Goldfarb Production
Documentary Review #1:
NOVA: Dawn of Humanity
NOVA: Dawn of Humanity, is a documentary that aired nationwide in the United States on September 16, 2015. This documentary follows the discovery of new fossil remains in 2013, and brings us on the journey and process of excavation. The fossils were found in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa within the Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave system.
Throughout the documentary, we uncover
more about evolution by discovering more fossils. By examining computerized pictured made from scans of bone structures found, we are able to visually see the evolution that has made us how we are today; we can see the many steps there has been throughout history.
The documentary was very interesting. I really enjoyed all of the visual aids to help understand and follow what the scientists were saying as the discovered new things. Within the documentary, once enough bones were found be put together, they would showed computer constructed pictures of the ancestors to help viewers better understand what they might have looked like. Throughout the majority of the film, I noticed there was music: a quiet, instrumental music, there to fill in silent times, but to also add feelings to the film. The music helped portray a sense of eagerness, a sense of enthusiasm and dedication to the information that was being found. I also noticed that when scientists, paleontologist, or others were interviewed, or showed on screen, the Rule of Thirds was very apparent. The people on screen would always follow that rule. They also showed a shot of someone looking off into a field, looking off into the space in front of them. I as well noticed that there was a lot of B Roll. The B Roll was not just pictures, but rather little clips of video. Some B Roll included the following: the scientist walking in a field with his dogs, people climbing down within a cave, landscape shots, videos examining bones, a man riding a bicycle, and many more shots as well. I noticed how, when one was being interviewed, there was a lot of B Roll; they did not make you stare at the one talking for the whole time, instead showed interesting data, or other clips previously mentioned. There was no acting within the film because it was a scientific documentary. I did realize however, that the transitions of people talking were very clean, meaning that the one talking had to be “on” the whole time, giving time within questions to allow for better cutting when making the film. The films they did were very similar to our interviews in that we filmed one person talking, and put B roll over what they were saying to make it more interesting to watch.
If you are interested in the evolution of humans, and love learning about the discovery of new things, I would recommend you watch this documentary. The film was very intriguing and did a very good job at keeping my attention. I would recommend this to anyone however, because it is very informative and allows you to question previously perceived notions about human ancestry.
Documentary Review #2:
NOVA: Dawn of Humanity
I chose to watch Three Identical Strangers. This documentary tells the story of how three triplets were separated at birth and adopted by three different families. It shows how they reunite after nineteen years of being apart. They show how similar all three of them are to each other, and allows us to see their lives. The reunion of these three identical strangers became very popularly known, their story was broadcast throughout the world; it was the “talk of the town” for a long time. But, this discovery, however amazing and incredible it sounds, also had a dark side to it. Their story opened up lots of questions as to how. Why were these three brothers separated at birth, what secrets were being kept from them and their families? Who was behind this?
The movie was very interesting to me. There was no part in the movie that I wasn’t on the edge of my seat. I loved the beginning of the film; it started by introducing Bobby, one of the triplets. They reenacted him walking through college as everyone was saying hi and welcoming him back. They were saying, “Hi Eddy!” and “Eddy! Long time no see”; he was in fact not Eddy, and he had no idea what they were talking about. I thought they did a very good job with the reenactment for these shots. They only showed the back of his head, including, of course, the full afro they all had as teenagers; it looked very real. Instead of having them talk in the reenactment, they had Bobby’s voice telling his story as they showed the reenactment. I thought this was very smart and an awesome idea they had in creating the documentary.
While interviewing Bobby and David (two of the triplets), they began by having them first walk into the set, into the camera, and sit down, as to start their story. They as well used this same effect towards when they got to the end of them telling the story, having them exit the shot. This shot was used to create a dramatic effect; they reached a dramatic part of the story, and used this to show more emotion.
The editors of this movie had quite some advantages. First, they already knew the plot and storyline of this documentary. They knew the exact line of events which made it easier to film, knowing what they were looking for specifically. They also had the advantage of having many hometapes and old photography to use as B roll. Because this story was so well known, they had excessive amounts of newspapers, old TV shows, and more from the press to use. Taking out of account the easily accessible B roll, I believe they did an amazing job putting it all together. Considering the amount they could have used, and what was available to them, I loved what they did use. They made the most of all the home videos of the triplets as younger children; it was so interesting to see how they grew up in different environments but yet had so much in common.
10/10 would recommend. The film was interesting, suspenseful, and had such a good story behind it. I recently talked about the film in my AP Psychology class. We discussed the long living question of Nature vs. Nurture; are we who we are because of genetics and our biology, or because of how we are raised? I would recommend this documentary to anyone who is interested in this or pretty much in anything, it’s that good!