THREE TRACKS OF NON-FICTION FILMS
VISUAL TRACK What we SEE on screen
Parts of the visual track
1) Main story being told
2) Can be interrupted by…. Cutaway Archival / found footage Stills
VISUAL TRACK Main footage created / filmed for movie
Often interview footage of a subject
Can be the filmmaker him or herself
ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE Primary source photographs
Primary source film
Footage from ANOTHER movie
EXAMPLE…. Interview with a guitar player…
Guitar player talking about his childhood in Chicago
Cutaway to pictures of Chicago (when he was growing up)
Back to player talking about his heroes Cutaway to film of player’s heroes playing
guitar He says he’ll play Close-up on his fingers as he plays.
CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING The Fog of War Atomic Cafe
AUDIO TRACK What we hear!
Narration On screen Off screen
“Voice of God” narration
Soundtrack Music in the background
MUSIC Diegetic
Logically heard by someone at the time of filming
Non-diegetic Sound track Sound effects!
What EFFECTS are created with the music choices?
EXAMPLES Outfoxed Supersize Me
TEXT / GRAPHICS TRACK Overlays of the visual track
Charts Drawings Graphics Subtitles
TEXT Identify who is talking Title of the person talking Location of a scene
Who IS identified; who is NOT? HOW are they identified (Big BIAS clue!)
BE CAREFUL Just because a person on screen has a t-shirt
with a word on it Not the text track Part of the visual track
EXAMPLES Religulous Where in the World…
HOW MIGHT THE FOLLOWING BE IDENTIFIED? George W. Bush
Michael Jackson
Madonna
Barak Obama
CONSIDER Image + Audio + Text = Possible Meaning
Consider Bowling for Columbine – Irony clip An Inconvenient Truth Super Size Me