Review and critique at least one short film production

Before the storm is a short sports documentary which was directed by Jake Churchill and Prokopi Constantinou. The documentary is from the point of view of a group of bike riders from London. In it they describe aspects of their life through different members of the group which gives a different perspective. They describe how riding their bikes together has allowed them to escape from their tough living conditions and bought them together as a community. The setting of the documentary is in the streets because tat is where the bikers spend their time together which shows the urban theme. The style and editing of the different shots puts the focus on the interviewees which gives the person watching a more natural and personal feel as if the bikers are telling their story. The effect of making the documentary seem as natural as possible makes the viewer understand how the bikers are able to use biking as an escape.

The sound in this documentary has been mixed so that when the interviewees are speaking to camera, the natural background noise can be heard when there is not music playing. The effect of this gives the viewer a feel as if they are being spoken to naturally which helps them listen to the stories being told. The music which accompanies the action and can have voiceovers over the top fits the mood of the documentary and works well with whats happening on the screen.

The camera uses moving shots to capture action  of people riding their bikes and doing tricks and stills to capture the interviewees, and the community as a whole. The effect of this allows the reader to focus on the different elements of the community that are being described and understand what their life is like. The bikers tell their stories as if telling it to an interviewee who is positioned behind the camera but is not heard speaking at any point. This makes the viewer feel like they are being told a story and means that they are able to connect and adapt their own opinions. An interesting camera trick that is used when the adults are speaking to a group of bikers is the camera is positioned in the crowd from the point of view of the younger bikers which adds a friendly mood to the documentary and makes the reader feel as if they are experiencing it too.

In my opinion this film could be aimed at anybody who finds it interesting but they seem to particularly be targeting young people who live in rough areas. The message that is spread throughout  the documentary is that the youth who are living a hard lifestyle have more options than drugs and crime which is a common thing in rougher areas of cities I like the idea of having interviewees telling their stories alongside action in a documentary and having them interviewed with action happening in the background because I think it gives the documentary a natural feeling. I also think that the documentary communicated it’s message in a clear and interesting way and it was inspiring. I would recommend this short documentary as I think that there ar issues with drugs and crime and communities like this are ones which encourage young people to go and do something that they love to stay out of trouble.