Introduction:

The goal for this week was to watch a documentary, chose a single scene and discuss how it portrays its central character. I decided to choose the opening of the film A Cop Movie 2021.

Documentary and Character Portrayal:

I chose to watch the documentary/docudrama A Cop Movie (2021). Specifically, I intend to focus on the first 10 minutes or so that introduces us to the character Teresa.

There is some question as to the reality of the docudrama A Cop Movie since it is a masterful blending of observational footage and cinematic footage combined with stunning acting. I am of the opinion that the film firmly sits in the docudrama category of documentary film, primarily due to the fact that actors were involved in creating the film and the rather heavy cinematic elements later on.

The first couple of minutes of the film are purely observational, we follow some sort of dashboard camera placed in the front of a police car. We hear dialogue from dispatch and later the conversation between the main character and dispatch. Then we see the main character interact with a couple of people on the side of the road (still from the same observational dashcam). Then for the first time, we get to see our main character as she exits the car to talk to people on the street. Then follows an odd sequence of observational filmmaking where the camera follows Teresa to the door of the house to which she has been called and the camera proceeds to stay outside as the door is closed on it and Teresa talks with the residents. Then there is a moment which appears to be a voice-over which ends up being overlapping dialogue. We switch back to the camera inside the car, this time focused on Teresa and then there is then a single shot. A distorted pan probably shot on a short lens.  We are then thrust into a fairly standard cinematic fair of sometimes odd but in generally understandable shots with occasional voice-over, that make up a harrowing and when combined with the dialogue, somewhat disturbing experience of childbirth.

Here we have an example of a somewhat fictional character that is being set up through the use of documentary filmmaking techniques. The initial observational mode footage forces the viewer to listen (or read) the dialogue and we can tell through obvious visual context clues who we are following despite not being actually able to see the character. As such when we first see the character we see them attempting to do their job and somewhat sympathise with the tricky situation that is presented. Only after a distorted pan which is a clear representation of the characters will I, won’t I stay mindset do we begin to follow the story in a more standardised cinematic manner. This use of cinematic storytelling is masterful since only after the moment of indecision do we see a switch in filmmaking mode. It says a lot about the character that they are developing, her dedication to her work, her preparedness, and the dedication to the people that she is supposed to serve. The only caveat to this would be as the observational mode disappears the voice-over begins. This decision really helps blur the lines between reality and fiction. However, it does well to develop the character since while she is attempting to help the birthing we are being fed information about what she is thinking. This helps solidify in the audience’s mind the character of the character.

I personally do not intend to use such a method when creating my visual portrait since I think that it would not add to the character that I am developing. However, the reason I chose to study this piece of filmmaking is its ability to blur the lines of reality. I feel that the way the filmmaker uses cinematic storytelling techniques would be very useful to consider when developing my own piece considering I intend to focus on creating a rather standard affair when it comes to shot choice and editing.

Conclusion:

To be honest this is probably the least useful and most confusing of the tasks that I completed in this module. Most of the time I feel like I manage to glean something from what I have done but in this case, I seem to have only found a way that I don’t want to use for the visual portrait I am working on. Maybe on the future in retrospect I will be able to tell what I should have learned from this task.