Rush

Ok, I have to start off by saying that I am not a fan of Rush. I've always respected their abilities as being extremely technical and doing things no band has ever done, and doing it their way. But I just couldn't ever get into them for some reason. I think they're an acquired taste, you either get it or you don't. The documentary genre is definitely performance film, music or concert to be more specific. The role of the filmmaker was reporter, reporting the facts that have taken place over the last 40 years. A good burning question this film asks is what makes Rush one of the greatest rock bands of all time? The visual imagery ties into the editing style, and they used a lot of stock footage and past interviews to highlight their road to success. The theme for me in this film was rock n roll, and showing the viewer just how much hard work goes into the process. Some of the stakes when this movie was made was will they ever get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Well the answer to that is yes they did. Even if you are not a fan of Rush, you will definitely take home a certain amount of respect for these guys. They were never popular growing up or even when they were starting out, but they stuck with it, and it goes to show you if you believe in yourself anything is possible. Ok, so it was a little corny at the end, but so what?!

Tesla

This film has a little bit of historical and biography genres for me. It's a film about the great Nikola Tesla who was probably one of the greatest minds in human history behind Michelangelo, Newton, and Einstein. The director took on the role of a reporter and a chronicler giving a very detailed account of what happened in his life over a 100 years ago. One burning question that comes to mind, is what would the world be like today had there not have been a Nikola Tesla? Some of the visual imagery I noticed in the film was a lot of old photos from that period, and newspaper articles that covered his progress in the field of electricity. The most important theme I took out of this movie was the dedication and sheer genius it took to make the man that he became. He worked tirelessly at his craft and came up with some very important discoveries and inventions that many of us take for granted today. And he never did it for the money, he wasn't a businessman like Thomas Edison. He did it to help mankind. One of the stakes I noticed was what would have happened had his warehouse not caught fire and spiraled him into obscurity? The editing style was very linear. They use a lot of stock footage to give the audience a magnificent illustration of the man. It never ceases to amaze me just how brilliant this guy actually was. The more I learn about him, the more I really respect him not just as a scientist, but as a human being.

Bigfoot

This documentary was on Bigfoot and the search to uncover if he/she is real or not. That was also the main question the film asks, "is he real or not?" They focus mainly on the one piece of "evidence" that they have, and it is the photograph taken in Northern California many years ago. I think this type of doc falls under the Exploration and Discovery genre. I believe the role of the filmmaker for Bigfoot actually wore several hats, explorer, advocate, observer, and even guerrilla. The visual imagery is footage that is played over and over for dramatic effect. The filmmaker is trying to illustrate that this is shocking footage and we are on the verge of finding a new species which is very exciting or very scary or both. The theme is the search for truth. Whether you believe in Bigfoot or not, you have to admit that there are still some very compelling stories with pictures and eye witnesses. For me I think the stakes were in the title, "Bigfoot". To try and tackle a subject like this takes guts to some extent. Bigfoot is not a scientific reality. Yet many people all over the world believe in him, and in the spirit of science and the search for the unknown, we have to accept the fact that there could be a Bigfoot. The editing style for this doc was a little bland and boring. They showed the same frames over and over as if they ran out of footage. Despite the subject and some other minor flaws I actually liked the film.