Film Techniques
Film techniques are used in all movies, whether you notice it or not. They can be used to help tell a story, to re-enforce the argument, and to get a certain response by the audience. Bowling for Columbine uses techniques as much as the next documentary, using things such as cartoons, music choice, and interviews to help convey the message in a more entertaining way.
Graphics/Animation
In the movie Bowling for Columbine, the graphics really help to keep the audience interested. One particular part of the film that I found that animation was very effective was around the middle of the film where he gives us the history of the USA and guns in a cartoon. It was comedic, and really kept you interested in something that could have been made into a boring history lesson. This one also gave us some comic relief, and lightened up what otherwise is a relatively dark and upsetting story. This was an effective way of making us learn and get entertainment at the same time. This was, all in all, a more creative way of telling us the story
Music
The music choice was very interesting in the film Bowling for Columbine. Moore used a lot of songs that sounded uplifting and full of pride, but the film was about how many Americans have died to a gun. I found that there was a lot of irony used in the music choice. For example, near the end, Moore chose the song "What a Wonderful World", while describing some of the tragedies of war and guns that have happened previously, and giving us more of the statistics. If all of these things can happen in the world, clearly, it isn't so wonderful after all. It catches your ear, and makes you want to see what they could possibly talking about. I personally found the music choices entertaining, and they actually made me enjoy the film more.
Interviews
The film Bowling for Columbine used interviews very effectively. This technique gives us different points of view and covers more sides of the story. For example, wee see the interview with Marilyn Manson directly after hearing multiple people say he is the root to the problem with the shootings that are going on. The interview cuts in and out of a conference telling us about why Marilyn is so bad for us, while Marilyn is telling us why he isn't. We can see from this interview in particular, that although there is often one main problem (shootings, in this case), there can be more than one catalyst.
By: Claire Romani