Major Project: Research-Louis Theroux "My Scientology Movie"

Major Project: Research-Louis Theroux "My Scientology Movie"

As part of my ongoing research for this project I looked in to the Louis Theroux documentary "My Scientology Movie". Below are the notes I made.

• The documentary starts off by giving the audience some solid facts. Good set up for the story and premise.
• It uses text instead of narration to start to the doc, which is a unique choice I haven't seen used before.
• One of the first things we hear is our presenter (we hear him before we see him).
• We are clearly introduced to all our contributors and given some context about them.
• Clever use of establishing shots (e.g. reflection from a car mirror or shop window). This will be a consideration in the cinematography of our doc.
• We have a comparison between current events and previous events (through the use of stock footage and reenactment).
• Great use of B-Roll and cutaways that play with your emotions (e.g. the shots of fences and barbed wire makes you feel paranoid and on edge).
• Fades are used to show the passing of time as opposed to a montage. I'm a fan of this style when used appropriately.
• Frequent close-ups of presenters face that let us gauge their reactions. This will be important in our filming.
• The doc could have used more cutaways in certain places in order to better maintain our attention.
• Similar to previous documentaries, car shots are used for transitional purposes and to allow us to see authentic, unedited thoughts from the presenter.
• Lack of shot variety in PTC’s and interviews, which sometimes leads to our attention wandering.
• The presenter is clip mic’d so we can hear him clearly at all times, this helps us form a better connection with him. Ideally, we'd want Alex mic'd as much as possible.

• During some PTC’s and other shots, the presenter begins to walk around. So symbolically he is taking us on a journey with him.
• Although there is voice over throughout this is always paired with a location PTC.
• Lots of two-shots (likely because they only had one main camera operator) i’m not sure how well this works as a stylistic choice.
• Although there is plenty of narration, very little of it actually serves to push the narrative forward or answer any questions.
• At a few select points, there were cuts between different close-ups that helped us connect with the presenter/contributors emotions.

Closing Thoughts

• The Narrative was relatively easy to follow.
• Some effective narration throughout.
• The doc didn’t answer some questions as well as it could have done, leaving us as an audience somewhat dissatisfied.

Overall Relevance Score 6/10