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Inspiration: Documentary Filmmakers

Inspiration: Documentary Filmmakers 

Erol Morris

  • American film and documentary director
  • Best known for his 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line
  • Used reenactments of the policeman's murder.
  • American film and documentary director
  • Best known for his 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line
  • Used reenactments of the policeman's murder.

What can we use from this clip for our Documentary project?

  • The use of Close Ups and Medium shots
  • ‘Eerie’ and dramatic Score used within Thin Blue Line by Philip Glass
  • Multiple Interviewees
  • Old Footage
    • American film and documentary director
    • Best known for his 1988 documentary The Thin Blue Line
    • Used reenactments of the policeman's murder.


  • The film is about a man convicted and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit.
  • The Score adds a dramatic tension = useful to keep the documentary flowing and interesting
  • Multiple interviewees = different stories and insights to the police force, bigger selection of information;
  • Morris uses the interviewees as a non-diegetic sound then they come into frame - looks and sounds more professional.
  • How its edited with the close ups and old footage etc flows well and works nicely; hoping to achieve this with our work


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