Essay

The question for this essay was creative choices in media but let's reiterate this into a new question what kind of creative choices directors take in their films or shows or in media in general. One director I'm going to focus on as he has always controlled the perception of the audience by using different camera angles and shot types this man is George Lucas. 

George Lucas is renowned for his work as the director of the original star wars trilogy but there are similar scenes the first one taking place in The Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader has defeated Luke and has cut off his hand and left Luke dangling above a never ending hole and tells Luke that he is his father now this scene was well put together by Lucas as he has positioned his camera on an up tilt looking up to Vader as we as the audience is looking at Vader through Lukes eyes. Lucas positioned the camera this way as he has used the positioning of levels between characters and by showing Vader as being above Luke he has made the audience realize that Vader is nothing but pure evil as he has relentlessly cut down Luke and now is trying to corrupt him but if you also realize during this scene you can also notice that the area they are in is slowly getting darker as Vader reveals more information to look this could also be perceived by the audience as a way of the dark side slowly trying to corrupt Luke. 

But in lukes perspective being weakened by Vader and scrunched up into a ball with camera looming down on him makes the audience perceive Luke as weak, naive and stubborn as he can’t accept being defeated by Vader and then after finding out Vader is his father, he hauls himself into the hole beneath him. 

The reason I think Lukas chose to position his camera looking down on Luke is to make the audience realize that at this moment Luke is at his weakest by using the leveling technique not with actors but with a camera to show not only that not only Vader is looking down on Luke thinking he's weak but we as the audience are as we are witnessing as an audience we are realizing that the way we perceive Luke has changed since we originally thought that he was the brave hero of the story but at this moment he isn't a hero he's weak and his will to carry on fighting is slowly diminishing this is why the scene in the Return of the Jedi the roles are switched but with a slight difference in the camera angle department as in the last scene near the end of the movie when Vader has redeemed himself and Luke is carrying him out of the collapsing death star and placing against a pillar. 

This scene is kind off a comparison to the first scene as Lucas has specifically chosen this scene for Vader's redemption as Lucas has placed Luke and Vader at the same level to show that they are the same side this also shows that Luke as a character has evolved from his defeat in the previous film and that he has now come to terms with Vader being his father.  

So, both being placed at the same level having a heart to heart moment so close together when previously they have been so very apart from each other but now they both accept each other opinions. 

This work with levels, spacing and lighting used in both scenes can be related to a documentary setting as the use of lighting in the first scene can present a director's opinion about a person so if they don’t like the interviewee, they can darken the area around him. Any of these 3 elements mentioned can help the director change the view of the audience on a certain issue they are highlighting in their doc. 

Another instance of a director using the camera in a creative way is in the Tv show Peaky Blinders when director Colm McCarthy when in multiple episodes of the show he has used the camera to help push the narrative of the show by showing only a part of an event of the show this can also be due to the amazing editing which helps in the success in the show as the other half of the obstructed event can be revealed in a flashback or a memory sequence of events this links back to the documentary theme as directors can restrict their viewer by editing out certain bits of information until the info becomes relevant in the documentary or as a bomb to drop a theoretical bomb of information on the viewers to change the way they perceive an event, 

In conclusion all techniques mentioned can all be adapted for use in many modes of documentary such as expository as the use of editing can help hide certain bits of info for later in the doc or the use of levels can also be used to show the way the director wants to portray a certain person in the documentary by filming them with a tilt on the camera. So in general the creative choices directors make in their respective projects are made to present a certain view to the audience to shed a new light and a new way of thinking on an old subject.