Textual analysis - "Portrait of my Father"

I found this short documentary when browsing through the web at various video sites and began watching it and sat completely engrossed throughout the whole video. This may not be a high budget, big name type of documentary but the techniques and camera work that are used are done so in a very artistic and precise way so that audience become entirely involved into the story and emotions of the main actor. 

The opening scene introduces photographer Brendan Klems, the film's narrator, telling his account of his life and story. The black and white slow motion imagery straight away sets the scene to be an emotional and intimate relationship between the audience and the character. The soft ambient background music also has a big impact on the audience and creates a 'feel good' atmosphere for the rest of the film. Throughout the majority of the first section the voiceover of Brendan is the only audio present. This focuses the audience's attention onto that and that only, which is used extremely effectively in this film. You, as the viewer, can relate directly to it and be involved with the character. As the story of Brendan's dad enters the narrative the imagery of his old photos and the soft mournful music in the background causes an emotional response from the audience. The use of the old print photos and seeing the emotion on the faces of Brendan and his mother and hearing it in their voices brings out the reality of the film and this is portrayed in an artistic and gripping away which further draws the audience into the story. The shots during this reminiscent section are very elongated to give time for the audience to think and reflect on the images they have seen. The use of the voiceover continues throughout the whole film and tells his story and as he begins to tell the audience of his current photography work, the music changes and becomes more upbeat and the overall mood to the film becomes more positive and uplifting. The ending of the film displays a number of black and white images much like during the intro which concludes the story and gives time for the audience to reflect on what they have seen and the emotions they are feeling. 

Although the film involves a very emotional and difficult topic of loss and grief, the cinematography and use of the monologue makes it stand out from many documentaries I have watched. It creates an intimate relationship between the audience and the characters which is very difficult to do but in this case is used extremely well.