For this impulse blog entry I have watched the documentary “No country is an island” by Mark Bone on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DBn_9b5zYE) about the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka in 2019 as well as two vlogs on the same YouTube channel about the technical background an some behind the scenes information.
The Documentary
The short documentary talks about an attack on Sri Lanka and follows along with one main character, who has founded an organisation helping victims of this attack. The video works with strong, impressive images which are a good mixture of picturesque drone shots of the country as well as very close shots of emotional scenes. Also the B-roll feels very intentional and like it was already filmed with the story in mind.
The main storyteller in the documentary is the aforementioned main character. His voice is used as the main narrator. There is also some overlayed information but no external narrator voice or other narration except for the interviews with members of the organisation as well as people affected by the attacks.
There are many shots in the video which are intentionally kept long and are allowed to breathe and unfold naturally giving the whole documentary a very natural and empathetic feeling.
There are also a couple of shots in the beginning as well as the end with two boy running through the streets and on the beach, which are never talked about or explained further, but just used as a tool for visual storytelling which ties the film together really well and is also reflected in the main character and his friend/colleague.
The insights from the vlogs
Vlog 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl48x-ZzMfk
Vlog 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzVN2dV6yEQ
In the two accompanying vlogs, Bone mostly just takes the viewers along on the journey to Sri Lanka, unfortunately not showing too much of the filming process itself, but there are little insights here and there and some helpful tips he gives. He, for example, talked about how important it is to also take some control in documentary filmmaking, instead of just waiting for things to happen and come to you. He said filmmakers should be proactive and film something intentional every day and put themselves in situations where interesting footage will develop. Bone also talked about how important it is to review your footage daily while on location to make sure you have the right kinds of shots for the story you want to tell and so that you are actually able to see if everything will fit together the way you planned it. Bone also talked about letting shots breathe and giving the viewer time to adjust to certain scenes. His co-creator talked about how he found it helpful in documentary filmmaking to choose one narration style and commit to it in order to make the film more convincing.
Conclusion
I found the documentary captivating and moving, showing raw emotion, pain and suffering while also focusing on the good people are doing in order to help and thus not losing hope. I also found the fact fascinating that the documentary was filmed just 3 months after the attacks had happened. When documenting current topics like this one, it can be really important to act fast and there might not be a lot of time for pre-production in these cases.
