Scene 1: The Story
The first clip of Tania Head telling her tragic story on September 11th from the second tower is such a moving scene. The director’s choices pull at the viewer’s emotions and make it a memorable scene. In terms of mise-en-scene, the director made an overall choice to include both actual video ranging from interviews to actual scenes from events and reenactments of scenes from the day of September 11th or events talked about from the past through motion paintings acting out the events.
The cinematography choices the director made in this particular clip include the use of straight on close ups in the interviews which portrays honesty and gives the viewers the true emotion of the person. This is an ironic choice since Tania is feeding the camera lies, but this choice is used to show that with the information given and the ways it was portrayed, it is easy to believe lies such as hers. In the reenactments from this clip, the camera “pans” through the scenes as well as use “tracking shots” to show the full setting of the scene. This choice helps with the narrative feel of the film and serving as a starting point and a base for the rest of the film. In terms of editing choices, through out the reenactments it is continuous editing or appears to be to again give the narrative feel. The clip begins with an establishing shot of the twin towers and then zooms in to Tania standing in the towers looking out the window, so this is a setting the scene shot. The 180-degree rule is put into place multiple times during the reenactments to make the documentary seem like a regular film. The clip cross-cuts between interviews and the reenactment.
The non-diegetic sounds help carry the story along where as the diegetic sound choices of dialogue that turns into the “voice of God” at parts and the sound effects associated with the reenactments help carry the story along as well as explain explicitly what is going on. I think the director is trying to do this ironically because it is clear from the title of the documentary and therefore before watching it that what she is saying is not true but the way it is portrayed comes off as truth. Guglielmo’s argument then becomes what counts as ‘truth’ and to whom, and he questions this through the irony. In terms of narrative, the stylistic choice of the combination of the interviews and the reenactments creates a story for the viewer to follow.