Armadillo Essay

Observational documentary is the fourth form that Nicholls presents, however he argues that it presents a completely objective construction of reality, which is not true. The observational mode stresses the nonintervention of the filmmaker (Nichols, 1991, p38). Such films cede ‘control’ over the events that occur in front of the camera more than any other mode (Nichols, 1991, p38). Whilst the idea of observational documentaries is to be completely objective, it is still the directors’ decision on where to put cameras, and how to edit the film. The characters could also change their movements with the awareness of being on camera. No matter how hard the director tries to create a completely objective situation, there are still elements of subjectivity.

It is a film where in simple terms; a camera crew followed a group of Danish Guard Hussar soldiers, who were at war in Afghanistan. The idea was to capture everything the soldiers did throughout the war, to give viewers an inside look. Along with this, horrific themes such as death are addressed. Approximately one hour and fifteen minutes into the film, two soldiers find a dead body and do not seem to feel any emotion what so ever. They laugh about the smell, and make various other jokes referring how slaughtering animals is almost the same thing. Perhaps these soldiers did feel this way, but would they really have acted like that if there were no cameras surrounding them? Did they change the way they spoke to each other as a result of their awareness of being filmed? In this exact scenario, there is no evident to disprove the soldiers’ real reactions, however people do react differently if they are aware that they are being

Not only do the characters change their actions with the presence on a camera as mentioned before, but the editing process and camera locations add to the fact that you’re watching the film through the filmmakers eyes. Armadillo uses a high amount of dramatic music to enhance the viewers’ experience of emotional reality. However, it is arguable that constant dramatic music contributes to the authenticity of truth. 48 minutes into the film, there is footage of soldiers doing weights with climatic music, and then the next piece of footage is an injured solider. Perhaps this was to represent what was going through the minds of the soldiers at the time, or how they motivated themselves to stay in a peak physical condition. It can be argued that soldiers would motivate themselves in the way the film represented. Editors also play a huge role in observational documentaries. Realistically, an observational documentary only requires camera footage, and a person to cut the scenes together. However, there is more than that apparent in most observational documentaries. The scenes are cut together for a reason, so the viewers can see what the filmmaker wants them to see. Same with the music, to try and make situations climatic, when perhaps they are not. The editors job is to make the film make sense, and entertaining, which is