"The story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner. The film contains footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many other of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work"
- Sundance Film Festival
After watching this documentary, I was impressed with the style and quality, due to Banksy not being a filmmaker, as he states himself within the film. The film is essentially a documentary on a documentary, and also goes into other subjects, mainly that of street art and how, and why it is created.
 |
| Opening title sequence from 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' |
I love the opening sequence of the piece. The small, central frame gives the viewer a focus and also builds upon the idea of the film being on a documentary/documentary maker. The film is predominantly shot using hand-held footage from the amateur filmmaker Thierry Guetta (aka Mister Brainwash). Amongst this are interviews with various contributors, including Banksy himself, where his face is not shown and his voice is morphed to hide his identity. I love the style of Banksy's interview shots (as shown below). Surrounding him are pieces of his artwork that help build a background on who he is, highlighted by the fact that he is purposely silhouetted due to the studio light shining behind him.
 |
| Frame taken from Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) by Banksy |
Another good shot is the end one. It is interesting and memorable after a piece of 'artwork' by Mister Brainwash is demolished. It demonstrates the way that Banksy is dumfounded by his success and believes it isn't worth keeping around.
The use of voiceover works very well in this film. It describes what is happening/has happened well, without distracting from the images on screen.
No comments:
Post a Comment