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.