To inspire my film and look more into the music and documentary genre, I decided to watch 'Whiplash' (Damien Chazelle, 2014)

Review: 

Whiplash follows the story of young drummer, Andrew, a hopeful drumming superstar who enrols at a music school where he hopes to be one of the greats, like Buddy Rich (Numerous references to his work). He meets Terrence Fletcher, a strict music instructor who pushes Andrew to breaking point to show his full potential as a jazz drummer. The film follows Andrew and Terrence's relationship, which changes throughout the film, switching from a mutual respect of each other, to violent confrontations. This results in Andrew snitching on his own instructor to get him fired, which he does successfully. The film spans several different small-stories, for instance the break-up of the short lived relationship between Andrew and Nicole because he wants to pursue his musical dreams, the confrontations between his family who do not take his drumming career seriously and a car crash incident which stops Andrew from playing a music recital.

Two favourite scenes:

Scene 1:

Drum Solo scene

The drum solo performance towards the end of Whiplash has to be a personal favorite moment in the film. The performance shows the passion that Andrew has, being intimidated by Terrence and embarrassed by him because of the change in song performance. Terrence tested Andrew's patience and passion for drumming by putting him through situations to test his tolerance to rejection and the real, harsh reality. Through fast-paced editing techniques, varying camera angles and sensational acting by J.K. Simmons (Instructor) and Miles Teller (Andrew), the scene brilliantly portrayed both characters in the way in which they had been made out to be throughout the film, and showed the strange bond the two characters had between one another.


Scene 2: 

Drum-off scene;

This scene is probably one of the darkest parts of the film through the sheer agony on each characters face, trying to play the right drum fill in order to get the part in the band. Terrence, the instructor, pushes each of them to their breaking point, eventually pushing Andrew so far that his hand starts to bleed from the grip of the drum sticks.  The humorous elements in the scene add to the horror of what is actually happening, for example at the end when Terrence says "You wanna clean the blood off of my drum set" to one of the other students and when Terrence starts throwing instruments at Andrew whilst he plays, which is a reference to an earlier scene when Terrence and Andrew have a conversation about how another teacher hit a drummer in the head with a cymbal to get him to play the right drum fill. Again all of the actors performances were brilliant in portraying actual distress and physical harm because of the speed in which they were being made to play at.


Final thoughts

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the film. I was extremely impressed by the performances of J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller's characters, which for me really brought out the narrative of the film in a dark, sinister way, which is something I did not expect. The film itself was an experience that makes you feel genuine distress and concern for Miles Teller's character and forces you to have a love/hate relationship with J.K. Simmons character. The narrative itself is quite simplistic however its the performances of the characters which adds to the complexity of the idea, making the audience go through a rollercoaster of emotions, hoping that after everything, Andrew gets the success he well and truly deserves. The film inspires me to not hold back when it comes down to the darker side of the story which I may stumble across when researching and making my documentary film. I highly recommend the film.

Due to both my film ideas being music documentaries I decided to take out some documentary films and books from the library as inspiration for my film and to further my knowledge of documentary film making.

Reuben's "What happens in Aldershot, stays in Aldershot"

Reuben's short music documentary piece shows the life of a underground rock band trying to make it in an ever-growing harsh industry. The film follows the bands touring schedule, personal lives and their time in the studio blended with humorous elements . The film incorporates experimental elements such as fast-cutting editing techniques and experimentation with colour. What I like about the film is the personal elements to it. I enjoy the fact that the effort was made to show not only the musical side of the band, but also the personal side, focusing on everyday life rather than the band itself for example when Jamie Lenman (Vocalist) buys a life-size Dalek and when Jon (Bassist) is working in Waitrose. The inclusion of the bands fans gave an insight into what the music means to them and how it has effected their lives which is something I would like to include in my film. 

Personal favourite moment from the film. 

When brainstorming ideas I though about the previous project I had made, for instance the R.A.M. documentary film I made based around students opinions of moving to university and being away from home. The first project I made was a portrait film based on a local florist, which was informative in showing the flower-making process.

Screenshots from Castle Street Flowers Ltd

Screenshot from R.A.M. film. 

Through my passion for music and interest in documentary film-making I came up with two main ideas that I would like to pursue further, one of which I will discuss in this post.

First film idea

Origin of the Iron

My first idea is a music documentary piece based around the ex-members of Iron Maiden and their lives during and after their time in the band. The film will show an insight into the music industry from the mid 1970s all the way through to the present day through a mixture of visual elements such as archive footage, posters and photos and a voice over of the ex-members of the band, which will help share their lives and will enlighten the viewer with the positives and negatives of being in a band. The name of the piece is based around a compilation album that was recently released called 'Origins of Iron', involving ex-iron maiden members' work after their time in Iron Maiden.




Second film idea 

W.A.S.A.P?

My second idea, W.A.S.A.P (Who are Sam Apple Pie?, loosely inspired by the Arctic Monkeys' EP "Who the F*ck are Arctic Monkeys) is a music documentary piece based around my father's band 'Sam Apple Pie' (Originated from an old badge my dad used to wear with an apple pie on it). The film will predominantly follow the journey my father went through throughout his time in the band. The film will show an insight into the east London music scene at the time, spanning the musical genres of the 60s/70s, what it was like to grow up in the 60s/70s and the rise and fall of the band. My father, now a taxi driver, hates his job and still wishes to fulfil his dream again of performing music again, which will be one of the main themes of the film. Sam Apple Pie had quite a following in the east-London area during the 60s/70s, with fans to this day regularly uploading content of the band, for example live performances and album tracks with short reviews. The film will use a mixture of filmed footage, interviews, archive footage and voice over work with the incorporation of fans opinions and stories of the band (Through Skype, face-to-face conversations, emails and phone calls).