Film Study: The Crash Reel (April 5-7)
(2013, dir. Lucy Walker)
While I'm away at the National Scholastic Press Association convention, you'll get to watch a really good documentary film! Hooray! Then, when I get back, we'll talk about it. Well, I hope you want to talk about it, because there's a lot to talk about in this movie.
Here are some of the things we'll definitely talk about. I present them here so you can think about them a bit beforehand.
If you want to get better at telling stories (in any medium), you need not only to be exposed to good ones, but you also need to think about them. The more thinking you do, the better your thinking will be!
(2013, dir. Lucy Walker)
While I'm away at the National Scholastic Press Association convention, you'll get to watch a really good documentary film! Hooray! Then, when I get back, we'll talk about it. Well, I hope you want to talk about it, because there's a lot to talk about in this movie.
Here are some of the things we'll definitely talk about. I present them here so you can think about them a bit beforehand.
- How about the visuals and sounds in the film? What do you think? Is it visually interesting? How does it sound?
- Talk about the pacing and momentum of the film: does it ever get slow? If so, when and why? If not, how does the edit help keep the momentum going?
- Describe how the filmmakers visually communicate to us about the relationships in the film. Which are the most important to the film? Are there certain shots, sequences, or interviews that resonate with you?
- What are some of the editorial decisions that affected your engagement with the film? What filmmaking decisions really worked for you? Which ones didn't work for you?
- Take a look at this definition of journalism from the American Press Institute. Click around the first few tabs at left--especially the ones about the purpose and elements of journalism. Based on this definition, does The Crash Reel qualify as a work of journalism? If so, how? If not, how not? Keep in mind, your answer to this question could be anywhere on the spectrum between NO and YES.
- Are there ideas in the film that relate to stories in your community? Steal one idea from this film and use it to help develop a story from this community. (It doesn't need to be about snowboarding or brain injuries; it could be about families, or medicine, or extreme sports, or anything.)
If you want to get better at telling stories (in any medium), you need not only to be exposed to good ones, but you also need to think about them. The more thinking you do, the better your thinking will be!