View a Film Assignment: Annie Leibovitz

The documentary Annie Leibovitz: life through a lens, provided an in-depth look into the life of famous photographer Annie Leibovitz.  The documentary captured the viewer’s interest from the beginning when the film opened with many famous people saying her name.  This technique captures the viewer’s interest while simultaneously bringing full attention to the subject of the movie, Annie Leibovitz.  The repeated clips of various people saying her name creates a repetition that establishes Leibovitz as the center of attention for the film that will follow. By showing many famous people, including Vogue editor Anna Wintour and actress Whoopie Goldberg, saying her name, the viewer understands that Annie Leibovitz is an important photographer. By choosing this technique to open the movie, Leibovitz’s credibility as a famed photographer is established, and the viewer’s attention is centered on Leibovitz and ready to learn about her as the rest of the movie follows.

One of the most effective techniques used in the movie that helped the viewer thoroughly understand Leibovitz was the movie’s reliance on both showing and telling about Leibovitz’s life.  As Leibovitz would describe a particular photo, the photo would flash on screen as she described it, or as others described how Leibovitz acts while photographing, a film segment of Leibovitz on the job would play.  Rather than simply relying on either showing or telling about Leibovitz’s life, combining both aspects allows the viewer to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of Leibovitz’s life and work.

The film also used effective transitions.  For example, the film transitioned from Leibovitz’s work with the band The Rolling Stones to her photography of dance by showing pictures of The Rolling Stones onstage that conveyed movement, then gradually interspersing photos of dancers with these photos as the narration in the background shifted from discussing her photography of The Rolling Stones to her photography of dance.  Finally, the transition was neatly completed as a short clip of Leibovitz photographing a famous ballet dancer played.  The transition was so neat because it took two seemingly unrelated topics, The Rolling Stones and ballet dancers, and focused on the common ground between them, movement.

The combination of the captivating opening scene, both showing and telling, and using effective transitions made the documentary informative of Leibovitz’s life  but more importantly interesting to the viewer.  Documentaries are meant to increase the viewer’s knowledge of a particular subject, but if the documentary is uninteresting or organized poorly, then the viewer will not learn anything new and the documentary will lose its importance.  Luckily, Annie Leibovitz: life through a lens succeeded in both capturing and keeping the viewer’s interest, and in increasing the viewer’s knowledge of Annie Leibovitz’s life.  In both content and technique, this was a very inspiring film.

Youtube Assignment

Video "One Million Veggies": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OofZijjsNQ4
The video “One Million Veggies” by Youtube user onemillionveggies highlights parents’s struggles to get their children to eat the recommended amount of vegetables.  The video began with close-up shots of the narrator’s children eating vegetables while the narrator introduced them by name and described a few of their likes, adding humor by revealing, somewhat sarcastically, that his daughters both love Selena Gomez.  The video then cuts to a shot of the children playing in a yard, while the narrator discusses some of the things that he and his wife try to teach their children, the last of which is to eat their vegetables.  The video then cuts to another shot of the narrator’s youngest daughter struggling to eat an entire cob of corn, which highlights the struggle the narrator and his wife face in trying to get their daughters to eat their vegetables.  The narrator reveals some comical tactics used to bribe his children to eat vegetables, including renaming carrots “pizza”.  After this, the video takes a more serious turn. A sped-up wide-angle shot is used to show kids entering and leaving a school as the narrator describes the many health concerns for children right now.  During this shot, facts about child obesity flash on screen to further emphasize the narrator’s point.  The narrator then urges one million viewers to upload anything, including a recipe, a video of children eating vegetables, or even “a kid sharing kale with a cat” to encourage the narrator’s children and children across the world to eat their vegetables.  During this time, numerous shots of children, vegetables, and children with vegetables flash quickly across the screen, with further emphasizes the large number of viewers being asked to participate.
Overall the video does a good job of communicating the message.  Beginning the video with an introduction to the narrator’s children makes the video interesting, relatable, and grabs the viewer’s attention from the beginning.  The video follows a logical sequence of shots in that it begins with an anecdote, describes the parents’ difficulty in making their children eat vegetables, and then shows how that message is applicable to all children.  However, at one point there is a seemingly random shot of Mr. Potato Head being assembled, and this does not seem to fit in with the narration. Mr. Potato Head, a silly doll for children, does not seem to fit in as the narrator claims that “this stuff is serious.”  Sped-up shots were used a few times in this video, and most of the time they made the video more interesting to watch.   Using a sped-up shot during the time-lapse of children entering and exiting a school fit seemed like a logical choice in order to place emphasis on how many children are affected in just a few seconds of the video’s time.  However, during the introductions of the narrator’s children, a sped-up shot was used for one daughter but not the other. This was confusing, since the narrator placed emphasis on how much they are alike by including that they both love Selena Gomez.  Using this effect for only one daughter seemed to suggest that they are different, which contradicts the narrator’s point.  Besides these few issues, the video’s organization helps to effectively convey the message that children should be eating more vegetables, and the comedic tone of the narrator keeps the video light and makes the viewer more willing to help out the narrator’s cause.

To improve the piece, taking out the Mr. Potato Head part and the irrelevant sped-up scene would help improve the conveyance of the message.  Also, the narrator's voice was a bit low at times and difficult to hear.  Making the narrator's voice clearer and louder would help to strengthen and empower the message
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