Reviews and Research into Documentary film
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, 2014)
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. 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.
The History of Iron Maiden – Part 1: The Early Days
To build upon the factual information I already know of Iron Maiden I decided to watch a feature length documentary film following the complete story of Iron Maiden from start to finish. The film itself took a number of years to make through the collection of archive material collected for the film, in addition to the 20+ interviews that were shot. The film itself is very simplistic through its use of interview footage, archive and music which is something I incorporated into my film, however I will be making the narrative flow slightly differently, through the jumping between characters frequently. The re-occuring ‘Metal’ essence within the film is represented through the sharp cuts and graphics used throughout the film. This is also something I intend on doing throughout my film. 
This film however is particularly useful when it comes to finding out everything about Iron Maiden, from their very first gig to the present. Every member that ever was in Iron Maiden features in the film, and most discuss their time on camera which I find fascinating as I aspire to talk to as many ex-Iron Maiden members as I can throughout my project. The film itself however I find quite long-winded and bland, but this is because of the inclusion of so many ex-iron maidens sharing their stories, and sometimes it can be hard to keep up with all of them. This is something I intend on avoiding though the use of graphics and titles to accurately depict which character is which clearly and effectively. Additionally because this film is predominantly looking at the past factually, it can be difficult to keep focus and take in all of the facts being discussed. This is something I intend on avoiding through quick cuts to different characters to keep the viewer enticed in my film. Overall however I feel this film is a good starting point for myself regarding finding out as much information about the ex-iron maiden members as I can.
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