An analysis of the aesthetics in the 2015 documentary, 'Amy', about Amy Winehouse, directed by Asif Kapadia. It is part of section B of the filmmaking perspectives paper on the WJEC film studies course.
Aesthetics of Amy
All in all, the aesthetics in Amy are about reflection and bringing us closer
to her. Throughout the film, there is several reflection points created by
montages, home footage and still images, accompanied by music either
by Amy Winehouse herself or Antônio Pinto to either let us see how her
music relates to her life or to create an emotional response. Quite often
we are brought closer to her and her story through the aesthetics. The
contrast of media/news footage compared to the home footage show the
true story and how the media influenced her life greatly. Whereas the
personal footage shows us her personal story and how she was in reality –
when she was healthy and sick. Overall, the aesthetics bring us into the
story visually and auditorily into her perspective, positioning the audience
to understand her point of view as unfortunately she isn’t around to tell it.
Technique Examples from film Impact on meaning
and audience
response
News/Media Footage Just before her death, It slowly creeps into the
they are talking about film at first but then at
her sabotaged certain points it
performance. becomes one of the
At the end when they main ways we see her
carry her body out. getting more and more
All photos of her when ill.
she was very ill. It positions the audience
When her father brings to truly understand how
the camera crew to much the media
Amy’s island retreat. encroached on her life.
It also shows how public
everything was, and we
understand why this was
so damaging to her
mental health – the best
we see her is when she
isn’t in the public eye.
Montage Editing The montage of her These act as reflecting
when she is the car points. For her life at
The Crack Cocaine scene whichever given point.
The montage after her For me, the most
death startling one was after
her death as we have
just seen her funeral
then we get a montage
with a few clips from
when she was healthy
and smiling. It’s very sad
because we the contrast
is so startling; the
positioning of the
audience is done to
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