Benji Review

I watched a ESPN production called Benji. It is the story of a high school star basketball player, Benjamin Wilson, in Chicago who was shot and killed during his senior year at the high school. The documentary was great in all aspects of film and I really learned a lot from watching it.
The literary aspect of this film was amazing. The film went in a chronological order. For example, it described Benji's childhood and how he got his love of basketball. Then it described his early high school life. Next, it focused on when he became a superstar basketball player. Finally, it described his death, and the people who committed the crimes, both of whom were under 17 years old. The mood at the start of the documentary is upbeat, but it slowly begins to change throughout, and finally comes to the point where it is a sad mood. The people interview in the film were those who knew Benji well, or those who knew Chicago basketball well. For example, Benji's brother Curtis was a main contributor to the film, as well as some of Benji's old high school teammates. Many reporters from Chicago were also interviewed for the film. The filmed had a narrator describe all the events that took place throughout the film. I think that I can use some of the literary aspects used in this documentary in mine. We should tell our film chronologically, have a narrator, and a variety of interviewees.

In the film there weren't a whole lot of dramatic aspects involved. This was a documentary meaning that it is telling a real life event. Although there was drama in the film, that doesn't mean that the documentary conveyed dramatic aspects. There weren't any actors, sets, or costumes in the film.

The cinematic aspects were unique to this film. Many scenes that told stories of Benji's life were created using drawings, it was like a comic book. This was weird at first but by the end it became something that the audience was use to and enjoyed. Along with the drawings the film contained interview, a-roll shots, and b-roll footage of Benji and other basketball players, and newspaper headlines. The b-roll footage was incredible because although it was very old and grainy it gave the audience a sense of how good Benji and other Chicago-area basketball players were. The editing of the film seemed very basic, but that was fine because the film didn't need flashy editing to get its message across. The music, in addition, wasn't a main part of the film, but it did enhance the film by conveying the mood that the audience was suppose to feel at certain moments. For my documentary I don't think I am going to include comic book drawings to tell parts of the plot, but I will try to have many types of b-roll shots like this film did.

This film is great. It told an amazing story and the way it told it kept the audience engaged and excited for what was coming next. I think that young documentary film makers could learn a lot from this, even if they aren't going to use the same style of documenting that this film did. This film is part of ESPN's 30 for 30, a critically acclaimed documentary series. I have seen many other documentaries in the series, but this one stood out to me because of how is displayed the three aspects of film.

My Week of High School Hoops

This weekend I went to the National High School Hoops Festival at Dematha Catholic High School and the Gonzaga DC Classic tournament at Gonzaga College High School. I saw some pretty incredible individual performances and some disappointing ones. Here are my individual awards for the weekend.

Best Performance:
This goes to Villanova recruit Josh Hart. Hart is a senior at Sidwell Friends High School in DC. Sidwell took on Gonzaga, the number one team in the DC area Saturday night. Hart and the rest of Sidwell dominated Gonzaga from the tip. Hart was a dominant force offensively hitting three pointers, attacking the bucket, and drawing fouls. Hart also contributed defensively and rebounded well. He was the leader of his team, and finished the night with a tournament high 34 points.
Biggest Suprise:
This goes to Kameron Williams of Mount Joseph High School in Baltimore. Going in to Mount Joseph's game versus Bullis I had no idea who Kameron Williams was. Turns out he is going to Ohio State University next fall to play basketball. Williams shot incredibly well in the game I watched and also got in transition and dunked twice. He only missed one shot the whole night, yet still scored at least 25 points. It was a nice suprise to learn about this kid.

Most Exciting Player to Watch:
This award is an easy one to give out because this man is the most exciting basketball player in the country, his name is Aquille Carr. Carr is a senior at Princeton Day and will be going to Seton Hall next year. He is only five foot seven inches tall, but still has a huge impact on a game. You never know what Carr will do next, and this is a good and bad statement because Carr sometimes makes horrible plays. He is so fast and so confident in his game that he is guaranteed to bring excitement to any game. I loved watching him play.
Most Disappointing Player:
Before I go in depth on this one just look at Andrew Wiggins's mixtape. Wiggins is considered by most to be the number one high school basketball player in the country.
That mixtape is impressive and Wiggins is suppose to be amazing. When I watched him in his game versus Princeton Day Wiggins did nothing to stand out. He looked like he didn't care about the game. I was shocked and outraged to see a man with so much talent not do anything with it. If I was Andrew Wiggins and I played that poorly I would be extremely embarrassed. Watching Wiggins play disgusted me. He rarely looked to attack the basketball and just was content to hang around on the perimeter and pass the ball around. The fans came to see a superstar and Wiggins failed to live up to the expectations.

Documentary Topics

For our film class we have a new documentary topic. The documentary process is a long one, and it contains many steps. The first step, which is also the most important one, is choosing a topic. I don't know what my topic is going to be yet, but I have narrowed it down to two choices.
The first chose is a documentary about a band called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I have listened to the band for the last couple years and seen them play twice. They are an incredible band that probably has some interesting stories to tell. I am actually friends with most of the band members on facebook, so I could use that connection to try and establish an interview with the band. The band resides in New York City, so the interview might possibly have to be conducted on Skype. If everything worked out with this topic, then I think it would be an enjoyable experience. Here's my favorite song of the bands.

My other topic is also somewhat complicated, but could be awesome if everything worked out. I want to do a profile about Emanuel Charles, the JV basketball coach at Blair. Coach Charles attended Blair in the early 90s, and played for the basketball team. The team at that time was a lot different then the one now. The players were all huge, in fact Charles has told me that he was one of the smallest kids on the team, and he is 6 foot 2. The team nowadays is a lot smaller and for the past couple years hasn't been successful. In the 90s the team was very successful and former NBA star Steve Francis even played for the team for a year. I think that I could create a documentary from Charles's perspective on how Blair basketball and public high school in the county has changed. Also I would want to take his input on how and if future teams could achieve more success, like the teams of the early 90s did. To create this documentary I would have to find videos of the Blair basketball team from the 90s. It could be a challenge, but it's one that I am ready to accept. Here are some Steve Francis highlights, a former Blair student.

Both of these ideas are interesting to me, both pose their own set of problems, but it will be fun to do one of these two topics.