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AMY Revision - Coggle Diagram
AMY Revision
Contexts
Directed by Asif Kapadia, Produced by James Gay-Rees and Edited by Chris King who had all worked on Senna (2010)
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It follows Amy Winehouse's rise to fame, the personal struggles and the tragic end for the singer
Gay-Rees and Kapadia were approached by Amy's Record Label, Universal Records, in 2012 to make the film about Amy Winehouse because of the success of Senna
Asif Kapadia has described his work and style as 'true fiction' and that 'one of my documentaries has more drama, emotion, and tension than a fiction film'
Gay-Rees and Kapadia were able to get access to several of Winehouse's family members, friends, producers and musicians who had worked with the singer - These were combined with both amateur and professional videos and photographs to give an in-depth and candid account of all her life
20 months of editing over three years in total - Mediated over 1000+ hours of footage - Gay-Rees and King both stated that materials came to light during their research that were too dark and shocking to show
According to Chris King, 90% of all footage used on the film is digital with a considerable amount of that amateur recording in a variety of differing file types
King and Kapadia manipulated the digital images by adding layers of effects in order to create something 'felt like a single film'
The film was co-produced by Krishwerkz Entertainment, On The Corner Films, Playmaker Films and Universal Music in association with Film 4
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The film was nominated for 59 different awards and collected 30 of these including the Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Documentary
Mitch Winehouse was originally supportive of Kapadia's work and the documentary but as production went on the family distanced themselves claiming it was 'both misleading and contains some basic untruths' - After the family saw the film's first cut they involved solicitors and demanded certain scenes to be changed which the producers agreed to
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Digital Technologies
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Footage was shot by various different sources - Nick Shymansky, Lauren, Blake, Paparazzi etc.
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Actuality Footage from drones - Only footage from the film actually recorded by the production team for the film as they were used as establishing shots for continuity purposes
Chris King said that he added various filters to some scenes to add continuity and to avoid seemingly disconnected shots
Slow motion and freeze frames are often used throughout the film in order to show Amy as a victim in the story or to just establish a clear message and feeling to the spectator
Throughout the whole film there is a soundtrack which consists of Amy's music alongside various ambient sounds and pleonastic sound effects
Interviews were conducted with various people of significance in Amy's life which were added in as a voiceover for the documentary as if to tell a particular story
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Main Characters
Amy Winehouse - Musician - Vulnerable, a victim, protagonist, outgoing
Mitch Winehouse - Amy's Father - Selfish, irresponsible, uncaring
Blake Fielder-Civil - Amy's Ex Husband - Vilified, Manipulative, Cocky, Catalyst for Amy's Downfall
Raye Cosbert - Amy's Manager - Professional, Lax, Enabled Amy to do bad things,
Andrew Morris - Amy's Bodyguard - Protective, Stern, Caring, Efficient
Nick Shymansky - Amy's Manager and Friend - Acts as the cameraman for most of the footage, caring, empathetic, mainstay
Juliette, Lauren etc. - Amy's Friends - Empathetic, Friendly, Devastated, Spiteful
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Key Scenes
Eden Project Concert:
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- Stumbling over her words and seemingly failing to stay awake - reason this scene was selected was to show the extent of her addictions
- Fade out to silence - makes it seem like she trails off, a link to the subjective editing done by Kapadia and King
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Opening scene
- Clearly a DV handheld camera which links to the context of the time it was made as it was probably all that Amy and her friends could afford - also shows how they were recorded for fun and never intentionally for a documentary
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- Could be argued as an ‘objective’ scene as there isn’t much in the way of post-production manipulation
Other Filmmakers
Michael Moore
American Filmmaker, Author and Political Activist
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In 1976, Moore started a radical weekly newspaper, the Flint Voice - He would later be hired to edit San Francisco based left wing magazine Mother Jones
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Uses dark comedy and satire in his films which he uses to attack the institutions that he was targeted - He is central to the films in terms of seeing him interviewing people
Films: Roger & Me (1989), Canadian Bacon (1995), Bowling For Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
Kim Longinotto
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She is an observational filmmaker - Her unobtrusiveness is what gives the women on camera in her films a certain voice and presence that may not have occurred with another documentary genre
She favours long takes and are shot in a calm, unobtrusive style
Films: Dreamcatcher (2015), Rough Aunties (2008) and Divorce Iranian Style (1998)
Longinotto has said. "I don't think of films as documents or records of things. I try to make them as like the experience of watching a fiction film as possible, though, of course, nothing is ever set up"