Looking into Documentary #1

The documentary film I have decided to look into is 'This is Us" by One direction. This is a documentary about each of 1D boys and their tour life.

The documentary stars off with a blank screen and Niall Horan talking about his life, this then leads on to each of the other boys doing the same thing. They initially talk about their life as young children and their background and Niall perfectly starts this off as the voiceover begins with "When I was small I had a desk", he goes on to say that on this desk he had carved "when I grow up i wanna be a singer" into it. This sets the rest of the opening up very well because each of the boys begin to talk about something when they were younger in relation to their career now, for example "When I was little, I knew I wanted to entertain" - and they are now entertainers.

When each boy begins to speak a picture of where they were brought up is shown along with a signpost for the place, for example when Louis Tomlinson comes on the train station sign of Doncaster comes up. After the pictures of their location appear, baby pictures or videos follow with relevance to what they are saying - when Harry Styles talks about how he always wanted to perform a clip of his younger self singing on a school stage is shown and when he talks about his sister, pictures of them together as children are included.

As each boy has their turn we hear faint screams from adoring fans and a guitar strum, signifying they achieved their musical dream as we see the production for their tour being set up with hundreds of seats only on the floor. There is slightly more background to their lives delivered to us through another voiceover and the guitar strums at a higher key when a photo of one of the boys standing on a stage looking out to a very big crowd comes onto the screen. We are then shown more pictures but of the boys as older children, we hear more screams and the guitar strums at a higher key again. There is then a pause where each of the boys are having a group moment on stage as they put their hands in together, after this there is a very fast montage of photos of them all from their childhood up will now and it is at this point where the voice over ends with Zayn Malik saying "That is when the dream started".

I really like that the guitar strum got higher and higher in key in the opening at each stage, the first strum, like i said, was when the set for their tour was being set up. I think this is very clever as it is meaningful and marks the beginning of their musical career as well as the fact they achieved all those childhood dreams they were talking about just seconds before in the voiceover and photo montage. The second strum was when one of the boys were facing a crowd with thousand of people screaming in excitement that adore him and his band, this is in a higher strum from the tour because its more personal and individual to that specific member. The third, final and highest key strum is before there is a pause where the boys all group together, showing their friendship and the emotional journey they have all had together through their dream. These three strums signify three elements to the film, the boys growing up and reaching their dream, how each individual boy's life changed and their friendship and life together. It gives an amazing and inspiring story emotion as you see these stars as real life people rather than robots who sing - and so the plot is revealed.

I wouldn't say there were any cons to this film opening because it is very emotional and enticing, especially for fans of this band. I would have said it could be improved by everything happening in order for example all pictures and stories to be shown then moving onto the tour rather than going backwards and forwards, however I feel like this adds to the emotion and intensity as showing the present day are just little flashes to constantly remind us how far these ordinary boys have come.

Like i said for the twilight film, I also really like the idea of voiceovers, whether it is to give thoughts away or things that have happened - I think it adds a more personal touch from the characters to the film, without breaking the fourth wall. However in a documentary it is almost necessary to break the fourth wall because it is real and therefore people expect a bigger connection to the people in it, this is mainly done through interviews during the documentary etc.

A brief plot synopsis idea for a film in this genre

Casie is 16 years old getting bullied by not only her peers, but by her work colleagues and customers too. Get an inside look as we follow this young girl letting her express how society has destroyed her confidence and investigate why body weight is something society feels is important enough to judge someone by.