Digital technology (S8)

• Examples of analogue technology:


  photography, film stock, film cameras
• Examples of digital technology:

  DVR, portable digital cameras, early mobile phones
• How did digital technology revolutionise filmmaking in terms of production and distribution?

  Cheaper, accessible to make and watch, experimental
• What issue does digital technology raise for documentary making?

  Truthfulness/verisimilitude of documentary films 
• Why does it raise the issue of truthfulness?

  Digital film is easily manipulated, cannot guarantee legitimacy or objectivity 
• Why does Kapdia favour the aesthetics of raw footage?

  Kapadia believes the aesthetics of raw footage are more emotionally resonant than controlled composition 
• Quote from Kapadia on using raw footage:

  "The most interesting stuff was the roughest. That stuff was the most revealing.”
• Kapadia effectively repurposes footage which was originally intended for other uses (personal documentation etc.) 
• How long was the edit process of Amy?

  2 years
• Production schedule involved intensive research, compiling audio interviews and footage 
• Without digital technology, Amy couldn't have been made in its’ final form
• Different sources of digital footage in Amy:

  -Family home videos

  -Personal documentation

  -Selfie sequences

  -Unofficial studio footage

  -Concert footage/fan footage

  -National media footage
• What's the effect of digital filming in terms of privacy in Amy?

  Makes the private accessible but exposes to the public
• The movement from analogue to digital modes of technology were significant to Amy Winehouse’s rise to fame, why was this?


  Notions of privacy were changing rapidly; her life became more accessible to the public –paparazzi 
• What does digital filming affect in terms of filmmaking in Amy?

  -Viewpoint

  -Traditional documentary conventions

  -Visual aesthetics

  -Representation of ‘the real’ in Amy
• Digital cameras used in Amy:


  -Portable DV cameras

  -8mm footage in St Lucia

  -Early smartphone technology
• The accessibility of cheap smart phones/digital cameras means many people could provide Kapadia with footage of Amy
• This meant there's a range of perspectives, what effect does this have on objectivity?

  Kapadia is less influential on creating a preferred reading –his only control is in editing room
• Many of the footage is sourced from family and friends, what effect does this have on the sense of intimacy?

  Allows audience to see behind Amy as a construct, understand her more deeply as a friend 
• Quote on the effect of digital technology on Amy's rise to fame:

  “As we enter 2008 onwards, digital technology is used to metaphorically and physically attack Amy.”
• What digital sound recording equipment was used in Amy?

  Interviews recorded with small, digital recorders and then matched with images/footage in the film –never see interviewees in the flesh 
• How could this use of digital sound technology have an effect on the film?

  Not having a camera on interviewees may be unobtrusive in the interview process, encouraging more honest responses 
• How could it be argued this use of digital sound technology doesn't have an effect on the film?

  Whether this is digital, or analogue doesn’t make a difference –Kapadia's skill is in choosing visuals to support the stories
• What's the effect of the use of non-diegetic and diegetic music layered over images in Amy?

  Effective in creating emotion and deepening meaning/understanding (Back to Black sequence)
• Two examples of non-linear digital editing in Amy?

  -Juxtaposition of images and footage to provide meaning/impact

  -Post-production techniques manipulate our response 
• Does the fact these are done digitally change their effect?

  Not really, but it is easier to achieve these techniques on digital