The documentary that drew my attention was Wright's Law by Zack Conkle. The star of this documentary was Jeffrey Wright, a loved high school Physics teacher as well as a father and husband at home. Judging by the many interviews with his students and the brief videos of his teaching style, it is obvious that he is a favorited teacher. Other than being well loved in the classroom, he had subjected himself to be an outlet for troubled teens after class. He seems to understand that everyone has their own problems that they are working on as a result of him being the father to a disabled son. The way that the documentary sets up the plot is by making viewers see Mr. Wright in a very positive light before even learning about his son. By the time that the medical issues with his son comes in to play, it is extremely hard to feel anything by sympathy and love for this man who has so much love and compassion for everyone in his own life. In this weeks reading it is stated that "A documentary film tells a story about a real life, with claims to truthfulness". I think that this documentary supports this general definition because you get such a close look at this man's life, even if it was only in a short, 13 minutes. Since I read the chapter before watching the documentary, i noticed that some of the reading really stuck to me as I was watching Wright's Law. Just like other fictional films, documentaries have soundtracks and special effects in their films in order to sway your emotions in a certain way. During the first half of this documentary, the background music was light and up beat to help set the mood of a sort of jokester (represented by Mr. Wright). The second half was filled with much slower, heavier music when you see the situation that his young son is in, obviously to make the mood switch dramatically. Another thing that caught my attention is that there is no narrator for this documentary, which is a factor that some people think that a documentary must have. Instead, Jeffrey Wright does all the talking which makes the audience feel more connected to him and his story, an important aspect of a documentary in my opinion.
