1: Sunday League (2014) Short Football Documentary - Hard Lines Productions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaSQkVvACyo
2: Grizzly Man (2005) - Werner Herzog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8MjDyfcMmU
3: Louis Theroux - The City Addicted To Crystal Meth (2009)
I will be producing my own Psychological Film with the same documentary approach the above have made. I will be shooting a documentary based on the fans of Nuneaton Town Football Club. There are certain fans that travel the country to watch the team away, however there are many fans that live miles away from Nuneaton and yet they travel to watch even the home games. I want to gain an insight into why the fans do this, and after many years of ups and downs, why fans have continued to follow the 'Boro' for such a long time.
The psychological theory I will be applying to my own sequence will be Jacques Lacan's study on obsession. I feel that this is a suitable study to accompany my own documentary as after all, there is a reason football fans spend all the money and travel all over the country...
Interview with Jacques Lacan, 1957 - http://braungardt.trialectics.com/sciences/psychoanalysis/jacques-lacan/interview-jacques-lacan/
Video of Lacan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL3wj4g-omQ
Jacques Lacan: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory by Slavoj Zizek Page 117 & 118 -https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2gPJ3p5CiuQC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=jacques+lacan+obsession&source=bl&ots=-9rF8xyUuD&sig=FYAXClSUbEtzB6r5BVzRhubhaNE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXqtaqsZXKAhVE1xQKHQVhCL44ChDoAQg3MAQ#v=onepage&q=jacques%20lacan%20obsession&f=false
Sunday League Documentary
This short documentary is a fantastic example of the style of video I wish to create on an extremely low budget. Shots such as close ups of empty beer cans on the pitch, the low quality playing surfaces and the humorous interviews make this an enjoyable watch. However the psychological side of it is clear. It's emphasised several times how the players every Sunday morning are often drunk and not in a state to play football, however they all turn up every Sunday. In fact one player even stated "I can't remember a friday afternoon or a Saturday morning where I didn't mark the pitch out or get the nets ready for a Sunday Morning, It's just who I am". Clearly quotes like this could mean that Lacan's theory of obsession could be linked to these Sunday League players.
Grizzly Man
'Grizzly Man' Is a different style of Documentary. The Documentary is based on Timothy, a teacher with a passion for bears. The documentary is mostly footage shot my Timothy himself accompanied by interviews from people who knew Timothy and also a narrator is speaking over the footage building up more detail about Timothy for the viewer. It is clear throughout the documentary that Timothy had a clear psychological connection with the bears, It was more than an obsession. Again Lacan could be applied to 'Grizzly Bear', however unlike the previous documentary, I believe Lacan's theory on 'Desire' can be applied. "Lacan distinguishes desire from need and from demand. Need is a biological instinct where the subject depends on the Other to satisfy its own needs: in order to get the Other's help "need" must be articulated in "demand." But the presence of the Other not only ensures the satisfaction of the "need", it also represents the Other's love. Consequently, "demand" acquires a double function: on the one hand, it articulates "need", and on the other, acts as a "demand for love." Throughout the Documentary, it was as if Timothy was always trying to broadcast the connection that he and the bears shared, when in reality, it was non existent. Therefore I feel that Timothy can easily be linked to Lacan as it was as though he was constantly trying to "demand love" from the bears to satisfy his own needs.
Louis Theroux - The City Addicted To Crystal Meth
Louis Theroux's documentaries are a completely different style to the two previous documentaries mentioned. Louis is the presenter and interviewer of all of his shows and also narrates over his footage. Shot in Fresno, California, this documentary shows the an area with a large population of people who suffer from drug problems, particularly crystal meth. I believe there are two theories that could be applied to this particular show. The first one is Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze. In the show Louis interviews females who have such a strong drug problem, they sell there bodies to men to generate money in order to buy their drugs. This is obviously a very dark topic, however it shows that due to their problem with drugs, women will go to extreme lengths to interest males and allow males to use their bodies to overcome their own sexual needs in exchange for money which will then be used to buy drugs. Also Lacan could again be applied with the theory of 'desire'. "Even after the "need" articulated in demand is satisfied, the "demand for love" remains unsatisfied since the Other cannot provide the unconditional love that the subject seeks."
Design Brief for my video
As I plan to create a documentary on the fans of Nuneaton Town Football Club, I need to show how the club has affected them, and how Lacan's theory on obsession is present in their love and dedication for following the club. I will show this through interviews with several dedicated fans, asking them a series of questions and recording their responses.
I will shoot the interviews with a 2.8mm lens to create a shallow depth of field so that the interviewee is the subject in focus. This will create a professional film look, it is also a feature that is common within popular documentaries and therefore I am aiming to replicate it. Typically there are lengthy shots of objects or the settings that are involved with the topic of the documentary, this convention is shown within the 'Sunday League' documentary as it shows shots of the poor state of the pitches etc. I will include this convention to break up parts of the interviews, and will seek to use shots that support the dialogue of the interviewees.
I intend to let the camera run as long as I can during the interview, I want to catch all their emotions and aim to show what the club means to them. If I think a particular expression would benefit the documentary and link the footage to a theory then I will capture a close up of the expression.
Sunday League Documentary
This short documentary is a fantastic example of the style of video I wish to create on an extremely low budget. Shots such as close ups of empty beer cans on the pitch, the low quality playing surfaces and the humorous interviews make this an enjoyable watch. However the psychological side of it is clear. It's emphasised several times how the players every Sunday morning are often drunk and not in a state to play football, however they all turn up every Sunday. In fact one player even stated "I can't remember a friday afternoon or a Saturday morning where I didn't mark the pitch out or get the nets ready for a Sunday Morning, It's just who I am". Clearly quotes like this could mean that Lacan's theory of obsession could be linked to these Sunday League players.
Grizzly Man
'Grizzly Man' Is a different style of Documentary. The Documentary is based on Timothy, a teacher with a passion for bears. The documentary is mostly footage shot my Timothy himself accompanied by interviews from people who knew Timothy and also a narrator is speaking over the footage building up more detail about Timothy for the viewer. It is clear throughout the documentary that Timothy had a clear psychological connection with the bears, It was more than an obsession. Again Lacan could be applied to 'Grizzly Bear', however unlike the previous documentary, I believe Lacan's theory on 'Desire' can be applied. "Lacan distinguishes desire from need and from demand. Need is a biological instinct where the subject depends on the Other to satisfy its own needs: in order to get the Other's help "need" must be articulated in "demand." But the presence of the Other not only ensures the satisfaction of the "need", it also represents the Other's love. Consequently, "demand" acquires a double function: on the one hand, it articulates "need", and on the other, acts as a "demand for love." Throughout the Documentary, it was as if Timothy was always trying to broadcast the connection that he and the bears shared, when in reality, it was non existent. Therefore I feel that Timothy can easily be linked to Lacan as it was as though he was constantly trying to "demand love" from the bears to satisfy his own needs.
Louis Theroux - The City Addicted To Crystal Meth
Louis Theroux's documentaries are a completely different style to the two previous documentaries mentioned. Louis is the presenter and interviewer of all of his shows and also narrates over his footage. Shot in Fresno, California, this documentary shows the an area with a large population of people who suffer from drug problems, particularly crystal meth. I believe there are two theories that could be applied to this particular show. The first one is Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze. In the show Louis interviews females who have such a strong drug problem, they sell there bodies to men to generate money in order to buy their drugs. This is obviously a very dark topic, however it shows that due to their problem with drugs, women will go to extreme lengths to interest males and allow males to use their bodies to overcome their own sexual needs in exchange for money which will then be used to buy drugs. Also Lacan could again be applied with the theory of 'desire'. "Even after the "need" articulated in demand is satisfied, the "demand for love" remains unsatisfied since the Other cannot provide the unconditional love that the subject seeks."
Design Brief for my video
As I plan to create a documentary on the fans of Nuneaton Town Football Club, I need to show how the club has affected them, and how Lacan's theory on obsession is present in their love and dedication for following the club. I will show this through interviews with several dedicated fans, asking them a series of questions and recording their responses.
I will shoot the interviews with a 2.8mm lens to create a shallow depth of field so that the interviewee is the subject in focus. This will create a professional film look, it is also a feature that is common within popular documentaries and therefore I am aiming to replicate it. Typically there are lengthy shots of objects or the settings that are involved with the topic of the documentary, this convention is shown within the 'Sunday League' documentary as it shows shots of the poor state of the pitches etc. I will include this convention to break up parts of the interviews, and will seek to use shots that support the dialogue of the interviewees.
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