Secondary Research - Films
I plan to do a mockumentary style short film.
Some of the films that I will look at for my secondary research are What We Do in the Shadows (2014, Taika Waititi), This Is Spinal Tap (1984, Rob Reiner) & Noroi: The Curse (2005, Kōji Shiraishi) among others.
What We Do in the Shadows
Dir. Taika Waititi, 2014
Starring Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh
Genre: Mockumentary, Horror, Comedy
The poster and the film itself use mostly darker colours. That is because the film revolves around a group of vampires and the action is happening at night for most of the film, thus it fits the narrative to have a darker colour scheme.
The film is structured like a documentary. There are interviews with the subjects (the vampires) and the presence of the crew is openly acknowledged.
In the beginning there's an opening title, telling the audience briefly about the subjects of the film like regular documentaries do.
The film uses shaky camera work for almost all scenes except for the interviews where the camera is static, just like in an actual documentary.
Viago's character provides the "Voice of God" narration.
The editing is quick paced in some of the montage scenes for humorous effect. (eg. The "Vampire Style" scene)
The soundtrack is mostly traditional Eastern European music, also used for humorous effect to highlight the absurdity of the character.
Some of the things that I enjoy in this film and would like to implement in my production is the way the over the top and absurd things we see are normalized by having the audience get to know the characters and emphasize with them.
This Is Spinal Tap
Dir. Rob Reiner
Starring Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer
Genre: Mockumentary, Music, Comedy
The film's use of a brighter colour scheme, as it follows a group of eccentric rock musicians, helps the audience immerse itself into the hectic world the movie portraits. In contrast to that, the other half of the film (interviews, backstage footage) uses a significantly duller colour scheme.
The film follows the structure of a participatory documentary and uses Cinéma Vérité.
The director Rob Reiner, actively participates in the narrative as the fictional documentary filmmaker Marty DiBergi, who follows the band on their way back under the spotlights. His active role and interactions with the group are an example of Cinéma Vérité, though a quasi one.
The film utilizes shaky camera work to give the Spinal Tap universe a sense of authenticity, which can then trick some viewers into believing that they are watching an actual documentary. (Another famous example of that, which also happens to be one, if not, the first mockumentary, is Orson Welles' War of the Worlds [1]).
The editing is fast paced for the performance scenes. This helps to give sense of the subjects' hectic lifestyle. The film varies quick cuts with long cuts for comedic effect.
Since it's a music film, following a rock band, there's a heavy emphasis on the soundtrack. It is used as a way to introduce us to the characters and is a vital part of the story.
Noroi: The Curse
Dir. Kōji Shiraishi
Starring Maria Takagi, Rio Kanno, Ai Iijima
Genre: Mockumentary, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
The film falls under the "demon curse" sub-genre of Japanese horror cinema (One other famous example of that sub-genre is the 1964 Kaneto Shindo's Onibaba). It is unusually long for a Japanese horror film, being a little under 2 hours, with most J-Horror films on average being about an hour long.
The film uses an odd mixture of found footage and clips from fictional reality shows for world building. The camera work is again shaky and the documentary style is participatory, with the main character, Masafumi Kobayashi who is an investigative journalist, interviewing people and investigating the bizarre happenings driving the plot.
The narrative is seemingly non-linear until the last quarter of the film, when the events start piecing together.
I would use that non-linear style of storytelling in my film. One thing that Noroi does but gets away with is spoiling the ending within the first few minutes. I think that despite doing that, the movie is not any less enjoyable and that non-linear storytelling works well with found footage films and mockumentaries.
[1] THE HISTORY OF THE MOCKUMENTARY
In-text: ("The History Of The Mockumentary")Your Bibliography: "The History Of The Mockumentary". N.p., 2017. Web. 4 May 2017. Link
