The Race to Nowhere

This is the first screen shot that I took of the trailer for 'The Race to Nowhere' it's a documentary that looks at how the American education system is mass producing children that strive to achieve grades but not a career. The reason I took this screen shot was that I felt that it would be quite an easy establishing shot to reproduce - however I may incur some problems such as some students not being able to be filmed or photographed, so I could therefore change the angle of this establishing shot to alter the look of camera angle and shot. 

The second screen shot I have taken is of a close up of hands typing on a keyboard. I have already recreated a similar shot - I particularly liked this one as it was closer to the subject in the frame and slightly off centre. This made the shot interesting to look at for the user. 

As this documentary is also about education it shared similar in between shots that I could use in my product. I like this shot of the student working hard because it was a side shot, again varying the dynamics of the video clip, averting the eye line and grabbing the viewers attention. I also particularly like the lighting in this shot - the way the lamp has become the focal point and how it is almost doing the talking for the student as to how hard he works - suggesting its past a very late time at night. The lighting and how layout of the shot seems to tell a story. 

I chose to screen capture this shot because I liked the casual background to the subject, revealing a different side or personality of the character. The rest of the clip appeared to be children working hard/not playing or relaxing then this was kind of an oxymoron the child was speaking about having to work hard from a young age to get into college but in a relaxed more comfortable atmosphere. This may be the way in which the interviewer has tried to relax the interviewee in order to gain more insightful and interesting answers - I need to think carefully about location and lighting when it comes to reshooting my interviewees. 

I chose this particular shot because it is quite a classic head and shoulder shot used in interviews in documentaries. Again I also like the background - it shows the school setting and natural environment in which the subject is usually based, giving context to the clip and shoot. It looks like the interviewer has literally just caught the subject and asked them their opinions very quickly and they've given straight to the point, honest answers. 

This is the last screen shot that I took as it was another shot I felt that I could use or recreate to give a similar effect. The close up shot is usually used to reveal emotions or reactions to specific things that happen. In this case it is the reaction to what the subject is saying - it reveals her true emotions about how she is feeling at the time about the upsetting topic she is discussing (suicides in her local area due to stress to perform well in education). I can easily use the close up shot when I am filming my subject - particularly in the reaction to the questions that I ask. 

I have found looking at another documentary to do with education has helped me a lot and I feel a lot more confident with recreating my own and putting mine into context.