That B.E.A.T.

            The documentary I ended up watching was titled “That B.E.A.T” And as the text that we were assigned to read stated, the title should be true to what is being documented, and it was. The title is what brought me in, which is what the text also said it should aim to do. Anyways, the film documented a lifestyle and adopted culture in New Orleans, Louisiana that has to do with music. It told about a type of music called “bounce” which is unique for it’s sound, style, upbeat tempo, composition, and it’s effects on its listeners. What was great about the documentary was the way it was put together to reflect what was being documented. Bounce music is a high-energy type of music with no stop action from dancing to the lyrics, and this was reflected in the editing techniques of the film. In the text that we read, it noted that there are multitudes of techniques to implement when composing and editing your film for a final piece, and in this film all the editing and cut scenes were strung together in a up-tempo, action packed format. This form of editing allows the viewer to gather the overall feel of what the author is trying to portray. As all documentaries should do, this piece told a story about a real life culture and what makes it unique to its members in all of its aspects. Interviews were given in a staged format, but being the type of documentary that this short was, the interviews were only implemented to tell the story of bounce from an insider’s perspective. So since it wasn’t a conspiracy documentary or a documentary of mystery, they didn’t have anything to hide, so the fact that the interviews were staged never caused a problem for me as a viewer. Another tactic that I picked up on in the film was that there was no narrator. The b-roll and brief interviews completely laid out and outlined the story being told extremely effectively which made the film that much better. In the text it noted that when most people think documentaries, one of the main things they think about is a serious or monotone narration giving every sequence in the story. All that was documented in the film enticed me as a viewer. I think the part I liked most about the way the film was directed, is that by the end of it, I felt almost as if I was a part of that bounce culture down in the South, and at the very least I have the interest in being associated with something so enjoyable to that community. Overall, the short documentary was very well put together.