The Tower Documentary analysis
The Tower Documentary analysis
The Tower Documentary covers America’s first mass school shooting, focusing on the perspective of a mother, a police officer, a news reporter and other citizens. The documentary is primarily animated and appears to be rotoscoped from video footage. This is evident through the excessive micro movements. The compositions would sometimes include a mixture of both animation and video footage. The lack of colour within the animation reinforces the serious tone of the documentary. Halfway into the documentary, colour is introduced during Claire’s flashback which provides notions of happiness. Non-diegetic sound is introduced, a guitar being played and birds chirping which is a stark change compared to the incessant gun shots. Transitions are also employed before and after Claire’s recollection of Tom to convey the less pleasant reality of the situation. A visual echo is used to slowly bring the audience back into the current event. Towards the ending of the documentary video footage is applied more commonly, utilising the interviews of firsthand accounts of the people involved. This is first introduced when a quick cut is applied to show the animated interview and the video footage, communicating a difference of time of the event and the current interview. This effect also establishes a stronger bond between the viewer and the subject as they are no longer animated and now something that is much easier to relate to. Intimacy is established as the focus fixes on the interviewees perspective rather than the event presented broadly. The narrative found within this documentary is told through first hand accounts and is broken in an almost episodic manner. As the shooting progresses the audience is able to see the same event through different perspectives. This is most evident when the man rescues Claire and brings her to safety, the intersection of two timelines come together.
Visually the documentary contains numerous close ups which is a powerful tool as mentioned in ‘The Five Cs of Cinematography’. This in combination of different camera movements can create different effects. An example of this would be the close up of the two men fighting the sniper, quick cuts and close ups provide a close inspection of what the emotions are. Additionally the use of close ups within a confined space provides scale and chaos as the subjects leave and re enter the frame.
The Tower provides a very intimate recount of the Texas mass school shooting, through its detailed and multi perspective storytelling it provides an engaging and technical approach when creating documentaries.
Bibliography:
Mascelli V, Joseph. The Five C’s of Cinematography. Silman-James Press, 1998
