Nonfiction films hold realistic values and goals throughout their production to make audiences believe that the events depicted actually happened somewhere at sometime. To do this, nonfiction filmmakers use great amounts of tools to help them shape the aesthetics of these films. These tools are what make films such as Super Size Me, so realistic and believable to audiences all around. Some tools used to create realism in the production of this film were: Omniscient voiceover, on-camera interview, textual information on screen, handheld camera, and by having real individuals make up the characters in the film. These aesthetics are used separately and in conjunction to offer and create truth and meaning behind the actions in the film.
Omniscient …show more content…
The interviews range from Morgan Spurlock talking with his doctors about the experiment he is enduring, to random question interviews with people that just happen to walk by on the streets of New York. These interviews were both on-screen and each effective in developing the truth of the story, but in very different ways. The interviews Spurlock had with his doctors were like those a normal person would encounter on a day-to-day basis if they were going to see their physician. These interviews involved Morgan Spurlock asking questions to his doctors about what was going to happen to his body during this process, as well as later on in the process Spurlock asking what he needed to do to keep his body moving and healthy. This type of interview creates truth due to the fact that audience members can relate to having this type of conversations with their own physicians. On the other hand, the street interviews were crafted a little bit differently. These interviews were conducted by Spurlock himself, asking the people walking the streets of New York questions about their own eating habits to compare them to the statistics and facts given to the audience during the film. By doing these street interviews, the audience is influenced into believing the statistics given to them because they are being presented with these statistics laid out to them by real individuals. This also …show more content…
When using a handheld camera unsteady pictures often result, which is usually not desired, but in nonfiction films it creates a more homemade feel. This effect is also critical to this film due to the location of the shooting of the action. This film was shot in Manhattan, New York, where there are people everywhere all the time. In this type of environment there is no way to capture the events portrayed in this film without the use of the handheld camera, which coincidentally can fit anywhere a person is able to go. In the film Super Size Me a handheld camera is the key to creating the truth of a story of a normal man going on an experiment and logging his findings. With this use of aesthetic the filmmaker is able to make this portrayal more real and relate to a greater audience. This effect could also influence other people, who are debating whether they too could try experiments like this, or create a whole different one and record their findings