Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014)
Promotional poster
To inspire my film and to further my knowledge of documentary film styles I decided to watch a music drama based on a true story. The film itself follows an young ambitious jazz drummer put through the reins by a harsh, critical instructor. The film itself incorporates different editing styles and a variety of unique camera angles which makes for a visually exciting film. The build up to the narrative is inspiring, as we are put through an emotional journey supporting our budding musician, Andrew (Miles Teller) through a series of difficult, life-testing experiences that pushes him to the limit. The narrative structure itself is quite basic, however through the imagery
the film and symbolism, I find the film very complex. The end sequence is particularly inspiring as it builds up to this moment and ends fittingly with Andrew playing an extended drum solo. This inspires my film as Doug is an experienced drummer so it would be interesting to represent that through his facial expressions and movement whilst playing the drums, which is exacerbated throughout Whiplash by Andrew’s movement and facial expressions whilst playing the drums.
Still image from Whiplash
Overall Whiplash has been a major influence for my film through the interesting use of varied camera techniques in addition to the soundtrack which reflects the importance of a good soundtrack, which is why I put emphasis on taking time for picking the right music for my film.
