Amy is a documentary, made by the same man who produced the Ayrton Senna documentary, Asif Kapadia. This is a moving documentary all about the life that Amy Winehouse went through, and the lifestyle that became to much for the young girl who died through an overdose of drugs and alcohol. In the documentary, again, Kapadia is very clever in the way that Amy is portrayed as he depicts her in such a way with the techniques used in Senna . He has used the same technique as in Senna to produce this documentary. Kapadia has only used archive footage such as news footage and home videos, with interviews in the background to narrate the whole thing. There is no voice of god, or a external narrator, they are all interview linked together to give of the narrative just how Kapadia wants to. As i said when reviewing Senna, this style of producing a documentary is very, very effective as it feels like there isn't anyone telling you what to think, or how to feel, its like you think you are making the decision. however, this is not the case. |
We subconsciously pick up the messages that the images and the interviews are feeding us, and these will tell us how to feel, but it doesn't feel like it, which is very clever from Kapadia. The film also seems to be able to allow us to create strong opinions of certain characters. In particular, the film focuses on Blake Fielder and Amy's dad. The documentary focuses mainly on Amy with these two characters, and how they influenced her on her come down. through the uses again of certain interviews and pictures, the audience watching the documentary would from a strong dislike for them, as it is made out from the images and footage we see on the screen, as if they are very much to blame for Amy spiraling out of control.
The camera work in Amy, like Senna, is non existent. This is because it is all archive footage and existing footage form news teams. the only vague piece of camera work is to choose which shots will go into the final documentary, and this selection process has been done extremely well. All shots chosen clearly illustrate the narrative wanting to be portrayed, and it shows Amy in a light that maybe wont have seen her, opening peoples eyes to what happened in her life. |
Finally, the use of music in Amy, is probably the thing that manages to portray the narrative to us, and we dont even know it half the time. The music in he background, and when transitioning from different shots, is Amy's own music. This could be expected, but, something that isn't, is that it shows the most powerful lyrics from the song, which directly link with what just happened in that time period for Amy. All of her music is about her life, and these songs obviously link with how her life went. Kapadia spotted this and therefore utilized this to his advantage. He knows that the lyrics posed by Amy will portray her and the situation in just the way he wants, so this music mixed with the footage we see is the perfect recipe to portray on of the perfect documentaries.
Kapadia is very clever, making this documentary, as well as Senna shows that he knows what it takes to make a very successful documentary. All elements of his documentary show good understanding of all the main codes and conventions of a documentary, which is ultimately needed if a top class film is going to be produced which successfully portrays the narrative.
Kapadia is very clever, making this documentary, as well as Senna shows that he knows what it takes to make a very successful documentary. All elements of his documentary show good understanding of all the main codes and conventions of a documentary, which is ultimately needed if a top class film is going to be produced which successfully portrays the narrative.