How did rhythm in documentaries developed over time? The following blog post compares the documentary of Pennebaker “Bob Dylan – Don’t look back” of the year 1965 and the documentary “Amy – The Girl behind the name” about the singer Amy Winehouse by Asif Kapadia in published in 2015.
Source: https://www.zeit.de/kultur/film/2019-08/d-a-pennebaker-dokumentarfilmer-gestorben?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
Don’t look back
Don’t look back give an insight of the character, and the person of Bob Dylan, especially in contact with reporters and the situations before and after concerts. The film depicts the life of the 60s. In the conversation with reporters Bob Dylan shows revulsion and lack of interest towards journalists and denies them any understanding for his music. To a reporter of the Time magazine, he says: „You can call me a folk singer, but the people know better”. When a science student came to get to know Bob, the singer did not show any interest but played on the guitar when the student was talking. This mixture of talking and music accents shapes the film.
image source: https://www.kaltblut-magazine.com/amy-winehouse-the-girl-behind-the-name-a-movie/[2021.06.18]
Amy- The Girl behind the name
The documentary Amy – The Girl behind the name of the year 2015 shows the singer songwriter Amy Winehouse having much more trouble with her sudden publicity causing drug and alcohol problems and finally hear death.
Montage
A big part of the rhythm in the documentary Don’t look back is given by Bob Dylan’s music underlining the film.
The cutting rhythm in Don’t look back is marked by long shots. A lot of time one scene is shown without any cut, but the discussions are so dynamic that the prospectors are not missing anything. There are also scenes of 9 Minutes without any cut.
But there are also other rhythms giving dynamic to this film.
In the scene when Dylan’s girlfriend Joan Beaz is singing and playing guitar (29:36) Dylan is typing on a typewriter. The fast clicking that he is interfering Joans singing could also reveal his complete character. The clacking of shoes when Bob and his team steps on the wooden stage of the Royal Albert Hall shows the big impression Dylan leaves on a stage. The sound of the shoes echoes in your ear.
Words shape the rhythm of the documentary in a huge way, as Dylan’s talent to find words in a beautiful way has always been recognized. Next to Dylan’s quick-witted answers there are also word battles and even dispute scenes shown (18:23min (part 2)). These words and
The only use of original sound contributes to the outstanding character of the film.
Amy Winehouse’s music underlays the whole documentary Amy – The Girl behind the name. In addition to that different music and sound effects are used to intensify the spectator’s mood.
The documentary consists of interview scenes with Amy Winehouse at different TV shows, radio interviews and interview and voices cutouts with Andrew Morris (Bodyguard), Blake Fielder-Civil (ex-husband), Blake Wood (friend), Janis Winehouse (Mother), Juliette Ashby (Friend), Cynthia Winehouse (Amy’s paternal Grandmother) and Lauren Gilbert (friend) . The cutter Chris King
In contrast to the documentary of 1965 the cutting rhythm is much faster corresponding to the speeding up in time. Voice messages are overlay by all different archive material. In this posthumous documentary all kind of different video material was collected from media and friends.
Cinematography
Pennebaker’s camera work is marked by handheld shots including lots of fast pan shots and zoom outs from a detail shot to a wide shot. Pennebaker shot the documentary on 16 mm black and white film. He himself developed „a portable 16mm Camera“[1] with which he could follow the artist everywhere and pick up all spontaneous situations.
Besides rhythm in sound this documentary shows interesting rhythm in image. The repetition of car drives arrives throughout the documentary. The car is medium to rush to a new place and symbolizing the rush to new concerts in Dylan’s time of being famous. Other repetitions are newspapers and Dylan with a cigarette. There are also scenes where you can only see a black screen because of nighttime but you hear the screaming voices of fans (28:44). The repetition of phone calls shows the interest of other people having part of Dylans success and the managers discussing about it. The rhythm in image is part of the storytelling and giving glues to understand the character of Bob Dylan.
The film starts with a person holding parts of the Bob Dylan’s lyrics written on paper by listening to the music. This style reminds of the early stage of music videos.
The cinematography of Amy – The Girl behind the name is recognizable by its shaky, blurry images and video filmed by a phone camera.
Nick Shymansky (Amy’s manager) films Amy asking her questions in a driving car. This direct address reminds of the cinema direct, but it also is part of the storytelling. Asif Kapadia did not had influence on the material, but the chosen material let the audience being part of Amy’s environment. With including all the friend’s material filming her and asking her questions helps you understanding the pressure Amy felt by being filmed and addressed all the time of her fame and even before. The cinematography shapes storytelling of this documentary.
Rhythm is created by shaky camera movement and the flashlight being produced by the mass of photographers. Soft dissolves visualize the insidious disintegration of Amy Winehouse. Magazine Covers and Amy’s notes for new songs, pictures give the film a collage like style.
Narration
Pennebaker brings the “cinéma verité”[2] into the “Rockumentary”. As a silent observer he never intrudes in the situation and stays out of focus. Due to the intensive and intimate contact the filmmaker had with Bob Dylan you could guess that Pennebaker is a confederate and shows sympathy for him. The role of the filmmaker in cinema verité is to reveal the truth and leaving the audience to judge and making conclusions. Pennebaker totally withdraws his point of view, he never provokes certain situation but let Dylan act in his way.
The narration in Amy – The Girl behind the name works with off-voices by Amy’s closest contact persons or friends. Moments captured behind the scenes and interviews by media and friends work as a cinema direct. But the choice of statements made by Asif Kapadia gives the audience clear answers for the reasons of Amy’s death. Mitch Winehouse, Amy’s Father reacts to the documentary: “They are trying to portray me in the worst possible light”.[3]
[1] https://www.zeit.de/kultur/film/2019-08/d-a-pennebaker-dokumentarfilmer-gestorben?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F [2021.06.18]
[2] https://www.zeit.de/kultur/film/2019-08/d-a-pennebaker-dokumentarfilmer-gestorben?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F [2021.06.18]
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/01/mitch-winehouse-interview-amy-documentary-film [2021.06.18]
