father funeral, slow mo shots
- cut to past - much younger - before fame montage
- shots from earlier - showing her initial concerts

- voiceovers throughout (Juliette, bodyguard, doctor, tony Bennett) - last interactions with Amy
- soft piano keys
- quiet clicks of cameras
- doctor said 'alcohol level was 45x higher than drink driving limit'