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Date: Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 11:21 AM
Subject: Re: Scheduled film for 28 May 2010
To: rdca25@gmail.com
Joseph, Jeanette, Candy Jiang, Tiffany, Christine, Ivana, Mamie, Karen, Max, Hansel, Finna, Juliet, Abby, April, Vicky Lin, Katherine, Vivian Lin, Alice Huang, Carolina, Tina, Charlene, Vicky Shih, Hilary, Alice Wang, Minnie, Violet, Chin, David, Emily, Vivian Yang, Holly, Sophia, Tiger, Ida, Vincent, Anne, Christopher, Cherry, John,
JosephThe Thin Blue Line is undoubtedly one unique documentary film. It differs from other documentary films in its way of narrating the historical event. There are not just voices mixed with pictures or videos in this film. Instead, other than voices, the underscore music is even added into the film. Also, the most prominent one may be the display of those historical events in this film.
The title of this film has close and strong connection with the theme of the film. In the opening sequence, the word "blue" is shown as red, which immediately catches every audience attention. In the meanwhile, the question about the inconsistency between the real meaning of the word and the color of it pops up in our mind. Later, it is not hard to find out that it seems that many things are built based on lies. It is the reason why it is hard to distinguish the reality of something from its appearance which may not be true. Thus, it echoes the title. How would you interpretate the red word "blue?" Besides, to make my final point, the color red is constantly used in this film, including the lights of police patrol car, the lights of buildings, and also David's red clothes.
JeanetteI didn't expect David Harris and Randall Adams will really appear in the film, frankly speaking. However, this also made the documentary realistic. I'm impressed by the atmosphere of this film. Because whether it is official talking or the criminal talking, the underscore remains suspicious. The audience then doesn't know what to believe. The underscore urges us to stay curious and want to know the truth. I think the arrangement (interview along with some criminal scenes and clues) of the film is good. We get to see what they are actually confessing about. The constantly gun-shot sound, also, keeps reminding us the fact that someone is dead, and we are about to find out the truth in the documentary. I think the whole film ended in a strong way. It's surprising that by using a little recorder all our questions are solved at the end.
Candy JiangIn this film, The Thin Blue Line, the gun-shot scenes are never shown directly. The director uses cuttings to let us audience make the connection and spontaneously build up the image of a person being shot. In the first gun-shot scene, after the sound of gunshot, the editor cuts to several drawings of human body with the indications of the parts being shot. By this way, audience not only constructs the imagination that the police is shot, but also knows where and how many places do bullets hit. As for the second gun-shot scene, this time the editor cut to the falling of the flash light. This cutting makes the same effect as the first gunshot does.
There are a lot of close-ups, and most of these close-ups match the lines. When Adams says that "it seems to be a long time," the camera closes up to the clock for several times. With each close-up, the time on the clock changes, from two to three and to four, showing that it is really a long time passing. Moreover, the camera also closes up to the news reports or a certain words or dates on the newspapers. By using these close-ups, audience does not need lines or sounds to get enough information. In addition, when the lines match the close-up images, the impression deepens in audience's mind.
TiffanyThe film is the first documentary I ever watched. It is really interesting to study the film because of its content. And I note that The Thin Blue Line appears in beginning with the Blue in red. This usage implies that blue indicates the image of polices and red symbolizes not only the death of one police but also the fault of police's wrong judge. Intercutting is used through whole film and sometimes lets viewers hard to understand the movie. And the technique also implies the complication of this murder.
In conclusion, this movie interests me a lot after all it is not like conventional documentary footage.
ChristineThe film The Thin Blue Line was shot as a documentary with witnesses sitting down and interviewed which was all done by medium close-ups and cross editing. I was at first curious about whether the characters are in person or not. Since film could be made up and acted like if it were true, the documentary pattern that the director intentionally managed to is likely a fiction. The film gradually led us to the truth of the commited crime by showing subtle clue of both state of declared witnesses or officials and simulated scene at the spot which the realness should be judged by the audience.
The film is mainly dedicated to the issue of the justice of the law court. When Randall Adams had the testimony all against him and is sentenced to die, we were at first persuaded that Adams has commited the crime same as the judges. However, as the film went on we saw the companian David Harris who due to his young age is unfairly protected is the one that might have done it. It is our emotion and moral values that mislead us to blindness and misjudgment.
IvanaThe film, as a documentary, is unique. It contains lots of confessions rather than simple voice-over sound to describe the whole incident. In addition, it shows the real clock and maps instead of descriptions to indicate time and place. By using confessions and shots on real substance, the director successfully refreshes audiences' vision, which cannot be done by a voice-over documentary.
The scenes changes quickly, with little actions but repeated shots of accident and the police light, which makes the film boring. However, since a documentary is a record, not an imaginary story, we cannot criticize it this way. I would like to say, as a record, the film vividly and honestly represents the whole truth.
MamieAlthough the title of this film is the thin blue line, we don't see anything blue in the film. The red police lights appear several times. I search this term on the Internet and find that the thin blue line is a colloquial term for police and police forces. Being a documentary, however, the film uses many intercuts between each scenes to connect people and reality. For example, when witness talks about the whole case, the scene will jump to the news report to make us understand what is true and what is false. Because of intercuts, we are able to determine the whole film clearly. On the other hand, the inconsistence of the spoken words and pictures create a suspicious atmosphere. The director gives us a hint which is the red police light that the real murder is another person.
KarenThe Thin Blue Line is a documentary, but different from the conventional ones, the director shows many fictitious reenactments based on the interviewees' testimonies. The camera can indeed capture some scenes in reality, but it is inappropriate to claim that the moment is authentic. Instead, the conviction is to believe that the reality is always constructed. To prove that it the real truth, the director challenges what people originally believe, and continuously digging out the depth of the truth. This film presents many different viewpoints. Aside from the defendant Randal Adams, we also hear the accusation from the real killer, David Harris. Moreover, many other ordinary interviewees not only talk about the part that relate to the case directly, but also mention some interesting short stories. These incidents may not have anything to do with the murdering case, but gradually the stories reveal the particular aspects of Dallas society. The social values actually reflect the judiciary in America, especially because of the jury system. And usually, it is the social subconscious that finally controls the judgment of many cases which lack positive evidence.
Max
The Thin Blue Line is very different from all the other films that we have watched so far. Similar to the program we can see in Discovery or something like this, it is composed of all the characters' talking about the same event. In the very beginnig we may not chatch everything the speakers mention and the idea they want to convey. However, as they explain more and more, we finally understand what is going on. The same scenes are repeated for several times, so the whole picture of the incident is depicted clear step by step. The only problem is that although the shooting tecknique is so special, the movie will make viewers feel boring in the end, for most of the cuts are people's speaking .
HanselThe documentary is filled with a dark and depressing atmosphere that makes people hardly breathe. The underscore and the lighting are very gloomy, representing the darkest and cruelest side of reality. This film discloses the terrible defect of the society's judicial system. The film has a slow pace as if it wants the audience to be a part of the whole thing. It allows the audience to experience how long and depressing it feels to be in such a terrible situation. The film imposes a severe criticism on the government and reminds people to watch for themselves.
Finna
Honestly, this film does bore me because of its repetitive score music and continuous intercutting with interviews. But it also impresses me with its reenactments which is not allowed to use in conventional documentary films. Errol Morris uses the reconstruction of the murder event fairly and wisely. When Adam mentions he did not really remember when he left the movie theater and he said about 12 o'clock. After that the scene changes into the clock in the theater and the popcorn machine. The director put all pieces together gradually to let the viewers see the same way as he thinks. In the beginning, the ever-revolving red light upon the police officers' car reflects red-colored word "blue" in the headline. The director also shot the same scene police officer lying down on the ground with blood whose murder with every possible angle. It shows all the suspicions and doubts which are reconstructed in that repetitive shooting scene. At the latter part of the film, I see David Harris with the handcuffs which indicate that he is arrested. The whole miscarriage of justice is more and more clear and eventually solved. The end with the tape which recorded the last interview with David Harris is really shocking and thrilling. Though there is no character shown in the end, it still has the most power impact.
JulietIn this documentary film, the director, Errol Morris, uses medium close-ups to shoot those speakers, and makes them face the camera while speaking. For me, those speakers who directly face the camera seem to speak for themselves, and audiences seem to be the listeners. That is, we seem to be involved in this case while directly face the suspects, the officers, the lawyers, and witnesses. Moreover, Morris interweaves imitative crime scenes based on those speakers' descriptions in the film. I really commend this arrangement of imitative crime scenes. In my opinion, imitating the crime makes audiences feel as if they were present and saw the whole crime. Of course, this also helps audiences to involve in the case. What's more, I think that Morris makes good use of close-ups. For instance, the camera often focuses on papers which dates are noted on. Also, it has focused on the clock several times. For me, focusing on these indicates the passing of time. In fact, close-ups help us to see things in detail. Hence, in this film, close-ups also help a lot in building the suspicious atmosphere. Namely, after listening different opinions and then focusing on details such as the gun and the suspects' photos, we may suspect the previous sentence and consider what is true.
Abby
I like the film pretty much. Not only because it is quite different from the other films that we have seen before, but also because the way how it is shot. To me, it is quite a successful documentary movie and keeps arousing my interest. Through the speaking of the individuals get involve, it seems I get closer to the fact however I am kind of confused too since it is getting more and more complicated. And there are many repeated images, such as the police light, the shooting scene and the clock. Also the director makes good use of the newspaper. There are many extremely close shots of the newspaper and always includes the key words of the message.
AprilThe film is a part-documentary film since it also involves a great deal of movie filming factor. From the beginning, the camera takes to the city night, just like the background setting shot in casual films. Furthermore, the director recreates the scenes of each account said by the witnesses. In addition, these methods of story retelling are skillful, and thus impress the audience deeply. Such as the scene when one of the policemen is drinking cola while the other get off the car and go for the suspects ahead. Here, the director simply by including the police bandage in, and then indicates clearly their identities. Afterwards, because of the backlighting, which is used when the protagonist is faced with a lethal incident, each step taken by the policeman is like destined to death. Also, the constant shifting among the "simulate crime scene", newspaper coverage and the close shot of the speakers concerned makes the film creditable but still attractive.
Vicky LinThis movie, The Thin Blue Line is really a kind of suspense film. Through a lot of intercutting of different people who provide many key points for the murder. In this way, the audiences can enjoy in guessing who is the real killer. I think the director uses a lot of extreme close-up in the film, for example, the map, the date of the newspaper and the picture of the hurt parts of the body of the dead police. The flashback of the murder is shown repeatedly in the film. There are some different details which will happen in the flashback according to the witnesses or detectives.
I think the way of movie is really interesting and draw audiences' attention well; however, there are so many interviews of the murder that may make me get lost in the film.
KatherineThis movie is not like the movie we usually see. The movie focus in people's talking. The whole movie is in a tense speed. It hardly had a short break to let our brain take a break. We just follow the camera and move on to see what next person is going to say. There are many people saying their statements. We have to think and try to combine their statements to find the real killer. Thought at the end we see that David is actually the real killer, maybe some smart people have already known the answer. I like the way the movie ends, the record leaves people wondering on the truth. The ending impressed me a lot.
Vivian Lin
This documentary breaks the convention of the documetary films. It visualizes the scene that the police was killed by David Harris. The Thin Blue Line is really special at the time. Although, it was not accepted by the Academy Award because of his difference from the other documentary film. Through the codemnation from David himself and conscience, the criminal confesses the sin that he kills the police so that Randall Adams can regain freedom and justice. The film makes people want to understand the whole event and is impressive in terms of the documentary films.
Alice HuangThis is the second time I watch a documentary movie. Unlike the documentary film I've ever watched, this film is featured with the repetition of one particular scene in which it repeats the process of murdering. In almost every flashback and the occurrence of each person, the same scene plays again. A contrast is well formed by the use of this repetition. Personally, I think the director repeats the same scene to form the atmosphere of "genuineness" to the audience. Originally, the presumed reality is constructed by this scene; therefore, as the director shows the same scene again and again, we, audience, will be led into the logic route that Adams must be guilty. However, the result turns out to be totally different as what we thought. Adams is released and proved to be guiltless finally. I think this is what the director wants to convey the most through this film—irony on the so-called police force and the law system.
Here is another special cinematic technique used in this movie. The shots on those titles of the news paper serve as the function of giving a brief conclusion for each segment. If the audience only can follow the content through those records or interviews, it's kind of hard for them to capture the flow of the whole document. With those shots on the titles, it's easier for the viewers to follow. Also, it can be used to strengthen every found or every progress.
Again, it's a serious movie. Though it's kind of difficult to focus on the sequence of those witnesses and testimony, this movie does give me some surprises other than the astonishment of knowing the eventual consequence.
CarolinaThis film is a documentary that records the different factors and witnesses that build up the Dallas police murder case. The video is mostly composed by interviews of the parties of the crime. The audience has to reconstruct the entire story by listening to different points of view. Despite of the witnesses' words, the director adds some shots of the details of the story – for example, the days on the calendar, the ash tray (showing the anxiety), and the clocks, and so on. The film needs active audience to understand the storyline. It is the first time that I see a documentary through a movie because they appear more frequently in televisions. At the beginning, it was not easy to adapt this model.
The movie also reminds me of Michael Moore, the American director who points out the corruption in the US medical system in his film "Sicko". Both directors are trying to tell the society about the flaws of the governmental system. These are some alarms, but people can choose to fix them or to ignore them.
TinaThis movie sort of blurs the boundary between a documentary film and a fiction. There are two reasons; one is that the plot itself is a mysterious and complicated real murder case, with an uncertain murderer and uncertain motivations. The teenage suspect/witness and police's and the judge's desire to solve the case quickly and easily all make the case/plot more complicated. The editing skills give the film a dramatic value as well. This is a documentary film based on interviews, even monologues, which will easily make the entire film dull. But the director use not only interviews to build the plot but also a large number of cutting. The movie tends to cut to certain significant objects when they are mentioned in the interviews, such as the clock, the road signs, or the cars. That skill breaks the dullness of interviews and establishes a pattern for audience to follow and to understand the case more by seeing real images.
CharleneI had read the general summary of the plot of this film before I actually watched this film. I was a little surprising that this film is shot by such form of interviews, with a great number of intercuts among the main characters, Adams and Harris, and various witnesses and detectives elaborating what they thought toward the murder or what they've seen during the crime. Beside the people, there are also lots of repetitive images and information to the facts, but always doesn't fall into any reliable conclusions. As knowing this film is undergoing like this, I thought I would be bored of seeing it. However, I didn't. I think one of the reasons is the music. The corresponding background music plays an important role in this film, avoiding the film falling plain or even boring. And I think the music also provides a sense of suspected surmise between the reality of opinions and the reality of the facts. Another reason may be the images which always associated with what the interviewee says in his or her argument. All the images are real, but we all know that their relationship to the facts or even their reality is in question, since they seem that they can never prove anything.
The color also points out something in the film because the title itself is called The Thin Blue Line, which comes from a prosecutor's comment that the police are the thing blue line separating society from anarchy. Except for the color blue, the color red appears a lot in the film. The color red speaks for itself in a symbolic way, representing the police lights and the clothes the real killer wears (maybe representing cruel or bloody). On the contrary, Adam is in a white shirt to indicate his innocence.
Vicky Shih《The Thin Blue Line》talked about the judiciary using the technique of documentary film. Most of the film is direct interviews of the related witnesses. And Errol Morris also interlaced some reenactments of the events happened that day. In the last of the film, it was amazing found that the criminal Randall Adams was innocent! The outcome warned us that the judiciary often influenced by human nature. Especially the system of juries in America, they usually guide the sentence in the court. I think The Thin Blue Line is really a marvel in the documentary films.
HilaryFirst of all watching this film is just like watching some programs of channel discovery. There's somebody saying something and showing a clip. But differently this movie repeats the same clip again and again. And that clip was shot according to what the witnesses said. Second it seems like that I am the judge. I know about nothing and I can only determine by what they said. After watching so many times the shooting clip, I was confused. Maybe I am not a proper judge.
There are some wrong verdicts in society. It is hard to imagine how them who are guiltless of the offence feel. Recently whether abolishing death penalty is right is discussed frequently in Taiwan. I have lots of idea of this subject. My opinion goes conflicting, so I cannot tell a principle of it.
This film was combined by some clips and newspaper's frames and pictures. I think it is cool. The short clip was shot according to what them said. And I think it is hard to cut and arrange. At last I think that the editor do a good job!
Alice WangThe Thin Blue Line is a very impressive documentary that consists of many crucial elements of movies. The film puts great emphasis on the great impact the images can have on the audience. One of the most obvious examples may be the movie title shown in the opening sequence. The word Blue is shown in the color red, which is not the color the word suggests and therefore causes a rather interesting confusion. This kind of confusions are frequently shown in the movie, as the truth is often not as the images suggest or even the total opposite, misleading the audience and playing with the fact that the images in a movie affect the viewers a lot even if they don't coincide with the truth at all. On the other hand, the special way in which the documentary is made also makes it special and different from most movies of its kind. Throughout the film several interviews with different people even the true criminal are shown, allowing the audience to ponder and figure out who is right about the truth. Also, the editing of the stills and the different scenes showing every different possibilities of the real criminal scene makes the viewers to judge for themselves, creating the special sense of involvement that may be hard to achieve in other films.
MinnieThese days I'm preparing a debate with a topic 'Capital punishment'. Last couple of days, I read some materials of cons' opinion about the capital punishment. One of their argumentations was some innocent people have been sentenced death penalty due to the imperfection of law. Actually, their argument didn't persuade me until I saw this movie.
How dangerous human's eyes are. This movie shows that misjudgment could drive one person to jail or death. A director just let audience know these huge problems of society by showing interviews and some reenactments. At first I don't know which side is right. But soon, I recognize that the music is sounds little mysterious. Sometimes it flows slowly. But it never loses its tempo. That makes me feel nervous and implies that something is wrong. And it gains a conviction at the last part of movie by showing a voice- recording.
I really surprised that the director had interviews with the people who related with this incident. How can he interview with the young boy who witnessed this incident at first. And I get to know movie has a power to let people know the truth.
VioletAs most of Hollywood film does, this film started from extreme long shot. The first sequence shows us huge scenery of Dallas city by using extreme long shot. But the big difference between two films was that Hollywood film started by crane shot for roughly introduction of background of film, but I think this film not simply that point but also it's for making tense by using separation shot between scenery of Dallas city and suspects.
Documentary movie might be lose audience's attention but this movie was not, because of the interrupted scenes in between testify scenes. There were a lot of reappearance scenes and it was awesome. In the first part, DP shows us big map of Dallas and zoom in specific spot that event happened. And finally it overlapped into real sight. It is very interesting to me.
Interestingly, DP frequently shows us extremely close up shot such as the police officer's moving hands or legs which are killed, smoky gun hole, newspaper and the picture of suspects in the newspaper. What was worse, when the camera shoot the picture of suspects in the newspaper, we could see the dots of picture. Also DP shows us the scene of spilling drink cup using slow motion method. I think that it is the most impressive one. And those scenes make me feel strongly nervous.
Owing to the interview scenes, we could watch this movie in objective point of view. And I think that DP wants to that point too. Also because of filming with many viewpoints and almost every interview scene shoot in eye level shot, it helps to me keep in objective point of view. And for showing us it's not set-up scene, it is natural interview, DP interrupted some stories that doesn't fit the topic in between those interview scenes.
On the whole, this film makes us infer like put the puzzle together, and gradually we can catch the truth of this murder case.
Chin
There is not much to talk about this film. This documentary differ from those documentaries which I familiar with. Unlike others, this documentary insert a lot of unnecessary pictures, at least I am the one who think like this. However, I like the use of red color for the "Blue" word. It is the same idea that we write the word "ugly" beautifully but write "beautiful" uglily. I think this is a philosophy question that always makes us think more! To be honest, I rather watch a silent movie than such boring documentary film.
DavidThe Thin Blue Line is really a masterpiece. In addition to the special ways that the director interviews others, there are many "fictitious" scenes, which a lot of traditional documentary films did not, or dare not use. For example, the actors act out the event according to the interviewees, and the motif of a drop of milk recurs again and again. It is impossible that a documentary film can serve the functions of judiciary judges, but The Thin Blue Line does reveal the truth. It is amazing.
Emily
In this film, the editor uses red as a motif which appears through the whole film. Besides, the film uses slow motion to indicate the speed. Sometimes, the slow motion can express speed more obviously than the standard one. This film also appears many repeated image such as clock.
Vivian YangThe Thin Blue Line, is a distinctive documentary which consists of different characters who only defend for themselves. It is interesting to see that there is no voice-over or even a neutral person in the whole documentary. So the audiences have to make the judgement according to each confusing arguement.
I think that what The Thin Blue Line reflects is the reality of a case study. Therefore the audiences play the role of detectives as the interviews go on. In addition, in order to avoide time-consuming explaination, Morris uses close-ups of illustrations quite a lot. And this also creats some fresh impact to the audiences. For instance, he shows the spot of gunshot by a piece of drawing, which inspires others to think more as if we're working with the police.
The other thing I notice is the repitition of the gunshot scene, which differs as the narraters recall it. The case becomes more and more confusing when every testimony doesn't match at all. Only by observing each argument carefully can the audiences make sense of the plot. But all in all, I found it fascinating to follow the pace of this film.
HollyThis film is a commentary. In the beginning, long shots bring out the skyscraper in the dark night, giving the sense of mystery and unreliability. This movie is not a conventional documentary in my viewpoint. Indeed statements of those witnesses, officers and specialists are basic elements for composing a commentary, nevertheless, the application of different shots and some montage techniques make this movie vivid. The links connect each short talk with some still pictures of, maybe a gun, a family reunion or the suspect himself. All the subtle ideas seem to be intangible and full of uncertainty, but they, in fact, lead to the truth, the clues to the unsolved riddles in this case. The murder scene repeats from time to time, and the bark of the gun reminds me of the cruel murderer's brutal grin for the victim. The color red is symbolic here, especially for the headlight of the police car. The rotating red light is like a never-ending circulation. In this case, we can never define the real murderer; to be precisely, all we do is to a more likely suspect.
Medium shots are applied most of the time in this movie to make a plain image of everyone. The black and white scenes add some banter to the shot. Since every scene is colorized, the black and white shot looks unreal and fanciful. The interweaving shot have the film full of fantasy. In fact, the topic of the movie is somehow serious. Some narration of the murder is quite miserable and sorrowful. We cannot deny the description for the scenes are vigorous and key to the point. I am impressive by the suspect's memory of his older brother's death. He narrates the process in a plain tone, without much emotional expression. But that is the suppression of the true feeling to point out the tragic accident and constrain the man from breaking away the miserable past.
SophiaAs a documentary, The Thin Blue Line presents in a unique way. For the most viewers, the most impressive part must be the intercutting of interviews and criminal spots. The title of this film, blue, is presented in red. It seems the two colors, blue and red playing an important role in the film. First, the light on the patrol car is repeated for several times. That must be the red color appeared on the screen frequently. Second, what had happened on that day in the criminal spots is repeated as well. Instead of focusing on faces, the camera is always at the height of waist. The viewers can easily see what had happened at the same height. Also, the use of slow motion makes the moment stop such as the pouring out of drink on the ground. The documentary film is unique because it is composed by intercutting rather than presenting only facts and evidence
Tiger
Actually this film shows clearly who committed the crime at the very beginning, although it's hard to tell how it worked. However I think the audience would have the intuition through the composition of this documentary. It seems that the narration is objective but the editing and the arrangement of the shots actually suggest to one conclusion. Nevertheless, the most exciting part is that audience might have learned who should be the murderer at the beginning, but they began to doubt after the movie went on. The fact seems more and more ambiguous and obscure that the assumptions of the audience shake. The newspaper cuts and the shots of judgment reports interact with the interview of the involved people and provide corresponding ideas to the situation. At the end the simple shot at the running on record gives the final confession of David, which provides a contrast with the previous complex images, characters and interview fragments. It is also extremely ironic that David keeps talking in a calm tone without any specific emotion.
IdaThe red word "blue" at the beginning of the movie reminds me a game playing in the orientation campus; it challenges me whether I should read the word or the color. In fact, this movie challenges me too as I can hardly distinguish it as a documentary movie, a detective movie or a factional movie. Although the given background of this movie is really simple, it depicts some objective facts like the bullet numbers or the position of the car, the outcome is subjective as in this movie, we can find a lot of subjective direct interviews, which records different kinds of people, including the attorney or the witness. Whenever there is a new interview, it gives me some refreshed, surprised ideas. Then when I finish seeing the movie, I still feel skeptical with it. Furthermore, something I think that is unconventional is this movie does not have any narration; we ourselves must judge the shot carefully. Also, the visual accessories of this movie, like the
maps or cigarette montage, are impressive though they somehow seem to be too much.
VincentI searched on the internet by the key word "blue line", and found that blue line is the symbol of "justice". And just like the name of the film, it's about the justice, and the truth. It's an unique documentary, and it re-enacts the crime scene and the whole process of investigation of a mysterious murder.
The director uses a lot of shots of someone's claim about the event to show what happened. After these description, there are clips of video according to what they've said. Even though they were talking about the same thing, the video showed some differences. And the so called "truth" just hide behind these statement. I feel it's like news, telling us how about the investigation. And during watching the film, we can step by step think about the meaning of justice, and finally find how weak it is. People's emotion is easy to be stirred up, and so called "justice" is also easy to be twisted.
AnneIn the beginning of the movie ,the title '' The thin blue line '', they use red color to emphasize the word blue. This made me pay more attention to the color blue and red. As far as I am concerned ,blue represent the cop on the other hand red refers to alarm ,light, blood. This movie talked about a police who was shot by a guy. The director use a special way to narrate an event . Using different people to described what they saw. For them everyone is on the first position, because they narrated everything from their own point of view , on the contrary for us we just received what they told us. In the movie , the director also used lots of metaphor through color, for example the color of their shirt. Besides, the red light of the police car popped up several times which seems to emphasize there was a police be killed.
ChristopherBefore I go search for the background of this film, I do not know that this master piece constiutes many "pieces". It is so strange and impressive that there are true interview materials about the murder. This style was copied by innumerable TV programmes. It is intriguing that you suddenly encounter the first ancestor that you get used to their childern- those TV programmes, which are always leading audiences to find out some answer.
I never thought the real interviews of a murder can be consisted in a moive, it arise a new concept to me that if a film could be so directly effect to the reality, will it be still called a film? Should we give it a new term, cause I it is necessary.
Thin Blue Line is undoubtly a legend, it won the best film of 1988 in a Washington Post survey of 250 film. when a movie can touch people, scare people or encourage people, this one do different from them, it just reflect a real world which happening around us, so I dare to say it is the most powerful.
CherryIn this documentary film, one of the most impressive scenes is the spilt of the chocolate. After we hear the gunshot the chocolate was thrown high into the air, out of the police car, (the director skillfully follows the moment and perhaps slows down to show some special effects, but I do not know if there is a special name for this slow motion technique) and fell to the ground. The spilt of the chocolate apparently indicates the blood of the dead police. I also notice that most of the time the director only shows the police's knee-low part or part of their body. Though I am not sure why.
Another impressive scene is the chair in a room (there is a shot that show the lighting almost half white and half black), which give me a little scary feeling. We can see the close-ups a lot, too, especially the close-up of the words on pieces of newspaper. Last is the angle of the spin. There is not only one time the director spins the angle of the camera and the object at the same time, of course in the opposite direction. I think this give us a feeling that it looks more like three dimension than two dimension.
John
I have just watched few documentary films in the past, so I think I can't comment the great or bad about this one of the documentary film. But I have to say that this film is really impressive. I have though how could I distinguish the really bad guy of these two people in that situation several times when I watching it. It's not that easy as pick up a seat on the train, it's about the whole life of a man. I think all of the people connected with judicature should watch this.
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