The Thin Blue Line

The Thin Blue Line directed by Errol Morris in 1988. The film use 'restore crime scene' to record a case involving the killing of a police man in texas 1976.  A homeless people is accused of killing the police man. Director Errol Morris interview the suspect Adam and three witnesses. Via different people to describe the case in different angles. Morrison help Adam clear his name. The thin blue line is between justice and totalitarianism. In the narrative perspective, Morris have not shown a result to the audience but to interview different people in the case. Audience could notice changing inside of each people. In the end of documentary, director use criminal psychology to analyze criminal. Harris is criminal in the case and he is a cold blooded murderer. 

I pick a first scene of crime in the film. From 5:18 to 7:27. I statistic the shot number, shot size, camera movement, contents,sound and length. Basically, camera movement usually use static shot. Because this is a documentary need to performance more natural, it is not use camera movement to express characters' emotion.

Overall, the scene express a intense emotion to use many extreme close-up shot. Detail can make a the crime more intension. In addition, different angles shot can make audience to know the environment more comprehensive.

 For example, a high angle shot introduce surrounding environment. It is a great angle to restore the character relation. 

This documentary is a reflexive documentary and Errol Morris is a advocator of the reflexive documentary. Errol Morris's documentary not only portray social issues, but also to comment on the reliability of documentary making itself.

Reference:

IMDb. (1988). The Thin Blue Line. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096257/. Last accessed 20th Jan 2016.