Born Into Coal

      The short documentary "Born Into Coal" is a hybrid between a human interest and a standard narrative film. The story of Arianna Bailey trying to win the Coal Queen pageant is told while also making a political argument in favor of coal mines. At the start of the documentary it appears to be focused on the beauty pageant, but evolves into a focus on the importance of the coal mining industry to families in West Virginia.

      Various film shot techniques are used throughout the film, but the most compelling in my opinion is the extreme close up. I have attached one of the examples of extreme close up. It is so compelling because it is shot while at the beauty pageant. Look at the black in his cuticles. This is an event you clean up for, but no matter how much he cleans himself up, he can't get rid of the remains of the coal stuck in his fingernails. Without coal this man would be nothing, it is his only means of feeding his family.
     This shot stands out to me because it is clear what they were trying to focus on in it. There are plenty of other extreme close-ups, especially of their faces covered in coal, but I liked this one the most because this is shown after he cleaned himself up.
      I'm not sure I can recreate this shot in my documentary, but the idea of extreme close-ups interest me very much. My documentary has endless possibilities for extreme close-ups such as looking at the eyes of a fighter between rounds, or the classic shot of the hands being taped up in every film involving boxing ever made.
      This documentary does a good job of getting its point across in a heart warming way. Much of this is done by using the appropriate shots at the appropriate times.