Today, as a feature length film, we will be looking at "Super Size Me" by Morgan Spurlock (2003), a documentary used to convey the message that fast foods, particularly McDonalds, is horrible for your health. Morgan Spurlock during the course of this documentary decided to indulge in a McDiet, a 30 day challenge upon which Morgan will digest McDonalds for every meal. By the end of the McDiet, Morgan can only ingest foods and drinks that are on the McDos menu, and must eat every item on the menu. And if that isn't enough, Morgan has to Supersize his combos when the cashier offers.
1 hour and 40 minutes later, Morgan has come down with some serious liver problems, and has definitely proved his point to the audience. Although he didn't just do it through the experiment, of course he needed help from a trusty group of camera ops, editors, and professionals to interview.
Morgans message would have not been as appealing and/or "unappealing, if it were not for his amazing team of editors and camera crew. Super Size Me utilizes every tool in the book for a successful doc, from the very basic interviews and b-roll, to stills superimposed on video, flash animations and narration to list a few.
First of all, I would like to comment on the camerawork. A lot of the b-roll was filmed for a cinematic experience, i mean of course that a lot of the shots were shot and planned ahead of time, using creative ways to portray the McDonalds happy meals, or the size of the fountain pop cups increasing. A lot of handheld camerawork was used to, and this aspect added a realistic "day in the life" point of view, and made me feel like I was there with him, experiencing every time he puked or passed out from McDo overdose. One particular shot bothered me though, it was an interview with David Satcher, MD / Former U.S. Surgeon General, the framing was an offset subject looking just off camera towards the interviewer, which was great, until you notice how out of focus the subject is. The depth of field just fell shallow of David Satcher and made the intricate book shelves in the background very clear and distracting, leaving David out of focus. This bothered me quite a bit because his interview was close to the beginning, and showed up near the end as well.
I also want to point out the amazing amount of intricacy that this doc had become, layers upon layers of stills and text superimposed on interviews and b-roll. An interview with a teenager named Caitlin talking about the idealistic body of a 16 year old girl was covered in stills by the end of her spiel. As she was talking about other girls' bodies, the screen started to fill with pictures of models which seemed to be cut out from magazines, and slowly covered the screen leaving Caitlin in a drowning sea of idealistic bodies.
All in all, i would highly recommend "Super Size Me" to those who are worried about what their family is eating, but more specifically to those who want to learn something about health, and want to be entertained at the same time. Because Morgan's doc used any and all techniques for a successful doc, "Super Size Me" will captivate and hold you til the end of the doc.
WATCH YOUR WEIGHT PEOPLE
Next on Deck is Fight Science : Special Ops, a series of News Magazine documentaries based upon the Science behind different types of soldiers, fighting styles etc. This episode's doc was about the Special Ops of the U.S. Navy Seals, the elite of soldiers, also referred to as super soldiers. Now if you're as interested in Captain America as i am, you should check this out. Just like any National Geographic's series featured, every technique used in a successful doc is utilized. But one thing they had an upper hand on "Super Size Me" is the Scientific gadgets. They got a former U.S. navy seal to undergo tests under different conditions in a room Fight Science lined with 3D modelling cameras. This added a whole new medium to the mix where we could view the strain our Navy Seal Special Ops had to go through, physically and mentally. These 3D models were obviously put on screen for us to all drool over, what science gadgets can do is phenomenal.
National Geographic's Fight Science : Special Ops Episode
Last for this weeks doc review post is from our TV documentary section, i decided to feature none other than the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Milan. I have this dying love for each and every type of dog, but something that scares me, as well as everyone else is a dog that does not want to co-operate with his/her owner. Cesar Milan has trained himself to be able to interact with those misbehaving dogs, and always succeeds in calming and training the dog to respect his/her owner.
This weeks episode dealt with a family who wanted to get a new dog to add to their pack, an elderly woman who was lonely and adopted a dangerous mix breed. The essentials were there, interviews with supportive interviews of Cesar's clients, B-Roll. But it definitely only met the bare bones of a doc, being a TV series with commercial breaks planned through the episode, you tend to see a lot of the same b-roll over and over again trying to set up a climax for after the break. This may work for the majority of viewers, but i was not impressed, i've seen it all way too much. The most memorable part of the episode was the first family who were looking for a new dog to add to their pack, the youngest boy was feeling lonely and wanted a dog to call his own, so his parents went out to do so. They settled with the cutest cocker spaniel, and to portray the emotional connection between the boy and their new found dog, the editors used a very touchy song along with interview footage of the boy with the biggest smile on his face, b-roll to accompany it showing the boy playing with the spaniel.
Overall all these docs were effective. The TV series will be a little harder to pull off with the commercial breaks and "build-ups," but hopefully during this assignment/experiment, i will find a TV doc series that will prove me wrong.
Til then, here is a cute cocker spaniel,
Joel Evangelista
Good first set of blogs. I like the way you are approaching the reviews. Please add links and do some additional research to flush out your opinions some more. What are people saying about Morgan Spurlock, etc?
ReplyDelete3/3.75