Undefeated 

Undefeated is a documentary which is about the Manassas American football team who have never won a play off game and aim to win one this year. It fits in to the genre of social realism and sport. It's directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J Martin and was produced in the year of 2011. It has the themes of hope, character and strength. It is filmed through the means of hand held cameras. This enables it to achieve a honest aspect to the film. There is no narration through the film and it relies on Bill Courtney, The high school football team coach, to be able to take us through the team's journey on the pitch and off the pitch. The method of presenting a true documentary is subjective and is hard to create the reality of the subject but I believe that this gives a very true, honest and gritty portrayal of the Manassas's football team journey.  

The absence of a narrator presents the film in a pure fashion. If there was to be a narrator it could give a different and more structured format. The concept of getting the coach to narrate contributes to the film's pure style. The people's lives and struggles became struggles with the audience. It was heart wrenching to see that "Money" couldn't play football his team because he broke his leg. The team's conflicts were felt through the coach and the coach then emphasized how important this was to us. The audience then was able to see what the coach thought and what the team and the individual thought.  

What Makes a Documentary?  

Documentary is a term that is popularly used first by John Grierson, to  describe Robert Flaherty's film "Moana", coming from the French documentaire, a form that grew out of realities actually cinema. While describing one feature from "Moana" the term gained a new meaning in relation to the film's approach to depicting the real. However a more familiar use of the term presented its self after the birth of early cinema with the polish filmmaker Boleshaw Matuszewski, who suggested a use for the form as a museum of contemporary life, capturing events and activities which would be of interest for documentary.  

Documentary is an approach to real life events and activities opposed to fictitious events and activities. Dealing with issues of fact, of actuality. The approach is popular with audiences and is highly significant. John Grierson explained that it is not just actuality but it is the creative treatment to actuality. The filmmakers hand will always be behind the structured representation of the subject. What is seen on screen isn't always the actual truth and is sometimes what the filmmaker wants you to see.  

The process of constructing the images seen on screen give them meaning. Images do not posses meaning on their own. Therefore on a grand scale a filmmaker can never depict the real, so instead exhibits a selective "real". It is argued that only the true documentaries were made in the original early cinema of actualities.  

There are many documentaries in the modern film world today. Documentaries have expanded into different genres now. Social realism is a popular selection for documentaries such as "race riots", "on benefits and proud" and "far right and proud" etc. People enjoy watching social realism's because the documentary takes them too a place where they don't to go because they're scared or they can't go to. Another popular genre in documentary is biography. The documentary film "AMY" by Asif Kapadia won an academy award for best documentary feature. People take pleasure in learning about their favorite celebrities lives.  

You could say that the only way to make true and real documentary is place a camera, press record and don't touch it but in the process of doing that you have planned where that camera has been placed, what way it's going to point and so on. Therefore by that example you can never get a true documentary. I believe that's what makes documentaries so interesting because it's filmmakers trying their hardest to get a true and honest depiction the real. 

Winter's Bone Tom Slade 

Winter's Bone is a film directed by Debra Granick. It was made in 2010 and it is a thriller, social realism and drama. The film is about a girl named Ree who struggles to keep her family fed has to hunt down for her drug dealing father so that she can keep her house. The film deals with the themes of protection, misandry, misogyny and determination. It's strong female lead, Ree, is played by Jennifer Lawrence. `her performance in this film earned her a nomination a academy award winner for best performance.  

The definition of misandry is dislike of, or contempt, or ingrained prejudice against men. The male character's within the film are represented negatively. Ree's father is a drug dealer and has left them, Teardrop (Jessup's Brother) is aggressive towards his wife and females in particular and is a drug dealer, The Farmer who lives across from Ree's house bullies her into getting him in the car and the list goes on. These male characters construct a negative representation for men in this film. Men seem to be represented as stubborn and misogynistic.  This film doesn’t particularly portray women in a positive way. The main character Ree has the attributes of a strong independent female but other females characters such as Gail and Teardrop's wife are represented as dependent and weak individuals. It exhibits the male and female stereotypes. Potentially this film is trying to that these stereotypes are wrong prejudice  

This film is a more realistic version of the hunger games. The lead character is played by the same actor and the protagonist has the same initial goal. Which is to protect her family. "Catness" volunteers as tribute because she wants to save her little sister from the hunger games. Ree goes on this mission to find her father because she knows that she will lose the house and then potentially send her family into famine. You could say that they are both up against the authoritarians in their society. Ree is up against the men and the law and "Catness" ends up going up against "Snow" the dictator. The film releases are only separated by two years. Gary Ross (director of Hunger Games) maybe saw Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone and spotted potential. The characters are similar and their goals making it easier for Jennifer Lawrence to be chosen because it wouldn't be much of a change of character. Jennifer Lawrence achieved Best Actress from various academies. The differences in this film are the setting and time period.