20,000 Days on Earth

Question 1

What are the three different kinds of documentary?

Answer 1

The three types of documentary are,

• Expository, which have non-diegetic narrators and usually follow events through handheld and archive footage.
• Observational, which follow a presenter that experiences the events as they happen, with more professional filming and interactions with real people in real locations.
• Similar to observational documentaries, but have the presenter being much more active in the events and the focus of the documentary.

Question 2

Who is 20000 Days on Earth directed by?

Answer 2

The film is directed by Ian Forsyth and Jane Pollard?

Question 3

What is the context behind 20000 Days on Earth?

Answer 3

• Nick Cave is an Australian punk rock singer and writer.
• He formed the band The Birthday Party in 1979.
• The band released the song Nick The Stripper in 1981.
• The band formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 1984.
• Kylie Minogue is an Australian pop star.
• Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue made the song Where the Wild Roses Grow as part of the 1996 album Murder Ballads.
• Nick Cave has written multiple screenplays and has appeared in several films.
• He has also written two novels.
• He wrote the screenplay for The Proposition (2015) which stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston and John Hurt.
• He has released two documentaries, 20000 Days on Earth (2014) and One More Time with Feeling (2016).

Question 4

Who is Kim Longinotto?

Answer 4

Kim Longinotto is a British documentary filmmaker who is well known for making films that highlight the plight of female victims of of oppression or discrimination. She is an observational filmmaker, with films such as Dreamcatcher.

Question 5

Who is Peter Watkins?

Answer 5

Peter Watkins is a British documentary filmmaker who makes experimental documentaries that are provocative and controversial. He is a docudrama filmmaker, with films such as The War Game.

Question 6

Analyse the Higgs Boson Blues scene.

Answer 6

• Scene of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recording their song The Higgs Boson Blues.
• Observational style scene.
• Long durational shots focused on the band members, such as the close up shots of Nick singing and composing.
• Diegetic sound coupled with little stylisation and basic linear editing.
• Naturalistic lighting.
• Unique performance that contains the raw emotions of the band as they record.
• Captivating for fans as it shows the recording of the song in an unfiltered and mainly unedited way.
• Links to Kim Longinotto’s theory on making documentaries.
• Kim Longinotto is an observational documentary director.
• She prefers to separate the crew from the people the documentary is focused on, allowing the people to take control of the narrative.

Question 7

Analyse the Kylie Minogue car scene.

Answer 7

• Scene of Nick Cave driving and talking to Kylie Minogue in his car.
• Docudrama style scene.
• Opening shot uses bokeh lighting which creates atmosphere through blurred lighting.
• Cave narrates at the start of the scene as he drives.
• Non-diegetic music is also played as he narrates.
• Postproduction editing is used to introduce Minogue through the mirror.
• Minogue’s appearance is unnatural and deliberately makes the scene unrealistic.
• Constructed with different camera angles and rapid shots combined with elliptical editing.
• The car is a set, with the outside setting and lighting being constructed by the crew, aside from the shots of Cave driving alone.
• Captivating for fans as it provides an insight to Cave and Minogue’s friendship and some of the backstory behind their duet.
• Links to Peter Watkins’ theory on making documentaries.
• Peter Watkins is a docudrama documentary director.
• He prefers to dramatize his documentaries and include constructions that make the documentary fictional but with a powerful message due to the impact of the shocking scenes.

Question 8

Analyse the ending scene.

Answer 8

• Scene of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds performing Jubilee Street while Cave walks alone.
• Shows how the film is a hybrid between observational and docudrama.
• Counterpoint, something Cave mentions at the start of the film, between the fictional and non-fictional scenes.
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds play at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
• The scene opens with observational techniques previously used in the other performance scenes.
• The live reactions of the audience adds to the realism.