The Thin Blue Line

The Thin Blue Line, directed by Errol Morris, takes viewers through the murder case of Robert Wood, a Dallas police officer, that was shot point blank when he pulled over a car which had its headlights off in 1976. Randall Adams is currently serving a life sentence in prison for this crime. Morris utilizes archival footage, reenactments, and interviews to make a case for Adams' innocence, and David Harris' guilt.

Trailer from YouTube

This documentary was very cinematic. I think that the way the story line was laid out helped with this, but the reenactments helped it feel cinematic as well. There were times, however, when I was watching this and thought that the reenactments went on too long, or were too dramatic for my liking, which distracted me while I was watching it. I really did enjoy the cinematic feel of this documentary though, and it is something to strive for when I am filming. 

One thing that I did not enjoy about this documentary was the lack of lower third titles. I have no idea why a filmmaker, would produce such a polished work and neglect to put in lower thirds. I just want to know who is speaking! Once I was catching on to the story line I was easily able to identify David Harris, Randall Adams, and the female lawyer, but other than that I was kind of lost for the first few seconds when a new talking head came on screen. 

I was also frustrated that they didn't explain that David Harris was in prison for another crime while they were filming. He is seen in an orange jumpsuit the whole time, while Randall Adams is in a white collared shirt, and since there are no lower thirds I was thinking that David Harris was Randall Adams for the first quarter of the documentary. 

Who's who? We don't know because there are no lower thirds! 

(For the record Randall Adams is on the right, and David Harris is on the left)

Something else that was hard to swallow from this documentary was that the authorities believed this lady. 

Maybe the filmmakers did a really good job of making her seem crazy to help prove Randall Adams' innocence, but I think she's actually kind of bat-shit crazy. The fact that her testimony was essentially what put Adams in for life is a hard pill to swallow. 

In terms of how this relates to my research project, which is a documentary on a soldier who is about to be deployed, I want to strive for the cinematic feel. However, I don't think I have the the capabilities to do reenactments: 1. Because I don't have money to pay actors, 2. Because I don't have access to military supplies or guns. I will be relying very heavily on interviews, like in The Thin Blue Line, mainly from my main subject Tyler. I will also be relying heavily on B-roll, archival footage, and photographs from his family and friends. I will also be including lower thirds in my documentary.